CHAPTER FIVE
I woke up somewhere clean.
That was the first warning.
White ceiling. Soft light. No restraints. No pain sharp enough to demand attention—just a deep, spreading ache, like my body had finally decided to feel everything at once.
Alive.
Again.
I turned my head slowly.
Lisa sat in a chair beside the bed, knees pulled to her chest. She was asleep, chin resting on her arms. Her shoes were still on.
She hadn't been moved.
That mattered.
I exhaled.
"You're awake," Morgan said.
She stood near the window, arms crossed, watching the town below like it was a map she already knew by heart.
"How long?" I asked.
"Six hours," she replied. "Longer than I expected."
"You drugged me."
"Yes."
"Why not restrain me?"
Morgan glanced over her shoulder. "Would you have stayed if we had?"
I didn't answer.
She walked closer, stopping just out of reach. "You weren't captured, Scott. You were invited."
"I didn't accept."
"You followed."
I shifted, testing my body. Sore. Bruised. Functional.
The system said nothing.
That silence pressed heavier than any command.
Lisa stirred and looked up, eyes unfocused at first—then sharp.
"You're still here," she said.
"I said I would be," I replied.
She studied my face. "You look worse."
"I feel better than I deserve."
Morgan handed her a bottle of water. Lisa took it, then hesitated.
"Did you hurt him?" she asked.
"No," Morgan said. "His body did that on its own."
I sat up slowly. The room stayed steady.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"A holding facility," Morgan replied. "Not a prison."
"That's what prisons call themselves," I said.
She didn't argue.
Instead, she tapped the tablet in her hand. The screen lit up—maps, timelines, fragments of surveillance.
"Tell me," she said, "why didn't you use the recalibration unit?"
Lisa glanced at me.
"I didn't want to," I said.
"That's not an answer."
I clenched my jaw. "Because it felt like dying quietly."
Morgan nodded. "Good. That means the conditioning isn't complete."
Lisa frowned. "Complete?"
Morgan turned to her. "He was never meant to choose. He was meant to optimize."
I looked away.
"You didn't break free," Morgan continued. "You deviated."
"There's a difference," Lisa said.
"Yes," Morgan agreed. "And it gets people killed."
Silence filled the room.
Morgan leaned against the counter. "Your mother understood that."
Lisa stiffened. "You knew her."
"Yes."
"How?" Lisa asked.
Morgan hesitated.
That was new.
"She helped design early behavioral anchors," Morgan said finally. "Emotional failsafes. Ways to stop assets from becoming unstable."
I felt sick.
"Children," I said quietly.
Morgan met my eyes. "Yes."
Lisa's voice dropped. "My mom did that?"
"She stopped," Morgan said quickly. "When she realized what it cost."
"And they let her leave?" Lisa asked.
"No," Morgan replied. "They let her think she did."
The boy appeared near the door.
He looked tired this time.
You weren't supposed to hear that yet.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Scott?" Lisa said. "What's wrong?"
I opened them.
Nothing.
Just the room.
Just consequences.
"They're using me," I said.
Morgan nodded. "They always were."
"And now?"
"Now," she replied, "they're waiting to see if you'll stabilize… or collapse."
Lisa stood. "You're talking about him like he's a test."
Morgan's voice softened. "He is."
Lisa shook her head. "He's a person."
Morgan didn't respond immediately.
When she did, her voice was quieter. "So was I. Once."
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood. My body protested, but held.
"Where's the girl?" I asked.
Morgan didn't answer.
Lisa's face drained of color. "Where is she?"
Morgan turned the tablet toward us.
A live feed appeared.
The girl sat in a bright room, drawing with colored pencils. Calm. Safe.
"For now," Morgan said. "The system isolated her when you deviated. Automatically."
Lisa's fists clenched. "You said she was safe."
"She is," Morgan replied. "Until you force a correction."
I stared at the screen.
This was the cost.
Not punishment.
Leverage.
"They want me to come back," I said.
"Yes," Morgan replied. "Or to prove you can't."
Lisa looked at me. "You won't."
I didn't answer.
Because the truth was simple and terrifying.
The system wasn't threatening me.
It was offering relief.
Morgan stepped closer. "This is the moment where most of them break," she said. "They don't scream. They don't fight."
"They agree."
The boy's voice echoed faintly in my head.
You're tired.
I clenched my hands until my nails bit skin.
"I'm not agreeing," I said.
Morgan studied me carefully.
"Then you'll need help," she said. "Real help. Not handlers. Not resets."
Lisa stepped beside me.
"You won't do this alone," she said.
I looked at her—really looked.
She was scared.
She was angry.
She was still here.
For the first time since Queens, the system didn't speak.
And for the first time, I understood why.
It wasn't done with me yet.
It was watching to see—
If I would choose to stay human
when being a weapon would hurt less.