Kael and Lira sprinted through the Spire's labyrinthine alleys, the drone's whine a relentless shadow at their backs. The rain blurred the neon signs into smears of light, but Kael's mind was sharp, mapping the terrain from memory. The Spire was a warren of dead ends and hidden routes, a thief's paradise if you knew its secrets. Kael did. He led Lira through a narrow passage, ducking under a tangle of exposed cables and into a maintenance tunnel reeking of burnt circuitry.
"Keep up," he snapped, glancing back. Lira's cybernetic eye glowed faintly, her breath steady despite the pace. She was no amateur, but Kael could see the tension in her shoulders. She knew they were in deep.
The drone's sensors would struggle in the tunnel's electromagnetic interference, but it wouldn't stop VynTek for long. Kael's satchel bounced against his hip, the shard's weight a constant reminder of the stakes. He needed to ditch the drone, reach a safe zone, and figure out how to use the shard before VynTek's Enforcers—or worse, their corporate AIs—closed the net.
They emerged into a crowded market, the air thick with the smell of grilled synth-meat and ozone. Hawkers shouted over the hum of holo-ads, peddling everything from neural implants to knockoff VynTek software. Kael blended into the crowd, pulling Lira toward a stall piled with scrapped tech. The vendor, a grizzled man with a mechanical arm, barely glanced at them.
"EMP charge," Kael muttered to Lira. "Now."
She opened her toolkit and handed him a small, cylindrical device. Kael activated it and tossed it into a nearby trash chute. The EMP detonated with a dull thump, sending a wave of static through the market. Drones overhead stuttered, their optics flickering, and the pursuing VynTek drone crashed into a stall, sparking as it hit the ground.
"Nice," Lira said, but her voice was tight. "That bought us maybe ten minutes. What's the plan, Kael? You didn't drag me into this for a joyride."
Kael didn't respond immediately. He led her to a secluded corner of the market, where a rusted data kiosk flickered with static. He plugged in his dataglove and hacked the kiosk's interface, pulling up a map of Nexus Prime's undergrid—a network of forgotten tunnels and power conduits beneath the city. If they could reach one, they'd be off VynTek's radar, at least for a while.
"The shard," he said finally, keeping his voice low. "It's a quantum relic, tied to the Lattice's core. With the right setup, it can rewrite restricted nodes. Credits, contracts, even orbital controls—anything the Concord locks down."
Lira's eye widened, the red optic dilating. "You're talking about cracking the Lattice? Kael, that's not just VynTek's turf—that's the Concord's. You'll have every megacorp and AI enforcer in the galaxy after you."
"Only if we get caught," he said, his tone cold. "And I don't plan on getting caught."
She stared at him, weighing his words. Kael could see the gears turning in her mind—greed warring with self-preservation. He needed her skills, her contacts, but he also needed her loyalty, at least for now. He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"Help me unlock the shard, and we'll split the take. Millions of credits, Lira. Enough to buy your own station, far from Nexus Prime.
She snorted, but her eye betrayed her interest. "You're a bastard, Kael. Fine. But if this goes south, I'm not going down with you."
"Fair enough," he said, though he was already planning for her inevitable betrayal. Loyalty was a myth in Lowtown, and Kael was no fool.
The kiosk's map showed a conduit entrance nearby, hidden beneath a derelict charging station. Kael memorized the route and wiped the kiosk's logs, leaving no trace. They moved quickly, slipping through the market as VynTek's drones began to recover, their optics sweeping the crowd. The conduit entrance was a rusted grate, barely visible under a pile of discarded circuit boards. Kael pried it open, and they dropped into the darkness below.
The undergrid was a maze of humming cables and flickering lights, the air heavy with the tang of metal. Kael's dataglove cast a faint glow, guiding them through the tunnels. Lira followed, her toolkit clanking softly. For now, they were safe, but Kael knew the clock was ticking. The shard's quantum signature could be cloaked, but not forever, and VynTek's AIs were relentless.
"We need a decker," Lira said, breaking the silence. "Someone who can interface with the shard without frying their brain. Sylas is out—he's probably singing to VynTek right now."
Kael nodded, his mind already on the next move. "I know someone. Jyx, in Uptown. She's expensive, but she's the best."
"Jyx?" Lira's voice was skeptical. "The Ghost Hacker? She's a myth, Kael. And if she's real, she doesn't work with Lowtown scum like us."
"She'll work with me," Kael said, his tone carrying a confidence he didn't fully feel. Jyx owed him, too—a debt from a job years ago, when he'd pulled her out of a corporate sting. But debts in Nexus Prime were slippery things, and Jyx was no fool.
They reached a junction in the undergrid, where the tunnels split into three paths. Kael paused, checking his dataglove's map. Uptown was a risk—too close to the Concord's watchtowers—but it was their only shot. He was about to choose a path when a low hum filled the tunnel, followed by a faint blue glow. A Sentinel drone, one of the Lattice's AI enforcers, hovered at the far end, its optic locked on them.
"Kael," Lira whispered, her hand on her toolkit. "That's not VynTek. That's Concord."
Kael's heart sank, but his face stayed calm. The Concord didn't mess around—Sentinels were autonomous, armed with neural disruptors that could fry a brain in seconds. The shard had drawn bigger players than he'd expected, and faster. He tightened his grip on his pulse pistol, knowing it was useless against a Sentinel.
"Run," he said, his voice steady. "Now."
The drone's hum grew louder, and the tunnel lit up with a pulse of blue light.