đź“– Level Up, Lila!
Chapter 9: The Betrayer Among Us
Word Count: ~5000
Tone: Emotional, paranoid, suspenseful, glitchy, character-heavy with subtle dread and surprising warmth
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🌙 Scene 1: Late Night – Patchroom
Lila was alone again.
She liked these quiet hours. Just her, the drone Muffin humming above, and the soft blue flicker of the Patchwall.
She was sketching a new training schedule with frogs, hands, echoes, and glitch fails all mapped out—when the wall glitched.
A cold line of text appeared:
> đź”’ ENCRYPTED SYSTEM LOG FILE RECOVERED
FILE NAME: "KERNEL-REWRITE: PROTOTYPE ZERO"
Author: UNKNOWN
Subject: Lila Everen
Access Level: FORBIDDEN – ADMIN ONLY
Lila blinked. "Wait. Me?"
She tapped the file.
> ⚠️ ACCESS DENIED
Trace Signature: Club Member ID – [CLASSIFIED]
"What the…"
Muffin beeped, confused. "Unauthorized trace detected. Someone inside the Patchroom accessed this file during the last 3 hours."
Lila's stomach dropped.
> Someone in the Glitch Club… was looking into her secret.
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⚡ Scene 2: Morning – Accusations Begin
The next day, everything felt off.
Nilo was unusually quiet.
Mara refused to speak at all.
Junie sat perfectly still, her cane tapping in strange rhythms on the floor—almost like code.
Eli was missing.
And Vess stood in the corner, mirror-eyes unmoving.
Lila walked in and said, "Good morning, code-jam rejects!"
No one laughed.
Junie spoke first. "There's a traitor in the club."
"W-what?"
She nodded. "My memory path was tampered with. Someone erased five minutes from last night."
Muffin floated down. "I tracked unauthorized system contact. The signal used internal Patchroom access credentials."
Lila inhaled slowly. "Meaning one of us tried to hack the core file."
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🔎 Scene 3: Suspicions Fly
They argued.
Nilo claimed he couldn't even code his own socks.
Mara said she was in her terrarium tank all night (frog skin needs humidity, apparently).
Rin said she had six witnesses—but none of them were human.
Junie had no proof but claimed she felt someone slip past her memory net. "Like a shadow trying not to be noticed."
And Vess… just stared at Lila.
Then Eli walked in—coffee in hand, late as always—and everyone turned to him.
"You're the only one with pro-level system hacks," Junie said.
Eli raised a brow. "I also live in this building. I don't need to sneak into my own database."
"But you could."
"Sure. But why would I care about some 'Prototype Zero' nonsense?"
"Because," Vess finally spoke—her voice cracked and echoed—
> "Because she's not what she says she is."
The room went silent.
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🌀 Scene 4: Who Is Lila?
Vess walked slowly to the center.
She pulled a mirror from her coat. It shimmered not with reflection—but with data threads.
"I see what people hide," she said. "It's my curse. And my gift."
Then she looked directly at Lila.
"You're not just a student. You were built. Your Tree wasn't born—it was inserted."
Lila froze.
"What are you talking about?"
Vess tossed the mirror down—it flickered through flashes:
> A younger Lila in a white lab.
Surgeons.
A voice: "Initiate Rewrite-Seed Prototype."
Lila blinking, confused.
A glowing sigil embedded in her chest.
Junie whispered, "She's… a system child."
Muffin began panicking. "Core Sync instability rising. Lila… your rewrite powers—they're not adaptive. They're invasive. You weren't meant to patch—you were meant to overwrite."
Lila stumbled back.
"No. That's not—I didn't know—!"
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đź’Ą Scene 5: The Breaking Point
Nilo said, "That file, the Prototype log—it was about you, wasn't it?"
Rin stepped forward. "So all this—club, patches, helping us… was it real? Or just a test?"
"I swear I didn't know!" Lila cried. "I only saw the file last night—I thought I was just weird. Just another error!"
But Junie was trembling. "If you were built, what else can you do to us?"
Eli finally broke the tension.
"Enough," he said sharply. "If she was a weapon, we'd all be dead already."
"She's still dangerous," Vess replied.
"Yeah? So are you. You read people's deepest truths without permission."
Rin added, "We're all broken. That's why we're here."
Then Mara croaked, tears in her eyes: "Can't we all just… still be misfits together?"
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🌱 Scene 6: The Vote
Lila stepped forward, voice trembling.
"Okay. I don't know what I am. But I know what I want. I want to keep helping people. I want to prove I'm not just code—I'm me."
She turned to them all. "If you want me to leave... I will."
Junie stood first. "Stay."
Nilo nodded. "You're the only one who called me a wild card instead of a bug."
Rin lifted all six hands. "You're still the glitch queen to me."
Even Vess looked down. "You didn't lie. That file did."
Only Eli didn't speak.
Then he smirked. "You're Prototype Zero, huh? That means you're the original broken girl."
He walked to her, held out a hand. "Glad to meet you, Lila."
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✨ Scene 7: Final Revelation
That night, back in the Patchroom, Muffin hovered nervously.
"Lila... there's something else."
"What now?"
"I traced the signature on the file."
"…And?"
Muffin blinked.
> "The one who created that log wasn't a council member.
They were marked with your system fragment.
Signature match: 98%... Lila Everen."
Lila sat down hard.
She had written the file.
Before her memory began.
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🌳 End of Chapter 9 – Growth Summary
> 🌳 HeartTree of the Rewrite – Level 10 – EVOLUTION UNLOCKED!
XP: 350 / 350
🌟 Evolution Path Triggered: Unknown Origin Class: Seed of Rewrite
Passive Gained: "Contradiction Core" – You gain +30% sync with those who distrust the system
🎖 Club Status: Fully Bonded
🌀 Hidden Memory Fragment: [YOU CREATED THE FILE]
🚨 Trust Dynamics Changed
Vess: ???
Junie: Stable
Eli: Loyal
Nilo, Rin, Mara: Uplifted
Self: Doubt Level – 62%