Harley stood at the edge of the dimly lit chamber, arms crossed, his single eye, locked onto the figure lying in the bed.

Yazmina.

Even after 7 years, she remained unchanged.

The silken sheets pooled around her form, her slender figure still, her porcelain skin untouched by time.

Her silvery-white hair cascaded across the pillows like liquid starlight. Her lips-soft, parted ever so slightly-held the same delicate color as a cherry blossom.

Untouched. Unaging. Unfathomable.

In this cursed sleep. Her fitted dress clung to her figure, highlighting her gentle curves, but where fabric met bare skin, the illusion of perfection shattered.

She was breathing.

Slowly. Barely.

And yet, she should have been dead.

There were no machines keeping her alive, no IVs or monitors stabilizing her condition. And yet, her chest continued to rise and fall in slow, steady breaths. The only sign of something unnatural were the blackened veins creeping outward from her wound, like cracks forming in a fragile glass sculpture.

Harley exhaled sharply.

She was like a sleeping beauty.

But unlike the fairy tale, there was no prince here to wake her.

Only monsters.

His mind drifted back to seven years ago.

---

Seven Years Ago - Playcare

He stepped through the wreckage, searching.

Everything was in ruins. The explosion had torn Playcare apart.

The children-gone.

The staff-dead.

But she had to be here.

He had to find her.

Then-a growl.

A deep, warning sound from the darkness.

Glowing eyes snapped open.

Harley halted, but he didn't flinch. He had no reason to fear what lurked in the dark.

Until it stepped forward.

A massive, feline figure emerged from the shadows, its dark fur bristling with barely contained rage.

Catnap.

The experiment he created.

Harley mused. "So you're still alive."

Catnap bared his teeth.

He hated that voice. That smug, condescending tone.

Harley took a step forward, but Catnap moved in an instant-his claws slamming into the floor right where Harley had been about to step. The metal cracked under the force.

Harley's smug posture didn't waver.

"You shouldn't be here," Catnap growled, his voice low and guttural.

Harley tilted his head, unaffected. "I go where I please."

Catnap's tail lashed behind him.

His claws flexed, scraping against the ground like knives against stone. His body was tense-coiled to strike.

"You come looking for her," he said. Not a question. A statement.

Harley said nothing.

He didn't need to.

Catnap already knew.

"You don't deserve to find her," Catnap hissed.

Harley's smugness faltered. Just a little.

Catnap saw it and he wanted to rip every expression off his face.

"She was taken," Catnap finally said.

Harley narrowed his eyes. "By who?"

Silence.

Then-a knowing look.

Harley's eyes darkened.

No.

No, that wasn't possible.

Catnap tilted his head, his expression full of cruel amusement.

"You already know who," he purred.

The words hit like a bullet.

Harley's fists clenched.

There was only one being powerful enough to take Yazmina.

One he never thought would care.

Him.

Harley's jaw tensed. "So that thing took her."

He exhaled sharply.

"I'm getting her back."

Catnap laughed.

A cruel, hollow sound.

"You can try," he sneered, baring his fangs.

"But you won't leave here alive."

For the first time, Harley saw it-the real hatred in Catnap's eyes.

Not just anger.

Not just resentment.

But the burning desire to kill him.

And for once...

Harley took him seriously.

Catnap's muscles tensed, his claws scraping against the ruined floor. His glowing eyes bore into Harley with raw hatred.

"You," Catnap growled. His voice was low, dangerous. "You did this to me."

Harley tilted his head, the single eye on his TV screen flickering. Static briefly crackled across the screen before stabilizing.

"I did a lot of things," he said casually, adjusting his lab coat. His metallic fingers clicked against each other as he flexed his hand. "You'll have to be more specific."

Catnap's tail lashed. His breathing grew heavier, controlled only by sheer restraint. "You turned me into this," he spat, his voice laced with venom.

Harley just casually replied, the artificial glow of his screen reflecting off the darkened walls. "I made you better."

That was the last straw.

With a roar, Catnap lunged.

Harley barely dodged, his metal feet scraping the ground as he twisted to the side. Claws slashed through empty air, inches from tearing through his coat.

Harley straightened, unbothered. "You don't scare me, Catnap."

"You should be scared," the feline hissed, circling him. "I should rip you apart for what you've done."

Harley sighed theatrically. "But you won't. You should have seen Yazmina's state. Only I can save her..."

Catnap halted. His ears flicked, his tail curling slightly.

Harley grinned. "That's right," he taunted. "You want to protect her, don't you?"

Catnap didn't answer.

Harley's screen flickered again. "Then get out of my way."

For a long moment, Catnap remained still, his entire body coiled with tension. But then, slowly, reluctantly, he stepped back.

Harley didn't waste time. He strode past, moving deeper into the upper ruins, his mechanical limbs whirring softly with each step.

But as he did, he felt the weight of Catnap's glare burning into his back.

And for the first time in a long while-he felt something dangerously close to unease.

Because Catnap was right.

This wasn't just about Yazmina anymore.

He had her.

And Harley had no choice but to climb there himself. Through corridors long abandoned. Past machines left to rust.

And there, amidst the shadows of cables and steel, he found her.

Lying-unmoving.

Breathing, but barely.

But she was not alone.

Standing beside her, looming over her fragile form, was Him.

The Prototype.

Harley had always studied it from the outside.

But now, he stood before it. And it was watching him.

The cables slithering from its body twitched, like the movement of a predator sizing up its prey. Harley's single eye flickered on the screen of his TV head, his mechanical fingers twitching. He knew better than to move recklessly.

"You want her"

The voice was distorted, layers of static weaving into something mechanical and mocking. It was not a question.

Harley's jaw tightened.

He didn't need to answer.

The Prototype shifted, its mass shifting as if to stretch, the cables dragging lazily against the floor. Then, in a voice that wasn't its own, it repeated:

"Talk or don't. Fight or give in."

Harley stiffened.

His own words.

Thrown back at him.

Mocking. Threatening.

His fingers clenched. "She's mine."

Silence.

Then-laughter.

A deep, mechanical sound that crawled beneath his metal skin, resonating through the very walls of the factory.

Harley exhaled sharply, his mind racing. Why? Why was the He keeping her? What purpose did she serve?

His fingers flexed again, his synthetic joints whirring softly. "Then what do you want?"

The Prototype didn't answer right away.

Instead, it tilted its head.

Slowly.

Unnaturally.

Then, it spoke-not just with words, but with knowledge.

"You know betrayal, don't you, Harley?"

Harley's screen flickered.

He said nothing.

"Discarded. Left to rot. Turned into this... thing."

His robotic fingers curled into a fist.

He didn't need the reminder.

He still remembered the moment Pierre and Ritterman abandoned him. Left him to be torn apart, only for him to awaken in this new form. A machine, barely human.

He had rebuilt himself from the wreckage of their betrayal.

And now, here he stood-facing something far greater than himself.

The Prototype leaned closer, its mass shifting again, the cables twitching like living things.

"You built me."

Harley felt something stir in his chest-something dangerously close to unease.

Because it was true.

He had thought he was the one in control. That the Prototype had always been another experiment beneath his grasp.

But now...

Now, he wasn't so sure.

The Prototype's cables coiled tighter around Yazmina's bed, possessive, unmoving.

"How about we make a deal."

Harley's screen flickered again.

Because at that moment-he knew.

He had never truly understood the power of what he had created.

Until now.

(This chapter was longer than I expected 😌)