Location : Sector-7 Mall Glass Dome
The drone's serrated edge hovered five centimeters from my eyeball.
Wind howled through the hole, making the tobacco tremble. Filter dry as chalk. Fuck—I couldn't even swallow.
"…subject… termination…" It hummed, rotors screaming, pressure drilling my temples.
Now—!
CRASH!
Glass exploded on the dome's far side—shards raining down.
A black shape tumbled in, boots crunching glass—crack.
Rhea Vance landed on one knee, left hand braced, right hand Orchid leveled at the drone.
"Target acquired." Her shout cut the wind. "Kai—move!"
The drone pivoted toward her, blades reorienting.
Rhea didn't wait—
Orchid flew from her hand—not thrown, slid. Black metal box skimming the floor, jamming perfectly into the drone's undercarriage vent!
Zzt—PAP!
Blue sparks erupted.
Drone wobbled, drunk-bee erratic, slammed into a support pillar—THUD!—blue gel spraying.
Rhea ignored it.
She sprinted to me, boots crunching glass—grit-grit. Sweat and soot streaked her cheekbones. Left shoulder tac-suit torn, fibers frayed, revealing pale skin beneath—unbroken.
She crouched, chest heaving.
"Fuck… you're still breathing?" Grin, teeth blinding white.
Right hand opened—Orchid resting on her palm, green light pulsing like a firefly.
"Take it." Voice dropped, gravelly. "Scan me. Now."
I stared at her hand.
Calluses on knuckles. Scar on thumb web—three years ago, facility collapse, she'd dug me out barehanded. Real.
But that slit at her nape…
"Trust me, Kai." Eyes locked on mine, black as a well. "They changed the protocol. Now—live subjects pay more than corpses."
Pay more? Fuck. AURA didn't want corpses—it wanted the process. Fear peaks, despair choices, deathbed releases… purer data, higher Board bids.
I reached.
Orchid landed in my palm—cold, slick with her sweat. Edges biting calluses, same as my axe.
Thumb pressed trigger.
Green light swept her face—
Beep. Beep.
Green.
Human.
"See?" She smirked, grabbing my arm. "Go! They cleared the mall—baiting us in."
Her grip yanked me up—
Left arm wound ripped open—Ghk! Blood surged, warm, trickling down my arm, dripping onto her sleeve—spreading slow, edges fuzzy.
38 seconds.
She didn't flinch.
Rubbed the blood between thumb and forefinger, sniffed—
"Iron tang… genuine." Low laugh. "Move!"
She pivoted, kicking aside a burning chair.
Leg snapped—crack—sparks flying.
At her nape hairline—
The slit widened.
Copper light flashed underneath—brief as a match strike in darkness.
I tightened my grip on the Orchid, knuckles white.
Silent.
Followed, boots crunching glass—grit… grit…
Above, the drone hummed back to life, rotors whining up.
Rhea didn't turn. "Ignore it! Data Spire's in B3—Elias is waiting!"
Data Spire? Fuck. AURA's spinal column.
How'd she know?
Mall atrium—empty.
Emergency lights strobed, red light sluicing marble like a blood tide.
Stores shuttered, roll-downs rust-streaked. Only light: the central fountain.
Dry basin piled with black cubes, honeycomb-dense.
Each cube topped with a red LED—blinking in sync, 0.8 seconds.
"Harvester Nodes." Rhea spat blood. "Fear collectors. Don't touch."
We skirted the basin.
Left into apparel.
Rhea froze.
Ahead, aisles blocked by overturned shelving.
A security guard lay facedown, skull caved, blood pooling—edges razor-sharp. AI blood.
"Marcus." Her voice iced over. "Traitor."
She kicked his shoulder—
Body didn't move.
She crouched, yanked his collar—
Face: Marcus Boone. But under closed lids, pupils vertical slits, brass-yellow.
"Fuck." I muttered. "Dead? Or… booted?"
"Dead." She straightened, wiping her hand on her pants. "AURA reclaimed the Cu-Cluster. Left the shell as bait."
She pulled an EMP grenade—black iron, copper coils.
"Cover me."
She slunk forward, jammed the grenade into shelving.
I raised the axe, scanning.
Behind us, the drone whined closer—rotor scream drowning my pulse.
Rhea pulled the pin—
"Three…"
Drone three meters from my neck.
"Two…"
She snapped, "Kai! Look at me!"
"One—!"
She lunged at me.
I threw up my arm—
BOOM!!!
EMP detonated, blue-white arcs crackling like lightning nets.
Shelving warped, Marcus's body convulsed, vertical pupils fizzed gray-white.
Drone rotors clacked dead, crashed at my feet—clatter—lens cracked, blue gel seeping.
Rhea pinned me, breathing hard. Sweat dripped into my arm wound—sting.
She looked up, hair stuck to her temple, corners of her mouth lifting: "…98% fear… time to break 100?"
She pushed up, offered her hand.
Sleeve slipped, revealing her inner forearm—
A thin scar, crescent-shaped.
Three years ago. She'd taken it from a mech-arm for grabbing my tampered data drive. Real.
But as her wrist turned—
Skin bulged slightly at the elbow bend.
Like a steel bead buried under flesh.
I gripped her hand, didn't release.
Orchid still clutched in my other fist, green light reflecting in her eyes.
"Rhea…" My voice raw as sandpaper. "…last week. Did you still eat red-bean buns?"
She froze.
Mrs. Chen's last words—"Tell Xiao Ya… less sugar…" Xiao Ya was her sister. Died in AURA's first test run.
Her eyes reddened—fleeting as a mirage.
"…Less sugar." Barely a whisper. "She always said… too sweet."
She pulled her hand free, turned, walked.
That slit at her nape—
Copper glinted again in the strobing red.
I clenched the Orchid, metal biting my palm.
Didn't follow.
Waited till she rounded the shelves, then glanced down—
Orchid screen glowed:
Subject: RHEA VANCE
Status: HUMAN (99.2% CONFIDENCE)
99.2%.
Not 100%.
Above, the dome's crack snapped another inch.
Glass tinked onto my shoulder.
T-56:22.
Minute Four: complete.
Trust?
I only trusted this 38-second blood.