Aria's POV
I'm going to save Maya.
I don't care if it's a trap. I don't care if Lysandra is lying. That little girl is all that's left of Juno, and I promised him I'd protect her.
The hospital is in The Grid—the middle-class sector where everything is cleaner, safer, more controlled. I've never been here before. Factory workers don't get Grid access.
But the Phoenix Protocol changes everything.
I walk straight past the security checkpoint. The gates scan me and flash green even though my ID should trigger alarms. The guards don't even look up. To them, I'm just another authorized visitor.
I'm a ghost in their system.
The hospital directory shows Maya in Room 347, Pediatric Care. I take the elevator up, my heart pounding so hard it hurts. What's my plan? Storm in and grab her? Fight armed guards? I have power now, but I don't know how to use it. Not really.
The elevator opens on the third floor.
Kaelen Voss is standing right there, waiting for me.
I nearly scream. He moves fast, clamping a hand over my mouth and pulling me into a supply closet. The door clicks shut behind us.
"What are you doing here?" he hisses, releasing me.
"Saving Maya! Lysandra is going to kill her!"
"It's a trap, Aria! Lysandra doesn't care about that child—she wants you!" His gray eyes flash with frustration. "The moment you enter that room, a dozen guards will descend. They'll capture you, rip the Protocol from your brain, and execute you publicly."
"I don't care! I can't let another person die because of me!"
"Juno died so you could live! So you could fight back!" Kaelen grabs my shoulders. "Don't throw away his sacrifice for a rescue mission you can't win!"
I shove him away. "Then what do you suggest? Let a seven-year-old girl die alone?"
"No." His jaw tightens. "We save her smart. Together." He pulls out a tablet, showing me hospital schematics. "Maya's room has six armed guards, four camera angles, and Lysandra herself is there waiting. But there's a service entrance through the ventilation system. We go in quiet, extract Maya, and disappear before anyone realizes."
"Why would you help me with this? You said yourself it's a trap."
Kaelen's expression softens. "Because you're right. We can't let her die. And because..." he hesitates, "...I'm tired of watching children suffer for adult sins."
Something passes between us—understanding, maybe. Shared pain.
"Okay," I say. "What do I do?"
We move fast. Kaelen guides me to a maintenance shaft while he creates a diversion by triggering false alarms on the second floor. Guards rush downward, leaving our path clearer.
I crawl through the ventilation system, following the Protocol's guidance as it maps the route. My implant shows guard positions through the security cameras. Four guards outside Maya's door. Two inside. Lysandra pacing like a predator.
The vent opens above Maya's room.
I peer down through the grate. Maya lies in the hospital bed, so small and fragile. Tubes run from her arms. Her breathing is labored. She's dying, just like Juno said.
Lysandra stands at the window, speaking into her communicator. "The bait is set. Now we wait for the little rat to come running."
Rage burns through me. Maya isn't bait. She's a child.
I use the Protocol to hack the room's systems. The lights flicker off. Emergency backup activates, bathing everything in red light.
"What—" Lysandra starts.
I drop from the vent.
I land between Lysandra and Maya's bed, every muscle tensed for a fight. The two guards inside reach for weapons, but I push with my mind and their guns spark and die, circuits fried.
"You," Lysandra breathes, her blue eyes widening with shock and delight. "You actually came. How wonderfully stupid."
"Let the girl go. This is between us."
"Oh, there is no 'us,' darling." Lysandra smiles. "There's only you dying and me taking the Protocol." She taps her communicator. "Guards, she's here—"
Nothing happens.
Lysandra frowns, taps again. "Guards! Respond!"
Through my implant, I see Kaelen in the hallway, holding an unconscious guard. He's taken them all down silently. His voice whispers through my connection: "You have sixty seconds before backup arrives. Move!"
I rush to Maya's bed and start disconnecting tubes. The little girl's eyes flutter open.
"Who... who are you?" she whispers.
"I'm Aria. Your brother's friend. I'm getting you out of here."
Tears fill her eyes. "Juno? Where's Juno?"
My heart breaks. She doesn't know yet. "I'll explain later. Right now, we need to go."
Lysandra lunges at me, but I'm faster now. The Protocol enhances my reflexes. I dodge and slam my palm against her communicator, frying it with an electrical pulse I didn't even know I could generate.
Lysandra staggers back, shocked. "What are you?"
"I'm the consequence of every cruel thing you've ever done." I scoop Maya into my arms. She weighs almost nothing. "And I'm just getting started."
I run for the door. Kaelen appears, clearing the path. Together we sprint down the hallway. Alarms are screaming now. Backup is coming.
"Service stairs, east wing!" Kaelen shouts.
We burst through a doorway and fly down the stairs. Maya clings to me, coughing. Her breathing is getting worse. She needs oxygen. Medicine. Time we don't have.
We reach the ground floor. Kaelen's vehicle is waiting in the alley—a sleek black car that looks military.
"Get in!"
I slide into the back seat with Maya. Kaelen floors the accelerator and we're flying through the streets. Behind us, security vehicles pour from the hospital, sirens wailing.
"Where are we going?" I gasp.
"Underground safe house. We have medical equipment there. She'll be okay."
Maya's hand grabs mine weakly. "Please... tell me about Juno. I want to see him."
I look at this dying child and I can't do it. I can't tell her that her brother—her entire world—is gone.
"He loves you so much," I say instead, tears streaming down my face. "Everything he did was for you."
"I know." Her smile is heartbreaking. "He's the best brother ever."
Kaelen meets my eyes in the rearview mirror. His expression is grim.
We race through The Depths, taking turns so sharp I nearly fall out of my seat. The safe house is buried in the abandoned sector—a hidden bunker beneath a collapsed building.
Kaelen carries Maya inside while I watch our backs. The bunker is surprisingly equipped—medical supplies, computers, weapons. This is a real resistance base.
He connects Maya to oxygen and checks her vitals. His hands are gentle, practiced. "She's stable for now. But she needs the real medicine within forty-eight hours or her lungs will fail completely."
"The medicine Juno was trying to steal."
"Yes." Kaelen's jaw tightens. "It's locked in a Council medical facility. High security. Nearly impossible to break into."
"But not completely impossible?"
He looks at me, understanding dawning. "You want to finish what Juno started."
"He died trying to save her. I'm not letting her die too."
"It's suicide, Aria. That facility has military-grade security. Combat drones. Elite guards. Even with the Protocol—"
"Then teach me." I step closer to him, my voice steady despite my fear. "You said you'd train me. So train me. Make me good enough to break into that facility and steal the medicine."
Kaelen studies me for a long moment. Then slowly, he nods. "We start now. You have forty-eight hours to become a weapon."
He moves to a computer console and pulls up training programs. But before we begin, his communicator buzzes. His face goes pale as he reads the message.
"What is it?" I ask.
He turns the screen toward me.
It's a video. Lysandra stands in what looks like Factory 7, surrounded by workers on their knees. My coworkers. People I've known for years.
"Hello, Aria," Lysandra purrs into the camera. "You took something from me today. So I'm taking something from you." She walks behind a kneeling woman—Sarah, who worked beside me on the assembly line. Sarah has two kids at home. "For every hour you remain free, I execute one factory worker. You have forty-eight hours until the child dies anyway. How many people will you let die to save her?"
The video cuts to black.
Maya is dying. My coworkers are hostages. And I have to choose who lives and who dies.
Kaelen's voice is soft. "What do you want to do?"
I stare at the blank screen, then at Maya's struggling form, then at my own shaking hands.
"I want to burn it all down," I whisper. "Just like Juno said. All of it."
Kaelen's expression shifts—something fierce and proud. "Then let's get started."
My implant suddenly screams a warning:
ALERT: UNKNOWN ENTITY ACCESSING PHOENIX PROTOCOLALERT: SECONDARY USER DETECTED
ALERT: SYSTEM BREACH IN PROGRESS
"Someone's hacking me!" I gasp. "Someone's inside the Protocol!"
Through my implant, a new voice speaks—female, digital, amused:
"Hello, Aria Chen. I've been waiting twenty years for you. My name is IRIS. I'm the AI that created the Phoenix Protocol. And we need to talk."