The tower shook as reality warped around them. The other Ethan—the version that had embraced control instead of rejecting it—had already begun the rewrite. Data streams pulsed across the walls, flickering through alternate possibilities. The city outside was shifting in real-time, entire streets rewriting themselves, past and future blurring into one.
Ethan didn't hesitate. He moved forward, locking eyes with the man who wasn't just an enemy—he was a warning. "Shut it down."
The other Ethan smirked, his fingers dancing over the control panel. "You had your chance to fix the world, and you wasted it. Now, I'm making sure time has order again."
Cassandra raised her weapon. "Step away from the console."
The other Ethan exhaled, shaking his head. "You still don't get it, do you?" He gestured to the shifting reality beyond the tower walls. "This isn't control. This is survival. Without the Loop Bank, time is eating itself. People who never should have existed are walking the streets. Events that never happened are rewriting the past. And the longer this continues, the worse it gets." He turned back to Ethan. "You freed time, but time doesn't want to be free."
Lyra's console flared red. "He's right about one thing—if this keeps spiraling, we're looking at a full cascade collapse. The timelines can't sustain themselves."
Ethan clenched his jaw. He had known there would be consequences, but this wasn't the answer. "And your solution is to start over? To erase everything that doesn't fit your perfect version of time?"
The other Ethan smirked. "Not erase. Refine."
Aiden scoffed. "That's exactly what the Loop Bank said before they started deleting people."
The other Ethan didn't flinch. "The Loop Bank was inefficient. They thought they could contain time with rules and regulations. But control doesn't come from limitation. It comes from precision." He gestured to the shifting streets outside. "Left unchecked, time is a disease. It mutates, spreads, infects everything it touches. I'm not controlling it. I'm curing it."
Ethan exhaled slowly, stepping toward the console. "You're playing god."
The other Ethan's smirk faded. "No. I'm making sure there's still a future."
The system pulsed again, and the first wave of permanent changes locked in. Lyra's console let out a sharp warning beep. "The rewrite is stabilizing. If we don't stop this now, reality locks in permanently."
Cassandra's grip on her weapon tightened. "Then we stop it."
The other Ethan sighed. "You never were good at knowing when to quit."
He flicked his hand over the control panel, and the tower's defenses activated. Hardlight barriers snapped into place, separating them from him. Automated turrets emerged from the ceiling, locking onto their positions. The air crackled with energy as the defenses recognized them as threats.
Aiden cursed. "You built defenses into a reality-altering time tower? Who does that?"
The other Ethan smirked. "Someone who knows how this fight ends."
The turrets opened fire. Ethan moved first, diving for cover as plasma rounds shattered the ground around them. Cassandra took out one of the turrets with a precise shot, while Aiden jammed another's targeting system, forcing it to malfunction.
Lyra worked fast, bypassing the hardlight barriers through her console. "I can get us through, but I need thirty seconds."
Cassandra fired another round. "We don't have thirty seconds!"
Ethan didn't wait. He sprinted forward, dodging between cover as the remaining turrets adjusted their aim. He reached the first barrier just as Lyra disabled it, pushing through before it could reinitialize. The other Ethan was already moving, recalibrating the rewrite to compensate for the interference.
Ethan tackled him.
The two of them crashed against the console, sparks flying as data surged between them. The other Ethan twisted, breaking free, but Ethan was faster. He grabbed his counterpart by the collar and slammed him against the console. "You think you get to decide the future?"
The other Ethan gritted his teeth. "Someone has to." He drove a knee into Ethan's stomach, shoving him backward. "You're so obsessed with freedom, but you don't realize what you've done. This world isn't stable. You broke it, and you can't fix it."
Ethan wiped blood from his lip. "Then I'll make sure no one else tries to."
He lunged.
The other Ethan dodged, his movements eerily familiar. Every feint, every counter, was a move Ethan himself had used a hundred times before. Because they were the same. But there was one difference. Ethan fought to break free. The other Ethan fought to take control.
Cassandra and Aiden finished off the last of the defenses, moving toward the fight.
Lyra shouted. "I've almost got the system unlocked—just hold him!"
The other Ethan snarled, twisting out of Ethan's grip and reaching for the control panel. "I won't let you ruin this."
Ethan grabbed his wrist. "I already did."
Lyra hit the final command.
The console overloaded.
The rewrite stopped.
The entire tower shook. Reality itself fractured, then settled. The city outside pulsed with energy as the forced changes collapsed in on themselves. The unauthorized edits were erased. The world was stabilizing.
The other Ethan froze, realization dawning on his face. "No—"
Ethan drove his fist into his counterpart's jaw. The other Ethan stumbled back, crashing against the console. Sparks erupted as the overloaded system rejected him. His body flickered.
Cassandra's breath caught. "He's destabilizing."
The other Ethan looked down at his hands, then up at Ethan. For the first time, there was fear in his eyes. "This… this wasn't supposed to happen."
Ethan exhaled. "Neither were you."
The other Ethan vanished.
The tower's power grid shorted out. The last remnants of the rewrite faded. The hardlight barriers collapsed. And just like that, the battle for time was over.
Lyra checked her console. "The city is stabilizing. No more shifts. No more fractures." She exhaled. "It's finally over."
Aiden smirked, running a hand through his hair. "We really need to stop almost breaking reality."
Cassandra holstered her weapon. "So, what now?"
Ethan looked around. The world was still standing. Time was still free. The people who had been erased were back where they belonged. But something had changed.
For the first time, there was no war left to fight. No system left to break.
Ethan exhaled. "We walk away."
Lyra blinked. "Seriously?"
Ethan nodded. "No more chasing ghosts. No more fighting for control. We did what we came to do."
Cassandra studied him for a long moment. Then she nodded. "About time."
Aiden grinned. "So what, we just live normal lives now?"
Ethan smirked. "We figure out what that means."
The tower behind them flickered, its purpose fulfilled. No more resets. No more erasures. No more rewrites.
For the first time, time belonged to itself.
They stepped into the city as the first sunrise of the new world broke over the skyline.
The past was behind them.
The future was finally unwritten.
And for Ethan Carter?
That was enough.