The city skyline loomed in glitching Holographics above Alex's head—neon dragons coiling through synthetic clouds, their scales flashing with advertisements. Neo-San Francisco never slept. It hummed, like a machine running under stress, never fully silent.
Alex stood at the edge of District 17, hood pulled over his head, scanning the horizon for the fastest route to Sector 23.
The System had pinpointed Dr. Rachel Kim's last known location: Arcadia BioCorp, a biotech facility turned blacksite lab after its sudden buyout by SynTech's shell division three years ago. Officially, it was "under reconstruction."
Unofficially, it was a ghost zone.
"Locate Rachel Kim – Active Quest
Destination: Arcadia BioCorp
Time Recommended: Night
Risk Level: Moderate
Reward: ???"
Alex exhaled and stepped into the transit pod station.
Twenty minutes later, he arrived in the hushed ruins of Sector 23.
This part of the city looked like time had forgotten it—overgrown metal structures, blinking lights half-buried in moss and fog. It was silent in a way that made his skin itch.
DeepScan activated.
His vision subtly shifted as the System pulsed through his optic nerves, highlighting bioresonance traces and power signatures buried in the buildings. Arcadia's signal was faint, but there—buried behind an old freight terminal.
He approached with caution, noting security cameras ripped from their sockets and scorch marks along the walls.
Someone had been here recently. Someone not careful.
The old Arcadia BioCorp building resembled a toppled monolith—angled steel bones jutted into the sky like a ribcage. Alex slipped through a side hatch, crawling over debris until he found a narrow corridor leading to a still-powered sublevel.
The moment he stepped inside, the System pinged again.
[Area Hazard Detected – Hostile Surveillance Active]
Caution: Movement Patterns Suggest AI-Driven Sentinels.
Great.
"System," Alex whispered under his breath. "Show me a path."
The HUD flickered. A translucent map formed, outlining a safe route past heat signatures—machines, not human. Quadruped drones with mounted sensory arrays.
Alex moved like a shadow, weaving between walls, ducking under conduits. His upgraded Reaction Time allowed him to dodge a patrol just seconds before its beam scanned the corridor.
Then he found it: a sealed door with an outdated biometric lock.
He pulled out a palm-sized code stick—his own design—and slotted it into the port.
The door clicked open.
And what lay beyond nearly knocked the air from his lungs.
A lab.
Preserved in stasis. Pristine, untouched.
Holographic screens still floated in the air, looping static data logs. Cryo-pods lined the walls, empty but humming.
And at the center, a single chair—still warm—faced a flickering console with the name:
DR. RACHEL KIM
PROJECT TRANSCENDENCE – LOG 002
Alex approached, heartbeat hammering in his throat.
The console flared to life at his touch.
Log 002 – Project Transcendence
"I warned them.
I told SynTech that pushing evolution would have consequences. That the mind isn't just a machine. It feels. It breaks.
We lost Subjects 2 through 7. Not because the System failed, but because they wanted to dominate it. They treated it like a tool.
But evolution doesn't reward the greedy. It rewards the adaptable.
So I changed the parameters.
I coded the System to find someone who could merge with it naturally.
If you're reading this, then you were chosen.
And they know.
If you want answers… find me.
I'm still alive. But not for long."
Coordinates Embedded – Restricted Access.
Override Key Required.
Alex leaned back.
So she was alive. And she'd built the System not as a weapon—but as an evolutionary filter.
And now she was on the run from SynTech.
He opened the System menu again, eyes narrowing.
New Objective Available
Unlock Override Key for Rachel Kim's Coordinates.
Options:
— Seek Key Fragment (Option A)
— Hack Data Vault (Option B – High Risk)
— Confront Known System User (Option C)
That last one stopped him cold.
He hadn't met any other users.
Yet.
But then, as if on cue, the lab's lights flickered—and the HUD screamed.
[Warning: Hostile Entity Detected]
System User Signature Confirmed – Tag: USER_03
Codename: Lyra]
Footsteps echoed down the hallway.
Alex ducked behind a cryo-pod just as a figure entered—slim, clad in obsidian-black armor laced with chrome veins pulsing blue.
Her eyes glowed faintly. Not cybernetic—enhanced by the System.
She was like him.
And she was armed.
"You're a little too deep in the archives to be a tourist," the woman said, voice low and sharp.
Alex slowly stood, hands raised. "I'm not with SynTech. I'm trying to find Rachel Kim."
The woman didn't lower her weapon. "Everyone is. Half want to kill her. The rest want to use her."
"Which one are you?"
"I'm trying to survive." She tilted her head. "And now you're a variable. That makes you dangerous."
"Wait—your name," Alex said quickly. "Are you Lyra? The other System user?"
Her expression darkened. "You're not supposed to know that."
"I didn't. The System told me. It recognized you."
She froze for just a moment—then holstered her weapon.
"You're synced. Fully synced."
Alex nodded.
Lyra cursed under her breath. "Then you're on the kill list. Viktor doesn't let wildcards roam free."
Alex felt the blood drain from his face. "So Viktor's real."
"He's more than real," Lyra said bitterly. "He was the first success. The first user to integrate completely. But something… went wrong. The System didn't evolve him—it corrupted him."
She gestured to the lab around them. "This place? This was where it started. Where Rachel tried to fix it. But it was already too late."
Alex ran a hand through his hair. "Then we need to find her before he does."
"You don't just find Rachel Kim," Lyra said. "She moves between shadows. She's got backdoors in every neural net from here to the Outer Districts."
"But I found her message. I have a way to get her coordinates."
Lyra's eyes narrowed. "You got the log key?"
"Not all of it. I need to access the vault, or get a fragment."
There was a pause.
Then she said, "I know where one of the fragments is."
Ten minutes later, they were climbing back up through the sublevel into the open air.
The city shimmered under artificial starlight, drones zipping overhead.
Alex looked at Lyra. "Why are you helping me?"
She didn't answer for a moment. Then she said quietly, "Because I've been alone too long. And because the last person who tried to fight Viktor alone died screaming."
Alex glanced at her. "So this is a team-up?"
"Let's not get romantic. I'll help you get to Rachel. After that… we'll see."
The HUD pinged again.
Quest Branch Selected: Seek Key Fragment
Ally Acquired: Lyra (System User_03)
New Destination: The Scorch Loop – Sector 11
Alex stared into the distance.
The road ahead wasn't just dangerous—it was war.
But for the first time since the System activated, he wasn't alone.
He was chosen.
And now, with a partner at his side, the path forward glowed like fire in his mind.