Debt to the underworld boss

Mirror Image

Chapter eight:

The clone didn’t just step out of the shattered tank; she moved like a predator unleashed from a cage. The thick, viscous blue fluid dripped from her pale, flawless skin, pooling around her bare feet. There was no hesitation, no disorientation from the artificial sleep. Zenith had programmed her for one singular purpose: eradication.

Before the last shard of glass even hit the floor, she lunged.

Her speed was terrifying—unnatural and augmented by whatever synthetic enhancements Zenith had woven into her muscle fibers. I barely had time to bring my obsidian dagger up defensively before she crashed into me. The impact was like getting hit by a freight train. We both went flying backward, skidding violently across the slick, blood-stained tiles.

All the breath left my lungs in a sharp, agonizing rush.

I rolled, trying to put distance between us, but she was already above me. Her fist came down in a blur, aiming straight for my skull. I jerked my head to the side just as her knuckles shattered the ceramic floor tile exactly where my temple had been a microsecond before.

"Elena! Talk to me!" Nikolai’s voice screamed through the earpiece, accompanied by the heavy, rhythmic thud of gunfire from the floor above me. The guards on level three had finally engaged him.

"A little busy, Kolya!" I grunted, using my legs to kick the clone squarely in the chest.

She flew backward, but instead of losing her balance, she flipped mid-air and landed perfectly in a crouch, her synthetic blue eyes locked onto mine with a dead, emotionless stare. It was like looking into a nightmare mirror. Zenith hadn't just copied my face; they had downloaded my combat algorithms. She knew exactly how I fought.

I scrambled to my feet, gripping my dagger in a reverse hold. "You have my face," I spat, wiping a streak of blood from my split lip. "Let's see if you have my pain tolerance."

I charged. I feinted low, aiming a sweeping kick at her knees, but she anticipated it. She leaped over my leg, grabbing my outstretched arm and twisting it violently. Pain flared through my shoulder joint, hot and blinding. Instead of fighting the momentum, I went with it, spinning my body and driving the pommel of my dagger brutally into her jaw.

The sickening crack of bone echoed in the room. Her head snapped back, and she stumbled. But to my absolute horror, she didn't scream. She didn't even flinch. Slowly, she reached up, grabbed her dislocated jaw, and snapped it back into place with a wet crunch.

*She doesn't feel pain. They removed her pain receptors.*

Before I could recover from the shock, she swept my legs out from under me. I hit the ground hard. Her hands, cold as ice and strong as iron, clamped around my throat. I thrashed beneath her, clawing desperately at her arms, but her grip was like a hydraulic vice. The edges of my vision began to blur, black spots dancing in the corners of my eyes as my lungs burned for oxygen.

"Elena!" The ceiling above us suddenly detonated.

A massive, deafening explosion rocked the sublevel. Chunks of concrete, twisted rebar, and dust rained down from the ceiling as the primary ventilation shaft collapsed entirely. Through the smoke and falling debris, a massive, dark figure dropped into the lab.

Nikolai.

He didn't hesitate. Seeing the clone choking the life out of me, he raised his assault rifle and unleashed a short, controlled burst of high-caliber rounds.

The clone moved with impossible reflexes. The moment the first shot echoed, she released my throat and threw herself backward, dodging the brunt of the gunfire. One bullet grazed her shoulder, tearing a chunk of flesh away to reveal the gleaming, silver synthetic mesh beneath her skin, but it barely slowed her down.

I rolled onto my side, gasping violently for air, my throat bruising instantly. Nikolai was by my side in a heartbeat, his massive hand gripping the back of my tactical vest and hauling me to my feet. His silver eyes scanned my face, wild with an intensity I had never seen before.

"Are you hit?" he demanded, his voice a low, terrifying growl.

"I'm fine," I coughed, leaning heavily against his side for a fraction of a second before finding my footing. I pointed a trembling finger through the smoke. "Look."

Nikolai raised his rifle, tracking the movement in the shadows. When the dust finally settled, the clone was standing on the far side of the lab, near the emergency blast doors. The glowing blue fluid of the tank had washed over the floor, reflecting the red emergency strobe lights that were now flashing frantically across the facility.

For the first time, Nikolai saw her face. Even the hardened Syndicate enforcer froze. His breath hitched, his rifle lowering just a fraction of an inch as he stared at the exact replica of the woman standing next to him.

"What the hell did they do to you?" he whispered, his voice laced with pure venom.

The clone didn't answer. She tilted her head, her synthetic blue eyes analyzing Nikolai’s heavy armor, the caliber of his weapon, and my weakened state. Her internal processor was doing the math. She knew she couldn't take us both right now.

Without a word, she turned and punched her fist straight through the electronic control panel of the blast doors. The heavy steel barricades ripped open, and she vanished into the dark labyrinth of the Zenith corporate maintenance tunnels.

"Do we pursue?" Nikolai asked, raising his weapon to follow her.

"No," I rasped, rubbing my bruised throat. "The alarms are triggered. The entire corporate security force will be down here in less than two minutes. We need to burn this lab, wipe the servers, and get back to the aqueducts."

Nikolai looked at the shattered tank, then back to the dark tunnel where the clone had disappeared. His jaw clenched tight. "She’s out there, Elena. A weapon wearing your face."

"I know," I said, my voice hardening to steel as I reloaded my pistol. "And when the time comes, I'm going to be the one who puts a bullet right between those fake blue eyes. Now, set the charges. We burn Zenith to the ground."