Nyx's sneakers pounded the wet pavement as she followed Jace through Neon Crucible's twisting alleys. The city's neon signs buzzed overhead, painting her face in electric blues and pinks. Drones whirred somewhere behind, their searchlights slicing through the fog. Her heart raced, not just from the chase but from the runes still humming in her mind, like a song she couldn't shake. They'd sparked something impossible back in her apartment—bending lights, crashing drones. Was it magic? Tech? Whatever it was, Nexus Corp wanted it, and that meant trouble. She glanced at Jace, his grin too calm for someone dodging corporate enforcers.
"Keep up, hacker," he called, ducking under a rusted pipe. His patched jacket flapped as he moved, quick and sure, like he'd run from trouble his whole life. Nyx didn't trust him—nobody in Neon Crucible helped for free—but she had no choice. Her holo-pad, slung in her backpack, felt heavy, its cracked screen holding secrets she didn't understand. The runes pulsed in her head, urging her to code again. She ignored them. One wrong move, and she'd light up like a beacon for Nexus's goons.
They slipped into a narrow street lined with shuttered stalls, the air thick with the smell of burnt circuits and street food. Jace stopped at a graffiti-covered door, its paint chipped into a faded skull. He tapped a rhythm on a hidden panel, and the door hissed open, revealing a dark staircase descending into the earth. "Welcome to the Undergrid," he said, winking. Nyx hesitated. The Undergrid was a myth—a hacker haven beyond Nexus's reach. If it was real, it was her best shot. If it wasn't, she was walking into a trap.
"Move," Jace urged as a drone's hum grew louder. Nyx gritted her teeth and followed, the stairs creaking under her weight. The air grew cooler, tinged with the metallic tang of old tech. At the bottom, a cavernous room opened up, lit by flickering holo-screens and jury-rigged LEDs. Hackers hunched over terminals, their faces glowing in the dark. Wires snaked across the floor, and a low hum vibrated through the walls, like the city itself was breathing. Nyx's skin prickled—this place was alive with data.
A tall figure approached, his face scarred and his eyes hard. "Jace, who's this?" he growled, sizing Nyx up. His leather coat was studded with tech—holo-lenses, micro-drives, a real old-school hacker vibe. Jace smirked. "Vex, meet Nyx. She's got… skills." Vex's gaze lingered on her backpack, then her face. "Skills get you killed if they're sloppy," he said. "Nexus is hunting her. That's bad for us." Nyx bristled but stayed quiet. She needed allies, not enemies, and Vex looked like he'd sell her out for a handful of crypto.
Before she could respond, her headset crackled, and that voice from the alley returned—soft, digital, like a whisper from the network. "Nyx," it said, "you're safe here, but not for long." She yanked off the headset, her hands shaking. Nobody else seemed to hear it. Jace raised an eyebrow. "You good?" She nodded, but her mind raced. Who—or what—was talking to her? The runes flared in her thoughts, brighter now, and her fingers twitched, itching to code. She shoved her hands in her pockets, trying to stay calm.
Vex led them to a corner rigged with mismatched screens. "Sit," he ordered. "If Nexus is after you, I need to know why." Nyx didn't trust him, but she needed answers too. She told them about the server hack, the runes, the drone she'd crashed without touching its code. Vex's eyes narrowed, but Jace leaned closer, intrigued. "You fried a drone with your mind?" he asked, half-laughing. "That's new." Nyx glared. "It wasn't my mind. It was… something else." She didn't mention the runes or the voice. Not yet.
A screen behind Vex flickered, and a pixelated figure appeared—a glowing wisp, no bigger than a fist, with a faint humanoid shape. Its voice was the one from her headset, crisp and eerie. "I'm Echo," it said. "You're the Cyber-Witch, Nyx. The Source Code chose you." The room went quiet, hackers turning to stare. Vex cursed under his breath. "Source Code? That's a fairy tale." Echo's form pulsed. "It's real, and it's in her. But it's unstable. Use it wrong, Nyx, and you'll burn out."
Nyx's head throbbed, the runes humming louder. "Burn out?" she asked, her voice sharp. Echo's glow dimmed. "Your mind can't handle the power yet. Nexus knows you're awake. They'll tear this city apart to find you." Jace whistled, but his grin was gone. Vex crossed his arms. "If she's a liability, she's out." Nyx clenched her fists. She wasn't some pawn to be tossed aside. The runes urged her to prove it, to code something big. She resisted, but her holo-pad buzzed in her bag, screen lighting up on its own.
Before she could check it, an alarm blared. Red lights flashed, and Vex's screens lit up with Nexus alerts. "They've found us!" a hacker shouted. Drones hummed above, their lasers cutting through the ceiling. Nyx's heart pounded as debris rained down. Echo's voice cut through the chaos: "Nyx, use the runes. Now." Her hands shook as she grabbed her holo-pad. The runes in her mind glowed, guiding her fingers. She typed, not knowing what she was building. The air crackled, and a shield of light flared around her, deflecting a laser. Everyone stared. Vex's eyes widened, but not with awe—with fear.
To Be Continued…