Chapter 11 - The Courthouse Built Over a Grave
The group entered Northbridge through abandoned rail tunnels while public reports falsely described the clinic disaster as a domestic incident. Daniel woke and admitted he had watched Emma for months before arranging their first meeting. He had known her routines, preferences, and fears before she knew his name.
Emma told him that real feelings did not erase engineered choices. He agreed to help activate the shutdown and testify against Margaret and himself.
Beneath the courthouse, they found the original Marrow Laboratory. Three biometric stations surrounded a glass network core. S-1 appeared on-screen with fourteen children in medical beds and accelerated the countdown from hours to minutes.
Margaret and Evelyn authenticated the first two stations. Adrian was rejected by the third. Daniel provided blood and entered his hidden designation, Gabriel Two, proving he was S-1's biological son.
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The final authorization belonged to Emma as the current maternal carrier. She activated the shutdown, but S-1 had corrupted it into a transfer gate. The system began copying the child's neural pattern.
When the transfer reached completion, S-1 warned, he would no longer need Emma's baby alive.
