Chapter 67

Chapter 67

“…the neural backlash could kill him.”

Silence crashed through the warehouse.

Not one person moved afterward.

Not Damon.

Not Seraphine.

Not even Hale.

Luca stood perfectly still in the center of the chaos while alarms screamed overhead and broken operatives writhed across the concrete floor around him.

Because suddenly

Everything became simple.

Of course it would end like this.

A weapon created through pain.

A life soaked in blood.

A man who destroyed everything he touched.

And now

The only way to save everyone was to finally destroy himself.

“No.”

Damon said it instantly.

Violently.

Luca looked toward him slowly.

“Damon”

“No.”

He stepped closer immediately.

Eyes sharp with panic now.

Real panic.

“We’ll find another way.”

Vale watched them from the upper walkway with detached fascination.

“There isn’t one.”

Damon ignored her completely.

“There is always another way.”

Cassian coughed weakly from the floor.

Blood streaking down his chin.

“She’s right.”

Damon looked at him like he wanted to deny reality itself.

“The neural key is organic,” Cassian forced out.

“It’s bonded to Luca’s original conditioning architecture.”

Luca already understood.

The system recognized him as its foundation.

Its first successful subject.

Its primary imprint.

To shut the protocol down

He would have to connect directly to the neural core.

And absorb the backlash manually.

Seraphine’s face had gone pale.

“How severe is the damage?”

Cassian laughed weakly.

Broken.

“Potentially catastrophic.”

Damon grabbed Luca’s arm immediately.

Hard enough to stop him from retreating into himself.

“You are not doing this.”

Luca’s chest tightened painfully.

Because Damon said it like he could command death away through love alone.

But Luca already knew.

The second division operatives were dying.

And if synchronization reached one hundred percent

Every surviving subject connected to the system would collapse.

Including him.

Another scream echoed across the warehouse.

One of the operatives suddenly went still afterward.

Motionless.

Dead.

The automated voice continued mercilessly overhead:

“Protocol synchronization at seventy-eight percent.”

Time was running out.

Fast.

Vale leaned slightly against the railing above.

Watching Luca carefully.

“What an extraordinary conclusion,” she murmured.

“The first division subject sacrificing himself voluntarily.”

Luca looked up at her.

Hatred sharp enough to cut.

“You think this proves your system worked?”

Vale tilted her head slightly.

“Doesn’t it?”

“No.”

Luca’s voice steadied.

“This is the opposite of what you made me.”

Something unreadable flickered briefly across her expression.

Because she genuinely could not understand the distinction.

To Vale

Self-sacrifice and obedience looked identical.

But Damon understood immediately.

And somehow that hurt more.

Because Luca wasn’t choosing death because someone ordered him to.

He was choosing it because he cared.

And that made it infinitely more terrifying.

Damon stepped directly in front of him.

Forcing Luca to meet his eyes.

“You are not sacrificing yourself for these people.”

Luca swallowed hard.

“They’ll die.”

“We’ll save them another way.”

“There isn’t time.”

“We’ll make time.”

Luca almost broke right there.

Because Damon still sounded so certain.

Still believed Luca deserved survival.

Even now.

Especially now.

Luca’s voice dropped into something fragile.

Something painfully honest.

“You can’t keep choosing me over everyone else.”

Damon stared at him in disbelief.

“That’s what you think I’m doing?”

“Yes.”

Damon shook his head immediately.

“No.”

A pause.

“I’m choosing you too.”

The words hit Luca harder than any bullet ever had.

Because nobody had ever put him in the category of people worth saving before.

Not Hale.

Not Vale.

Not even Luca himself.

Cassian watched the exchange silently from the floor.

And for the first time in years

Something inside him hurt in a way conditioning couldn’t explain.

Jealousy.

Grief.

Longing.

Because Luca escaped.

Not physically.

Emotionally.

Another violent tremor shook the warehouse.

The ceiling cracking further overhead.

Seraphine looked toward the lower access corridor sharply.

“The sublevel entrance is collapsing.”

Hale moved immediately.

“Then we go now.”

Damon looked at him coldly.

“You’re not coming.”

Hale’s expression remained unreadable.

“You need me to bypass the original locks.”

Annoyingly

He was right.

Vale smiled faintly above them.

“You still think you’re leaving this facility alive.”

Seraphine raised her gun instantly.

“Want to test that theory?”

Vale barely acknowledged the threat.

Her eyes remained fixed on Luca.

“You know what happens if you connect to the neural core.”

Luca’s pulse slowed.

Yes.

He did.

Fragments were returning faster now.

Memories of the synchronization process.

The way neural overload burned through the nervous system.

Best case?

Permanent damage.

Worst?

Death.

And somehow

Luca wasn’t afraid for himself anymore.

He was afraid of Damon surviving him.

Damon noticed the shift in his expression instantly.

“No.”

Luca blinked slightly.

“No what?”

“You’re thinking about dying already.”

Luca looked away.

Which was answer enough.

Damon grabbed his face suddenly.

Firmly.

Forcing Luca to look at him again.

“You listen to me carefully.”

Luca stopped breathing for a second.

“You do not get to decide your life is worth less than theirs just because you’re in pain.”

Silence swallowed the warehouse.

Even Vale stopped speaking.

Because Damon’s voice shook now.

Not with fear.

With desperation.

“You survived things that should’ve destroyed you,” Damon whispered.

“You fought your way back from becoming exactly what they wanted.”

His thumb brushed shakily against Luca’s cheek.

“And I am not losing you because you think suffering makes you disposable.”

Luca’s eyes burned instantly.

Because no one had ever defended his existence so fiercely before.

Not once.

The automated voice interrupted again:

“Protocol synchronization at eighty-four percent.”

Cassian suddenly gasped sharply from the floor.

His body arching violently in pain.

Luca moved instinctively toward him.

Cassian grabbed his wrist immediately.

“You always hesitate before impossible choices.”

Luca frowned.

“What?”

Cassian’s lips twitched weakly.

Almost a smile.

“You think too much.”

A pause.

“Just like before.”

Another fragment hit Luca instantly.

Young Cassian standing beside him during training.

Whispering quietly while instructors weren’t looking:

“Stop thinking and jump.”

Luca’s chest tightened painfully.

Because beneath all the conditioning

Cassian had tried to protect him too.

In the only ways he knew how.

Cassian’s expression darkened with pain again.

“If you’re going to save us…”

He coughed hard.

“…then stop wasting time.”