“So this is my fault?”
“Objectively, yes.” I was getting pretty fucking tired of him being right. “What happened, anyway?”
“There was a countermeasure. Something interfered with the device.”
“Maddox said that wasn’t possible. This should’ve been cutting edge.”
“It was…from POM.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Which means?”
“A good cyberrunner always leaves themselves a backdoor. Or a countermeasure. If the Kitsune security could detect this…it means someone from POM gave them the counter program.”
Finally, Cy smirked. “Someone with access to all the cutting-edge tech. Like Renard.”
I nodded. “It all but confirms they had some of his data.” I glanced at our smashed Vysors in the corner. “If they didn’t magnetically wipe those…we still downloaded some of the data. Get us out of here, and I can probably reconstruct at least some of it.”
“Finally earning your keep.”
“Ifyou can get us out of here. Going to have to not die first.”
“I’m working on the plan as we speak.” He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, looking way too calm. Then his shoulder twitched, and he winced.
I scooted closer, and his eyes opened as I set my bound hands on his shoulder. His eyes snapped fully open. “What are you—”
“You didn’t get this fixed.”
He shrugged away from me. “I told you, it’s not fixable.”
“Why’d you lie to me?”
“I needed you on this job.”
“You said youdidn’twant me on this job!” For the first time in a long time, he wouldn’t meet my eyes. Fine.
I closed my eyes, exhaling slowly. The dampener in my neck still did its job, severing my Flux, locking it away where I couldn’t reach it. But it had never just been something I used—it was me. In my blood, in my breath, in the beat of my heart. No chip could ever strip that away completely.
And Cy…Cy’s Flux was the same.
I curled my fingers a little tighter around his shoulder, just feeling. His pain crackled beneath my touch, raw and jagged,his body out of sync with itself. I could sense where the implant fought against his nerves. A broken circuit, static hissing between flesh and metal. The dampener on my neck should’ve made it impossible to do anything about it. But I didn’t need power—I just needed alignment.
Cy sucked in a sharp breath, his whole body tensing. “What the hell are you—”
“Relax.” I barely whispered it, my focus locked on the current between us, something even the chip in my neck couldn’t stop. His signal flickered against mine, frayed at the edges, but something clicked. Something aligned. His breath stuttered, the worst of his pain dulling as I evened out the interference, smoothing the discord between his body and the machine buried in his flesh.
For a second, he didn’t move. Then he let out a long, shaky exhale.
I opened my eyes, studying him. His dark irises sparkled, like the night sky filled with infinite galaxies, a flush creeping up his throat. Whether from relief or something else, I wasn’t sure.
His voice was quiet when he finally spoke. “You shouldn’t be able to do that.”
I couldn’t suppress my grin. “I guess I’m just special.”
He huffed, but it lacked his usual bite. “Or broken. Dampeners are supposed to cut you off completely.”
I smirked, even as something cold twisted inside me. “Maybe some things can’t be cut off.”
The air between us was charged, humming with something I couldn’t name. Something it would’ve been so easy to surrender to, especially with my hands on his shoulder, our Flux still pulsing in a resonant hum, his eyes bright with stars and his lips parted slightly.
