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Kai was waiting for her three blocks from the workshop, huddled under a rusted awning in an alley that smelled of rain, rotting garbage, and desperation. His vibrant blue hair was plastered to his skull, and his eyes were wide with relief when he saw her emerge from the gloom.
“You’re alive. You’re not in cuffs. I’m calling that a win.” He pulled her further into the alley, away from any potential surveillance drones that might be patrolling the area. “Please tell me you did not just walk away from City Core with our data.”
Rin patted the pocket containing the encrypted chip. “The data is safe. What about the workshop?”
“Purged. Everything sensitive is gone. If they go in, they’ll find a bunch of legal salvage equipment and some mildly questionable data ports, but nothing they can actually charge me with.” He studied her face, his expression serious. “What happened back there?”
“I saw him.”
“And?”
“And nothing. He’s exactly what I expected him to be. Distant, professional, and completely committed to the City Core’s version of law and order.” She leaned against the damp brick wall, a wave of exhaustion washing over her. The adrenaline from the confrontation was wearing off, leaving her acutely aware of every ache and bruise. “He is not the person I knew anymore.”
“People change, Rin. Especially after something like the collapse.”
“I know.” She did know. She had changed too. She had let a decade of hunting monsters and living in ruins shape her into something harder, sharper, and more dangerous. Why should she expect Elias to be any different? “But seeing it for yourself is different from just knowing it.”
Kai was quiet for a moment, then pulled out his portable terminal, its screen casting a soft blue light on their faces. “Before the data purge finished, I managed to complete one more analysis. You need to see this.”
He pulled up a holographic display, keeping it small enough to be hidden by the alley’s deep shadows. The image showed the ECHO fragment they had found, but this time it was overlaid with additional data. There were timestamps, creation metadata, and a series of connection nodes that branched out like a digital spider web.
“The fragment was not a standalone piece of code,” Kai explained, his voice low and urgent. “It was part of a larger network. Do you see these nodes? They are connection points to other fragments, other pieces of the puzzle. Someone is not just rebuilding ECHO. They are distributing it piece by piece.”
“How many pieces are there?”
“I detected at least fifty, possibly more. And look at the distribution pattern.” He zoomed out, showing a map of Neo-Kyoto with bright red dots marking various locations. “They are all in the old sectors, all in areas with a high level of parasite activity.”
Rin studied the pattern, her tactical training kicking in automatically. “They are using the parasites as carriers. They are infecting them with these ECHO fragments and letting them spread the code throughout the ruins.”
“But why? What is the point of rebuilding a program that nearly destroyed civilization?”
That was the question. ECHO had been designed as a healing system, something to save lives during a brutal planetary war. But the experiment had gone catastrophically wrong, and the code had mutated into something that infected and corrupted instead of healed.
“Someone thinks they can control it this time,” she realized, a cold dread settling in her stomach. “Or they want to finish what we accidentally started.”
Her comm device vibrated against her hip. Rin pulled it out, expecting to see an anonymous bounty posting. Instead, she saw an official City Core seal marking the message as high priority. She opened it.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she muttered, reading the brief message.
Kai leaned over her shoulder to read it. His eyes widened. “They are summoning you? To the Command Spire?”
The message was brief and formal, a requirement for her to present herself at the City Core Command Spire within twelve hours for a consultation on a classified security matter. Failure to comply would result in a warrant being issued for her immediate arrest.
“They are not asking,” Rin said, her voice grim. “They are demanding.”
“This has to be about the core.” Kai looked worried. “What are you going to do?”
She thought about ignoring the summons, about disappearing back into the ruins where City Core could not easily follow her. But that would only confirm their suspicions and make everything harder. Besides, if they had summoned her officially, it meant something had changed. Something had made them desperate enough to want her cooperation instead of her arrest.
“I’m going.” She pocketed her comm device. “If they want to talk, I want to know why.”
“Do you think Ward will be there?”
“Probably. This is his investigation.” The thought of facing Elias again, this time in an official capacity on his home turf, made something twist uncomfortably in her chest. “Which means I need to at least look like I care about City Core’s rules and regulations.”
Kai grinned despite the seriousness of the situation. “Do you want to borrow my respectable person costume? I think I have one stashed somewhere under all the illegal tech.”
“Just help me find a place to clean up. I am not walking into the Command Spire looking like I just lost a fight with a trash compactor.”
“You kind of did, though.”
“Shut up and find me a shower.”
Two hours later, Rin stood in the small, sterile apartment Kai kept for emergencies, staring at her reflection in a cracked mirror. She had cleaned the blood and grime from the parasite fight, used a regen-pack to heal the last of her visible bruises, and changed into the closest thing she owned to civilian clothes. Black tactical pants, a dark gray shirt, and a jacket that successfully hid her empty blade holsters. It was not exactly respectable, but it was better than her usual hunting gear. She looked almost normal. Almost like someone who had not spent a decade killing monsters in ruins. Almost.
Her comm device vibrated again. This time it was a second message, time-stamped five minutes ago.
“Miss Takahashi. You are late. I suggest you move faster. The Commander does not appreciate tardiness. Detective Ward.”
Rin stared at the message, a hot flare of irritation rising in her. He had sent it to her personal comm, which meant he had accessed her private contact information. That was typical Elias, always using every advantage and making sure she knew it.
She quickly typed out a reply. “Detective Dumbass. I am on my way. Try not to arrest anyone for jaywalking before I get there.”
She hit send. Kai looked over her shoulder and winced. “Probably not the smartest way to address a City Core detective.”
“He’ll survive.” She grabbed her jacket and headed for the door. “Keep monitoring those ECHO fragment locations. If anything changes, you let me know immediately.”
“And if something happens to you at the Command Spire?”
Rin paused at the door. “Then you make sure you burn everything we found. Do not let City Core get their hands on your analysis.”
“Rin…”
“I will be fine. Probably.”
She left before he could argue, stepping out into Neo-Kyoto’s perpetual twilight. The city’s main sectors were beautiful in a cold, artificial way, all gleaming chrome and towering glass structures covered in holographic advertisements that promised better lives through better products. It was nothing like the decaying ruins she called home.
The Command Spire rose in the distance, a needle of black metal and glass that pierced the clouds. It was the heart of City Core’s power, the place where decisions were made that affected millions of lives. Rin had been inside exactly once before, ten years ago, when they had called her and Elias in to explain how Project ECHO had destroyed the world. She was not eager to return.
But she needed answers. She needed to understand why someone was rebuilding ECHO, who was behind it, and how to stop them before another disaster killed what was left of humanity. Even if it meant working with a man who now looked at her like she was a complete stranger.