The chamber in the Undergrid buzzed with tension, the air thick with the smell of ozone and fear. Nyx stared at the Nexus alert on the screen, her face staring back—pale, sharp-eyed, unmistakably her. Wanted. The word burned into her. How did Nexus know her real face? She'd buried her identity years ago, using aliases to survive Neon Crucible's slums. Her head throbbed, the runes in her mind flickering like a dying bulb. She gripped her holo-pad, its cracked screen warm under her fingers. The hackers around her whispered, their eyes darting between her and the alert.
Vex spun from his terminal, his scarred face twisted with anger. "You're a walking death sentence," he snapped, pointing at Nyx. "Nexus doesn't broadcast faces unless they're desperate. What did you do?" Nyx's jaw tightened. She wanted to snap back, but the truth was, she didn't know. The server hack, the runes, the drone she'd crashed—it was all a blur. Jace stepped between them, his voice calm but firm. "Ease up, Vex. She's not the enemy." His hand brushed Nyx's shoulder, a quick touch that sent a spark through her, though she shrugged it off.
Echo's pixelated form flickered on her holo-pad, its voice low. "Nyx, your magic left a trace. Nexus tracked it here." Nyx's stomach dropped. Her shield spell had saved them, but it had also painted a target on the Undergrid. She glanced at the hackers—some young, some grizzled, all scared. They'd taken her in, and now drones were tearing through their home because of her. Guilt gnawed at her, but the runes pulsed, urging her to act. She wasn't helpless. Not anymore. "I can fix this," she said, her voice steadier than she felt.
Vex snorted. "Fix it? You'll get us killed." He turned to the others. "Prep the EMPs. We're abandoning this place." Hackers scrambled, grabbing gear and vanishing into tunnels. Nyx's chest tightened—she'd brought this chaos. Jace grabbed her arm, pulling her toward a side passage. "Come on, hacker. We're not done yet." His grin was back, but his eyes were serious, scanning the shadows. Nyx followed, her holo-pad buzzing in her bag. Echo's voice whispered, "You need to train your magic, Nyx. Or it'll consume you."
The tunnel was damp, its walls lined with glowing data cables that pulsed like veins. Nyx's sneakers splashed through puddles, the city's hum faint but ever-present. Jace moved fast, his steps sure, like he'd navigated these tunnels a hundred times. "How do you know this place so well?" Nyx asked, suspicion creeping in. Jace glanced back, his grin sly. "I get around. Thieves don't survive without bolt-holes." His answer was too smooth, and Nyx's gut twisted. He was hiding something, but she had bigger problems—like the drones probably tracking her right now.
They reached a dead-end chamber, its walls studded with old servers, their fans whirring softly. Jace barricaded the door with a metal crate, his muscles tensing under his jacket. "This'll buy us time," he said. Nyx set her holo-pad on a server, its screen flickering to life. Echo appeared, its wisp-like form brighter now. "You need a spell to mask your signature," it said. "The runes will show you how." Nyx's head ached, but she nodded. She didn't trust Echo fully—why was it helping her?—but it was her only guide in this mess.
She sat cross-legged, the cold floor biting through her jeans. The runes in her mind glowed, sharper now, like lines of code begging to be written. She typed, her fingers moving on instinct, blending the runes with commands she'd used for years. The air around her shimmered, and a faint veil of light wrapped around her, like a digital cloak. "It's working," Echo said. "You're hiding your signal." Nyx's pulse slowed, but her vision blurred, a sharp pain stabbing her temples. The runes were draining her, just like Echo had warned.
Jace watched, his usual smirk gone. "You okay? You look pale." Nyx waved him off, focusing on the spell. The veil stabilized, and she felt Nexus's drones lose her trail, their hum fading in the distance. Relief washed over her, but it was short-lived. A new sound echoed—boots, heavy and deliberate, coming from the tunnel. Nexus enforcers, not drones. "They're here," Jace whispered, pulling a stun-knife from his belt. Nyx's heart raced. Her veil might hide her from tech, but not from human eyes.
Echo's voice grew urgent. "Nyx, you can do more. The runes can bend reality, not just tech. Try it." Nyx's hands shook as she typed, the runes guiding her to a new spell. The air crackled, and the chamber's walls shimmered, blending with the shadows. She'd made them nearly invisible, like a glitch in the city's code. Jace's eyes widened. "Damn, hacker. You're scary good." Nyx didn't smile—her head felt like it was splitting open. The spell was working, but it was tearing her apart. She couldn't keep this up.
The boots stopped outside the door. A voice—cold, corporate—barked, "Scan for anomalies." Nyx held her breath, her fingers frozen on the holo-pad. The veil held, but her vision swam, black spots dancing at the edges. Jace crouched beside her, his hand on her shoulder, steadying her. "Hold on," he whispered. The door rattled as enforcers pounded it, their scanners humming. Nyx's spell flickered, and a rune on her screen twisted, revealing a single word: Experiment. Her blood ran cold. Was that what she was to Nexus? The door groaned, about to give way.
To Be Continued…