Aria's POV
I don't go to the 2 AM meeting.
Because at 1:47 AM, guards smash through my door and drag me from my bed. No explanation. No mercy. Just rough hands and shouted orders and the cold barrel of a gun pressed against my spine.
They throw me into a transport vehicle with thirty other workers from Factory 7. All Juno's friends. All people who spoke to him, ate lunch with him, existed near him.
We're guilty by association.
The vehicle stops at City Square. They force us out into a cordoned section right in front of a raised platform. An execution stage.
"You will watch," a guard announces. "Anyone who closes their eyes will be punished. Anyone who looks away will be punished. You will witness what happens to criminals and those who love them."
My stomach turns to ice. They knew. They knew someone sent me that message. This is my punishment—watching Juno die from the front row.
The square fills with thousands of people. Workers from every factory. Families from The Depths. Even some citizens from The Grid, the middle-class sector. Everyone forced to attend. Giant screens tower above us, ready to broadcast every horrible detail.
I search desperately for any escape route. But guards surround us, weapons ready. The Watchers' cameras are everywhere, red lights blinking like predator eyes.
There's no way out.
At exactly noon, the screens flicker to life.
Lysandra Vex appears on the platform first, stunning in a white suit that seems to glow. She smiles at the crowd like she's hosting a party, not an execution.
"Citizens of Neo-Seoul," her amplified voice booms across the square. "Today we gather to witness justice. To remember that order requires sacrifice. That security demands obedience."
The crowd stays silent. Terrified. I want to scream at them to fight back, to do something, but I know they can't. We can't. The system is too strong.
Then he appears.
Commander Kaelen Voss walks onto the platform, and even from my position in the crowd, his presence is overwhelming. Tall. Powerful. Untouchable. The black uniform makes him look like a living shadow. His silver hair catches the sunlight.
Those storm-gray eyes sweep across the crowd. For one impossible moment, they land on me.
I swear I see something flicker in them. Pain? Regret?
But then his face goes blank again. Empty. The perfect weapon.
"Bring out the prisoner," he commands.
My heart stops.
They drag Juno onto the platform. His face is swollen and bruised, worse than yesterday. He can barely walk. Blood stains his gray prison uniform. But when his eyes find the camera—when he looks through the screen directly at me—he smiles.
He smiles.
Like he's trying to tell me it's okay. Like he's forgiving me for failing to save him.
I can't breathe. Can't think. Tears pour down my face but I don't wipe them away. Let them see me cry. Let them know they're murdering a good person.
Kaelen pulls out a tablet and begins reading in that cold, mechanical voice. "Juno Park, age twenty-six. You have been found guilty of technology crimes against the state. Hacking secured systems. Attempted theft of controlled resources. The penalty is death by neural implant detonation."
"No," I whisper. "Please, no."
Kaelen continues like I didn't speak. "Do you have any last words?"
Juno looks straight into the camera. Straight at me. "Take care of Maya. And Aria—" his voice cracks, "—burn it all down."
What does that mean? Burn what down?
Lysandra laughs. "How dramatic. Commander Voss, proceed."
Kaelen taps his tablet. On the screens, I see Juno's implant ID appear—a red target locked on his brain.
"Wait!" I scream. "Please! He was just trying to save his sister! That's not a crime!"
Guards grab my arms but I keep screaming. "He's a good person! Better than any of you! JUNO!"
Kaelen's finger hovers over the execution command.
For three heartbeats, nothing happens.
He's hesitating. Why is he hesitating?
Lysandra notices too. "Commander? Is there a problem?"
Kaelen's jaw tightens. His eyes find me in the crowd again, and this time I'm certain—there's anguish in them. Real, human anguish.
Then something impossible happens.
Juno's eyes roll back. His body goes rigid. But not from the execution—from something else. His implant is glowing, but not red. Blue. Bright, electric blue.
"What—" Lysandra starts.
Juno's mouth opens and he speaks, but the voice isn't his. It's layered, digital, like twenty people speaking at once: "ARIA CHEN. WORKER 4-7-DELTA-9. RECEIVING PACKAGE. DO NOT RESIST."
Pain explodes in my skull.
I scream and drop to my knees. It feels like my brain is on fire, like someone is pouring molten metal directly into my head through my implant. Data floods my vision—code, numbers, files, more information than should be possible.
On the platform, Juno's nose starts bleeding. His ears. His eyes.
He's dying. Not from the execution. From transferring something to me.
"STOP THIS!" Lysandra shrieks. "Commander, execute him now!"
Kaelen taps the command.
But it's too late.
Juno's implant explodes.
The crack echoes across the square like thunder. His body convulses once, twice, then goes still. Blood runs down his face in rivers. He collapses on the platform, dead before he hits the ground.
I'm screaming. The world is screaming. But I can barely hear it over the roar of data flooding my brain.
Then, suddenly, it stops.
The pain vanishes.
I'm gasping on the ground, guards holding me down. My vision is... different. Wrong. When I look at the cameras around the square, I don't just see them—I see through them. I see the code running behind them. I see access points and vulnerabilities and encryption keys.
Text appears in my field of vision, floating like augmented reality:
PHOENIX PROTOCOL: ACTIVATEDGHOST MODE: ENABLEDSYSTEM ACCESS: UNLIMITEDWELCOME, ARIA CHEN
What is this? What did Juno do to me?
A voice whispers through my implant—Juno's voice, but different. Digital. "I'm sorry, Ari. This was the only way. The Phoenix Protocol is yours now. Use it. Burn it all down. Make them pay."
On the platform, Lysandra is screaming at guards. "Check the prisoner's implant! He transferred something! Find out what!"
Kaelen stands frozen, staring at Juno's body. His face has gone pale. When his eyes find me again, I see shock. Recognition.
He knows what just happened.
He knows what I have.
Guards start pushing through the crowd toward me. "Detain Worker 4-7-Delta-9! Now!"
I need to run. But my legs won't move. I'm still staring at Juno's body on the platform, at the blood pooling beneath him, at the life stolen from someone who only wanted to save his sister.
A hand grabs my arm—not a guard. An old woman beside me. "Run, girl," she hisses. "Run now or they'll kill you too."
That breaks the spell.
I wrench free from the guards' grip and bolt. People scatter as I shove through the crowd. Behind me, guards shout orders. Stun guns discharge, missing me by inches.
I run faster than I've ever run in my life.
And then something miraculous happens.
As I sprint past security checkpoints, the gates open by themselves. The cameras tracking me suddenly swivel away, pointing in wrong directions. The Watchers' targeting systems glitch and fail.
I'm invisible to them.
The Protocol. It's protecting me.
I duck into an alley and keep running, deeper into The Depths, into the maze of streets where even guards fear to follow.
Finally, I collapse behind a dumpster, gasping for air. My hands are shaking. My vision keeps glitching between normal sight and code-view.
I just watched my best friend die.
And somehow, in his last moments, he gave me a weapon.
My implant chimes. A message appears—anonymous, just like last night:
"Same address. Come now. We have much to discuss. Your friend's sacrifice won't be wasted. —K.V."
K.V.
Kaelen Voss.
The man who executed Juno just sent me a message.
What is happening?