Lisa-prime woke with slushie in her hair and a new scar across her ribs—the one Lora-9's flamethrower had given her last cycle. The 7-Eleven fluorescents buzzed like angry wasps.
*"Okay,"* she muttered, licking syrup off her knife. *"New plan."*
This time, she:
1. **Didn't** let Rabbit-17 hug her (last loop's "friendly" embrace had hidden a neural scrambler)
2. **Didn't** trust the keycard (it exploded in Loop 14)
3. **Did** steal the entire slushie machine (high-calorie shrapnel was underrated)
The door chimed.
Rabbit-17 stood there in his tiger onesie, holding a *live grenade* instead of his usual energy drink.
*"Hey Ghost! Wanna see something *fun*?"*
---
### **THE BASEMENT LEVEL**
They found the access point beneath a manhole cover that *shouldn't* exist—etched with the same **404** as Lisa's tattoo.
*"It's a *literal* backdoor,"* Rabbit-17 giggled, kicking it open.
The ladder descended into:
- **Version 1:** A 1980s Soviet bunker (smelled like vodka and blood)
- **Version 2:** The original Phoenix lab (with *young Wraith* strapped to a table)
- **Version 3:** A void with *thousands* of hanging 7-Eleven uniforms
Lora-9 grabbed Lisa's wrist. *"Don't look at—"*
Too late.
Lisa saw *herself* suspended in the void.
Not a clone.
Not a variant.
The *Original Lisa*, hooked to a machine that fed on time itself.
---
### **LOOP LISA'S SECRET**
The Original's eyes snapped open—*black holes with galaxies inside*.
*"You're *late*,"* she whispered in fifty voices at once. *"They're almost done baking *him*."*
The vision shifted:
A child with Rabbit's eyes floated in a tube labeled **BATCH 0**.
Lora-9's flamethrower sputtered. *"Oh *hell* no."*
The loop *glitched*.
---
### **RABBIT-17'S BETRAYAL**
Turns out the onesie was armor.
Rabbit-17's *real* body unfolded from it—a biomechanical horror of server cables and teeth.
*"I *tried* being nice!"* he screeched, slamming Lisa into the void-wall. *"But you *keep* poking the code!"*
Lisa jammed her knife into his central processor. *"And you *keep* forgetting—"*
The slushie machine exploded.
*"—I *learn*."*
---
### **LOOP RESET (AGAIN)**
This time, Lisa-prime woke up:
- **In a 7-Eleven in Tokyo** (signs in Japanese)
- **With *no* scars** (but a *third* eye blinking on her palm)
- **And a new message** carved into her arm:
*"FIND THE CHILD BEFORE THE OTHERS DO"*
---