The trainyard was soaked in mist and oil, abandoned by day, haunted by night. Under the orange glow of flickering lights, Aria stepped onto the tracks, her breath shallow, her senses sharpened.
She could feel her before she saw her.
The Mirror stepped from behind a rusted locomotive. Same build. Same face. Same sharp chin and unruly dark curls—but her expression was carved from ice. Cold precision. Aria's worst parts, weaponized.
They stared at each other. Twin ghosts from a lab built on lies.
"You've improved," the Mirror said. Her voice was like Aria's, only flat—devoid of empathy. "But not enough."
"I don't need to be enough," Aria replied, stepping forward. "I just need to outlast you."
No more words.
The fight exploded into motion.
---
Steel Against Flesh
Aria ducked the first strike. A blade whistled past her cheek. She countered with a roundhouse kick, catching the Mirror in the ribs—but the woman didn't flinch.
They were too evenly matched.
Every move Aria made, the Mirror anticipated.
Every weakness Aria had, the Mirror exploited.
She was bleeding from her temple when the Mirror whispered, "You think this is about you?"
Aria spat blood. "Isn't it?"
The Mirror stepped closer, blade at Aria's throat. "You were the prototype. I'm the perfected model. You had feelings. Memories. Attachments. I had none. And they chose me."
"They made a mistake," Aria growled.
Then—
A sharp whistle.
From the shadows, K-0X emerged, bloodied but alive, aiming a low-grade blaster ripped from a drone.
The Mirror turned—just for a second.
It was enough.
Aria tackled her double into a pile of steel rails. They crashed, fists flying, blades clanging. Aria fought not just to survive, but to prove something deeper: that being human wasn't a flaw.
---
The Final Strike
Pinned, Aria headbutted the Mirror, sending her sprawling. Her blade skidded away.
The Mirror rose slowly, wobbling slightly—blood from her nose, but her face blank as ever.
"This is why they'll never stop," she said, voice hollow. "Because even if I fall... they have others."
Aria stepped forward. "Then I'll take them down. One by one."
She slammed the pommel of her blade into the Mirror's temple. She dropped, unconscious.
Breathing hard, Aria stood over her.
K-0X reached her. "You okay?"
"No," Aria said, her voice raw. "But I'm alive."
She looked at the Mirror's unmoving body. "Keep her breathing. She's proof of what they did."
---
Meanwhile: SilvyrTech Tower – Level 77
Lucien stormed into the boardroom, flanked by Sable and two trusted tech officers.
On the screen: a blurry photo of Aria and The Mirror fighting, already leaked on a shadow forum.
"This was a warning," Lucien said grimly. "They're exposing us from the inside."
Sable crossed her arms. "Then we strike back."
"No," Lucien said. He pulled out the data drive. "We go nuclear."
He connected it to the system, uploading classified Orion Project files to an untraceable cloud.
The boardroom went silent.
"Lucien—" one executive began.
"They deserve to know the truth. Every damn part of it."
---
Two Hours Later – Worldwide
The leak hit the web like wildfire.
News anchors gasped over the footage. Scientific communities lit up with alarm. Secret projects, illegal human experiments, the Orion genetic cloning logs...
All public now.
And on every screen across the world, a voice-over played:
> "What if your memories were manufactured? What if your enemies wore
your face? And what if the truth could kill you faster than a bullet?"
> – Beneath the Billionaire's Mask