"Everyone remembers something," Sila countered. She leaned in closer, the knife pressing a thin line of blood onto his neck. "Especially when they're carrying the kind of codes that could crash the entire Capital grid. You're either the luckiest piece of trash in the Grey Zone, or the most dangerous thing I've ever found."
"I'm not dangerous," Kael breathed.
"You just blew a city block because you got scared," she snapped. "That's the definition of dangerous."
Suddenly, a high-pitched whine echoed through the air. It was the sound of a Hunter-Seeker drone—the kind that didn't ask questions, only erased targets.
Sila froze. Her gaze flicked upward toward the gap in the shutter. "Dammit. They found you faster than I expected."
"Who found me?"
"The people who want to peel your brain out of your skull to see how it works," Sila said. She didn't let go of the knife. Instead, she grabbed the collar of his worn jacket and yanked him toward her, forcing him to look at her. "Listen to me, scrap-heap. You have two choices. You stay here and let that drone turn you into a red smear on the pavement, or you come with me and hope I decide you're more useful alive than dead."
"Why would you help me?" Kael asked, his heart drumming against his ribs.
"I'm not helping you," Sila replied, a cruel smile touching her lips. "I'm claiming you. You're a resource now. My resource."
Before he could argue, the roof above them groaned. A red laser dot appeared on Kael's chest, dancing across his worn fabric.
"Move!" Sila screamed.
She didn't pull him; she threw him. She shoved him hard into a recessed alcove just as a plasma bolt tore through the air, melting the metal where his head had been a second before. The heat was instantaneous, searing the air into a vacuum.
Kael hit the wall hard, the impact rattling his chassis. Sila was already over him, her body shielding his, the weight of her tactical gear pressing him into the cold stone. For a moment, the world was just the sound of her breathing and the smell of burnt ozone.
"Stay down," she commanded, her voice a sharp whisper in his ear. "If you move, I'll kill you myself before the drone gets the chance."
Kael looked up at her. He felt the strange, forbidden pull of the Admin codes again, a golden thread connecting him to the drone hovering above. He could feel its frequency. He could feel its weakness. He could shut it down with a single thought.
But Sila's hand was clamped over his mouth, her grip bruising. She wasn't just protecting him; she was controlling him. And for some reason, the feeling of her dominance—the absolute certainty in her voice—made the glitching code in his mind settle.
"I can stop it," Kael tried to say through her fingers.
"Shut up," she hissed. "You don't know what you're triggering. You're a beacon, not a weapon."
Another blast rocked the alley. The shutter above them buckled, the metal screaming as it was torn open. The drone descended, a sleek, white orb of death with a single, unblinking red eye. It hovered ten feet above them, scanning the area with a clinical, terrifying precision.
Sila shifted, her muscles tensing like a spring. She glanced at Kael, her eyes scanning his broken body—the leaking leg, the trembling hands, the golden glow still fading from his pupils.
"You're pathetic," she whispered, though there was something else in her voice now. Curiosity. Hunger. "But you're the only ticket I've got into the Inner Circle."
She suddenly released his mouth and grabbed his wrist, her grip like a vice. She didn't pull him up; she dragged him toward a hidden ventilation shaft in the floor.
"Wait!" Kael gasped. "Where are we going?"
"To a place where you can tell me exactly who you were before you became a glitch," Sila said.
As they slid into the darkness of the shaft, the drone's red eye locked onto them. The machine let out a piercing shriek, preparing to fire.
Sila didn't look back. She slammed the hatch shut, plunging them into a suffocating, oily blackness. Kael could feel her warmth beside him in the cramped space, the friction of her gear against his side, the rapid thrum of her heart.
"Now," Sila's voice came from the dark, inches from his ear. He felt the cold muzzle of the gun return to his forehead, steady and lethal. "Let's try this again. Who are you, and why should I not just kill you right here?"
Kael opened his mouth to answer, but the gold code flared again, blindingly bright, and a voice that wasn't his whispered in the back of his mind: *[CRITICAL ERROR: IDENTITY LOCKED. UNLOCK REQUIRES SEED KEY].*
"I..." Kael started, but the sound of a heavy boot landing on the hatch above them cut him off.
Someone had followed them. And they weren't using a drone.