Leo stared. He blinked three times, a slow, deliberate system check to ensure his optical sensors weren't malfunctioning. The boy in the tailored blazer was still there. This wasn't a high-definition mirror.
Jace maintained a cold, composed expression, a mask of indifference he had perfected over years. But his hands, hidden at his sides, gripped the bottom edge of his jacket so tightly his knuckles were white. His internal systems were in full panic mode.
Leo, never one for passive observation, stepped forward. He leaned in close, his nose almost touching the other boy's, and poked his cheek with his index finger. It was firm. Real flesh and blood.
Jace slapped his hand away, a shockingly aggressive move. He took a half-step back, adopting a defensive stance. "Who authorized this cloning experiment?" he demanded, his voice crisp and formal.
The serious, clipped tone was so absurd that Leo burst out laughing. The kid talked like a grumpy Wall Street CEO who'd just had his morning espresso spilled.
"Relax, mini-me," Leo said, bending down to pick up his scattered gummy bears. He held out one of the bags to Jace. A peace offering.
Jace looked at the colorful candy with open disdain. "My nutritionist forbids processed sugars and artificial dyes."
Leo rolled his eyes so hard he felt it in the back of his head. He tore open a bag and popped a red gummy bear into his mouth, chewing with exaggerated, noisy enjoyment just to provoke a reaction.
Jace watched him, his stoic mask faltering for a second. A quiet, traitorous rumble echoed from his stomach. A faint blush, like a watercolor wash, appeared on his pale cheeks.
Leo heard it. He smirked, a triumphant little grin. He took the second, unopened bag of gummies and shoved it firmly into the pocket of Jace's perfectly ironed blazer.
Jace tried to pull the bag out, disgusted by the breach of his personal space and the crinkling sound it made. But Leo grabbed his wrist to stop him.
And then Leo froze.
On the inside of Jace's forearm, just below the wrist, was a small, crescent-shaped birthmark.
Without a word, Leo quickly pushed up the sleeve of his own leather jacket. There, in the exact same location, was an identical crescent-shaped birthmark.
Jace stopped struggling. He stared from his own arm to Leo's, then back again. His high-IQ brain, which could calculate stock market fluctuations in seconds, was now running frantic genetic probability equations. The conclusion was statistically impossible, yet undeniable.
"Twin," Jace whispered, the word trembling on his lips. It was a concept, a possibility, that cracked open years of profound, unspoken loneliness.
Leo nodded, his own playful demeanor vanishing. He pulled out his tablet, his fingers flying across the screen. He activated a facial recognition algorithm and pointed the camera at both their faces.
The screen flashed green. A line of text appeared: BIOMETRIC MATCH: 99.9%.
Jace grabbed the tablet, his eyes not on the result, but on the code running behind it. "Your encryption protocol is outdated," he said, his voice returning to its critical tone. "This database is vulnerable."
Leo snatched the tablet back, looking personally offended. "The Ares network is the most secure private server on the dark web."
Jace's eyes narrowed. The name resonated. "Ares," he repeated slowly. "I'm X. I bypassed your primary firewall last month."
A new kind of shock, one of dawning respect, passed between them. They weren't just twins. They were rivals. They were the two most notorious, anonymous cyber-prodigies on the planet.
"Master Jace!" A heavy, booming voice echoed from the main corridor.
Jace's shoulders tensed instantly. The sound was a Pavlovian trigger for dread. He grabbed Leo's arm and pulled him deeper behind a towering display of expensive perfumes, hiding them from the sightline of the approaching man.
"My father's head of security," Jace whispered, his voice tight with anxiety. "Kowalski. I can't go back. It's a prison."
Leo peeked through a gap between two glass bottles. He saw a massive man in a black suit, built like a refrigerator, scanning the crowd with the cold, efficient eyes of a military operative.
He looked at Jace's miserable, trapped expression. Then he looked down at their clothes-the street-smart leather jacket versus the stuffy, formal blazer. An audacious, brilliant, and utterly chaotic plan bloomed fully formed in his mind.
"Swap with me," Leo proposed, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "You go find my mom. I'll go check out this 'prison' and our mysterious father."
Jace hesitated. The idea was insane. It was illogical. It violated every rule he had ever been taught.
But the desire for a single day of freedom, a single moment of warmth he'd glimpsed in Leo's easy confidence, overrode all his programming. He nodded.
They worked fast, stripping off their outer layers in the cramped space behind the perfume display. Leo squeezed into the restrictive blazer, which felt like a straitjacket. Jace pulled on the soft, worn leather jacket, the unfamiliar weight a thrilling comfort on his shoulders.
"Find the beautiful woman in the Tom Ford sunglasses," Leo instructed, handing Jace his smartwatch. "Her name is Katia. The watch has her tracker."
Before Jace could ask another question, Kowalski rounded the corner of the display. His eyes locked onto the boy in the familiar blazer. He marched straight toward them.
