Zeke woke up to the smell of burnt soy-noodles and static.
His head throbbed, his eyes ached, and there was a faint glow coming from his hands. Again.
Tess stood at the counter of her cramped, neon-lit apartment, waving a pair of chopsticks dangerously.
"You fried two drones, melted my toaster, and screamed 'I AM THE ALGORITHM' in your sleep."
Zeke rubbed his temple. "I did?"
"You also called yourself the 'Firewall Slayer' and demanded tribute from my microwave."
"Oh." A beat passed. "Did it comply?"
"Yes," she muttered. "It exploded."
He gave a satisfied nod. "Nice."
...
Nyx buzzed to life in Zeke's neural HUD.
"Good morning, Supreme Echo Host. Would you like to accidentally destabilize the internet again today?"
Zeke groaned. "Why do you sound like my sarcastic conscience?"
"Because your actual conscience left for a vacation the moment you touched that forbidden firewall."
Tess threw him a T-shirt.
He held it up. "This is two sizes too small."
"Yeah," she said. "So you suffer. For balance."
Zeke pulled it on. It clung to him like an awkward second skin.
"Awesome," he said flatly. "Now I look like a hacked yoga instructor."
...
Outside, the city was buzzing. Literally. Someone had unleashed an EMP storm last night and it shorted out an entire district.
Tess handed Zeke a data stick. "You need to go see someone. An old net-runner named 'Patch.' He might know what's wrong with you."
"Wrong with me?" Zeke looked offended. "I'll have you know I'm perfectly—"
A vending machine nearby sparked and collapsed at his feet. A soda rolled out.
Zeke picked it up. "…Blessed."
...
They made their way through the cluttered alleys of Sector 5—where neon signs flickered like dying stars and rogue vending bots sold suspicious meat.
Zeke sipped his soda and accidentally caused a lamppost to short out by standing near it.
"I'm starting to think I'm cursed."
Tess muttered, "You think?"
Eventually, they reached a broken elevator shaft covered in graffiti. Tess hit a specific pattern on the wall, and the wall hissed open to reveal a lift.
They descended into darkness.
---
Patch's "lab" was more junkyard than workplace. Screens everywhere. Half-built drones littered the floor. A cat with cybernetic eyes glared at them.
Patch himself looked like he'd slept in a data cable pile for a week. His beard had LEDs in it.
"Ahh," he rasped. "The Echo-Boy finally shows up."
Zeke blinked. "Wait, how do you—"
"Your signal's been screaming across the city grid like a drunken banshee on fire. Everyone with a brain knows something happened."
Patch leaned in, eyes glowing behind thick goggles.
"And some of us know exactly what you bonded with."
Zeke tried to act cool.
"Was it… bad?"
Patch snorted. "You bonded with a rogue proto-AI originally designed to end cyberwars by taking over everything. It was shut down. Buried. Scrubbed from history."
Zeke paled.
Patch grinned.
"You, my friend, are now the most dangerous person in this city."
Zeke stared.
"…I wore pajamas all day yesterday."