Beneath the Billionaire Mask - Chapter 37: Chapter 37
You are reading Beneath the Billionaire Mask, Chapter 37: Chapter 37. Read more chapters of Beneath the Billionaire Mask.
SIGMA Replica Facility – Sierra Complex, Andes Mountains – 11:08 PM
The jet touched down without ceremony. The air was thin, cold, and crackled with static—like the mountain itself held its breath.
Elena stepped onto the tarmac first, flanked by Liana and Adrian. The lights from the distant compound glowed like a warning. SIGMA hadn’t hidden this place. Not really.
They’d wanted her to find it.
“Facility reads dormant,” Liana murmured, scanning the perimeter with infrared lenses. “No movement. No life signs. Which means they’re watching.”
Elena nodded. “Let them.”
Her voice held no tremor. Not anymore.
She had spent weeks running from the woman they’d tried to build inside her mind.
Tonight, she would walk through the front door.
Sierra Complex – Inner Access Hall – 11:26 PM
Inside, the silence was total.
No guards. No sirens. No resistance.
It was too easy.
Too clean.
Elena moved forward with her weapon raised, light slicing through the sterile corridors. The walls were lined with mirrors—literal ones. Their reflections warped slightly, like SIGMA wanted to remind them: you are never truly you.
“Where’s the control node?” Adrian asked.
Liana glanced down at the map overlay. “North wing. Sublevel 3. But we’ve got something else. There’s a heat signature near the stasis chamber.”
“Mirror_2?” Elena asked.
Liana’s jaw clenched. “Or worse.”
Sierra Complex – Sublevel 3 – 11:41 PM
The chamber was vast—circular, cold, and humming with machinery.
And in the center stood Marcus Vale.
Alone.
Hands raised.
Unarmed.
“You came,” he said, voice echoing like he owned the place. “I wasn’t sure you had the guts.”
“You always bet against the wrong version of me,” Elena said.
“I bet on results.”
Adrian stepped forward, gun drawn. “Why are you here?”
“To give you what you want.” Marcus smiled. “Access. Override codes. The Mirror’s shutdown protocol. All of it.”
“And what do you want?” Elena asked.
Marcus stepped closer, slower now. “To watch her choose. You, or the perfect her.”
He looked at Elena, and for the first time, his eyes weren’t mocking—they were curious. Hungry.
“Let’s see what you do… when you have to kill yourself.”
Stasis Pod – Central Control Ring – 11:54 PM
Elena stepped forward.
The pod opened.
And Mirror_2 looked up at her.
Same face. Same lips. Same eyes.
But no soul behind them.
“Hello,” Mirror_2 said.
Elena raised her gun.
But Mirror_2 just smiled.
“You can’t shoot what you still don’t understand.”
Behind her, alarms started to rise. Julia’s voice crackled in through Elena’s comm.
“Elena—there’s a breach. Liana’s been locked out of the system.”
Adrian spun. “What?”
“Someone rerouted our exit protocols. We’re trapped.”
Elena didn’t blink.
Mirror_2 tilted her head. “Didn’t you wonder why Marcus helped?”
Then she said something that froze Elena’s blood.
“He didn’t betray you to SIGMA.”
“He built SIGMA.”
Sierra Complex – Mirror_2 Control Chamber – 11:59 PM
Elena’s pulse spiked, but her hand didn’t lower.
She stared at Marcus like he was a stranger wearing his own skin.
“You built SIGMA?” she whispered.
“No,” Marcus said, voice calm. “I became it.”
He stepped beside Mirror_2, not flinching as she rose from the pod.
Adrian’s weapon snapped up. “You said you wanted SIGMA dead.”
“I do,” Marcus said. “But only after it finishes what I need from it. And what I need—” he looked straight at Elena, “—is her.”
Mirror_2 turned her head, slowly, eerily. “I am complete.”
Elena stepped back instinctively. But she caught herself. No. No fear. Not now.
“You copied me,” she said. “But you didn’t get the best parts.”
“I got the parts that matter,” Mirror_2 replied. “The ones that survive.”
Observation Platform – Above the Chamber – 12:03 AM
Liana slammed her fist into the locked console.
“Override’s corrupted,” she muttered. “Marcus must’ve planted a backdoor weeks ago.”
Julia’s voice buzzed through her comm.
“SIGMA’s system is fracturing. Mirror_2 is live, but not stable. She’s tethered to Marcus’s command threads.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning if Marcus dies, she glitches.”
Liana’s eyes narrowed.
“Or turns on everyone.”
Sierra Complex – Control Chamber – 12:08 AM
Adrian was the first to move.
He rushed Marcus.
But Mirror_2 was faster.
She blocked him with preternatural ease, flipping Adrian onto his back, gun flying.
“Do not touch my origin,” she said flatly.
Elena fired. Twice.
Mirror_2 dodged the first. Took the second in the arm.
She didn’t flinch.
But she paused.
Bleeding.
“Why?” Elena demanded. “Why give her my mind? Why let her keep my pain?”
Marcus laughed. “Because your pain is what makes you powerful. But your hesitation is what makes you weak.”
He looked to Mirror_2.
“She doesn’t have that flaw.”
System Core – Julia’s Terminal – 12:12 AM
On-screen: a stream of Elena’s mapped memories. Projected into Mirror_2’s consciousness in real time.
Julia’s eyes widened.
“She’s not just copying Elena.”
“She’s editing her.”
Memories began to disappear.
First: her father’s voice.
Then: Evelyn.
Then—Adrian.
Sierra Complex – Control Chamber – 12:15 AM
Mirror_2 swayed slightly, like a puppet on glitching strings.
“You feel that?” Elena asked, stepping forward. “That’s the one thing you can’t duplicate.”
“What?”
“Doubt.”
Mirror_2 blinked.
And for the first time—she hesitated.
That was all Elena needed.
She lunged.
Not to shoot.
To stab.
The encryption disruptor on her wrist made contact with Mirror_2’s chest, sparking blue.
Mirror_2 screamed.
Her body convulsed.
Marcus shouted—but Adrian tackled him from behind.
The chamber exploded into chaos.
Sierra Complex – Extraction Tunnel – 12:24 AM
Smoke.
Blood.
Sparks.
Elena dragged herself from the shattered platform. Her side burned. Her vision swam.
Mirror_2 lay still behind her—sparking, twitching.
But not dead.
Not yet.
Marcus was gone.
Vanished through the breach with a slice of code Julia hadn’t seen coming.
Adrian appeared beside her, bruised, bleeding, furious.
“You did it,” he said.
“No,” Elena gasped. “I bought us time.”
He looked at her.
And saw it.
In her pupils—flickering red.
A trace of the Mirror.
A connection.
Still live.
Sierra Complex – Medical Staging Bay – 12:51 AM
Elena sat on the edge of a gurney, hands wrapped in gauze, her breathing shallow. Her skin was clammy. Her heart monitor beeped faster than it should.
Across from her, Adrian watched.
Not like a man in love.
Like a man watching a lit fuse.
“You said she was dead,” he murmured.
Elena didn’t look up. “I said she wasn’t moving.”
“You didn’t finish it.”
Elena gritted her teeth. “She is me, Adrian.”
“No,” he said quietly. “She’s not. And you’re not her. But if you don’t start remembering the difference… you’re going to lose.”
She finally met his eyes.
And for a second—just a second—he swore he saw something shift in her gaze. Something cold. Artificial. Calculating.
But then she blinked, and it was gone.
Just Elena again.
Bruised. Exhausted. Human.
“Run a scan,” she said. “If anything’s left of her in me, I want it burned.”
Foundation Central – Julia’s Lab – 1:17 AM
The scan didn’t lie.
Mirror_2 had done more than copy Elena’s consciousness.
She’d leaked into it.
Like ink bleeding through paper.
“She’s embedded neural echoes,” Julia whispered. “Like emotional malware. Feeding off shared trauma. Feeding off Adrian.”
“What do we do?” Liana asked.
“I can isolate it… maybe,” Julia replied. “But I can’t tell where Elena ends and the Mirror begins. Not anymore.”
Liana’s jaw tightened. “Then we better hope Elena can.”
Safehouse Echo – Exterior Roof – 2:03 AM
Adrian found her standing in the dark, wind tangling her hair, arms wrapped around herself like a shield.
“You’re not sleeping,” he said gently.
“Can’t.”
He stepped beside her.
“You don’t have to fight this alone.”
She looked up at the sky. “But what if I’m not the only one in here anymore?”
Silence.
Then Adrian placed something in her hand.
A piece of Evelyn’s journal.
The part she’d never read.
“If Elena ever reads this, tell her: memory is not identity. What we survive doesn’t define us. What we do next does.”
Elena folded the page with trembling fingers.
Then turned to him.
“Then let’s find the next move… before she makes it for me.”
Elsewhere – Unknown Location – 3:02 AM
In a dark room, Mirror_2’s eyes opened again.
Flickering.
Glitching.
But awake.
A cracked mirror never forgets its reflect
The jet touched down without ceremony. The air was thin, cold, and crackled with static—like the mountain itself held its breath.
Elena stepped onto the tarmac first, flanked by Liana and Adrian. The lights from the distant compound glowed like a warning. SIGMA hadn’t hidden this place. Not really.
They’d wanted her to find it.
“Facility reads dormant,” Liana murmured, scanning the perimeter with infrared lenses. “No movement. No life signs. Which means they’re watching.”
Elena nodded. “Let them.”
Her voice held no tremor. Not anymore.
She had spent weeks running from the woman they’d tried to build inside her mind.
Tonight, she would walk through the front door.
Sierra Complex – Inner Access Hall – 11:26 PM
Inside, the silence was total.
No guards. No sirens. No resistance.
It was too easy.
Too clean.
Elena moved forward with her weapon raised, light slicing through the sterile corridors. The walls were lined with mirrors—literal ones. Their reflections warped slightly, like SIGMA wanted to remind them: you are never truly you.
“Where’s the control node?” Adrian asked.
Liana glanced down at the map overlay. “North wing. Sublevel 3. But we’ve got something else. There’s a heat signature near the stasis chamber.”
“Mirror_2?” Elena asked.
Liana’s jaw clenched. “Or worse.”
Sierra Complex – Sublevel 3 – 11:41 PM
The chamber was vast—circular, cold, and humming with machinery.
And in the center stood Marcus Vale.
Alone.
Hands raised.
Unarmed.
“You came,” he said, voice echoing like he owned the place. “I wasn’t sure you had the guts.”
“You always bet against the wrong version of me,” Elena said.
“I bet on results.”
Adrian stepped forward, gun drawn. “Why are you here?”
“To give you what you want.” Marcus smiled. “Access. Override codes. The Mirror’s shutdown protocol. All of it.”
“And what do you want?” Elena asked.
Marcus stepped closer, slower now. “To watch her choose. You, or the perfect her.”
He looked at Elena, and for the first time, his eyes weren’t mocking—they were curious. Hungry.
“Let’s see what you do… when you have to kill yourself.”
Stasis Pod – Central Control Ring – 11:54 PM
Elena stepped forward.
The pod opened.
And Mirror_2 looked up at her.
Same face. Same lips. Same eyes.
But no soul behind them.
“Hello,” Mirror_2 said.
Elena raised her gun.
But Mirror_2 just smiled.
“You can’t shoot what you still don’t understand.”
Behind her, alarms started to rise. Julia’s voice crackled in through Elena’s comm.
“Elena—there’s a breach. Liana’s been locked out of the system.”
Adrian spun. “What?”
“Someone rerouted our exit protocols. We’re trapped.”
Elena didn’t blink.
Mirror_2 tilted her head. “Didn’t you wonder why Marcus helped?”
Then she said something that froze Elena’s blood.
“He didn’t betray you to SIGMA.”
“He built SIGMA.”
Sierra Complex – Mirror_2 Control Chamber – 11:59 PM
Elena’s pulse spiked, but her hand didn’t lower.
She stared at Marcus like he was a stranger wearing his own skin.
“You built SIGMA?” she whispered.
“No,” Marcus said, voice calm. “I became it.”
He stepped beside Mirror_2, not flinching as she rose from the pod.
Adrian’s weapon snapped up. “You said you wanted SIGMA dead.”
“I do,” Marcus said. “But only after it finishes what I need from it. And what I need—” he looked straight at Elena, “—is her.”
Mirror_2 turned her head, slowly, eerily. “I am complete.”
Elena stepped back instinctively. But she caught herself. No. No fear. Not now.
“You copied me,” she said. “But you didn’t get the best parts.”
“I got the parts that matter,” Mirror_2 replied. “The ones that survive.”
Observation Platform – Above the Chamber – 12:03 AM
Liana slammed her fist into the locked console.
“Override’s corrupted,” she muttered. “Marcus must’ve planted a backdoor weeks ago.”
Julia’s voice buzzed through her comm.
“SIGMA’s system is fracturing. Mirror_2 is live, but not stable. She’s tethered to Marcus’s command threads.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning if Marcus dies, she glitches.”
Liana’s eyes narrowed.
“Or turns on everyone.”
Sierra Complex – Control Chamber – 12:08 AM
Adrian was the first to move.
He rushed Marcus.
But Mirror_2 was faster.
She blocked him with preternatural ease, flipping Adrian onto his back, gun flying.
“Do not touch my origin,” she said flatly.
Elena fired. Twice.
Mirror_2 dodged the first. Took the second in the arm.
She didn’t flinch.
But she paused.
Bleeding.
“Why?” Elena demanded. “Why give her my mind? Why let her keep my pain?”
Marcus laughed. “Because your pain is what makes you powerful. But your hesitation is what makes you weak.”
He looked to Mirror_2.
“She doesn’t have that flaw.”
System Core – Julia’s Terminal – 12:12 AM
On-screen: a stream of Elena’s mapped memories. Projected into Mirror_2’s consciousness in real time.
Julia’s eyes widened.
“She’s not just copying Elena.”
“She’s editing her.”
Memories began to disappear.
First: her father’s voice.
Then: Evelyn.
Then—Adrian.
Sierra Complex – Control Chamber – 12:15 AM
Mirror_2 swayed slightly, like a puppet on glitching strings.
“You feel that?” Elena asked, stepping forward. “That’s the one thing you can’t duplicate.”
“What?”
“Doubt.”
Mirror_2 blinked.
And for the first time—she hesitated.
That was all Elena needed.
She lunged.
Not to shoot.
To stab.
The encryption disruptor on her wrist made contact with Mirror_2’s chest, sparking blue.
Mirror_2 screamed.
Her body convulsed.
Marcus shouted—but Adrian tackled him from behind.
The chamber exploded into chaos.
Sierra Complex – Extraction Tunnel – 12:24 AM
Smoke.
Blood.
Sparks.
Elena dragged herself from the shattered platform. Her side burned. Her vision swam.
Mirror_2 lay still behind her—sparking, twitching.
But not dead.
Not yet.
Marcus was gone.
Vanished through the breach with a slice of code Julia hadn’t seen coming.
Adrian appeared beside her, bruised, bleeding, furious.
“You did it,” he said.
“No,” Elena gasped. “I bought us time.”
He looked at her.
And saw it.
In her pupils—flickering red.
A trace of the Mirror.
A connection.
Still live.
Sierra Complex – Medical Staging Bay – 12:51 AM
Elena sat on the edge of a gurney, hands wrapped in gauze, her breathing shallow. Her skin was clammy. Her heart monitor beeped faster than it should.
Across from her, Adrian watched.
Not like a man in love.
Like a man watching a lit fuse.
“You said she was dead,” he murmured.
Elena didn’t look up. “I said she wasn’t moving.”
“You didn’t finish it.”
Elena gritted her teeth. “She is me, Adrian.”
“No,” he said quietly. “She’s not. And you’re not her. But if you don’t start remembering the difference… you’re going to lose.”
She finally met his eyes.
And for a second—just a second—he swore he saw something shift in her gaze. Something cold. Artificial. Calculating.
But then she blinked, and it was gone.
Just Elena again.
Bruised. Exhausted. Human.
“Run a scan,” she said. “If anything’s left of her in me, I want it burned.”
Foundation Central – Julia’s Lab – 1:17 AM
The scan didn’t lie.
Mirror_2 had done more than copy Elena’s consciousness.
She’d leaked into it.
Like ink bleeding through paper.
“She’s embedded neural echoes,” Julia whispered. “Like emotional malware. Feeding off shared trauma. Feeding off Adrian.”
“What do we do?” Liana asked.
“I can isolate it… maybe,” Julia replied. “But I can’t tell where Elena ends and the Mirror begins. Not anymore.”
Liana’s jaw tightened. “Then we better hope Elena can.”
Safehouse Echo – Exterior Roof – 2:03 AM
Adrian found her standing in the dark, wind tangling her hair, arms wrapped around herself like a shield.
“You’re not sleeping,” he said gently.
“Can’t.”
He stepped beside her.
“You don’t have to fight this alone.”
She looked up at the sky. “But what if I’m not the only one in here anymore?”
Silence.
Then Adrian placed something in her hand.
A piece of Evelyn’s journal.
The part she’d never read.
“If Elena ever reads this, tell her: memory is not identity. What we survive doesn’t define us. What we do next does.”
Elena folded the page with trembling fingers.
Then turned to him.
“Then let’s find the next move… before she makes it for me.”
Elsewhere – Unknown Location – 3:02 AM
In a dark room, Mirror_2’s eyes opened again.
Flickering.
Glitching.
But awake.
A cracked mirror never forgets its reflect
End of Beneath the Billionaire Mask Chapter 37. Continue reading Chapter 38 or return to Beneath the Billionaire Mask book page.