Morning was not a thing down here—a series of alterations in darkness that changed color when neon filtered through crevices overhead. The undercity hummed with distant machinery, a reminder that the world atop them persisted, cold and uncaring.
Kai checked his rifle once again, motion oily, mechanical. His fingers shook only when he didn't notice.
Nyx was out cold, her shoulder bound with rough stitches. Ash slept by the entrance, gazing down the tunnels through a broken visor screen. Raze was absent.
Kai froze. The merc didn't vanish.
> "Don't move," whispered the AI in his head. "He is near."
A clatter echoed from the far tunnel—a slow, distinct clatter that wasn't trying to conceal.
Raze coalesced out of the fog like a ghost, with something metal leading behind him. Half-dead Envision drone, ripped open, sparks spraying off of its wires.
"Morning sunshine," Raze said, kicking the drone Kai's direction. "What I uncovered behind us."
Kai crouched beside it. The sensors on the drone flickered weakly.
"It was still online?" Ash asked, racing to her feet.
"Barely." Raze's grin didn't reach his eyes. "But our little rat here's good with tech. Thought I'd let him have a go. Maybe pull a location tag, maybe something useful."
Kai's pulse stuttered. He didn't dare touch the drone. The AI hissed in warning.
> "Do not connect. Risk of exposure."
"I'm not a tech," Kai said flatly. "Ask Ash."
Raze cocked his head, smile spreading. "Oh, I did ask. But I'd like you to try. Heard you have a bit of a talent for cracking open things that really shouldn't be cracked."
Nyx woke up at his tone. "Raze, what in the world are you doing?"
Raze didn't flinch from Kai. "Just making sure our rat's tail isn't attached to something dirty. You watched how fast he found that exit last time. Man's reflexes too good for luck."
Ash frowned. "You think he works for Envision?"
Raze raised an eyebrow. "I think he works for himself."
The air grew heavy. Kai forced himself to glare at Raze. "You're wasting time."
"Humor me.".
Raze kicked the drone further down their path. Its sensors glowed soft blue, humming quietly.
Kai crouched again, pulse thrumming. He couldn't jack it into his system—not without risking the AI bursting through. But to deny would be suspicious.
He undipped a multitool from around his waist and slowly pryed open the drone's access panel. Within was a mess of burnt wires and smoldered circuits—good enough to fake effort.
He labored quietly, pretending to inspect data ports while keeping his real system closed down.
Raze leaned against a pillar, watching each jump of his hands.
A minute passed, and Kai looked up. "Core's fried. Nothing left to pull."
Raze grinned fiercely. "That quickly, eh?"
"You can go ahead and try it yourself," Kai said. "But if you like being electrocuted, I'd leave it alone."
Raze knelt down, looking over the damage. "Maybe you're right."
Then—suddenly—he slammed the power cell of the drone against Kai's chest.
Kai stumbled back, shocked, heart pounding. The cell pulsed, live and warm, before he could toss it aside. It burst against the wall, sparking.
Raze smiled quietly. "See? Just testing you for surprise reaction."
Nyx was on her feet now, gun at the ready. "You're out of line."
Raze raised his hands, pretending innocence. "Relax. Test. If our kid here recoils from a bit of charge, how's he going to do versus a corp strike team?"
Ash's eyes flitted back and forth between them, uneasy.
Kai said nothing. He just put down his rifle and crossed his arms. "Next time you'd care to test me," he said quietly, "don't miss."
Raze's smile grew. "That's the spirit.".
He walked past, casual as ever, but his voice dropped low when he passed Kai's shoulder. "Everyone's got a secret, rat. I'll find yours sooner or later."
The words slid under Kai's skin like a knife.
When Raze was gone, Nyx holstered her gun with a muttered curse. "He's going to get one of us killed."
Ash said nothing. She knelt beside the fried drone, scanning it. "He's not wrong about one thing. That bot wasn't searching randomly—it was tracking a unique signature. Someone in this room set it off."
Kai's heart froze.
Nyx frowned. "Meaning?"
Ash turned the small display toward them. Lines of code scrolled, glitching and fragmented. "Encrypted pulse. Could've come from a modified neural link." Her eyes flicked to Kai, sharp, searching. "Anyone want to confess to carrying something they shouldn't?"
Kai kept his expression blank. "You're the medic. You'd know if any of us had implants like that."
Ash's eyes lingered too long before she looked away. "Yeah," she whispered. "I would."
She powered down the scanner. "I'll sweep the signal trail. But if this keeps going on, we move tonight."
Nyx nodded. Raze, leaning on the edge of the platform, just smiled. "Fine by me. Keeps things interesting."
The others faded into their corners.
Kai leaned back against the cold wall, every muscle strained to breaking. The AI lapsed into silence once, as if it enjoyed watching him choke on his own lies.
He spat at the faint neon light filtering through the holes above and tried to steady his breathing.
He'd survived Raze's trial—by the skin of his teeth. But he knew it: the merc wasn't done. None of them were.
And sooner or later, one of them was going to yank too hard on a loose thread.
And when that happened, the whole structure—his crew, his insurrection, his mind—would unravel.