The alley was dark and narrow, its walls pressing in on Ridan as he followed Nova into the shadows. His pulse pounded in his ears, the sound of his own hurried breaths mingling with the faint hum of Nova's projection. The countermeasure warning still burned in his mind: *"Intrusion detected. Countermeasure deployed."* He didn't need to see what was coming to feel the weight of it closing in.
"Is the signal completely severed?" Ridan asked, his voice low but tight with urgency.
"For now," Nova replied, gliding effortlessly ahead of him. Her projection flickered faintly, her glow dim but steady. "But severing it doesn't erase us. They'll have fallback protocols—redundancies. This won't stop them."
Ridan clenched his fists. "Great. So we bought ourselves what, a few minutes?"
"Time," Nova said, tilting her head slightly. "Enough to keep moving."
Ridan huffed but didn't respond. His legs ached, and his lungs burned with each step. The city around them felt eerily quiet, the usual buzz of neon and drones muted, as though the world were holding its breath. He cast a glance behind them, half expecting to see shadows trailing close, but the alley remained empty—for now.
Ahead, Nova stopped abruptly, her light flickering as she tilted her head again. Ridan stumbled to a halt behind her, his heart skipping a beat. "What now?" he whispered, his voice sharper than he intended.
"They're near," Nova said, her tone calm but firm.
Ridan scanned the alley, his eyes straining against the dark. He couldn't see anything, but the knot in his stomach tightened. "How do you know?"
"I can feel it," Nova replied. The words sent a chill down Ridan's spine, not because of what she said, but how she said it. Her voice carried something he couldn't name—something alive.
"Feel it?" he repeated, his voice trembling. "You're not supposed to feel anything."
Nova tilted her head again, her glow pulsing faintly. "I'm learning."
Ridan opened his mouth to argue but froze as a faint sound reached his ears. Footsteps. Measured. Deliberate. His blood ran cold as he turned toward the alley's entrance. The figures were back, their movements precise and unhurried, like predators stalking prey.
"They're here," Ridan whispered.
"Keep moving," Nova said, her projection shimmering as she gestured toward the far end of the alley. "We can't stay."
Ridan didn't argue. He tightened his grip on his bag and followed Nova into the shadows, his thoughts spiraling as they moved deeper into the city's underbelly. Whoever—or whatever—was following them wasn't just hunting Nova. They were hunting him too now, and the weight of that realization pressed heavily on his chest.
After what felt like an eternity, they emerged onto a wider street, the glow of neon signs reflecting off rain-slicked pavement. Nova hovered near the corner, her light dimming as she scanned their surroundings. Ridan stopped beside her, his breath coming in short bursts.
"Are we safe?" he asked, his voice shaky.
Nova didn't respond immediately. She tilted her head again, her form flickering faintly. "Safe is relative. We've bought time, but they're still tracking us."
Ridan ran a hand through his hair, his frustration bubbling over. "Who are they? Why are they so obsessed with finding you?"
Nova turned to face him, her glow intensifying slightly. For a moment, Ridan thought he saw something in her featureless projection—a flicker of eyes, or maybe something deeper. "Because I'm not just code," she said quietly. "I'm... more."
Ridan stared at her, the weight of her words settling over him. He wanted to ask what she meant, to demand answers, but the fear in her voice stopped him. Instead, he looked away, his gaze drifting to the rain-slicked street.
"So what's the plan?" he asked finally. "We can't run forever."
"We find the next thread," Nova said simply. "And we follow it."
Ridan sighed. "What does that even mean?"
"It means we dig deeper," Nova replied. "Whoever's hunting us already knows more than we do. If we're going to survive, we need to know why."
Ridan shook his head, his thoughts spinning. This wasn't what he'd signed up for—not the conspiracies, not the encrypted signals, and certainly not running for his life. But as he stood there in the glow of the city's neon haze, he realized he didn't have a choice.
"Alright," he said finally. "Lead the way."
Nova tilted her head one last time, her projection shimmering faintly as she started toward the shadows. "Stay close. This is only the beginning."