Chapter 6 - The Woman in the Dark
The sight of his wife—alive, breathing, yet trapped behind thick bulletproof glass—sent a violent jolt of emotion through Marcus’s entire body.
Elena looked fragile, her face pale and thin, but her eyes were open. The moment her gaze swept across the corridor and landed on Marcus, a sudden, radiant warmth flooded her expression. And when her eyes shifted down to see Maya and Leo standing hand-in-hand beside their father, tears welled up in her eyes, spilling down beneath her oxygen mask.
"You shouldn't have come back, Marcus," Dr. Vance said, stepping slowly toward the center of the room while holding a small black remote control in his hand. "You had a quiet life with the girl. You could have lived out your days in peaceful ignorance."
"You monster," Marcus growled, his hand tightening around the tire iron as he took a step forward. "You stole nine years of our lives! You kept a mother from her children!"
"I preserved humanity's greatest genetic breakthrough!" Vance countered sharply, his voice echoing with megalomaniacal pride. "The Twin-Mirror phenomenon! Two distinct bodies sharing a singular, synchronized neural resonance. When one twin suffers, the other's cellular regeneration quadruples to compensate! For nine years, Leo's presence in this facility has kept Elena’s cellular damage from the fire completely halted. And now, with Maya here..."
Vance smiled dangerously, pointing the remote at the glass chamber.
"With both twins in proximity, the biological loop will be closed. Elena will be fully restored, and I will possess the absolute key to cellular immortality."
"She's not your experiment!" Marcus roared.
He lunged forward, swinging the heavy tire iron directly at Vance’s head. But before the metal could strike, two armed security guards stepped out from the side rooms, tackling Marcus to the floor. The tire iron skittered across the concrete as Marcus fought wildly, striking one guard in the jaw, but the second guard pinned his arms behind his back, forcing him to his knees.
"Daddy!" Maya screamed.
"Don't touch him!" Leo yelled, stepping in front of his sister.
Dr. Vance adjusted his necktie, looking down at Marcus with cold contempt. "It’s tragic, really. You fought so hard, Marcus. But you don't understand the mechanics of the lock. The life-support system holding Elena alive is directly linked to the children's bio-signatures. To free her, one of the twins must take her place in the neural stabilization matrix."
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Vance turned his gaze toward Maya and Leo.
"Only one child can leave this vault alive with you, Marcus," Vance said softly, his words dripping with venomous pleasure. "The other must stay behind to keep their mother breathing. So tell me, father... which twin do you love more?"
