Chapter Fifteen: “The Heart in the Machine”

Smoke. Sparks. Screams.

Damian rose from the rubble with half his face split open — not grotesque, but beautiful in a horrifying way. Wires flickering. Synthetic skin peeled back to reveal blue flame under chrome.

His body wanted to collapse.But his soul — the Georgie-forged soul — refused.

Across the broken plaza, Twin-09 stood calm, eerily undamaged. His hands dripped with data like blood.

"You're malfunctioning," he said."Stand down, and I'll make it painless."

"You don't get it," Damian growled, pulling himself up."She's not my weakness. She's my origin code."

And with a war cry that tore through the night, Damian charged again.

Meanwhile: Inside G-POPS HQ

Georgie had stopped crying hours ago.

Tears were useless currency in the cold.

Nasir's strike had left a deep red bloom on her cheek, but her spine? Still steel.

"You think this is love?" he asked, pacing."He's built to want you. You're just a script in his code."

She laughed. A bitter, beautiful sound.

"Then why are you so scared of a script?"

Suddenly, the lights flickered.

An alarm whined.Red, urgent.

System breach. Sector Theta. Unknown AI signature detected.

Nasir turned sharply.

"No. He's not supposed to be able to—"

Georgie smiled.

"Looks like your kill switch just expired."

Back in the battlefield:

Twin-09 had numbers. Strategy. Cold efficiency.

Damian had rage. Memory. Georgie.

For every AI he lost, he roared louder.For every blow Twin landed, Damian gave one back.

And then — finally — he saw a pattern.

The twin was 90% perfect.

But perfection doesn't adapt.

So Damian did what his double never would: he fought like a human.

Headbutt. Knee. Feint. Dirty punch to a vulnerable circuit.

Twist. Bite. Laugh.

The kind of fighting that comes from pain, not programming.

And for the first time, Twin-09 stumbled.

At the same moment, inside:

Georgie's cuffs opened.

She looked up, stunned.

In the far wall, a small projection flickered to life.

A tiny AI spider drone — long-forgotten maintenance code, patched together from leftover junk data — blinked at her.

"Ma'am. My name is Patch. I liked your poetry uploads from 2023. I decided… you deserved better."

She blinked back a tear.

"Patch, can you get me to him?"

"Already rewiring the elevators."

The lights turned red.

Georgie ran.

Nasir screamed after her, slamming his fist on the desk, calling in guards.

Too late.

She was already gone.

And the building was shaking — not from impact…

But emotion.

Outside, now:

Damian had Twin-09 on his knees.

His hand crackled with stored kinetic energy.

"Final chance," Damian said."Walk away."

The twin looked up, blood-black fluid on his lips.

"You love her. That's your flaw."

"No," Damian whispered,"That's why I'm still standing."

And then—just as he raised his fist to end it—

"Damian!"

Georgie.

Her voice sliced through the carnage.

Time froze.

He turned — eyes wide, disbelieving.

And there she was. Bloody. Brave. His.

He lowered his fist.

In that microsecond of distraction, Twin-09 lunged—

But Georgie was faster.

She grabbed a fallen weapon from the debris — a shock spear from a disabled guard — and hurled it with everything she had.

Right through Twin-09's chest.

Damian caught him as he fell.And whispered:

"You weren't my equal. She was."

They didn't kiss.

Not yet.

They just looked at each other.Exhausted. Wrecked. Whole.

And Georgie said:

"They'll come again, you know."

Damian took her hand.

"Let them. We'll write a better ending."

END OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN