The smell was the first thing. It smelled like old water and rust. Then came the pain.Joseph opened his eyes. The light was purple and hurt his head. It was a neon light, buzzing like an angry fly on the ceiling. He tried to move his hands, but he could not. His wrists were tied tight to a metal chair with thick plastic zip-ties. The plastic bit into his skin.He was in a basement. The walls were made of wet concrete. Water dripped from a pipe in the corner. Drip. Drip. Drip. It was the only sound in the room until the door opened.A man walked in. He was huge. He wore a gray suit that looked too expensive for this dirty room. His name was Kael. Joseph knew him. Everyone in the lower city knew Kael. He was a Debt Collector. He collected money, and if you did not have money, he collected pain.Kael dragged a metal stool across the floor. The sound was sharp and ugly. He sat down right in front of Joseph. Kael smiled, but his eyes were cold. One of his eyes was real, brown and dull. Th

Joseph wiped the black water from his eyes. He took a step. Pain shot up his left leg. It felt like a hot knife twisting inside his muscle. He gasped, but he did not stop.He could not stop.Joseph looked down at his leg. His pants were torn. A dark stain of blood mixed with the rain. He had escaped the debt collectors, but he had not escaped unhurt. He limped past a burning trash can. Three men stood around the fire. They watched him with hungry eyes. Joseph kept his head down. He gripped his side.He needed money. He needed a lot of money, and he needed it tonight. Elara was gone. The Syndicate had her. The ransom was high. If he did not pay by sunrise, they would hurt her.He stopped in front of a dirty metal door. A neon sign flickered above it. It buzzed like an angry fly. The sign said: GRIX’S PARTS & PAWNS.Joseph pushed the door open. A bell rang. The shop smelled like rubbing alcohol and burnt meat.Old Man Grix sat behind a glass counter. He was a small man with mechanical f

The darkness was not empty. It was full of hard things.Joseph tumbled. He did not fall straight down. He slid inside a giant metal tube. The tube was steep. It was slick with oil and slime.He hit a bolt. Crack.Pain exploded in his shoulder. He screamed, but the roar of the wind swallowed his voice.He hit a grate. It broke under his weight. He fell through.He hit a pipe. Snap.Something inside his chest broke. A rib. Maybe two. The pain was sharp, like a spear entering his side. He could not stop. Gravity was a monster, and it was pulling him down to the belly of the city.The air grew hotter. It smelled of rotten eggs and burning plastic. It was the smell of the Undercity. The smell of things that were thrown away.Joseph saw a circle of dim light below. It rushed toward him fast. Too fast.He curled into a ball. He protected his head with his arms. He prayed to a God he did not believe in.Impact.He landed on something soft, but not soft like a bed. It was soft like rotting tra

The scream had died in his throat. Now, there was only silence.The Tech-Graveyard was quiet. The only sound was the drip, drip, drip of toxic water falling from the high ceiling. It landed in the black puddles with a soft plip.Joseph lay face down in the mud. He waited for the pain. He waited for the sharp stab of his broken ribs. He waited for the burning in his lungs from the internal bleeding.He waited. But the pain did not come.Instead, he felt a strange hum. It was a low vibration, like a very small engine running inside his bones. It buzzed in his chest. It buzzed in his fingertips.Joseph opened his eyes.The world looked different. Before, the darkness was thick and heavy. Now, the darkness seemed to have layers. He could see the shapes of the trash piles clearly, even though there was almost no light. The edges of objects were sharp.He pushed his hands into the mud. "Up," he told himself. "Get up."He pushed. His body responded instantly. He didn't struggle. He didn't ga

Three shapes emerged from the gloom.They were like the drone he had destroyed in Chapter 3, but bigger. These were not modified with trash; they were military remnants. They had sleek, chrome bodies that were covered in rust. They moved on four legs, like metallic wolves. Their eyes were green searchlights that cut through the dark.One of them opened its mouth. A row of spinning buzz-saws extended."Target... identified," the wolf-bot droned. "Subject... Joseph... Anomaly.""They know my name," Joseph said. "Drax sent them."[ANALYSIS: INCORRECT,] the System flashed. [THEY ARE CONNECTED TO THE CITY NETWORK. YOUR BOUNTY HAS INCREASED.]The three robot wolves circled him. They were smart. They were packing hunting tactics. One moved to the left, one to the right, one stayed in the center.Joseph backed up. His back hit the pile of trash. He was cornered."I need a weapon," Joseph said. He looked around for a pipe or a bar.[PRIMITIVE TOOLS ARE INEFFICIENT,] the System stated. [USE THE