Chapter 18 · Wake-Up Call

"Do it, Maya. Just fucking do it!"

Pip’s voice wasn’t its usual sassy, grating self. It was distorted, glitching through the speakers of the beat-up plush body like a dying radio. He was lying across my lap, one arm shredded, synthetic stuffing spilling out like polyester guts.

I stared at the console in front of me. The red override switch was humming, practically begging to be flipped. One flick, and the core would overload. It would wipe the entire sector clean—the monsters, the corrupted system, and us.

"I can't," I whispered. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely keep them on the ledge. "You're in there, Pip. If I nuke the core, you go with it."

"I'm a piece of scrap with a god complex, Maya!" He let out a static-filled laugh that sounded more like a cough. "The city... the Underbelly... it's already gone. If you don't trigger the pulse, those things outside are going to turn every single person in this block into a screaming meat-puppet. Do the math. It's one plushie versus ten thousand people."

I gripped the plush tighter, pressing him against my chest. I could feel the heat radiating from his core—