CHAPTER 15: HER FINAL RESET
396 Words
Chapter 15 – Her Final Reset
Talia was waiting.
In the rooftop greenhouse of the Vale Foundation — the highest point in the city. Where plants grew under artificial light and secrets bloomed in silence.
She wore white. Always the angel.
But Ava saw the devil beneath it now.
“You’re early,” Talia said calmly.
Ava stepped into the room, gun holstered but hands free. Calm. Controlled.
“No more games,” Ava said.
Talia smiled. “You remember.”
“I remember everything.”
The air between them tightened like a pulled trigger.
Talia tilted her head. “And yet, you came alone.”
“No,” Ava replied. “I came whole.”
She circled slowly, eyeing the lush vines around them — green, blooming, hiding surveillance no doubt. “You manipulated me. Rewrote me. Turned me into your experiment.”
“You turned yourself into a weapon,” Talia countered. “I just lit the fuse.”
Ava paused. “Why?”
Talia sighed. “Because the world doesn’t change through love, Ava. It changes through pain. You were the perfect candidate. You had nothing left to lose.”
“Until Julian,” Ava said quietly.
Talia’s expression shifted — just for a second. Something like jealousy.
“You loved him too,” Ava whispered.
“I created him for you,” Talia hissed. “And you loved him back. That wasn’t part of the plan.”
Ava nodded slowly.
Then pulled the drive from her pocket — the one with every file, every reset, every betrayal.
She held it out.
“Here’s the legacy you built.”
Talia reached for it.
But Ava dropped it on the floor — and crushed it under her heel.
Glass and data splintered into the soil.
Talia’s eyes widened.
“You just destroyed—”
“Everything,” Ava said. “That’s the point.”
Talia stepped back. “You think erasing the files frees you? It erases your proof.”
Ava smirked. “I don’t need proof. I am the proof.”
Talia moved to reach for something — a concealed pistol?
Too slow.
Ava was already moving.
Two steps forward. Elbow. Disarm. Pin.
A breath later, Talia was on the ground, coughing, disarmed.
Ava leaned down.
“This is my final reset,” she said.
“And I’m not yours anymore.”
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- Writer
