Aeris limped into the backroom of an underground memory speakeasy in Sector 4, gripping her side. The air was thick with mod smoke and leaking signal. Faces turned as she passed, some in awe, some in fear.
He waited for her behind a screen of data—Kael Ryvek, released hours ago on forged Nexus records. Not her doing.
His eyes scanned her, wary and searching.
"You're bleeding."
"I've been worse."
He handed her a stolen neural patch. She didn't thank him.
"I saw you die, Kael."
He looked away.
"And yet here I am."
Their reunion wasn't warm—it was fragmented, raw. Kael had been part of the same memory archive project. He knew what Aeris was starting to piece together.
"They implanted a kill memory in you, Aeris," he said. "Something you're not supposed to survive long enough to remember."
"Why?"
"Because it isn't just a murder. It's a coverup. Of the original protocol."
She froze.
"The Memory Code."
The file wasn't just a glitch—it was a weapon.
And she was its unwilling carrier.