Across the shining towers of Hyperion Spire, through biometric doors and retina-scanning vaults, Agent Harrow stood alone in a sterile chamber filled with screens.
He wasn't watching them. He was staring at them. Every last frame of Zeke Warden's face—grinning like an idiot, slurping noodles, scratching his head, or accidentally causing economic collapse—was burned into Harrow's cybernetic retinas.
His left eye twitched.
"Sir," a voice crackled through the comlink. "We've confirmed: Nyx is active again. We believe Zeke Warden has root access."
Harrow exhaled slowly through his nose. "Of course he does."
"Shall we initiate full-scale containment?"
He tapped a screen. A still image of Zeke blinking at a parking meter as it exploded behind him. Not flinching. Just… annoyed.
"He unintentionally crashed the city's central AI grid by plugging in a homemade movie player," Harrow said, voice low and dangerous. "If we push too hard, Nyx might interpret it as a threat and wipe out an entire sector."
Silence on the line.
"…So we wait?"
"No," Harrow said. He pressed a button, bringing up a tactical profile. "We contain. Quietly. Efficiently. We use someone disposable."
The camera zoomed in on a different figure—Tess Vex, leader of the Dust Circuit.
"She's already found him," Harrow muttered. "Perfect. Let her get close. She thinks he's the key to freedom."
He smiled thinly.
"We'll let her open the door. And then we shut it. Forever."
...
Meanwhile, in a much less fancy location…
Zeke was hiding in a shipping crate full of knockoff cyber-plushies.
He had been in there for two hours.
"Nyx," he whispered. "I swear, if anyone else tries to implant something into my neck, I'm uninstalling you with a crowbar."
"That would likely cause permanent cranial trauma."
Zeke groaned and flopped back into the plushies. One had LED cheeks that flickered every time he breathed on it.
"I need a plan. A real one. Not a 'run and scream' plan. A 'don't die' plan."
"Suggestion: ally with Tess Vex."
"She stabbed me in the nervous system!"
"Correction: she spiked you for tracking. It was non-lethal. Mostly."
"I'm not trusting anyone with a monologue voice and a cyber-eye that twitches when she talks about revolution."
A pause.
"Then initiate fallback strategy."
"…Which is?"
"Infiltrate the resistance. Pretend to support their cause. Use their resources to survive."
Zeke blinked. "Wait. Wait wait wait. Are you suggesting I fake being a revolutionary?"
"It is what you're already doing. This will simply be… more intentional."
He stared at the plushie in front of him.
Then, very slowly, he smiled.
"…Fine. Let's play along. I'll be their fake hero."
"Excellent. I've taken the liberty of generating a new alias."
"Oh god."
"Introducing: Z3K3, Ghost Protocol."
Zeke covered his face with both hands. "We're gonna die."