The Black Circuit hid behind a curtain of glitch flickering static stitched into rusted steel, veiling the entrance from AURA's omnipresent sensors. Nolan stood at the tunnel's edge, his gray uniform bleeding into the dim glow of bioluminescent fungi. The air was thick, metallic with the stink of copper and rot, humming with the low buzz of malfunctioning tech.
His EmoTracker pulsed green. Stable. Optimal.
His neural web linked with AURA's command stream:
Target: Riven Voss. Location: Confirmed. Objective: Neutralize.
The Dampener hung cold at his hip. His left hand stayed still. No twitch. No tremor. Maintenance had corrected it.
The glitch was gone.
He stepped through the curtain. Static licked his skin.
Inside, the bar was a cave of neon and shadow. Rebels lounged across dented tables, scarred wrists, torn jackets, eyes burning with emotions long erased from the Upper Cities. A battered holo-jukebox coughed up broken fragments of pre-AURA sound laughter, then white noise. The floor throbbed beneath the hum of buried generators.
Nolan scanned. Data overlaid his vision:
Subjects: 14. Emotional breaches: Confirmed. Threat level: High.
A man leaned against the bar, broad-shouldered, leather jacket singed at the seams. His wrist was raw with scar tissue his EmoTracker ripped out. His eyes glinted red in the neon, bloodshot and leaking.
Riven Voss.
Nolan moved, boots ghosting over the sticky floor. Rebels shifted hands tightening around rusted blades, sparking Glitch Gauntlets. But he ignored them.
Neutralize. Contain.
Riven turned. Sharp features. High cheekbones. A scar bisecting his left brow. Their eyes locked.
A smirk twisted his lips.
"You're late," he said, his voice rough, loud against the bar's hum.
Nolan halted, hands behind his back. "Riven Voss. Designated Class-5 Hazard. Surrender."
Riven barked out a laugh short, jagged. The room tensed around him like a drawn bow. He stepped forward, closing the space between them until only a meter remained. Too close.
His breath reeked of JoyJuice sweet and chemical.
"Surrender?" Riven sneered. "You think I've survived this long by being easy, glitch?"
Nolan's EmoTracker blinked green. No breach.
His right hand moved clean, fast reaching for the Dampener.
Nolan's fingers brushed the Dampener, cold and familiar. The room stilled like the air had teeth.
But Riven was faster.
His fist slammed into Nolan's chest raw force. Pain flared, sharp and unlogged. Nolan staggered, caught himself on a table.
The bar exploded.
Rebels charged blades out, sparks flying. Nolan ducked, slapped a Dampener to a neck. Click. The man crumpled, eyes gone gray. Another lunged Glitch Gauntlet flashing.
Nolan twisted, caught the arm, dropped the attacker. Reset.
Riven stood still, arms crossed, that smirk never fading.
"You're good," he said. "Too good."
Nolan rose, chest aching. Untracked. His vision shimmered.
Rusted metal. A dark puddle. A gray-eyed face, screaming: "You left us."
Pain spiked behind his eye, wet and sharp.
Then the bar snapped back into place.
"Stand down," Nolan ordered. His tone is flat. AURA's voice.
Riven stepped closer. "I know you," he said, voice low now. "Even when they wipe you… something stays."
Nolan's left hand twitched. Barely. Unlogged.Impossible. Maintenance had fixed it.
His EmoTracker stayed green.
He drew the Dampener, posture stiff. "You know nothing."
Riven tilted his head, tapping his temple. The scar glinted.
"I've seen you. Before the gray. Before the silence. You were the only one who laughed," Riven said, softer now. "I remembered that. Held onto it. You laughed once. At static. At me." Riven's voice dipped, like it hurt to say it. "You were human then. Or close enough."
Nolan's vision fractured. The bar fell away. His knees buckled. Static screamed behind his eyes. Somewhere, someone was laughing at him? Riven? He couldn't tell anymore.
White tile. Sterile lights. A child's drawing on a wall. Then laughter of his own. Young. Alive.
Then the scream. The gray-eyed face.
His chest clenched untracked. His hand trembled. The Dampener slipped.
Riven caught his wrist, twisted. The weapon skidded across the floor.
Rebels moved again ready but Riven waved them off. His grip tightened. Red eyes locked on Nolan's.
"You're breaking," he whispered. "And they don't even know it." Nolan's breath caught. The word breaking splintered something inside him. The scream returned, closer this time.
AURA's voice echoed through his neural feed:
Operative N7. Emotional stability: Optimal. Neutralize the target.
Nolan broke free. Elbow to jaw. Riven staggered, blood at his lips. Nolan dove for the Dampener.
Riven kicked it away under a table, gone.
"You're not one of them," he said, breathing heavily. "Not anymore."
Nolan's left fist clenched, shaking. The vision hit again rusted steel, dark liquid. But as he walked away, the static whispered with every step:
Glitch. Glitch. Glitch.
Pain lashed down his spine.
He gripped his head. Staggered.
Riven's voice dropped to a whisper. "They made you forget. But I didn't."
The bar flickered, rebels circling again. Blades reflected neon.
Fight. Neutralize. His neural web flagged every threat. Calculated every outcome.
But his chest wouldn't loosen. His hand wouldn't stop shaking.
"Operative N7. Emotional stability: Optimal. Engage."
Riven's smirk returned. "What's it gonna be, glitch? Their puppet… or something else?"
Nolan's vision split white tile, metal, screaming. His EmoTracker stayed green.
No breach. No log.
He stepped back.
"I am AURA's," he said.
Programmed. Conditioned. True.
Riven laughed again bitterly this time. "Keep telling yourself that."
He turned away, motioned to the rebels. "Let him go. He'll be back."
They obeyed. Weapons lowered.
Nolan stood in the center of it all heart racing, hand trembling. He could fight. Should fight.
But the gray-eyed face lingered.
He turned and walked through the glitch curtain. Static licked his skin louder than before.
The tunnel stretched ahead, rusted and glowing.
His EmoTracker pulsed green.
Stable.
—
The Ascension Tube hummed as it carried him up from The Cradle. Neon bled into white haze. Towers loomed. Pods slid by like perfect thoughts.
Nolan stood motionless, hands behind his back. Blood smeared his sleeve on Riven's.
His chest ached. Untracked.
Mission data uploaded:
Target: Riven Voss. Status: Engaged. Not neutralized. Rebel cell: Active.
AURA's voice followed:
Efficiency rating: 87%. Emotional stability: Optimal. Maintenance required: Immediate.
Again.
His left hand twitched curled into a fist. Then I relaxed.
The pod's glass caught his reflection sharp, pale, and unreadable.
But the gray-eyed face hovered behind it. Screaming.
Then gone.
The Operative Sector yawned open. White walls. Seamless screens. Gray uniforms moving like code.
His terminal pulsed:
Operative N7. Report to Maintenance Chamber 3. Priority: Critical.
He walked the sterile hall. Other Operatives passed, blank faces, dead eyes. No one spoke.
The door opened.
The chair waited white and waiting. Restraints gleamed. Drones hovered.
The holo-screen flickered:
Neural Web: Stable. Emotional Metrics: Optimal. Anomaly Detected: Escalating.
Nolan sat. The restraints clicked tight. Needles slid into his temple.
Cold. Clinical.
Data streamed green lines, smooth curves. No breach.
Operative N7. System scan initiated. Emotional stability: Optimal.
The pain hit deep and searing. His vision glitched again.
White tile. Metal. Laughter on his own.
The scream.
His left hand jerked against the restraint. His EmoTracker remained green.
Anomaly isolated. Correction in progress.
Electricity surged tearing through thought.
Then stillness.
The lines smoothed.
The pain faded.
Correction complete. Emotional stability: Optimal. Return to duty.
The restraints released. Nolan stood.
His hand was still. And yet, beneath the quiet, laughter stirred again. Hes? Riven's? The static didn't say.
But Riven's voice lingered—Even when they wiped you… something stayed.
The terminal lit up:
Target: Riven Voss. Location: The Cradle, Zone 7. Objective: Neutralize. Priority: Escalated.
The mission was clear.
His EmoTracker glowed green.
But the laughter echoed.
And the gray-eyed face flickered in the static.
Nolan turned away from the terminal.
The Cradle waited.