Cole tapped his feet against the van floor while replaying the plan in his head. He only managed to get six hours of sleep in the safehouse, which had helped reset him from the day's earlier turmoil, but his brain kept circling back to the same thought.

  Almost died twice on my first day. Now I'm robbing Nexus Dynamics on day two. At this rate, I'll probably be dead by the weekend.

  The interior of the van was one giant mobile command center, every surface covered in holographic displays and haptic interfaces. The air smelled of coffee and coolant. They kept it cold so the equipment wouldn't fry itself. Senna sat at the main console, a single jack at the base of her neck linked her to the system, her consciousness somewhere half in the physical world, and half in the digital.

  As the van slowly pulled up to a red light a modded street racer rushed by, the occupants firing plasma rifles at the pursuing patrol officers, arching bolts left scorched trails in the air. The shooter was laughing maniacally, silver teeth gleaming in the weapon's discharge.

  "Looks like someone else is having fun tonight," Lucius chimed in from the front seat. He tapped his console. "Well, look at that. The Chrome Reapers. 10,000 credit bounty. Armed and extremely dangerous. Maybe after this job, we can find them."

  "If we survive this job," Cole ventured, his voice low…

  "You will," Lia stated, not looking up from her weapon maintenance. She was field-stripping her sidearm, each component gleaming with forge-enhanced perfection. "I don't invest in people who die on their second day."

  "Comforting," Cole deadpanned.

  The light turned green. They left the upheaval of the mid-tier behind, entering the financial sector where buildings stopped being structures and became statements. Black glass and steel disappearing into private air-lanes reserved for executive hover-craft.

  Streets were different too. Clean. Quiet. Patrolled by private security drones that thrummed with barely contained violence. Every surface was monitored, and every corner had at least three overlapping fields of fire. It was wealth with teeth.

  The van stopped in a service tunnel three levels below street level. Cole popped one of his pills, unable to afford a seizure mid-heist. The medication left a metallic taste as his augmented nervous system processed the chemicals in real-time. His new Zeta nodes pulsed faintly under his skin, creating a subtle pattern of light that rippled across his arms like luminescent tattoos.

  Inside the van, holographic displays showed their target from every angle. Senna's fingers streamed across the haptic interfaces, code streaming across her tattoos as she worked.

  "Nervous?" Lucius asked, leaning back and resting his head against the seat.

  "Just processing," Cole kept his gaze distant. He could see heat signatures through the van walls, analyze the tunnel's structure, and calculate eight different escape routes, each with shifting probability percentages.

  "First corporate heist?" Lucius pressed, a knowing grin on his face. "Different game than hunting monsters. Monsters? Now, they're predictable, they just want to eat you. Corps? They want to own you, dissect you, patent your DNA, then sell you back to yourself at a premium."

  Cole’s head finally turned. "That sounds specific."

  "Let's just say I used to have a different last name before Nexus decided they owned my grandfather's storm-touched genetics," Lucius’s grin turned sharp. "Turns out, when you refuse their 'generous' offer of corporate citizenship, they get… creative."

  "He'll be fine," Lia slid a custom round into her sidearm. Each bullet was art, inscribed with microscopic fractals that would wreck molecular bonds on impact. "Besides, he's got us watching his back."

  Cole checked his tactical vest, fingers running over magazines and med-stims. His hand hit something soft dangling from a zipper. He pulled it out. A rabbit's foot keychain.

  He held it up. "What is this? Are you serious?"

  Lucius chuckled from the front seat. "Good luck charm. Courtesy of our eye in the sky."

  Cole looked toward the van's main console where Senna was working. "Really, Senna? You believe in this stuff? I don't know how lucky the rabbit felt about it."

  "Word of advice, Cole," Lia cautioned, not looking up from her weapon. "I wouldn’t insult the person who decides whether the building’s turrets shoot at them or at us."

  Cole glanced at Senna, who offered no reaction. As his eyes drifted down, he caught the glint of a small charm on her wrist—a four-leaf clover made of worn, green metal. He decided to drop the subject.

  "Alright," Senna's voice came through their comms and speakers simultaneously. "I'm past their ICE—black, white, even some gray-market attack programs. Their system is good, but predictable. I'm creating false heat signatures on floors 1-10 to draw automated security."

  Cole glanced over at the van's main console. Senna was fighting a digital war, her face illuminated by the cascade of data flowing across her screens. To him, it was just incomprehensible text and flowing schematics.

  He saw a quiet intensity in her eyes, a faint, predatory gleam. The corner of her mouth was turned up just barely. This wasn't work for her; it was the razor's edge she lived for. She was a shark circling its prey, savoring the moment before the inevitable bite.

  "I have control of the service elevator and a ninety-second blind spot. After that, their quantum encryption resets and we're burned. Clock starts now."

  The van door hissed open. "Go," Lia commanded.

  They moved through service corridors that pulsed with hidden power conduits, the walls lined with smart-matter that could become solid or permeable based on security protocols. The floor beneath their feet was a mesh of pressure sensors and vibration detectors, each step calculated to fall within the acceptable parameters of 'settling building noise.'

  Automated janitor drones passed by, Senna's hack making them register the team as 'scheduled maintenance,' though one drone paused, its optical sensor swiveling toward them. For a moment, Cole saw himself reflected in its lens. Then Senna's hack kicked in and the drone continued on.

  The elevator was a capsule of steel and silence. Cole could see his reflection fragmenting across every surface. In one, he was bleeding out. In another, counting credits. His new optics filtered the noise, focusing on the 'now.'

  "Remember," Lia’s voice was a low warning as they descended, "Nexus security isn't like street muscle. They're augmented to the teeth, combat drugs in their system that make them ignore pain. You put one down, you make sure they stay down."

  "How?" Cole pressed.

  "Double tap to the neural implant," she tapped the back of her skull. "Fries their combat stims and backup personality matrices. Otherwise, they get back up angrier than before."

  "This is my stop. Try not to die before I blow something up." Lucius said as they reached the mid-level.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "Senna, guide him in," Lia ordered.

  "Already mapping the route," Senna confirmed. "Lucius, hard left, then third maintenance shaft. Security drone approaching in twelve seconds."

  "I see it," Lucius’s focus sharpened, his Storm Domain already calculating probabilities. "Senna, is that drone standard patrol or hunter-killer?"

  "Hunter-killer. Thermal imaging, smart rounds, predictive targeting," she responded. "It will fire 3.7 seconds after visual confirmation."

  Lucius flashed a grin that promised violence. "Perfect, I love it when they're predictable."

  "Just take out the grid, Lucius," Lia ordered. "And try to leave the building standing."

  "No promises." He gave them a mock salute and sprinted down a side corridor, a phantom of crackling blue energy.

  The moment he was out of sight, Cole heard it, the distinctive whine of a hunter-killer drone powering up its weapons. Then a crack of thunder in an enclosed space, followed by the sound of expensive electronics meeting their maker.

  "Drone neutralized," Lucius's voice came through the comm, slightly breathless. "These corps really need to stop making these things so conductive."

  A brief pause, then Senna's voice: "Lucius, you should be seeing a massive cable about now. Armored, thick as your torso, glowing blue?"

  "Oh, I see it. Thing's beautiful. Looks pricey."

  "That's the primary energy conduit for the entire research wing. Overload it and you'll knock out the lower floors."

  "How big an overload are we talking?"

  "There's a good chance the explosion will be visible from orbit, so try not to be standing next to it."

  Lucius's laugh came through the comm. "Music to my ears. Alright, I'm making contact with the conduit now. If you don't hear from me in thirty seconds, assume I've been vaporized and tell Cole he can have my chrome arm."

  Static filled the line for a moment, then the sound of electrical crackling grew louder and louder.

  "Lucius?" Lia's voice, concerned. "What's that sound?"

  "That," Lucius grunted, his voice strained, "is the sound of me introducing havoc to a very organized power grid. And—shit—my arm's smoking. That's probably not good."

  "LUCIUS—"

  "Relax, it's just the chrome plating cracking. I'm fine. I'm—wait, hold on, alarms just went live."

  Through the open comm channel, they could hear it: blaring klaxons, the mechanical whir of automated defenses activating.

  "Contact!" Lucius shouted. "Turrets just dropped from the ceiling! I count… okay, a lot of turrets. This is fine. Everything's fine."

  The sound of gunfire erupted over the comm, followed by Lucius's manic laughter.

  "Are you laughing?" Senna demanded.

  "I'm having a moment, here! These idiots are shooting at lightning! Watch—"

  A massive crack of thunder, then the screech of metal being flash-melted.

  "Turrets down," Lucius reported, still sounding far too cheerful. "Oh, and I've got company. Looks like… twelve—no, fifteen corporate soldiers. Full tactical gear heading my way. This is going to be—"

  "Do not say 'fun,'" Lia warned.

  "—absolutely delightful!"

  The PA system activated, the automated voice bleeding through Lucius's comm: "Security breach detected. Implementing Vermillion Protocol. All non-essential personnel, please proceed to designated shelter zones. Lethal force has been authorized."

  "Vermillion Protocol?" Cole asked. "That sounds bad."

  "That's very bad," Senna confirmed. "That means they're treating this as a military assault, not a break-in. Lucius, you need to—"

  "WAY ahead of you!" Lucius's voice was barely audible over the sound of sustained gunfire and electrical discharge. "I'm currently—hang on—seven places at once and these guys CANNOT figure out which one to shoot! It's like watching dogs try to catch laser pointers!"

  "He's insane," Lia muttered, checking her weapon as the lights in their corridor flickered. The building's alarms began to wail, red emergency lighting bathing everything in hellish crimson.

  "He's the distraction," Cole corrected. "And it's working. You ready?"

  "Always."

  "Senna, status?"

  Senna's voice came through, rapid-fire: "Comm traffic's going crazy. They're pulling everyone to the lower levels—Lucius has their full attention. You're clear to move. But Cole, there's a problem."

  "What kind of problem?"

  "They've initiated a lockdown. Cameras just switched to closed circuit. I'm blind up there."

  "Can you override it?"

  A pause. Static. Then Senna's voice, quieter: "There's… something else in their system."

  "Something else?" Lia asked.

  "Not security. Something that was already there. Sleeping in their network. And our intrusion just woke it up."

  Cole felt his Domain flicker involuntarily. "What do you mean, 'woke it up'?"

  "I mean whatever it is, it's watching us now."

  Suddenly, a new feed popped into the corner of Cole’s vision, a shaky, panicked view of a corridor filled with smoke and sparking wires.

  "Not completely blind," Senna’s voice corrected, a hint of pride in her voice. "I’ve hijacked the neural feed of a security guard on floor twenty-six. Designation: Talon-3. He's moving toward your position. ETA: forty-five seconds. You’ll see what he sees."

  Through the guard's eyes, Cole saw his own reflection flash across a chrome wall panel, a ghost in the machine. The guard's thoughts leaked through: kid's birthday, missed. Wife's disappointment, guaranteed. Cole felt like an asshole for witnessing this guy's mental performance review of his life choices.

  Worst of all it was for some corporate emergency that would probably get him killed.

  He and Lia instinctively flattened themselves into a shallow alcove behind a series of large data conduits.

  "Lia, should we take him out?" Cole whispered, his hand on the hilt of his blade.

  "No," Lia whispered back, her eyes fixed on the corner the guard would be rounding any second. "Too much noise. We can't risk a physical confrontation. Plus, from what you're seeing, he's just some poor bastard trying to make rent. No need to paint the walls with him unless we have to."

  "I have a solution," Senna's voice cut in. "The guard is running standard-issue BioSight optics. Their firmware has a known vulnerability to recursive visual data. Cole, I need to piggyback on your new hardware. Your Zyntechs process reflections in a way standard tech can't. Hold still and look at the wall opposite you. I'm going to capture an exact, real-time image."

  Cole stared at the blank wall. In the corner of his vision, he could see through the guard's eyes as the man rounded the corner, his rifle held high. His finger rested on the trigger guard, training taking over despite his fear.

  "Feed captured," Senna stated. "Initiating perception loop. Hold your breath."

  Through the hacked feed, Cole watched a version of his own reality get fed directly into the guard's brain. The guard saw a perfectly empty, silent corridor.

  For a brief moment, the guard's gaze swept over the alcove where they were hiding. Cole saw himself and Lia flicker in the man's vision like a bad holo-vid, a momentary "visual glitch." Then Senna's program compensated, and the image of the empty wall snapped back into place in the guard's perception.

  "Fucking cheap corp chrome," the guard complained, his words coming through the neural link. "Told them the BioSights needed an upgrade. But no, quarterly profits are more important than functional equipment."

  He passed less than three feet from where Cole and Lia were pressed into the shadows, completely oblivious, a prisoner in his own mind. Through the neural link, Cole felt the guard's relief at finding nothing, his eagerness to get back to the security station where at least there was coffee, and the illusion of safety.

  They waited until his footsteps were a distant memory.

  "Alright, the guard's long gone," Senna reported coolly. "You're clear to head for the Filter."

  Cole looked at Lia, who gave him a single nod.

  "That presence I detected earlier," Senna's voice came through, quieter now, troubled. "It's still there. Still watching. But it's not interfering. It could have triggered alerts, locked you down, and sent reinforcements. It's doing… nothing."

  Cole felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "That's worse, isn't it?"

  "Much worse," Lia replied, already moving down the corridor. "Means someone's letting us get this far. The question is why."

  Cole forced himself forward, "No time to figure it out now. We're already committed."

  Up ahead he saw it, the Perception Filter. The space where the door should be was a storm of fractured, overlapping realities that made his brain ache just looking at it.

  "Eyes sharp, Cole," Lia breathed. "The real job starts here."

  He gripped his blades and stepped forward. Couldn't shake the feeling that somewhere in this building, someone was studying them walk straight into a trap they couldn't see yet.