Chapter 15 - The Collision
Federal agents, heavily armed and moving in tactical formation, poured into the laboratory. They secured the surrendered mercenaries and hauled Evelyn to her feet, slapping heavy steel handcuffs onto her wrists. But Evelyn, spiteful to the bitter end, was not finished. As Agent Ramirez pulled her away, she violently twisted her body, slamming her palm onto a hidden, secondary emergency control pad on the console.
She initiated a simultaneous, catastrophic power surge to both Sophie and Hope's neural implants. Both girls screamed in sheer agony as the weaponized technology violently seized their spines. Evelyn laughed, a manic, broken sound. "If I cannot leave with the technology, no one will!"
Elias raced to the interface terminal. The system forced a horrific choice: he only had time to physically sever the connection for one girl before the surge caused permanent, fatal brain damage. "Which subject?" the computer prompted. Elias froze in absolute terror. Hope, enduring excruciating pain, forced her eyes open. "Choose Sophie!" she screamed. "Save her!" But Elias refused to sacrifice his firstborn again. Sophie, gripping the armrests of her chair, shouted over the sirens, "Link us! Reverse the phase!" Elias understood instantly. Because both girls shared his unique genetic marker, their implants operated on the exact same frequency. His fingers flew across the keyboard, synchronizing their hardware and reversing the signal polarity. The two catastrophic surges collided and canceled each other out. The monitors exploded into darkness. The girls slumped in their chairs, unconscious, but alive.
