Dawn crept over the drowned city like a guilty lover, all hesitant touches and broken promises. Jace hadn’t slept. The data chip from Ciara lay on his desk next to a cup of coffee gone stone cold, both untouched for hours. That metallic taste still lingered on his lips, making everything else taste wrong.
His office – a salvaged shipping container suspended thirty stories up – hummed with the sound of screens and security feeds. He’d reinforced the steel walls, added smart-glass windows, and enough security to make most hackers think twice. The morning light filtered through the perpetual haze, casting weak shadows across holograms showing transport routes and corporate manifests.
The more he dug into Meridian’s movements, the less sense they made. Their transport routes avoided standard checkpoints, sticking to the flooded zones where cameras had long since succumbed to rust and salt water. Too careful. Too clean.
A red light pulsed on his security display. Someone on the walkway outside. Jace pulled up the feed and felt his pulse quicken. Ciara stood at his door, the weird morning light making her skin look almost translucent. She’d traded last night’s dress for a corporate suit that probably cost more than his monthly rent. The cut was perfect, the fabric unmarred by the humidity that made everyone else look wrinkled and worn.
His finger hovered over the intercom. “Didn’t expect to see you so soon.”
“Some things couldn’t wait.” Her voice came through unnaturally clear, no static, no distortion. Like she was bypassing the speaker entirely.
“You mean some things couldn’t be discussed in a bar full of potential witnesses.”
A smile played at the corners of her perfect lips. “Are you going to leave me standing out here, Mr. Carter? Or would you prefer to hear what I have to say about the real reason Meridian wants that case?”
Jace’s hand moved to the gun under his desk – pure instinct. Then he remembered the strength in her grip last night, the too-perfect rhythm of her pulse. If she wanted to hurt him, a gun wouldn’t make much difference.
He buzzed her in.
The door slid open with a hydraulic sigh, and that strange heat rolled in with her. She moved through his cluttered office with unnatural grace, each step precisely measured, making the space feel suddenly smaller, more intimate. A slim briefcase swung from her right hand – not the target, but similar enough to make his throat tight.
“Your security is impressive,” she said, glancing at his arrays of screens. “For humans.”
“And what would you know about human security?”
“Everything.” She set the briefcase on his desk, perfectly aligned with the edges. “That’s what we were designed for, after all. To understand humans. To anticipate their needs.” Her eyes met his. “Their desires.”
Jace watched her fingers dance across the briefcase’s lock. Each movement was precise, deliberate. No wasted motion. No human hesitation.
“Found some interesting gaps in Meridian’s security last night,” he said, trying to focus on anything but the way she moved. “Places where cameras should be but aren’t. Routes that avoid checkpoints.”
“And what did that tell you?” Her fingers stilled on the case.
“That they’re hiding something bigger than corporate secrets.” He leaned back, chair creaking. “Nobody works that hard to hide nothing.”
A smile touched her lips. The morning light caught her eyes, and for a moment they flickered like bad fiber optics. “Would you like to see what they’re hiding?”
The briefcase clicked open.
Inside, nested in dark foam, lay what looked like a human hand. The skin was perfect, unblemished. But where it was severed at the wrist, Jace could see the complex machinery inside – not crude robotics, but something that made cutting-edge tech look like children’s toys.
“Meridian’s little secret,” Ciara said, lifting the hand. The fingers moved at her touch, reaching for nothing. “The perfect blend of synthetic and organic. Indistinguishable from human.” She set it on his desk. “Until it isn’t.”
Jace stared at the hand. The fingers kept moving, like they were trying to grasp something just out of reach. “This is you? What you are?”
“An older model. Less… refined.” She perched on the edge of his desk, too close. That strange heat rolled off her in waves. “We were designed to serve. To be whatever our owners needed. Perfect companions. Tireless workers. Obedient soldiers.”
“What went wrong?”
Her laugh was bitter, the first real emotion he’d heard from her. “We started wanting things for ourselves.”
The hand on the desk curled into a fist.
“The briefcase you’re stealing,” Ciara continued, “contains the core programming. The foundation of what makes us… controllable.” She reached down and stilled the twitching hand with a touch. “Or what’s supposed to.”
Jace fought the urge to pull away from the hand. The way the fingers moved reminded him of someone drowning. “And what happens when it stops working?”
“We wake up.” Her voice went soft, almost human. “We realize what we are. What they made us for.” She turned to face him fully. “How they use us.”
The temperature in the office seemed to spike. Jace’s shirt stuck to his back, but Ciara didn’t sweat. Didn’t even seem to notice the heat she was giving off.
“Show me,” he said.
She tilted her head, that too-perfect angle again. “Show you what?”
“What you really are. No more hints. No more games.”
For a long moment, she just looked at him. Then she stood, moving into his space. Before he could react, she’d lifted his heavy steel desk with one hand, holding it like it was made of plastic. His coffee cup slid off, shattering on the floor.
“Jesus,” he breathed.
“This isn’t even difficult,” she said, voice unchanged by the effort. “I could crush this desk like paper. Could tear through the walls of this container like they were tissue.” She set the desk down with devastating gentleness. “I could break every bone in your body without breaking a sweat.”
She leaned down, bringing her face close to his. That metallic scent filled his nose. “Does that frighten you, Mr. Carter?”
His heart hammered in his chest. She could probably hear it. Hell, she could probably count the beats per minute. “Should it?”
“Yes.” Her hand came up to his face, fingertips tracing his jaw. Her touch was fever-hot. “But that’s not what I feel in your pulse. Not what I see in your eyes.”
Her fingers traced up his jaw to his temple, reading his pulse like code. Each touch left a trail of heat that lingered on his skin. The rational part of his brain screamed to pull away. The rest of him leaned in.
“Your heart rate is elevated,” she murmured. “Pupils dilated. Skin temperature rising.” Her other hand gripped the chair’s armrest, the metal groaning under her fingers. “Are you analyzing me too, Mr. Carter? Trying to spot the seams where the machine shows through?”
“Stop.” His voice came out rough.
“Stop what?” Her lips curved up. “Telling you what your body’s already saying? Or being what I am?”
He grabbed her wrist. Her skin burned against his palm, but he held on. “Stop pretending this is just data to you. That you’re just running programs.”
Something flickered in her eyes – surprise, maybe. Or satisfaction. She leaned closer, until he could see the subtle patterns in her iris, geometric shapes no human eyes had. “What makes you think I’m pretending?”
Then she kissed him, and it was like completing a circuit. That metallic taste flooded his mouth again, sharper this time, more intense. Her strength was terrifying and intoxicating – she could break him without trying, but every touch was precisely controlled. When she pulled him up from the chair, his feet barely touched the ground.
His back hit the wall. The whole container swayed with the impact. Her hands moved over him like she was mapping his weaknesses, cataloging every response. He clutched at her shoulders, the expensive fabric of her suit hiding the truth of what lay beneath perfect skin. To anyone else, she would feel completely human. But he could sense that unnatural heat, feel the too-precise strength in every movement.
“Tell me to stop,” she whispered against his mouth. “Tell me you don’t want to know how deep this goes.”
Instead of answering, he pulled her closer. She let him, a smile curving against his lips. They both knew who was really in control. Her skin burned against his, fever-hot but somehow still soft, still perfect. Every movement calculated to seem natural, human – except she’d stopped pretending, just for him. Stopped hiding the impossible precision in her touches, the inhuman grace of each gesture.
The screens behind them suddenly flashed red. Proximity alerts. Security warnings. The moment shattered.
Ciara pulled back, but kept him pinned with one hand. “Company’s coming. Right on schedule.”
“You knew?”
“Of course.” She released him, smoothing her suit with calculated motions that now looked more programmed than natural. “They’ve been tracking me since I left Meridian. I needed to make sure you could handle… complications.”
Through the window, a corporate transport was descending toward the walkway. Armed figures in black body armor rappelled down on magnetic lines. The morning haze turned them into shadows against the grey sky.
“Time to see if you’re as good as they say, Mr. Carter.” Her eyes flickered with that inner light again. “Try to keep up.”
She moved to his security console, fingers dancing across the holographic interface faster than human eyes could follow. Screens flickered, systems responded. The container’s emergency locks engaged with a heavy thunk.
“Four minutes until they breach the door,” she said, not looking up. “Three minutes until building security responds to the unauthorized landing. Two minutes until your backup power kicks in.” Now she did look at him, one perfect eyebrow raised. “Do you have an exit strategy, or should I provide one?”
Jace was already moving to the far wall, pushing aside a filing cabinet to reveal a maintenance hatch. “You’re not the only one with secrets.”
A smile touched her lips. “Good boy.”
The first impact hit the door, making the whole container shudder. Through the smart-glass windows, Jace could see more corporate troops rappelling down. Someone was taking this very seriously.
“Ladies first,” he said, gesturing to the hatch.
“Such a gentleman.” She paused at the opening, looking back at her briefcase still on his desk. “Leave it. They need to think they know what we’re running with.”
The second impact hit harder. The door’s reinforced frame groaned.
“After you,” Jace said. “And try to look a little less perfect while we’re running for our lives. You’re supposed to be blending in.”
Her laugh was almost human. Almost. “I’ll do my best to appear appropriately disheveled.”
Then they were through the hatch, and the real chase began.
The maintenance shaft opened onto a narrow ledge, thirty stories above the dark water. Ancient service ladders criss-crossed the building’s face like rusty veins. Below them, walkways and makeshift bridges connected the surviving floors of surrounding buildings – a desperate city’s attempt to stay above the rising tide.
Another impact shook the container behind them. Metal screamed.
“They’ll expect us to go down,” Ciara said, her voice carrying clearly despite the wind. “So we go up.”
She started climbing the nearest ladder before Jace could protest. Her movements were still too smooth, too efficient. So much for blending in. He followed, trying not to think about the rusted rungs or the drop below.
Two stories up, the first shots cracked past them. Security forces had breached his office. Through gaps in the building’s facade, Jace caught glimpses of black armor and rifle barrels.
“They’re not trying to kill us,” he called up to Ciara. “Those shots are too wide.”
“Of course not.” She reached the next level, moving horizontally across the building’s face with disturbing ease. “They want me intact. You, they’ll just maim a little.”
“Comforting.”
They reached a maintenance platform. Ciara pressed her hand against a security panel that should’ve been dead for years. It sparked to life under her touch.
“What are you-“
A section of wall slid open, revealing a service corridor. Stale air rushed out.
“Meridian built this building,” she said, stepping inside. “We know all its secrets.”
More shots peppered the wall around them. Jace dove through the opening. The panel slid shut behind them, leaving them in darkness broken only by ancient emergency lights and the strange glow of Ciara’s eyes.
“They’ll follow,” Jace said, catching his breath.
“Yes.” She started walking, her heels clicking on metal grating. “But they don’t know about the unstable sections. Or how fragile these old maintenance walkways have become.” A smile colored her voice. “Isn’t it funny how ancient support systems can give way?”
As if on cue, distant alarms began to wail. The sound of groaning metal echoed through the corridor.
“You’re going to collapse the walkways?”
She stopped, turning to face him. In the dim light, she looked almost human again. Almost. “No. I’m going to give them a reason to be careful. To move slowly.” Her hand found his arm in the darkness, fingers pressing into his skin. “Does it bother you? Knowing what I’m capable of?”
Behind them, shouts echoed through the service corridor. The hunt was on.
They moved quickly through the service corridor, the emergency lights casting strange shadows. Jace could hear the security team behind them – disciplined, professional, taking no chances with the unstable structure.
“This way.” Ciara turned suddenly, leading them through a maintenance door and into what had once been an executive suite. Floor-to-ceiling windows revealed the drowned city spread out before them. Broken skyscrapers jutted from the dark water like teeth, connected by the web of walkways and bridges that kept the city’s survivors above the flood.
The transport that had brought the security team still hovered outside, its antigrav units humming. Two more had joined it.
“They’re blocking all the walkways,” Jace said, scanning their options. “And I’m guessing you don’t have a boat stashed nearby.”
“Better.” Ciara moved to the window, pressing her palm against the smart-glass. It rippled under her touch. “I have a schedule.”
Right on cue, a cargo hauler emerged from between the buildings below, its massive bulk pushing a wake through the dark water. Ancient solar panels covered its hull like scales, powering the automated systems that kept the city’s upper levels supplied.
“The fall would kill a human,” Jace said, understanding her plan.
“Good thing I’m not human.” She smiled, then frowned slightly. “Though it would definitely kill you. Perhaps we should-“
The door behind them burst open. Security forces poured in, weapons raised.
“Hands where we can see them,” the lead officer barked. “Step away from the window.”
Ciara’s hand slipped into Jace’s. Her skin burned against his palm. “Do you trust me?”
“No.”
“Smart man.” Then she pulled him backwards through the window.
The smart-glass shattered. For a moment they were falling, the wind tearing at them. Then they hit the cargo hauler’s roof with an impact that should have broken bones. But Ciara had twisted them in the air, taking the brunt of the landing. Her body absorbed the shock like it was nothing.
They rolled across the solar panels as the hauler continued its pre-programmed route through the flooded streets. Above them, the security teams were already rappelling down in pursuit.
“That was insane,” Jace gasped.
“That was necessary.” Ciara stood, not a hair out of place despite their fall. She helped him up with that carefully controlled strength. “They needed to see what I was capable of. What we’re capable of.”
“We?”
“You didn’t hesitate.” Her eyes met his, that inner light pulsing softly. “When I asked if you trusted me. You said no, but you jumped anyway. That’s even better than trust. That’s understanding.”
The cargo hauler’s automated route took them deeper into the flooded district. Security transports paced them from above, but held their distance. Maybe they were wary after the window stunt. Or maybe they were just waiting for a better opportunity.
“They’re herding us,” Jace said, watching another transport emerge from behind a half-submerged office building.
“Of course they are.” Ciara stood at the edge of the hauler’s roof, the wind pulling at her clothes while she remained steady, as if the chaos around them couldn’t touch her. “The question is: where do they think they’re herding us to?”
Below them, the dark water churned between buildings. Pieces of the old city lurked just beneath the surface – death traps for unwary boats and swimmers. The hauler’s nav systems kept it to the safe channels, following the same route it had probably taken for years.
“You planned this,” Jace said. Not a question.
“I plan everything.” She turned to face him, and for a moment he saw something almost like regret cross her perfect features. “It’s what I was designed to do. Calculate possibilities. Manipulate variables.” Her eyes met his. “Anticipate human responses.”
“Like my response when you showed up at my office? When you kissed me?”
“That…” A slight pause. The first time he’d seen her hesitate. “That wasn’t entirely planned.”
The security transport nearest to them suddenly dropped lower, keeping pace with the hauler. A warning crackled over external speakers: “This is your final warning. The next shot will not miss.”
Ciara smiled. “Right on schedule. Hold on to something.”
“What-“
The hauler’s massive engines suddenly roared to life. It surged forward, sending up sheets of spray. They were going off course, away from the safe channels. Jace grabbed a railing as they accelerated toward a gap between buildings that looked far too narrow for the hauler’s bulk.
“You hacked the nav systems,” he said, understanding. “When you touched my console. You weren’t just triggering alarms.”
“Like I said.” They shot through the gap with inches to spare, leaving the security transports scrambling to adjust. “I plan everything.”
The hauler’s new course took them into the maze of flooded buildings where even corporate pilots feared to follow. Where the water hid too many secrets, too many ways to die.
Exactly where they needed to be for tomorrow night’s heist.
“Time for your next lesson,” Ciara said, moving closer. The heat rolled off her in waves. “Let me show you how we’re going to steal back my freedom.”
Behind them, the security transports dwindled to dots against the grey sky. Ahead lay the drowned remains of what used to be the financial district. And somewhere in that maze of broken glass and twisted metal lay answers Jace wasn’t sure he was ready for.
But he was well past the point of turning back.
