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"Tell me what the core did." Knox had one hand around my wrist and the other pressed against the weapon holstered at his hip. "Now, Mara. Before it cooks your spine again."
I tried to pull free. His grip tightened.
"You already know what it did. You watched it burn through me."
"I watched you steal a restricted upgrade core, crash three security gates, and nearly tear open a sealed district. I did not watch you explain it."
"Maybe ask nicer."
His eyes dropped to the red numbers floating over my palm.
HEALTH: 42% LINK: ACTIVE SECONDARY HOST: KNOX ARDEN
The same warning still crawled across the display every few seconds. I could feel his pulse in my wrist. Fast. Hard. Annoyingly steady.
"Your health bar is tied to mine," he said. "If yours hits zero, mine follows."
"Then let go."
"You think I haven't tried?"
He shoved my hand toward the concrete wall. The core's heat snapped up my arm. Knox flinched at the same time I did, his jaw locking as a red line flashed across his throat.
His health meter appeared beside mine.
KNOX ARDEN HEALTH: 67% FAILURE LEVEL: 13%
I stared at the second line.
"What's failure level?"
"Not your problem."
"It is if it kills me."
His expression went flat. That was the first useful thing he'd done since dragging me into the maintenance room.
The door behind him was sealed with a city lock. No handle. No hinges. Just a black panel pulsing with the district's warning grid. He had brought me in here because the security drones couldn't see through the old service walls.
Or because he needed me alive.
"You came after me for the core," I said. "Not the delivery. Not the stolen credits. The core."
"Correct."
"And now it's attached to both of us."
"Correct."
"So you need me."
His fingers slid higher on my arm. Warm skin. Cold gloves. Too close.
"Don't confuse need with permission."
"Don't confuse a uniform with control."
For one second, his eyes sharpened. Then he pushed me back harder.
"You have six hours before the district scan resets. When it finds an illegal core inside an unregistered body, it sends a purge command."
"Six hours?"
"Five hours, forty-eight minutes now."
"And if we get outside the district?"
"The link stays."
"Then break it."
"I can't."
That answer landed harder than his hand.
Knox let go of my wrist, but he didn't step away. His body blocked the only clear path to the door. The room was narrow enough that every breath between us felt shared. I could smell metal on him, the bitter trace of burned circuitry, and something clean under it that made my brain trip at the worst possible time.
I rubbed my wrist. "You said you couldn't break it. You didn't say you wouldn't."
"Because I can't."
"You're an officer. City officers can unlock anything."
"Not this."
"Why?"
His gaze flicked to the health bars.
"Because the system tagged you as my paired host. The lock responds to my clearance, but the core answers to your nervous system. If I force a disconnect, it reads both bodies as hostile code."
"That sounds like a you problem."
"It became a you problem the second you put your hand on the core."
I laughed once. It hurt my ribs. "I didn't put my hand on it. It put itself on me."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I expect you to look at the evidence floating in front of your face."
The red warning blinked again. My health dropped to 41%. Knox's fell to 66%.
His head snapped up.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
"Mara."
"I said nothing."
He caught my chin and turned my face toward the display. His thumb pressed under my jaw. Not enough to hurt. More than enough to remind me he could.
"You stole a core worth more than this entire block. You ran through a locked checkpoint without a legal ID. You survived a system burn that should have stopped your heart. I am done guessing what you can do."
"Then stop guessing. Ask."
"Fine." His voice dropped. "Who sent you?"
"Nobody."
"Wrong."
"My client."
"Name."
"He paid cash."
"Name."
"I don't know it."
Knox's thumb shifted against my jaw. His eyes didn't leave mine.
"You lie badly when you're scared."
"I'm not scared."
"Your pulse says otherwise."
"Your hand is on my throat. Take a wild guess why my pulse is up."
His fingers loosened. Just a little.
I used the opening.
My knee drove into his thigh. He stumbled half a step, and I twisted free. The room gave me nowhere to run, so I went for the next best thing: his weapon.
I got two fingers under the holster strap before he caught me from behind.
His arm locked across my upper chest. My back hit him. Heat punched through both our jackets. The health display jumped.
MARA: 39% KNOX: 64%
"Try that again," he said near my ear, "and I stop being careful."
"You keep saying that like careful is working for you."
I slammed my heel down on his boot.
He swore and tightened his hold. Not enough to crush me. Enough to pin my arms against my sides.
"You really don't know when to quit."
"You really don't know when to duck."
The core flared under my skin.
Knox's arm jerked away from my chest. He shoved me forward, and I caught myself against the wall with both palms. For half a second, I was free.
Then his hand closed around the back of my jacket and hauled me around.
I hit the wall again. His forearm braced beside my head. His face was inches from mine.
"You want to keep testing me?" he asked.
"I want to know what happens if I win."
"You don't win against the city."
"I already stole from it."
"You stole a box."
"And you let me keep breathing."
That made him pause.
The room's emergency light painted one side of his face red. A thin cut ran along his cheekbone, probably from the drone blast. Blood had dried there. I lifted my chin, close enough to feel the warmth of his breath touch my mouth.
"You could have shot me in the alley," I said. "You had a clean line."
"The core was unstable."
"You could have shot me after it linked us."
"I needed answers."
"You need me alive."
His eyes dropped to my lips for half a second.
There. A mistake.
I smiled without showing teeth. "That look didn't sound very professional."
His stare snapped back to mine. "Keep talking."
"Gladly. You're trapped in here with the thief you were ordered to arrest. Your health drops every time mine drops. Your own system is hiding a failure level from you. And you still think you're the one in charge."
"I am the one holding you against the wall."
"For now."
His jaw flexed. "You have no idea what you're carrying."
"Then tell me."
"I can't."
"Can't, or won't?"
He moved closer. The front of his jacket brushed mine. His hand came up, not touching me this time, hovering beside my cheek as if he had to decide whether to shove me away or hold me there.
"If I tell you what the core is, you become a bigger target than you already are."
"That's sweet. Is this where you threaten to save me?"
"This is where I tell you the truth. The city isn't waiting for us to escape. It's tracking the link."
A soft chime came from the wall.
Both health bars froze.
A thin blue line spread across the sealed door.
KNOX turned his head. "Damn it."
"What?"
"They found the signal."
The panel flashed black. Then a mechanical voice spoke through the room.
"Unregistered core signature confirmed. Enforcement response authorized."
I pushed against Knox's chest. He didn't move.
"Open the door."
"That response isn't mine."
"You said you're an officer."
"I said I had clearance. There's a difference."
The wall beside us split open. Three thin metal arms unfolded from the panel, each ending in a needle-bright injector.
My stomach dropped.
"What are those?"
"Compliance anchors."
"They look friendly."
"They'll lock your motor system for ten minutes."
"And yours?"
"If they tag you, they tag me."
"So move."
"I need you to stand still."
"You need to stop giving me stupid orders."
The first arm snapped toward my shoulder.
Knox caught it barehanded.
A charge cracked through the room. His fingers clenched around the metal, and his health dropped from 64% to 58%.
"Knox!"
"Don't touch it."
"I wasn't planning to hug the murder machine."
The second arm swung for my neck.
I ducked. It missed my skin by an inch and punched into the wall. Knox released the first arm and grabbed my waist, yanking me behind him.
His hand spread across my side through the jacket. Firm. Protective. Too familiar for a man who had spent the last ten minutes threatening to arrest me.
"Stay behind me."
"You don't get to play shield after trying to break my jaw."
"I didn't break your jaw."
"The night is young."
He kicked the second arm away. Sparks jumped over his boot.
The third arm locked onto my chest.
I shoved Knox aside and drove my palm into the injector's base.
The core answered.
A burst of red light blew through the room. The metal arm folded in on itself with a shriek. The other two recoiled, and every display on the wall filled with broken numbers.
For one clean second, nobody moved.
Then Knox stared at my hand.
"You said you couldn't control it," he said.
"I can't."
"You just did."
"I pushed it away. That's not control. That's panic with better timing."
He grabbed my wrist again and scanned the glowing mark beneath my palm. His glove pressed into my skin. His face was close enough that I could see the small twitch beside his eye.
"Your core isn't reacting to commands," he said. "It's reacting to threat."
"Congratulations. You found my personality."
"It should have killed you."
"People say that a lot."
The door alarm changed pitch.
Knox released me and pulled a thin black strip from the inside of his coat. It looked like a metal band, no wider than two fingers. A small red node blinked in its center.
I backed up. "What is that?"
"A limiter."
"Put it on yourself."
"It won't fit me."
"Then throw it away."
"If I attach it to you, the core's output will stabilize."
"And what does it do to me?"
"It limits your access to the upgrade system."
"So you chain me."
"So you don't burn through the rest of your health before we find a way out."
"You mean before you turn me over."
"If I wanted you handed over, I'd have left you in the alley."
"Maybe you want me alive long enough to testify."
"Against who?"
"You tell me, Officer. You're the one asking questions."
The band clicked open in his hand.
I saw the tiny contact points inside it. Three silver pins. One red light.
"No," I said.
Knox stepped in.
I swung first.
He caught my fist before it reached his face. His other hand closed around my waist again, and he turned us both. My shoulders hit the wall. The limiter pressed between us.
"Listen to me," he said.
"Get off me."
"The system has already marked us as one incident. If you overload again, it won't just hurt you. It will drop my health with yours."
"Sounds fair."
"You want me dead?"
The question stopped me.
His grip stayed firm, but his thumb shifted against my side. Once. A warning. Or a check to make sure I was still breathing.
"I want you out of my way," I said.
"Same thing, for the next five hours."
"Then let me choose how I die."
His eyes hardened. "No."
"You don't own me."
"I know."
"You act like you do."
"Because you're about to make a stupid choice just to prove you can."
"You don't know me."
"I know you keep looking at the door even though you know it's locked. I know you protect your left side when you turn. I know you count exits before you count enemies. And I know you haven't asked about your brother because you're afraid the answer is already bad."
My breath caught.
He saw it. Of course he saw it.
"Don't say his name," I whispered.
"Then stop pretending this is about you."
"It is about me."
"No. It's about getting medicine to him before his treatment window closes. You took the core because somebody promised you enough credits to buy it."
My fist tightened in his hand.
"Who gave you that file?"
"Your courier record is attached to your identity tag."
"My tag was wiped."
"Not completely."
"You're lying."
"Maybe."
"You don't get to play games with my brother."
I drove my free hand toward his throat.
He caught that one too.
Now both my wrists were pinned above my head. His body held me against the wall without crushing me, but there was nowhere to move. His chest rose against mine. The limiter rested at my collarbone, cold through my shirt.
"Let go," I said.
"Say you'll stop fighting the anchor."
"Go to hell."
"Mara."
The way he said my name made my skin tighten. Not soft. Not kind. A command wearing a warning.
"You need me," I said.
"Yes."
The answer was immediate.
I stared at him. "That easy?"
"I need you breathing. Don't make it something else."
"You need my hands on the core."
"I need the only person it hasn't killed."
"And if I say no?"
"The system sends the purge signal. Your brother loses his only treatment credit because your account disappears. You lose your body. I lose mine with yours."
The limiter's red node blinked between us.
"You put that on me," I said, "and I get one chance to rip it off."
"If you remove it, the core spikes."
"You don't know that."
"I watched the readings."
"You watched me suffer and took notes."
His mouth tightened. "I kept you alive."
"You kept your own health bar alive."
"Both can be true."
That was the problem. He didn't dress the truth up. He dropped it between us and made me deal with it.
The door shook. Something heavy hit the other side.
Knox looked toward the sound, then back at me.
"Decide."
"You first."
"What?"
"Show me your failure level. Full details."
His face went still.
There it was. The weak spot.
"You said it was hidden from you," I continued. "Let me see it. If you're asking me to trust a limiter, you can give me one real piece of information."
"No."
"Then no."
"You don't have the leverage."
"I do. You're standing here holding the limiter instead of putting it on. You're scared of what I see."
His fingers flexed around my wrists.
"Careful."
"Make me."
The red display above his shoulder glitched.
FAILURE LEVEL: 13% FAILURE SOURCE: MEMORY—
The line cut off.
Knox's breath stopped.
I smiled. "Memory?"
"Don't."
"Your failure code comes from erased memories?"
"I said don't."
"What did they erase?"
He slammed the limiter against the wall beside my head. The metal cracked the concrete. His face was suddenly inches away, his breath hot against my cheek.
"You want the truth? Fine. The city doesn't trust me either. It put a kill code in my spine after the last time I failed an order. If my failure level hits one hundred, I stop being an officer. I become the thing sent to wipe people like you."
I stopped smiling.
"How high is it now?"
"Thirteen."
"And the core?"
"It keeps pushing it up."
"So if I die—"
"I die. If you force the core again, I get closer to becoming a purge weapon."
The heavy impact hit the door again. Dust dropped from the ceiling.
Knox lowered his voice. "This is the part where you decide whether hating me is worth killing yourself."
"Don't hand me a dramatic choice and call it logic."
"Then make a better one."
He released one of my wrists.
I could have hit him. I could have reached for the weapon. Instead, I grabbed the limiter.
"If this hurts—"
"It will."
"I hate you."
"I know."
"If you betray me—"
"You can kill me with the core."
"Don't tempt me."
"I'm not. I'm giving you the only advantage you have."
He guided the band around my wrist. His bare fingers brushed my skin where the glove had torn. The contact was brief, careful, and somehow worse than the force he'd used before.
I looked at his hand. "You always touch people like you're arresting them?"
"You always talk when you're terrified?"
"Only when the company is bad."
His eyes lifted to mine.
For a beat, the alarms faded under the sound of our linked breathing.
Then the limiter locked.
Pain snapped through my arm.
I gasped and grabbed Knox's jacket. The core flared red under my skin. His body jerked against mine, and his hand closed around my waist to keep me upright.
The system appeared in both our vision.
LIMITER ACTIVE. HOST PAIR RESTRICTED. SHARED HEALTH CLOCK ENABLED.
A new timer began counting down.
05:47:12
The door lock turned from blue to black.
Knox looked at it. "The district network just escalated the response."
"What does that mean?"
Every light in the room went red.
A citywide alert boomed through the walls.
"PURGE NOTICE. ALL UNREGISTERED PERSONS WILL BE REMOVED AT ZERO HUNDRED HOURS."
My stomach dropped. "All unregistered?"
Knox's gaze cut to mine. The limiter pulsed between our wrists, warm now, tight as a promise neither of us had agreed to make.
"That means the clock isn't only ours," he said. "Mara, tell me—who else did you register this core to..."