Red light soaked the chamber.
The Remnants moved like they'd rehearsed this confrontation in every fractured timeline—fast, calculated, inevitable.
Kade didn't flinch.
The moment their boots hit the floor, he triggered a mental surge through his Catalyst link. Gold circuit-lines ignited under his skin, climbing like living fire from his fingertips to his neck.
**System Response: Sovereign Override Engaged.**
**Warning: Conflict Detected. Matching Hostile Protocol.**
Marei ducked behind a support pillar, her lens flickering with chaotic data streams.
"Kade," she yelled, "their code is mirroring yours!"
"I know," he muttered, jaw clenched. "I'm fighting myself."
The Remnant's blade extended—a molecular edge humming with timeline echoes. When it struck, Kade blocked with his forearm—but the clash didn't spark metal on metal. Instead, **memory** bled out.
A flash—
He saw himself falling in a different timeline, gut-shot by a Resistance ally. Another—
Running through a burning facility, carrying Marei's lifeless body.
Another—
Kissing someone he couldn't name, then watching them vanish as the reset took hold.
Pain ripped through him.
The blade didn't cut flesh. It **rewrote** experience.
"Kade!" Marei shouted. "They're trying to edit you!"
He screamed and forced the surge higher. Golden fire exploded from his fists as his arm shattered the blade in a burst of static.
"No more edits," he snarled. "No more resets."
The Remnant reeled. Its visor cracked, revealing... nothing. No face. Just a swirl of code—endless, nameless data.
The second one lunged. Marei intercepted, sliding under its strike and firing a pulse shot that knocked it into the cryo-pod wall.
Glass shattered. Cold mist poured out.
Pod 43 lit up. One of the dormant copies had activated.
"Uh... we've got bigger problems," Marei said. "It's waking them!"
Kade turned to the golden orb still hovering in the chamber's center.
"System," he barked, "is there any way to shut down the Catalyst overrides?"
**System Notice: Sovereign Access Still Compromised. Full Control Locked Behind Core Memory.**
Marei shot again. "What memory?"
Another pod opened.
This one had *his* name again.
Kade Fallon, age 16.
What the hell…?
He took a shaky step toward it.
The Remnants were regrouping, slow but relentless.
He had no time to think—only a gut feeling guiding him.
"I need the truth," he said, placing his hand on the pod.
**System Warning: Core Memory Recalibration will overwrite all surface-level directives. Do you wish to continue?**
He didn't hesitate. "Do it."
A shockwave burst from the pod, knocking Marei and the Remnants to the floor.
Kade's mind was flooded.
Not memories this time—**designs.** The Catalyst's first blueprint. Not alien. Not government. **His.**
He had built this.
In another timeline.
In another version of himself.
He *was* the architect of the system now trying to erase him.
The Catalyst wasn't broken.
It was doing exactly what it was designed to do.
Clean the board. Reset the players.
Except this time, one of them remembered the rules.