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The man on Mara's table had maybe ten minutes left.
She could see the timer in his chest. Literally see it. The synthetic rib cage under the torn prison jumpsuit flickered with each heartbeat, and the readout etched into the bone said 00:09:47. Then 00:09:46.
She stripped off her gloves and reached for a fresh pair. Her hands weren't shaking. They didn't get to shake. Not in here.
"Autodoc can't read him," she said. The machine's screen just blinked error codes, red on black. "Whatever that core is, it's scrambling the sensors."
Juno leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. "So unplug it."
"It's wired to his heart."
"Then let him go, Mara."
Mara didn't answer. She pulled up the imaging overlay on her wrist screen and traced the lines of foreign tech running through his chest. Military grade. Prototype grade. The kind of stuff she wasn't supposed to know existed, let alone touch.
The timer dropped to 00:09:12.
She grabbed the plasma scalpel.
"Mara." Juno's voice went flat. "You cut into that, Oryx is going to know. They've got trackers on this kind of hardware. You know they do."
"He's already dying."
"And you're not his doctor. You're a black-market tech with a clinic under a noodle shop. You don't owe him anything."
Mara activated the scalpel. The blade hummed, hot and blue. "He said my mom's passcode, Juno. Her lab passcode. The one she used before Oryx killed her."
Juno went quiet.
Mara leaned over the stranger's chest. Up close, she could smell blood and antiseptic and something else. Ozone, maybe. Burned circuitry. His face was all hard angles, stubble, a jaw clenched even in unconsciousness. Prison hadn't been kind. Neither had whatever put him in prison.
She made the first cut.
The skin peeled back clean. Subdermal mesh underneath, military-grade stuff that cost more than her clinic's entire inventory. She clipped it away and exposed the rib cage. The bones were laced with conduit, fiber optics pulsing with each heartbeat. Whoever he was, he'd been built to do something specific. And expensive.
The timer hit 00:07:58.
She went deeper. The core sat just above his heart, a black alloy sphere about the size of her fist. Wires ran from it into the cardiac muscle, into the aorta, into the vagus nerve. If she pulled wrong, his heart would stop. If she didn't pull at all, the core would finish the job in seven minutes.
"Mara." Juno again, quieter now. "The block's going dark. Oryx just shut down the main grid."
Mara's stomach dropped. "How long?"
"Started two minutes ago. They're sealing the perimeter."
That meant drones. Checkpoints. Facial recognition on every corner. And if they were shutting down the grid, they wanted something badly enough to piss off everyone in the district.
They wanted him.
Mara's hands didn't stop moving. She threaded a bypass lead into the first cardiac wire and clipped it to a portable regulator. The man's heart stuttered. The monitor screamed.
"Come on," she said. Just to herself. Just to keep her hands steady.
The second wire. The third.
The man's eyes snapped open.
Mara froze.
He stared up at her. His eyes were gray. Dark gray, like rain on old steel. And awake. Fully, impossibly awake. No one should be awake with their chest open and their heart half-disconnected.
He looked at her. Then at the scalpel in her hand. Then at the core sitting inches above his exposed heart.
His hand shot up and grabbed her wrist.
Not hard. Not violent. Just there. His skin was cold. His pulse was everywhere, racing under her fingertips.
"Don't." His voice came out rough, barely more than a whisper. "Don't die in here for me."
Mara stared at him. "You're the one dying."
"They'll come for this." He tilted his head slightly, just enough to glance down at the core. "You cut it out, they'll burn this whole block to find it. You don't want that."
"I don't want you dead on my table either."
"You don't know me."
"You knew my mom."
Something flickered in his eyes. Confusion. Or recognition. She couldn't tell.
"I don't know your mom," he said.
"You said her passcode. Last night. Soon as you woke up."
He just stared.
Mara pulled her wrist free and picked up the next lead. "So either you knew her, or someone programmed you to know her codes. Either way, I'm not letting you die before I find out which."
She clipped the last wire.
The core disengaged with a hiss and a click. The timer froze at 00:04:32. The man sucked in a breath, sharp and ragged, and his hand slapped against the edge of the table. His whole body arced, tendons going tight.
Mara grabbed the regulator and dialed it up. His heartbeat smoothed. The monitor stopped screaming.
She pulled the core free.
It was heavier than it looked. Warm. Still pulsing faintly, like it had its own heartbeat. She set it on the side tray and covered it with a surgical cloth. If Juno was right about the trackers, she had maybe minutes before someone kicked her door in.
The man slumped back onto the table. His eyes stayed open, locked on her face.
"You're insane," he said.
"Yeah." Mara picked up the tissue sealer and started closing him up. "I get that a lot."
Juno's voice cut in from the doorway. "Mara. You need to see this."
Mara didn't look up. "Kind of busy."
"Now, Mara."
Something in Juno's tone made her stop. She set the sealer down, peeled off her gloves, and crossed to the door.
Juno held up her tablet. The screen showed the main district feed. The one everyone's housing unit streamed by default. A woman in an Oryx uniform stood in front of a police cordon, rain slicking her hair back. Behind her, the wreckage of the prison transport smoked in the street.
"...escaped detainee is considered armed and extremely dangerous," the woman was saying. "Oryx Dominion is offering a bounty of fifty thousand credits for information leading to his capture. He may be injured. He may be seeking medical assistance."
The camera cut to a photo. The man's face. Younger, cleaner, but definitely him.
"If you have seen this individual," the woman continued, "contact Oryx security immediately. Do not approach. Do not engage."
The camera cut back to the woman. She smiled. It didn't reach her eyes.
"We are also looking for Mara Vey, owner of an unlicensed medical facility in Sector Nine. Miss Vey is wanted for questioning in connection with the escape. Oryx Dominion thanks you for your cooperation."
Mara's blood went cold.
Juno lowered the tablet. "They know you pulled him out."
"That's not possible. I didn't—"
"They know, Mara."
Behind them, the man on the table tried to sit up. Failed. His hand pressed against the fresh seal on his chest. "You need to run."
Mara turned. "You need to lie down."
"I'm serious. They will kill you. They'll make it look like an accident, or a crime, or a suicide, but they will kill you. You don't know what that core is."
"Then tell me."
"I can't." His jaw worked. Frustration. Maybe fear. "I don't remember. I don't remember anything before the transport."
Mara walked back to the table. She leaned over him, close enough to see the micro-scars along his jawline. Old augmentations, removed. "Then we're both in trouble. Because I just put my name on a city-wide warrant to keep you alive, and I'm not running until I know why my mom's passcode is in your head."
His eyes held hers. Gray. Unreadable.
Outside, something hummed. Low. Mechanical.
Juno swore. "Drones."
Mara straightened. "How many?"
"Four. No, six. They're doing a sweep pattern."
The man pushed himself up on one elbow. He shouldn't be able to move. He'd just had his chest opened and his heart rewired. But he swung his legs off the table anyway, teeth gritted.
"Where's the core?" he said.
Mara glanced at the side tray. "Right there."
"Give it to me."
"Not a chance."
"They're tracking it. If I take it and run, they'll follow me. You'll be clear."
Mara almost laughed. "You can barely stand."
"I've done worse."
"Yeah? You remember that, or are you just guessing?"
He didn't answer.
The drone hum got louder. Closer.
Juno grabbed Mara's shoulder. "We need to move. Now."
Mara looked at the man. At the core. At the man again.
She picked up the core and shoved it into a lead-lined case. Snapped it shut. "You want to help? Then stay quiet and don't bleed on anything."
She turned to Juno. "Old subway access?"
"Already called Pike. He's got a route."
"Good." Mara pulled a jacket off the hook by the door and threw it at the man. "Put that on. Try to look less like an escaped convict."
He caught it one-handed. Winced. "Where are we going?"
"Anywhere that isn't here."
The lights overhead flickered. Then died.
The clinic went black for three seconds. Then the emergency strips kicked in, low and red.
Juno pulled up her wrist screen. The glow lit her face. "Grid's down. Full blackout."
Mara grabbed her med kit and the core case. "Then they're already inside."
The man stood. Slower than he probably wanted. He zipped the jacket and looked at her. "You should've let me die."
Mara met his eyes. "Yeah. Probably."
Outside, the broadcast loop started again. The woman's voice echoed through the block, calm and polite.
"Mara Vey. If you are listening, Oryx Dominion would like to speak with you. Surrender the detainee and the device, and you will not be harmed. You have our word."
Juno snorted. "Their word. Right."
Mara shouldered the kit. "Let's go."
She hit the light panel and plunged the clinic into darkness. Behind her, the man's breathing was steady. Controlled. Like he'd done this before.
Maybe he had.
Mara didn't know who he was. Didn't know why he had her mother's codes. Didn't know what the core did or why Oryx wanted it badly enough to burn her name across the city.
But she knew one thing.
She wasn't giving it back.
Not until she had answers.