Chapter 15 · Illegal Plug-in

"Don't you dare touch that slot, Kael." Sloane's voice was a whip, sharp and desperate. She had her arm locked around my chest, pinning me against the rusted bulkhead of the alleyway, but her eyes were fixed on the glowing port at the base of my skull.

"I'm dying, Sloane," I spat, the words tasting like copper. My vision was flickering, edges curling into static. "My genes are literally eating themselves. I can feel it."

"You don't know what that chip does," she hissed, her breath hot against my ear. She tightened her grip, her fingers digging into my ribs. "It's an illegal military-grade overclock. It'll fry your brain before it saves your life."

I laughed, a wet, jagged sound. "Better a fried brain than a slow dissolve. Get your hand off me."

I slammed my elbow back into her gut. It wasn't a clean hit—she was an Enforcer, trained to take a punch—but it gave me the half-second I needed. I lunged for the small, humming black cube on the floor. The plug-in. The forbidden piece of tech that promised godhood or a coffin.

"Kael! Stop!"

She tackled me.