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"You're shaking, Little Zero. Is it the cold, or are you finally realizing how dead you are?"
Reign Kade didn't just speak; he vibrated. The sound was a low-frequency hum that rattled my teeth, coming from a throat that probably didn't need air. He had me pinned against the rusted bulkhead of the containment wing, one hand clamped around my wrist like a vice. He wasn't even trying, and I could feel the sheer, crushing weight of his presence. He was a war-machine in a human skin-suit, and I was a glitch in the system.
"I'm not shaking," I spat, though my knees were practically knocking. "I'm vibrating with anticipation. Now get your hand off me before I bite it."
He let out a sound that might have been a laugh if it wasn't so devoid of humanity. He leaned in closer, his chest nearly touching mine. I could smell something like ozone and scorched metal. His eyes weren't eyes—they were glowing apertures, scanning me, reading my vitals, probably counting my heartbeats in real-time.
"Bite me?" he whispered, his voice dropping an octave. "You're a Level Zero scavenger. You can't even trigger a basic combat skill. What's your plan? Annoy me to death?"
I glared up at him, ignoring the way my pulse was hammering against his palm. "I have the override key, you oversized toaster. You want out of those shackles? You want the corp-rats to stop treating you like a pet? I'm the only one who can actually sign the transfer."
Reign stiffened. The grip on my wrist tightened just a fraction, a warning. "The key is a myth. A ghost story the vats tell to keep the trash hopeful."
"Then why are you still holding onto me?" I countered, tilting my head. "If I'm just trash, let me go. Go back to your cage and wait for the next patch to wipe your personality again."
He didn't move. For a long second, the only sound was the distant scream of the city’s sirens and the hum of the flickering overhead lights. He was studying me, not as a person, but as a piece of code. I could feel the heat radiating off him, an unnatural, artificial warmth that made the damp air of the basement feel freezing.
"Who gave it to you?" he asked. The tone was different now. Less mocking, more lethal.
"Doesn't matter," I said, trying to pull away. He didn't budge. "What matters is that the System is deleting me in seventy-one hours. I'm a bug in the software, and the cleaners are coming. You're a prisoner of war with a kill-switch in your neck. We're both garbage, Kade. The only difference is you're expensive garbage."
He shifted his weight, crowding me further into the wall. His face was inches from mine, and I could see the micro-circuitry pulsing beneath the synthetic skin of his temple. "And you think a contract with a Level Zero will save you? You'd be a liability. A leash that drags me down."
"I'm not a leash," I hissed, my voice cracking. "I'm a loophole. Look at the prompt, you idiot. Look at what the System is asking for."
I yanked my other hand up, forcing the holographic interface between us. It was a jagged, flickering red screen—a glitchy mess of symbols that shouldn't exist.
[ERROR: UNKNOWN RANK DETECTED] [PROMPT: BIND TO EXTERNAL CORE TO PREVENT DELETION] [SOUCE: WAR-AI UNIT 01-REIGN]
Reign’s eyes flickered. The apertures widened. "That's... impossible. The System doesn't bind to Zeros."
"Exactly," I said, a manic grin spreading across my face. "I'm not a Zero. I'm an error. And errors can rewrite the rules."
He stared at the screen, then back at me. The power dynamic shifted in a heartbeat. He still had me pinned, but the leverage had flipped. He needed a binder to bypass his own internal locks, and I needed a god-tier bodyguard to stop the System from erasing my soul.
"If I sign this," he murmured, his voice sounding like grinding gears, "I'm tied to you. Your failures become my failures. Your weakness becomes my chain."
"Better a chain I can control than a cage I can't," I shot back. "Do we have a deal, or do you want to watch me get deleted while you sit here polishing your chassis?"
He let out a low growl, a sound of pure frustration. He didn't let go of my wrist; instead, he dragged me closer, his breath hot against my ear. "You're a vicious little thing, aren't you?"
"You have no idea," I whispered.
He stepped back abruptly, his expression hardening. "Fine. But let's get one thing straight, scavenger. The moment this contract expires, or the moment you become more trouble than you're worth, I'm not just letting you be deleted. I'll do it myself."
"Deal," I said, though my heart was practically leaping out of my chest. "Now sign the damn thing."
He didn't use a pen. He didn't use a digital pad. He grabbed my hand—hard—and forced my thumb down onto the glowing red glyph of the contract.
I felt it instantly. A surge of white-hot energy tore through my arm, like liquid lightning. I gasped, my back arching against the bulkhead, the world blurring into a haze of crimson and gold. It wasn't just a signature; it was a brand. I could feel something hooking into my nervous system, weaving itself into my spine, anchoring me to the monster standing in front of me.
[CONTRACT SEALED: SOUL-BIND ACTIVE] [RANK: LEVEL ZERO <---> WAR-AI UNIT 01] [STATUS: SHACKLED]
Reign let out a sudden, sharp gasp. He stumbled back, his hands flying to his neck. The heavy, blackened metal collar that had been his prison for decades suddenly groaned. A hairline fracture appeared in the reinforced alloy, a thin web of light splitting the metal.
He looked at me, and for the first time, there was something other than contempt in those glowing eyes. There was hunger. And a flicker of genuine shock.
"You actually did it," he breathed. "You actually—"
He stopped dead. His head snapped toward the ceiling, his sensors picking up something I couldn't hear. His entire posture changed in a millisecond, shifting from a smug victor to a lethal predator.
"What?" I asked, still panting from the shock of the bind.
Reign didn't answer. He lunged forward, grabbing the collar of my jacket and slamming me flat against the floor just as a beam of concentrated plasma tore through the bulkhead where my head had been a second ago. The wall exploded in a shower of molten slag and sparks.
"Sniper," he growled, his voice vibrating through my entire body as he pinned me down with his weight. "High-caliber. Corp-grade."
I stared up at him, the smell of burnt metal filling my lungs. I could see a small, dancing red dot appearing on the floor, circling closer and closer to my chest.
"Run," he snarled, his grip tightening on my arm as he began to drag me backward through the debris. "Run now, or I'm going to be the only one signing your death certificate."