Chapter 13 · Neon Zero - Chapter 13: The Core Eats First

"Drop the gun, Knox." His arm stayed locked on my chest, the muzzle less than a foot from my heart.

The relay chamber shook around us. Blue sparks snapped from the open wall panel where I had jammed my hand into the system. My fingers were numb. My spine felt like someone had threaded hot wire through it.

Knox blinked once.

"I can't," he said.

"You can. You just don't want to."

His jaw tightened. The gun trembled, barely. Anyone else would have missed it. I didn't. The link between us shoved every tiny change straight through my nerves—his pulse, his pain, the ugly static chewing holes through his memories.

A red timer crawled across my vision.

IDENTITY PURGE: 01:47.

"Mara," Knox said, lower now. "Step away from the relay."

"No."

"That's not a suggestion."

"Funny. I thought you were the one being puppeted."

His eyes flashed silver. Not his normal silver. System silver. Empty. Clean. Wrong.

The gun lifted half an inch.

I slapped the relay with my free hand. The core inside the housing pulsed against my palm, hard enough to hurt.

"Hey! Look at me."

Knox's focus snapped to my face.

For one second, he was there.