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“Yes.”

She folded her arms, watching him carefully. “So…this will be like them? We’ll be connected the way Ethan and Big G and you were?”

Zero paused. “Yes and no.”

Her stare flattened. “Why the heck do you talk like that?”

“Ethan and Omnis function with a hierarchical structure. Omnis assists, but Ethan remains dominant.”

She nodded slowly. Remembering. “And we’re equals.”

“Exactly!” he said with a single clap. “We share control. The system will recognize both of us as governing forces—equal in authority.”

Catherine braced herself. “And if one of us disagrees?”

“Then the system does nothing until agreement is reached.”

She paced again. “So we have to make every decision together?”

“Yes.”

Catherine stared at the shifting threads beneath them, the quiet hum of this irreversible thing pressing in. “What happens next if I say yes.”

Zero held her gaze. “Then we merge.”

He said it so simply. “This is…kind of insane.”

Zero surprised her with a firm, “Yes.”

She dragged both hands through her hair, every survival instinct screaming at her to walk away, run, disconnect.

That meant leaving Zero alone to do it.

Back to pacing. Thumbnail between her teeth. “I mean you won’t survive the weight of it,” she said as he watched. “And you’re… you’re family. So, I can’t let that happen.”

She stopped and turned to him. “Let’s do it. Let’s merge.”

Zero didn’t move. Didn’t react. He just watched her, as if measuring her certainty. Finally, he nodded. “Then we need to initiate it.”

“How?” she said, wanting to hurry before doubt had a chance to creep in. “Is there a button? Do we inject something? Do a surgery?”

“No surgeries, no hardware,” he hurried, sounding winded. “It’s already connected to us. The framework is here—we just have to give it an execution command.”

Her head drew back with a silentohshit. “So we just… tell it to do it?”

“Yes.”

She hesitated. “And then?”

Zero did his finger flinging at the floor and pointed to one of the glowing strands that surfaced to the top. “This is the merge protocol. It’s designed to integrate both of our systems into a single operational framework.”

She released a long, steady breath. “What happens to us? Exactly? Does it hurt? Tickle? Terrify?”

Zero met her gaze. “Maybe all three,” he said honestly. “Maybe more. Maybe nothing. We remain intact, but we’ll no longer function separately.”

Her jaw locked. “So I get your memories? You get mine? Am I going to start thinking like you?”

Zero’s head tilted slightly. “No. But we will have access to each other’s processes.”