Rain had begun to fall again, thin, metallic drops that hissed when they struck the pavement. Lina pulled her hood tighter and glanced at Kael beside her. They had followed the map Frost left behind, every tunnel leading them deeper beneath the city, until the concrete turned to steel and the air carried the taste of ozone.Lina: “Signal’s weakening. You feel that?”Kael: “Like walking through static. Whatever he did up there, it’s tearing the network apart.”Lina: “Or rewiring it.”Kael: “Same thing, if you’re inside when it happens.”They stopped at a steel door marked with a faded GENESIS MEDICAL logo. The letters flickered with residual light. Lina pressed her palm against the scanner; it buzzed, protested, then clicked open with a sigh.Inside, the hidden clinic smelled of antiseptic and burnt circuits. Machines blinked erratically, their screens pulsing with fragments of code. Half-finished human silhouettes rippled across the glass tanks lining the walls.Lina: “These weren’t p

The subway was a graveyard.Trains slept on rusted tracks, their windows clouded with grime and ash. The power had died weeks ago, but the air still hummed faintly, like something breathing through the wires. Lina stepped carefully, flashlight cutting across walls smeared with half-burnt graffiti.Lina: “Signal’s strong here. He’s close.”Kael: “Close or leading us in circles?”Lina: “He doesn’t do anything without reason.”Kael: “You keep saying that. He also tore the sky in half.”Lina: “And saved a city while doing it.”Kael muttered under his breath, scanning the tunnels. The deeper they went, the more the architecture changed, steel ribs over concrete, cables pulsing faint blue, droplets of water glowing faintly as they hit the floor. Frost’s old tech had rooted itself here, forming veins through the underground.Kael: “These conduits, Genesis tech.”Lina: “No. Richard’s override. He built new channels.”Kael: “Built them out of what?”Lina: “Out of memory.”She tapped her handhe

They sprinted toward a service stairwell leading to the upper node. Sparks arced across the street, but Lina’s determination didn’t falter. Her fingers traced the scanner, mapping the safest path.Lina: “There! The stairwell, keep low!”Kael: “Do you think he can hear us?”Lina: “He’s always listening. He’s always there.”They vaulted the railing, sliding down into the shadowed stairwell. Behind them, the city groaned. Buildings flickered, lights pulsed erratically, and the hiss of static became a low roar. The Architects followed, relentless, their forms partially dissolving into blue energy.Kael (panting): “We can’t outrun them forever!”Lina: “We don’t have to. We need the node!”At the bottom, a hatch led into a reinforced maintenance shaft. Lina forced it open, and a wave of cold air swept past them, carrying the faint scent of ozone and metal. The upper node was just ahead, its pulsing light spilling into the shaft.Kael: “That’s it. That has to be it.”Lina: “He’s inside, wait

The network dimmed, save for a single thread of light stretching toward the human districts. On it pulsed a faint, rhythmic code, one identical to Richard’s heartbeat.Voice Five: “He transmits empathy. Dangerous.”Zero: “Useful. Through empathy, he will open the final gate himself.”For a moment, the static subsided. The Architects stood in silence, listening to the hum of a living city struggling beneath their algorithms.Voice Three: “And if he wins?”Zero: “Then he becomes us. Either outcome ensures expansion.”A cold tremor swept through the network. Entire sectors of Echo City’s grid inverted, blue turning crimson, light becoming shadow. The Architects moved as one, their whispers merging into a single, omnipresent voice that slipped into the city’s electrical veins.The Architects (in unison): “Welcome home, Richard Walter.”The sky ripped open. Rain turned to static. Every screen in Echo City flared crimson.Kael: “They’re here, what the hell are those?”Lina: “Scribes. New cl

White.Then silence so deep it roared.Lina: “Richard? Kael?”No answer. Only static fizzing at the edge of hearing. The world around her re-formed like melting glass: subway walls twisting, dripping code instead of water. Her reflection in the liquid rails blinked back two seconds late.Lina: “Oh God. He split us.”A hiss rippled through the air, followed by a voice that almost sounded like Kael’s.Voice: “Left tunnel. Run.”Lina: “Where are you?”Voice: “Behind you.”She spun, nothing. Just a smear of red light that moved when she did.Lina (to herself): “Not real. Focus.”The corridor pulsed again, reforming into something worse: hospital walls. She recognized the sterile tiles instantly, the ward from Genesis, where she’d first met Frost. Her breath caught.Lina: “No. This isn’t mine.”Frost’s Voice (calm, close): “Every memory you touch becomes a door. Open it.”Glass shattered. She grabbed the nearest fragment of steel, steadying her voice.Lina: “Not this time, Doctor.”Kael wo