"Forty seconds, Doni," Professor Miller said, taking a calm sip from his ceramic mug while the ceiling dust settled on his cardigan. "The Board's breaching charges are already melting through the outer reinforced bulkhead."Doni didn't look at the timer flashing on the wall monitors. He stared at the small golden flash drive sitting on the wooden coffee table, then turned his head to look at Dona.Her hand was still gripping his, her knuckles white. She looked terrified, but her eyes never left his face."If I destroy that drive," Doni said, his voice quiet against the blaring siren, "the Board loses their leverage over me, but they keep control over everyone else. The city stays under their thumb.""Correct," Professor Miller replied. "You get your quiet life back. No more auditors, no more bounties, no more neon screens. You can go back to your couch, sleep sixteen hours a day, and run your fried chicken shop in peace.""And if he plugs it in?" Dona asked, her voice tight with emoti

"Hold your fire! Stand down!"A sharp, booming voice crackled across the guards' radio channels, freezing the sniper's finger right on the trigger.On the marble steps, Governor Hartman lowered his pen, frowning as the entire crowd of reporters spun around. Two dozen camera lenses shifted away from the podium and zoomed in on Doni and Dona, who were walking side by side across the open plaza."Who invited these people onto my stage?" Governor Hartman demanded into his microphone, his voice echoing off the surrounding stone buildings. "Guards, clear the plaza!""Touch them, and every camera in this city captures you assaulting the legal owners of the Red Phoenix land title," Dona called out, her voice clear, sharp, and ringing with absolute confidence.She didn't stop walking. She held her tablet tightly against her side with one arm while her other hand remained firmly locked in Doni's grip."Legal owners?" Governor Hartman let out a short, dismissive laugh, stepping up to the edge of

"Clear the doorway!" Doni shouted, shoving the mechanical panther aside with his knee as he fired the shotgun straight into the lead enforcer's chest. The heavy lead slug slammed into the machine's steel torso, throwing it backward against the concrete wall. Sparks showered across the floor, but the machine didn't drop. Its single red eye flickered once before it stepped forward again, its orange thermal blade slicing through the air inches from Doni's jacket. "Doni!" Dona yelled from the back room, her voice echoing down the narrow hallway. "I hear them!" "Stay at the terminal, Dona!" Doni roared back, pumping another shell into the chamber. "Don't look at the hall!" The mechanical panther leaped over Doni's shoulder, its iron claws slamming into the second enforcer's faceplate. The two machines crashed into the wall in a mess of grinding gears and tearing metal. Doni stepped past them, pressed the shotgun barrel directly under the lead enforcer's jaw, and pulled the trigger a

"Hold onto me!" Doni yelled, his right arm locking around Dona's waist as the air vanished from beneath their boots.They didn't slam into concrete. The floor didn't shatter their bones. Instead, they fell through a swirling sea of bright blue geometric lines that hummed like a high voltage transformer. The air felt weightless, cold, and smelled like fresh rain after a thunderstorm.Two seconds later, their feet touched down on a smooth, glassy surface.Doni dropped to one knee, gasping for air as his burned left arm throbbed with white hot pain. He pulled Dona down beside him, keeping his body positioned between her and the open air.Dona immediately grabbed his face, her fingers checking his pulse, her eyes wide with frantic concern. "Doni! Talk to me! Are you breathing?""I'm here," Doni rasped, coughing into his sleeve. "I'm breathing. Stop shaking me.""Don't tell me to stop shaking you!" Dona sobbed, wiping a mix of sweat and tears from her cheek. She pressed her forehead agains

"Do it, then!" Dona screamed right into Doni's glowing red face, her voice tearing in her throat. "Look at me and do it!"The crimson claws hovered two inches from her neck. The heat coming off Doni's arm was so intense it singed the loose hairs around her collar, but Dona didn't pull back. She didn't close her eyes.Doni's face didn't move. His jaw remained locked, his solid red eyes reflecting nothing."Target resistance detected," the heavy, mechanical voice echoed out of Doni's mouth again, layered with the hum of the red sky vessel. "Proceeding with physical purge."Doni's left shoulder twitched. The crimson claws pulled back another inch, preparing to drive straight through her throat.Dona reached up with both hands, ignoring the red static burning into her palms, and slammed her hands against the sides of his face. The heat blistered her skin instantly, but she squeezed his cheeks with everything she had left."You said you were going to live a quiet life!" Dona sobbed, starin