Rain hammered the undercity. The drops hissed against steel, carrying the tang of ozone and rust.Raymond staggered through the alley, one hand pressed against the burning implant at the base of his neck. His other still clutched the scalpel, its glow fading with every heartbeat.He’d fallen six levels from Helix Tower into a district that smelled of oil, smoke, and decay, Sector 49, where the corporation dumped its medical rejects.A street vendor shouted over the thunder. “No credits, no meds! Keep movin’, ghost!”Raymond ignored him and ducked beneath a broken awning. A child stared at him from the shadows, her eyes reflecting the neon like mirrors. “Sir? You’re bleeding.”He looked down. The wound across his ribs shimmered with light instead of blood. Nanites hissed beneath the skin, knitting flesh faster than his body could comprehend.“I’ll live,” he said. “Find somewhere dry, kid.”She didn’t move. “You’re one of them. A Healer.”Raymond met her gaze. “Not anymore.”He slipped

Rain slicked the alley in chrome reflections as Raymond and Jin ran.The city above them roared, skyrails screaming past, drones cutting white lines through the fog. Sirens echoed off the towers like wolves baying through steel canyons.“Left!” Jin shouted.They ducked between two crumbling clinics, nearly colliding with a rusted vending bot. Raymond’s breath rasped in the cold air. “How far?”“Two blocks, maybe three if we’re lucky.”“Luck,” Raymond muttered, “ran out years ago.”A flash of light cut across the alley. They froze. Three drones hovered overhead, red lenses pulsing. Corporate insignia glowed on their hulls, THE CIRCLE BIOTECH DIVISION. The same symbol branded into his memory from the day they exiled him.“Identification request: Unauthorized healer detected,” one droned mechanically.Jin cursed under his breath. “They got a fix on your energy spike.”Raymond’s hand twitched toward his satchel. I can’t fight machines, he thought. I heal.You adapt, the System whispered i

The tunnels beneath Neon District 9 were older than memory, once subway arteries, now abandoned catacombs buzzing with static ghosts. Faint blue emergency lights flickered along the curved walls, their glow swallowed by the dust that hung like fog.Lira’s boots splashed through puddles as she glanced back. “You sure this is the way?” Raymond adjusted the pack slung over his shoulder, the faint hum of the scalpel resonating at his side.“The System’s reading says the Ghost Line runs under this sector. If the Circle’s reactivating Project Rebirth, the mainframe will be buried somewhere in these tunnels.”Jin snorted. “So we’re following a whisper from a talking AI inside your brain through a sewer full of forgotten tech. Brilliant.”He doubts you, the System murmured, voice like static against glass. He is wise to. Raymond ignored it. “Keep moving.”They passed old billboards warped by moisture, advertisements for gene therapy, synthetic organs, “eternal youth in a syringe.” Each image

The city didn’t sleep; it flickered.From the rooftops, Raymond could see the whole neon sprawl, endless glass arteries pulsing with data. Drones drifted like fireflies, scanning for movement, their red eyes sweeping the skyline.Lira tightened her jacket against the wind. “He’s gone dark. No signal, no heat trail, nothing.”“He’s not gone,” Raymond said, staring out into the rain. “He’s adapting.”Jin adjusted the tracking device strapped to his wrist. “If that thing’s really part of you, can’t you, I don’t know, feel him?”“I can,” Raymond admitted. “That’s the problem.”He calls to you, the System whispered, its voice faint and melodic now. Like a phantom pulse.Lira frowned. “What’s it saying?”“Nothing I care to repeat.”She sighed. “Then start talking, Doc, because we’re running out of rooftops to hide on.”Raymond turned toward her, eyes pale with reflected neon. “Voss didn’t just copy my body. He copied my system, every neural imprint, every algorithmic reflex. That clone thin

Three days after the Core collapse, the city still buzzed like a wounded machine.Neon lights flickered in uneven rhythm. Sky-trains ran on half power. Every hospital pulse monitor carried the same faint glitch, a heartbeat that wasn’t quite human.Raymond Briggs walked through it all with his hood up, feeling that ghost signal under his skin. Lira caught up beside him, her coat brushing the rain-slick street. “You shouldn’t be out here. The Circle’s scanners are back online.”“I’m not hiding,” Raymond said quietly. “Not anymore.”She frowned. “You fried the city’s main grid. You killed the Heart of Neon. The Circle’s going to label you as ground zero.”“I know.” He glanced at the glowing veins on his wrist, dim under the sleeve. “That’s why I need to find out what’s still running in me.”You already know, the System whispered. You did not destroy me. You made me free. He ignored it.Lira studied him. “You’re hearing it again, aren’t you?”“Just echoes,” he lied.They reached a desert