Chapter Eight: Labor Equation

Leila soaked the wedding veil in red wine, and the lace fibers automatically wove themselves into a sterile chamber. During her fifth contraction, she bit through her pearl necklace and used the nano-coating to draw a genetic map on the amniotic sac.

"Wrong breathing frequency," Spider Shadow inserted his mechanical spider leg into the concrete wall for power. "The baby needs π waves, not α waves..." He suddenly grunted, blue fluorescent liquid identical to the amniotic fluid seeping from the tear in his suit.

Leila grabbed his trembling hand and pressed it against her abdomen. "Count to three!" Their heartbeats resonated through their skin, projecting a holographic anatomy chart in the makeshift delivery room—the fetus was using the umbilical cord to write firewall code to fend off the virus.

"She's like you..." Spider Shadow suddenly removed his mask, scales peeling off his face with each fetal movement. "Her eyes will turn the blue of cornflowers..." Before he could finish, Grey crashed through the glass dome, his claws wrapped around a blood-streaked newborn swaddle.

Leila tore apart the steel bones of her dress, bending the alloy wires into DNA-shaped weapons during contractions. When Grey's tears fell onto her collarbone birthmark, she suddenly understood his whimpering—it was Morse code from Aidan's wedding vows.

"Stop!" The fetus emitted an ultrasonic wave, freezing everyone in place. In the time rift, Leila saw the truth: Spider Shadow was the first-generation clone she had cultivated using Aidan's genes, while her unborn daughter was the perfect second-generation carrier.

In the final moments of labor, she smeared the umbilical blood on Grey's forehead. The giant beast gently cradled the infant, his scales peeling away to reveal Aidan's face. "Our evolutionary chain is complete..."