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The lobby of the Command Spire was a masterpiece of intimidation, all polished black stone and hard, unforgiving angles, designed to make anyone who walked through its doors feel small and insignificant. Security checkpoints lined the entrance, each one staffed by City Core officers in pristine uniforms, holding weapons that were probably worth more than Rin earned in an entire year.

She approached the main desk, her movements careful and non-threatening. “Rin Takahashi. I am here for a consultation.”

The receptionist, a young woman with cybernetic eyes that glowed a faint, clinical blue, scanned her credentials without a word. “Fifteenth floor, conference room seven. You are expected.”

The elevator ride felt longer than it should have. Rin watched the floor numbers climb, each one taking her further from the exits and deeper into the heart of City Core’s power structure. Her hand instinctively went to the small of her back where her plasma blades usually rested, only to remember they had been confiscated. She felt naked without them. No weapons were allowed in the Command Spire.

The elevator doors opened onto a hallway that managed to be both sterile and oppressive. She followed the room numbers until she found conference room seven. The door slid open automatically as she approached.

Inside, Elias stood by a large holographic display, studying something she could not see from the doorway. He had changed out of his rain-soaked uniform into a cleaner but equally official one. His posture was rigid, his attention completely focused on the data in front of him. He did not look up when she entered.

“Detective Dumbass?” He finally spoke, his tone as dry as desert sand. “Really?”

“It was better than the other alternatives I considered.” Rin stepped inside, letting the door close behind her with a soft hiss. “Where is this commander I am supposed to be meeting?”

“She will be here shortly.” Elias finally turned to face her, his expression unreadable. “In the meantime, you and I need to establish some ground rules for our collaboration.”

“Rules. Of course. Because that is your solution to everything.”

“Rin…” He stopped himself, visibly forcing a layer of control back into his voice. “This is not a game. What you stumbled upon tonight is part of a much larger, ongoing investigation. An investigation that could determine whether Neo-Kyoto survives the next six months.”

“Then maybe you should have included me from the very beginning instead of treating me like a common criminal.”

“You are a criminal. You operate without a license, you use illegal cybernetics, and you traffic in corrupted data.” He ticked off each point as if he were reading from a formal case file. “The only reason you are not in a holding cell right now is because we have a desperate need for your expertise.”

Rin stepped closer, her anger overriding her caution. “My expertise. The same expertise you spent ten years pretending did not exist? The same knowledge that you and City Core tried to bury along with everyone who died in the collapse?”

“We tried to protect what was left of civilization.”

“You tried to hide your guilt behind a wall of regulations and protocols.”

“And what did you do?” His composure finally cracked, and his voice rose slightly. The hum of Rin’s cybernetics spiked in response to her own rising anger. “You ran. You disappeared into the ruins and spent a decade hunting parasites as if that would somehow atone for what we created.”

“At least I faced what we made. At least I did not hide behind a badge and pretend the past never happened.”

They stood less than a meter apart now, ten years of unspoken accusations and unresolved pain filling the space between them. Rin could see the deep exhaustion in his eyes, the heavy weight he carried that she knew matched her own. For a fleeting moment, she saw a glimpse of the man she had once known, the man who had shared her dreams and her burdens.

Then the door opened.

They both stepped back immediately, the professional distance reasserting itself like a physical barrier between them. A woman entered, her presence commanding immediate attention. She wore a Commander’s uniform, black with silver accents, and her face was a feminine version of Elias’s features, though sharper and colder.

“Miss Takahashi.” Her voice was like ice given sound. “I am Commander Mei Ward. Thank you for accepting our invitation.”

“I did not realize I had a choice,” Rin replied, her tone flat.

“You did not.” Mei moved to the holographic display, her fingers dancing across the interface to pull up new streams of data. “But I prefer to maintain the illusion of cooperation when possible. It makes everything so much more pleasant.”

The display shifted, showing the memory core Rin had recovered. Around it, dozens of similar energy signatures pulsed in an angry red, each one marking a location in Neo-Kyoto’s old sectors.

“In the past three months,” Mei continued, her voice all business, “we have detected fifty-three separate instances of ECHO-signature code fragments. All of them have been embedded in high-level parasites. All of them have been actively probing our security systems, searching for weaknesses in the city’s main firewall.”

Rin studied the pattern on the map, her tactical mind automatically analyzing the distribution. “They are testing your defenses. They are mapping your response times.”

“Correct. Which means someone is preparing for a much larger attack.” Mei zoomed in on the central core signature. “The fragment you recovered tonight was different. It was a command node, designed to coordinate the other fragments into a unified assault. If we had not intercepted it…”

“The parasites would have found a way through your firewall,” Rin finished. “And the ECHO virus would have infected your main systems.”

“Within seventy-two hours, according to our projections.” Mei’s expression did not change, but something flickered in her eyes. It was fear, carefully and professionally controlled. “We would have lost containment. The infection would have spread through Neo-Kyoto faster than we could possibly respond.”

The implications of her words settled over the room like a shroud. Neo-Kyoto was home to three million people, the largest surviving population center in the eastern territories. If ECHO breached the city’s systems, it would be the collapse all over again. But this time, there would be nowhere left to rebuild.

“You need to find the source,” Rin said quietly.

“We need you both to find the source.” Mei looked between Rin and Elias, her gaze sharp enough to cut glass. “You created Project ECHO together. You understand its architecture, its vulnerabilities, and its evolution patterns better than anyone else alive. Which is why, despite your mutual animosity and decade-long separation, you are going to work together to locate and eliminate whoever is rebuilding this nightmare.”

“No.” Elias and Rin spoke at the exact same time, then glared at each other.

Mei’s expression could have frozen plasma. “That was not a request. It was a direct order.”

“I do not take orders from City Core,” Rin said. “I am not in the military anymore.”

“Then consider it a consultation contract with an extremely generous compensation package, with the alternative being a long stay in a cell for possession of classified materials.” Mei pulled up a formal contract on the display. “You will be granted temporary City Core credentials, full access to our investigation resources, and a stipend of fifty thousand credits per week. In exchange, you will work with Detective Ward to trace these ECHO fragments to their source.”

Fifty thousand credits a week was more than Rin made in six months of dangerous bounty hunting. It was also a chain, a way for them to keep her close and monitored. She looked at Elias, who was studying the contract with an expression that suggested he liked this arrangement about as much as she did.

“And if I refuse?” she asked.

“Then we will have a very long and unpleasant conversation about how you acquired illegal access to classified security systems, possessed restricted code fragments, and evaded arrest.” Mei smiled, but it was the smile of a predator showing its teeth. “I estimate the charges would keep you detained for approximately three to five years. Longer, if we find anything interesting in your partner’s workshop.”

The threat to Kai made Rin’s hands clench into fists at her sides. “You cannot touch him. He has done nothing wrong.”

“Hasn’t he?” Mei pulled up another display, this one showing surveillance footage of Kai’s workshop. “Possession of military-grade encryption software, unlicensed data analysis equipment, and at least seven different black-market interface ports. I am sure if we looked hard enough, we would find evidence of a dozen other violations.”

“He is a civilian.”

“He is your accomplice. Which means his fate is tied directly to your cooperation.” Mei dismissed the footage. “Work with us, and he remains free. Refuse, and both of you will face the consequences.”

Rin wanted to argue, wanted to tell Mei exactly where she could file her contract and her threats. But she had learned enough about leverage over the past decade to know when she was trapped. Mei had boxed her in perfectly, leaving her no room for refusal that did not end with Kai paying the price.

“Fine,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’ll do it.”

“Excellent.” Mei turned to Elias. “Detective Ward, do you have any objections?”

Elias’s jaw was tight, his eyes fixed on the holographic displays rather than on either of the women. “No, Commander. No objections.”

“Wonderful. You will both start immediately.” Mei pulled up a schematic of Neo-Kyoto’s old sectors. “Your first objective is to investigate the three most recent parasite sightings with ECHO signatures. Analyze the fragments, establish a pattern, and report back to me within forty-eight hours.”

“We will need equipment,” Elias said. “And a secure workspace.”

“Already arranged. Sublevel three, analysis room twelve. I have had it stocked with everything on your requisition list.” Mei looked at Rin. “Including a data terminal compatible with your particular set of skills.”

That meant they had prepared a system that could handle her illegal cybernetics without triggering any security alerts. Mei had thought of everything, which made Rin deeply uncomfortable. People who planned this thoroughly usually had contingencies for every possible outcome, including ones that ended with their consultants in body bags.

“We will head down there immediately,” Elias said, already moving toward the door.

“One more thing.” Mei’s voice stopped them both. “The ECHO fragments are evolving. Each new generation we encounter is more sophisticated, more aggressive. Whatever is creating them is learning from our responses and adapting faster than we can counter. This means that time is not on our side.”

“How long do we have?” Rin asked.

“Before another collapse?” Mei’s expression was grim. “That is unknown. Before the next major breach attempt? Our analysts estimate two weeks, possibly less.”

Two weeks to find a source that had remained hidden for months. Two weeks to stop someone who understood ECHO well enough to weaponize it. Two weeks to work with a man who looked at her as if she were a ghost.

“We will find them,” Elias said, and despite everything, his voice carried a tone of absolute certainty.

Mei nodded. “You had better. Because if you fail, there will not be a world left to save.”