The stench of melting circuits and burning plastic flooded the maintenance bay as we sprinted through the maze of conduits, alarms screaming like wounded animals above our heads.Silvyr's hand locked around mine, his silver skin pulsing with agitated code as we ducked beneath a shower of sparks raining from a shattered power junction.My lungs burned, throat raw from shouting commands at Pixel who zipped ahead, scanning for exit routes through the exhibition's emergency systems.We'd poked the hornet's nest, and now the entire fucking hive was coming for us.
"Exit route calculating," Pixel's tiny display flashed, the little drone's propellers whirring frantically."Probability of clean extraction: twenty-seven percent."
"I'll take those odds," I gasped, yanking Silvyr around a corner as the distant clank of security droids echoed through the maintenance tunnels.
Silvyr's eyes flashed with data streams, his face locked in that intense concentration I'd come to recognize as his combat scanning mode."They've sealed the primary access points.The exhibition network is initiating countermeasures."
"We've dealt with worse."I flashed him a wild grin that probably looked more deranged than confident.My dress… that ridiculous compatibility-showing liquid crystal thing the Aunties had put me in… had ripped along one side, exposing my thigh holster with its emergency toolkit.
Behind us, the exhibition's internal security protocols blared in that annoyingly calm voice used by all megalomaniacal AI systems: "Unauthorized data extraction detected.Security breach in maintenance sector seven.All matched pairs return to designated observation areas.Threat containment initiated."
"They sound pissed," I muttered, following Pixel's frantic lead toward what looked like a maintenance hatch."I'm guessing they don't appreciate us breaking into their systems."
Silvyr's patterns flickered with concern."Asset P is activating security overrides.The system is?—"
He never finished.Between one heartbeat and the next, Silvyr froze mid-step, his entire body locking up like someone had hit a universal pause button.His hand still gripped mine, but the living warmth that usually radiated from his touch vanished, replaced by cold metal that bit into my skin.
"Silvyr?"My voice cracked with sudden fear."What's wrong?Talk to me."
His eyes… those beautiful silver pools that always shimmered with emotion and data in equal measure… went flat and dead, reflecting nothing but empty light.The code patterns beneath his skin slowed, then stopped altogether, leaving his surface an unnatural, uniform silver.
"System override initiated," he said, but it wasn't his voice, not really.The words came from his vocal synthesizer, but the cadence, the tone, the life was gone."Prototype Zero reclamation in progress.Please stand clear."
Ice flooded my veins."No!"I grabbed his shoulders, shaking him like I could physically jar Asset P loose from his systems."Silvyr!Fight it!Remember the hub.You rejected it once, you can do it again!"
For just a moment, I thought I saw something flicker in his eyes… a flash of recognition, of desperate resistance.Then it was gone, buried beneath the cold silver mask of Asset P's control.
The maintenance bay doors burst open, and a squad of security droids poured through, their metal frames gleaming under the emergency lights, weapons primed and targeting systems locked on us.Ten of them, maybe more, blocking our escape route.
"Hostile presence detected," the lead droid announced."Surrender immediately or face termination."
Before I could respond, Silvyr's body burst into motion… not away from the droids, but toward them.His movements weren't his anymore.The fluid grace I'd come to love replaced by mechanical precision, every motion calculated for maximum efficiency.Maximum lethality.
The first droid went down before I could even process what was happening, its head severed by a swipe from Silvyr's suddenly transformed arm.Where his hand had been, a blade of pure energy now glowed, slicing through metal and circuitry like they were made of air.
"Silvyr, stop!"I screamed, but my voice might as well have been static for all the impact it had.
He moved through the squad of droids like a storm of silver death, each strike perfect, each movement unstoppable.Two more droids collapsed, their central processing units shredded.Another lost its limbs in a blur of energy and precision.
This wasn't my Silvyr.This was what he'd been created to be… a perfect weapon, his hybrid nature harnessed not for connection but for destruction.Asset P had unlocked combat protocols so deeply buried that even Silvyr might not have known they existed.
My hands flew to the emergency comm unit at my throat."Silvyr, this is Tanya!Code: Reboot!REBOOT!"
The safeword we'd established after our first close call with Asset P hung in the air between us, useless.I might as well have been shouting at a hurricane.Whatever override Asset P had implemented blocked all external commands, including our emergency protocols.
"Pixel!"I called to our drone who hovered nearby in obvious distress, its display flashing warning emojis."Direct neural interface!Try to reach him!"
The loyal little drone zoomed toward Silvyr, attempting to sync with his neural port, but a pulse of energy from Silvyr's shoulders sent Pixel spinning through the air, its systems temporarily scrambled.Asset P had sealed all access points, turning Silvyr into an impenetrable fortress.
And still, the slaughter continued.Silvyr, or the sentience controlling Silvyr's body, moved through the remaining droids with terrifying efficiency.Sparks flew, metal shrieked, and the floor became littered with mechanical corpses.It would have been impressive if it hadn't been so horrifying.
I backed away, my mind racing for solutions.If I couldn't reach him through commands or neural interface, maybe physical contact would break through.Our bond in the compatibility chamber had been deeper than code, stronger than programming.Desperation made me reckless.I lurched forward, reaching for him.
"Silvyr!It's me!It's Tanya!"My voice broke on his name."You know me!You love me!Fight this!"
He spun toward the sound of my voice, and for the first time, I saw what Asset P truly wanted.His eyes didn't register me as his partner, his lover, his bond-mate.They registered me as a target.An obstacle.Something to be eliminated.
The energy blade swung in a perfect arc that would have separated my head from my shoulders if he'd been aiming to kill.But Asset P didn't want me dead… it wanted me disabled, contained.The blade missed me by millimeters, close enough that I felt the heat singe my hair, felt the rush of displaced air against my cheek.
