Chapter 29 · Ghost Protocol

"Stop it! Stop wiping me!" I screamed, but the sound didn't even leave my throat.

My vision was splitting. Half of my sight was a flickering neon blur of the corridor, and the other half was a scrolling waterfall of crimson code. It was the Ghost Protocol. A factory reset. Every muscle in my legs locked up, and I slammed face-first into the cold metal grating of the floor.

*<Error: Neural Link Unstable. Consciousness Defragmentation in Progress...>*

Echo's voice wasn't in my ear anymore. It was a distorted screech inside my skull, like a radio tuned to a dead station.

"Echo! Wake up!" I clawed at the floor, my synthetic fingernails screeching against the steel. I could feel my memories slipping. First, the smell of rain on asphalt. Gone. Then, the face of the partner I'd lost three years ago. Blurred. Then erased.

*<S-S-S-System... fail... Vera...>*

"Don't you dare leave me with this piece of shit body!" I gasped, dragging myself forward. My left arm stopped responding. It just lay there, twitching, a useless piece of chrome and silicone. "You're the only one who knows how to fight this!"

Suddenly, a surge of ice-cold electricity shot through my spine.