The lab was silent after the holographic eye vanished.
Too silent.
Kai sat frozen, the cracked shard smoking faintly beside his hand. The air felt electric — charged, waiting, as though the walls themselves were listening.
For a long moment, he didn't breathe.
He just listened back.
But there was nothing — no whisper of fans, no hum of power conduits. The usual thrum of the lab had gone eerily still.
"Okay," he muttered, his voice low. "You want to watch me? Fine. Watch."
He reached for his tools, hands shaking with precision, and began dismantling the shard. Its surface was etched with microscopic circuitry — far beyond anything Grimstone's tech could legally produce. That alone told him everything: this wasn't rogue student work. This was sanctioned.
High-tier. Official. Dangerous.
As he worked, his mind raced.
That drone in the Rust Belt…
The failed hack on his workshop…
Now this.
It was a chain. And he was the bait.
"Council," he whispered, realization cutting like ice. "You've been watching me since before Grimstone."
A quiet voice broke the silence behind him.
"You talk to yourself when you're stressed."
Kai flinched. Spun.
Selena stood in the doorway, holding two cups of synthetic coffee — one already halfway spilled. Her hair was a mess; her expression, worse.
"You scared the life out of me," he hissed.
"Good," she said, walking in. "Now we're even."
She placed one cup beside him, glancing at the cracked shard. "That's the spy tech?"
"Yeah."
"It's ugly."
"Function over form," he muttered. "Besides, we're not supposed to like it."
Selena studied him carefully. "You've been here all night."
He didn't answer. The shadows under his eyes did it for him.
"You're pushing too hard again, Kai."
He shot her a look. "And you're still trying to save me from myself."
"Someone has to."
"Not your job."
"Then stop making it mine."
Her tone cracked through the air like a whip. For a second, neither of them moved. The silence between them had weight — the kind that came from care dressed as irritation.
Selena exhaled, softening. "Look, I get it. You built your life by never trusting anyone. But you're not in the Gut Pit anymore."
Kai turned away. "Funny, doesn't feel that different."
"You've got people now," she said quietly. "We're trying to help."
He didn't respond.
Because part of him didn't believe it.
When he finally spoke again, his voice was calm — too calm.
"Selena, that shard — it's got a Council signature."
She blinked. "You're sure?"
"Checked the energy code myself. Matches the drone from Sector 4."
Selena's frown deepened. "You're saying this isn't just sabotage… it's surveillance."
"More than that," Kai said. "It's targeted. They've been watching me since before Grimstone. Probably since my diagnostics leaked into the open net."
Selena went still. "You think you're part of a Council file?"
"I am a file," he said bitterly. "They flagged me as an anomaly years ago. Now they want to see how I break."
She looked at him — really looked. The defiance, the exhaustion, the pride that kept him upright even when everything else failed. "You're not breaking."
He gave a humorless smile. "You haven't seen my process."
Selena shook her head. "You think this is about you? Kai, if the Council's watching, then Grimstone's in the crosshairs too."
He frowned. "You're saying—"
"I'm saying they don't just want your tech. They want to use you as the excuse to bury us."
The thought hung in the air — heavy, inevitable.
For once, Kai didn't have a clever reply.
The door hissed again.
Oliver stumbled in with a datapad in one hand and a protein packet in the other.
"So, small update — someone's been pinging our system every six minutes. Like… rhythmically. Creepy, right?"
Selena's eyes snapped to Kai. "That them?"
Kai nodded grimly. "It's a watch signal."
Oliver blinked. "A what-now?"
"A surveillance ping," Kai said. "Think of it like a pulse. They're checking if we're still breathing."
Oliver paled. "Do we… stop?"
Selena groaned. "He's not a doctor, Oliver."
Valerie strolled in last, yawning dramatically. "I leave you children alone for one night and you nearly invite divine judgment. Did someone at least make breakfast?"
"No," Selena said flatly. "We're being spied on."
Valerie blinked once. Twice. Then smiled. "Ah. Just another Tuesday."
Oliver waved the datapad nervously. "Guys, seriously, this thing is pinging now. Should I—should I throw it?"
"Please don't," Kai muttered. "We need evidence, not a concussion."
Selena rubbed her temples. "We're losing focus."
Valerie arched a brow. "On the contrary. We're finally interesting enough to have enemies. You should be proud."
Kai looked at her. "You find this funny?"
"Terrifying," she said sweetly. "I laugh when I'm terrified."
Oliver raised his hand. "Same. It's a coping mechanism."
Selena deadpanned, "You both need therapy."
"Undoubtedly," Valerie agreed. "But let's start with caffeine."
Once the jokes faded, the reality settled in again.
They were being watched.
Every move. Every keystroke. Every breath.
Kai stared at the darkened shard in his hand. "We can't keep reacting. We need to turn the lens."
Selena frowned. "Meaning?"
He lifted his gaze — the spark back in his eyes. "We hack them back."
Valerie chuckled. "Oh, darling, now you're speaking my language."
Selena folded her arms. "You're insane."
"Possibly," Kai said. "But I've spent my whole life being hunted. Maybe it's time I hunt back."
Oliver swallowed hard. "Won't that, like… trigger alarms? Council-level ones?"
Kai smirked. "Only if we get caught."
Selena shot him a look. "You will get caught."
"Then I'll make sure they regret it."
Valerie raised a hand. "I vote chaos."
Oliver hesitated. "I vote survival."
Selena sighed. "And I vote not committing academic treason."
Kai grinned, faint but real. "Majority rules."
The plan was reckless, brilliant, and borderline suicidal — which made it classic Kai.
They would build a false feedback loop, feeding the watcher corrupted telemetry while tracing the return signal. In short: lure the eye into blinking.
Kai worked in silence, hands moving like a pianist over code. Every command was a note, every line a chord of defiance. Selena watched from across the table, her jaw set — half in fear, half in awe.
Valerie occasionally narrated like a sports commentator.
"And here we have our tragic genius, violating ten planetary statutes before lunch."
"Valerie," Selena warned.
"What? I'm chronicling history."
Oliver peeked over Kai's shoulder. "So… if this works, we see who's watching?"
"If it works," Kai said. "If not—"
"Boom?"
"Worse. Reset."
Oliver frowned. "What's worse than boom?"
Kai didn't answer. His focus was absolute.
The holo-display flickered — a cascade of numbers spiraling outward like a web. At the center, the signature pulsed — the eye.
"Got you," he whispered.
He launched the feedback.
For a heartbeat, nothing.
Then the room shuddered.
Lights dimmed. Monitors stuttered. The entire network screamed as if something massive had just turned its attention inward.
Selena grabbed the table. "What did you do!?"
Kai gritted his teeth. "Pulled back the curtain."
A new window opened on the main screen. Static. Then — a face.
Half-hidden, blurred by encryption. But the silhouette was unmistakable.
"Dr. Victor Zhao," Kai breathed.
Selena's eyes went wide. "Zhao? That's impossible."
Kai stared at the image, anger rising like static heat. "He's been spying on us."
Valerie's voice was low. "Or someone wants you to think that."
The image flickered — replaced by the Council insignia.
A cold voice followed.
"Unauthorized trace detected. Cease activity immediately."
Then — black.
The lights returned. The network stabilized.
And Kai just stood there, shaking with fury.
"He lied to us," he whispered. "He's feeding them everything."
Selena hesitated. "Kai, slow down—"
"No," he snapped. "This is why he wanted the safety protocols. Why he insisted on private oversight. He wasn't protecting me. He was controlling me."
Valerie's tone softened, uncharacteristically gentle. "Careful, darling. Rage makes terrible architects."
He didn't listen. He was already moving — grabbing his jacket, his comm.
Selena stepped in front of him. "Where are you going?"
"To get answers."
Her hand shot out, gripping his arm. "You go after Zhao now, you'll burn every bridge you've built here."
Kai looked at her — eyes dark, voice quiet.
"Then I'll build my own bridge. Out of fire."
He pulled free, the door hissing shut behind him.
The lab was silent again.
Selena turned to Valerie. "You think Zhao's really behind it?"
Valerie sighed. "Zhao's too paranoid to spy for anyone. But he's also too proud to admit if he's being used."
Oliver looked between them nervously. "So what do we do?"
Selena stared at the dark screen, Kai's reflection fading from its surface.
"We watch the watcher."
Next: Chapter 25 — "The Man Behind the Glass"
where Kai confronts Zhao in a high-stakes interrogation, only to discover that both of them are pawns in a much larger surveillance scheme.