The tunnel shook like a living beast.
Mira stumbled as the ground trembled beneath her, nearly slamming into the concrete wall. The blue floodlights behind them grew brighter, casting monstrous shadows that stretched across the wet floor.
Zayn yanked her forward.
"Don't look back! It slows you down!"
"Too late!" Leena shouted. "I already regret everything!"
They sprinted through the narrow passage, but the roar behind them grew louder—metal grating against metal, hydraulics pumping, gears grinding like teeth.
"What is that thing?" Mira gasped.
Zayn didn't look back. "A Sentinel."
Mira's eyes widened. "A *what*?"
"One of the main grid guardians," he panted. "Built to hunt intruders and anomalies. The scout was a warning. The Sentinel is execution."
Leena cursed in three languages.
The blue light washed over the tunnel as the Sentinel smashed into view. It was massive—part train engine, part insect, part nightmare. Thick mechanical legs carried its weight, slamming into the ground with enough force to shake dust loose. Wires writhed from its sides like tentacles, sparking electricity that licked the walls.
Its "head" was a shifting mass of screens displaying static faces, each glitching from one expression to another—laughing, screaming, blank.
It roared again, the sound metallic and wrong.
Mira felt her legs turn to ice—but she forced them to move faster.
"Zayn," she yelled, "please tell me you have a plan before we become breakfast for a possessed subway engine!"
Zayn pulled a cylindrical device from his jacket. It hummed with red energy. "I have this."
Leena stared. "What is *this*?"
"A signal disruptor prototype. Might help. Might explode."
"Those odds suck!"
Zayn grinned breathlessly. "Everything sucks!"
The Sentinel lunged.
A massive clawed limb slammed into the ground where Mira had been a heartbeat earlier, sending shards of concrete flying. Mira screamed as she ducked, dragging Leena with her.
Zayn shoved the device into Mira's hands.
"You're faster. You plant it!"
"What?! NO! Give it to Leena!"
"HELL NO!" Leena yelled. "I bruise like a peach and I want to live!"
The Sentinel let out a piercing shriek—screens flashing horrifying faces—and charged.
Mira didn't think.
She ran toward it.
Her breath tore through her chest. The device vibrated dangerously in her grip. Sparks rained down as the Sentinel scraped its claws against the ceiling, the tunnel stretching open like a maw.
Mira dove under the machine, skidding across wet concrete, feeling heat from its mechanical core burn her skin. She slapped the disruptor against the side of its chassis—
*CLICK.*
The device blinked red.
Once.
Twice.
Then a blinding burst of static exploded outward with a deafening scream.
The Sentinel staggered, limbs twitching. Its screens glitched violently, faces twisting into grotesque shapes. It lashed blindly, smashing walls and sending debris crashing down.
"MIRA, RUN!" Zayn shouted.
She scrambled out from beneath the thrashing machine, just as it crashed into a support pillar. Cracks spiderwebbed through the concrete. The tunnel groaned.
Zayn grabbed her arm. "Move, move, MOVE!"
The three of them sprinted down the passage as the disruptor overloaded, building to a violent crescendo.
Behind them—
**BOOOOOOOOM**
The explosion echoed like thunder.
Heat washed over their backs. The tunnel shook. Dust swirled through the air. The Sentinel let out one final distorted scream—
—and then silence.
Heavy.
Electric.
Wrong.
They kept running until the tunnel opened into a cavernous maintenance chamber lit by flickering emergency lights.
Leena collapsed against a metal railing. "We're alive. I can't believe we're alive. Mira, you insane legend."
Mira bent at the waist, hands on her knees, gulping air. "Don't… give me credit yet…"
Zayn pressed trembling fingers to his glasses. "Because that wasn't the only Sentinel."
Mira froze.
Leena looked up. "Say that again so I can mentally prepare to pass out."
Zayn pointed toward the far end of the chamber.
In the darkness—
eyes.
Dozens.
Glowing blue.
Blinking on.
The grid had awakened fully.
And the machines weren't alone anymore.
Mira felt it before she saw it. A presence. Human-shaped. Watching her with intent.
A silhouette stepped out of the shadows—tall, familiar, terrifying.
The man in the charcoal coat.
He didn't speak.
He didn't move.
He only stared at Mira as the machines crawled out behind him.
And for the first time—
Mira felt something cold in her chest.
Recognition.
Not of *him.*
But of herself.
Something was wrong inside her.
Something connected.
And he knew it.