The beam burst from the prototype's arm with a piercing crack,
a streak of blinding energy slicing through the air toward Ash's chest.
Ash had no time to move.
No time to think.
No time to breathe.
But someone else did.
Palo.
The moment the beam fired, he threw himself forward with instinct faster than fear, shoving Ash hard to the side.
"Ash, down!"
The shot connected before the sentence even finished.
BOOM!
The impact exploded against the corridor floor, sparking a burst of force that sent both of them tumbling across the ground. Ash rolled, coughing, ears ringing, vision swimming.
"Ash!" Silva shouted, sprinting toward him.
He pushed himself upright, dizzy.
"I'm okay, I'm okay!"
But Palo,
Where was...
Ash's heart dropped.
Palo lay on one knee, hand braced on the ground, breathing hard. His clothes were scorched along the side where the beam had grazed him, but he was alive.
Ash ran to him immediately.
"Palo! Are you hurt? You didn't have to",
Palo shook his head sharply, cutting him off.
"You don't get to talk about what I have to do," he said, voice rough but steady. "If that thing is aiming at you, I'm moving. Every time."
Ash's throat tightened.
The prototype turned toward them again, mechanical joints screeching under the strain of its damaged systems.
The stranger shouted from across the hall:
"We need to immobilize it before it recharges the next shot!"
Silva nodded, she was already moving.
But the Founder raised a hand.
"Wait."
Silva froze.
"What do you mean wait?! That thing is about to..."
The Founder's gaze remained fixed on the prototype.
"Look."
The others turned.
The prototype, despite lowering its arm, was trembling. Violently.
Its optic flickered from bright red to a dull, confused yellow.
Like it was fighting something.
Ash felt the spark inside him pulse again,
not in fear this time.
In recognition.
He stepped forward, but Palo grabbed his wrist.
"Ash, don't"!
Ash gave him a small nod.
"It's okay. I don't think it's going to shoot again."
The prototype staggered, almost like it was trying to step backward. It failed, its damaged joints locking up.
The stranger's eyes widened.
"No… it's resisting the secondary protocol."
Silva stared.
"Why would it do that? Isn't it programmed to destroy him?"
The Founder finally whispered the possibility none of them wanted to say:
"Because it remembers him."
Ash took another slow step.
"Prototype ZB-0A," he said gently. "Can you hear me?"
The machine twitched.
Its optic flickered yellow…
then blue…
then unstable red.
"emo… unit"
The voice cracked.
"Ash.."
Ash froze.
It said his name.
Palo's grip tightened around his arm.
The stranger's breath caught.
Silva whispered, "No way. That thing shouldn't be able to say names."
The Founder shook his head slowly.
"It shouldn't be able to do half of what it's doing. This suggests it didn't fail because the programming was flawed. It failed because it.."
He hesitated.
"It developed something it wasn't supposed to."
Ash's spark pulsed again.
He stepped closer.
"You know me."
The prototype's head jerked in a strained nod.
Parts of its chest plating sparked and cracked like it was tearing itself apart internally.
"protect"
"unit"
"command… conflict"
Ash reached out his hand.
Not touching,
just offering.
"I'm not your enemy," he said softly. "You don't need to follow that protocol."
The prototype reached for him too,
hand shaking, metal grinding.
For a terrifying second, it looked like it might grab him.
Palo tensed.
Silva raised a tool in case she had to intervene.
But the prototype stopped inches away.
Its optic flickered again…
and dimmed.
Ash leaned in slightly.
"Prototype…?"
The machine's arm lowered.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Like a bow.
The others stared in disbelief.
Silva mouthed:
"…It's submitting?"
The Founder exhaled shakily.
"Ash, I don't know how, but you're overriding it on a level deeper than commands. This is...?"
But he didn't finish.
Because at that moment,
the prototype's optic flickered one last time.
Yellow.
Blue.
Red.
Then,
Black.
Its massive frame shuddered once and collapsed to the floor with a deafening crash.
Ash flinched backward.
Palo grabbed him before he could fall.
The stranger moved toward the machine cautiously.
Silva checked its control panel.
"It's shut down," she said softly. "Not destroyed… but dormant."
Ash stared at it, chest tight.
The Founder approached him.
"You didn't destroy it," he said quietly. "You freed it. From a protocol that was strangling its core."
Ash looked up at him, confused.
"What does that mean?"
The Founder hesitated.
Then answered:
"It means you're more connected to ZB-0's origins than any of us realized."
Ash's spark pulsed.
Once, hard.
Palo held his shoulder.
"Ash… are you okay?"
Ash swallowed.
"No."
His eyes drifted to the fallen prototype.
"Because if that one remembered me…
how many others might?"