Taos’ avatar materialized, her expression cautious. “E? I didn’t expect to hear from you.”
I smiled, feeling electricity crackle between my teeth. “I think I’ve finally seen the light. I’m ready to hit POM where it hurts.”
Her avatar’s eyes widened. “You’re in?”
“More than in. I want to burn the whole fucking system down.” The words felt right in my mouth—sharp, clean, and pure in a way nothing had in months. “Whatever you’re planning next, I want in.”
“Even if it means crossing paths with POM Security again?” Her tone was careful, probing.
Cy flashed through my mind—his perfect corporate mask, the blue hair, the way his Flux had resonated with mine. For a moment, I felt the ghost of his hands on my skin, the impossible harmony we’d created together.
I crushed the memory beneath the crystalline focus of the Vector.
“Especially if it means that.” My voice was steel, all weakness burned away. “It’s time they learned what it feels like to be powerless.”
Taos’ avatar smiled, slow and predatory. “Fuck yeah. We’re hitting the Magenta data center next. Found a weakness in the old hardware. You in?”
“When?”
“Tomorrow. Can you handle the security systems?”
I laughed. “Easymode, Taos.”
The familiar rush of planning a run flooded my mind, complex calculations and contingencies falling into place. But beneath it all, in a place the drug couldn’t quite reach, something else stirred—a quiet voice wondering if this was really about striking back at POM, or if I was just running from the one person who’d made me feel something real. Forcing his hand. I knew he’d choose POM over me, once all the cards were on the table.
I silenced that voice with another hit from my VaPurr, letting it wash away every trace of doubt. In that perfect, synthetic moment, I was exactly who I needed to be—not broken, not vulnerable, not yearning for a connection I couldn’t trust.
Just electricity, finally finding somewhere to go.
CHAPTER 56
CY
The fucker’s blood sprayed across my face as I beat him to a pulp.
Three men had been robbing a Vysor store—NSPD called it in. I cornered them trying to slip out through an alley. They’d shown the same overconfidence in numbers typical of the untrained.
They were below my pay grade, but I needed this.
The last one was still conscious—barely. My knuckles ached where they’d connected with his jaw, and the implant in my left shoulder burned from the exertion. I hit him again. And again. I could leave him here—dead—and it wouldn’t fucking matter. No consequences. None that mattered, anyway.
“You’re making a mess, Cy.” Maddox’s voice crackled through my earpiece. He’d stayed in the building, monitoring from a distance. Always the professional.
I spat blood onto the concrete. Not mine. “Just cleaning up the streets. Isn’t this what you did in the NSPD?” He didn’t respond.
I let the man drop to the ground, the back of his head landing with a wetsmackagainst the pavement. Leaning againstthe alley wall, I fished for my VaPurr—when my Vysor let out a horrible screech. Visual artifacts fractured across my field of vision, the overlay flickering as security protocols engaged—too late.
A small digital avatar glitched into view, hovering in the air before me. A female form, stylized in purple and blue, wearing a tight, low-cut dress. I recognized her immediately—Eon’s AI assistant.
“The fuck you want?” I wiped blood from my face. This kind of intrusion shouldn’t be possible through POM’s security layers.
“I need your help.” Her voice modulated strangely, laced with digital artifacts that suggested she was operating well beyond her intended parameters.
“Eon know you’re talking to me?” I rolled my shoulder, the implant grating against bone. The pain helped focus my anger.
She bit her lip, a surprisingly human gesture for an AI. “No.”
“Doesn’t that violate one of your AI laws or some shit?”
