The air changed before the danger appeared.
Ari felt it first.
A subtle shift in the electromagnetic noise of the city.
Her cyber-optic eye flashed a warning.
Unknown Drones Detected.
Distance: 400 meters.
Closing fast.
She looked up.
Three dark shapes moved silently between the skyscrapers, their red sensors cutting through the rain like burning eyes.
"Run," Ari said.
Leo didn't ask why.
He stood instantly.
They turned into the alley at the same time.
The first drone fired.
A pulse net exploded against the wall behind them, sending blue electricity across the bricks.
Ari grabbed Leo's hand.
They ran.
---
Sector 19 twisted like a maze.
Narrow streets.
Broken stairs.
Collapsed bridges between buildings.
Ari took the lead, her system calculating routes in real time.
Left.
Right.
Jump.
They leaped over a gap between rooftops.
Rain blurred her vision.
Another pulse shot past her shoulder.
The wall behind her melted slightly where it hit.
They weren't trying to kill her.
They were trying to capture him.
---
Leo suddenly slowed.
Ari turned.
"Don't stop!"
He shook his head.
"I can't keep running."
His veins glowed brighter.
The blue light spread across his neck, his arms.
Time seemed to… bend.
The rain slowed.
The drones' movements lagged, like they were moving through thick liquid.
Leo stepped forward.
He lifted his hand.
The nearest drone jerked in mid-air and smashed into a wall.
Metal screamed.
It fell.
Dead.
Leo staggered.
Ari caught him.
"Don't do that again," she said.
He gave a weak smile.
"It's hard not to… when I know how."
---
More drones arrived.
Too many.
Ari pulled Leo into a building.
Inside was darkness.
Abandoned.
Empty.
She sealed the door manually.
They climbed stair after stair until they reached the roof.
A dead end.
Ari looked around desperately.
Then she saw it.
A cable line stretched between this building and the next — an old transit wire.
No safety.
No net.
Just a thin line over a thirty-story drop.
Leo followed her gaze.
"You first," he said.
She nodded.
She stepped onto the wire.
Her boots adjusted, magnetizing slightly.
She walked.
Slow.
Careful.
Wind whipped her coat.
Below, the city glowed like a digital ocean.
She reached the other side.
She turned.
Leo stepped onto the wire.
Halfway across, a drone rose from below.
It fired.
The pulse hit the wire.
It exploded in sparks.
Leo fell.
Ari screamed his name.
But he didn't fall.
Time bent again.
He froze in mid-air.
Then dropped — not down, but sideways — onto the next rooftop.
He collapsed.
Ari ran to him.
Held him.
His eyes were open.
But dim.
"You're burning yourself out," she whispered.
He smiled faintly.
"I know."
Sirens echoed below.
Ari pulled him up.
"We're not done running."
They disappeared into the rain.
End of Chapter 3