POV: Mia (Zero)
I didn’t sleep.
The bed in my cell was nothing more than a slab of steel and foam, and the air stank of disinfectant and memories. But it wasn’t discomfort that kept me awake.
It was her name.
Echo.
The girl my brother had seen. The one they were building now that I—Mia, Zero, whatever I was—had started slipping through their fingers. She wasn’t just another weapon. She was something worse.
Something perfected.
I replayed Chito’s words in my head over and over.
> “She doesn’t talk. Doesn’t sleep. They wired her in from the beginning. She’s what they want all of you to become.”
I remembered the cold way the Broker watched me from behind the glass earlier. Not with anger. Not even with disappointment.
With detachment.
I wasn’t a loss to him.
I was a prototype.
