The wind was biting cold on top of the old power station tower. Concrete cracked beneath Elara's steps as she followed Ryker to the edge. The city lights looked like a dying pulse below them, flickering and slow. Her glasses fogged up from the breeze, and she wiped them with the cuff of her jacket, trying to focus.
"You dragged me up here for a reason," she muttered, not meeting his eyes. "Don't waste it."
Ryker leaned against the railing, his breath turning into smoke. "They bugged your place. All of it. Even your toothbrush, Elara."
She turned, suddenly alert. "Are you serious?"
He nodded, face unreadable. "Z-Tech's upgraded their tactics. No more direct force. Now it's psychological. They want to corner you mentally before they strike."
Elara's heart thudded not from fear, but from frustration. "I should've seen that coming. But I was too distracted. Too"
"Too human?" Ryker interrupted softly.
Silence fell between them. A heavy one. The kind that made time feel like it was holding its breath.
She sat down on a cold ledge, looking over the city. "You think being human is a weakness, Ryker?"
He hesitated before stepping closer. "No. I think it's why you're still fighting."
Their eyes locked for a second too long.
The moment was real. Heavy. Intimate. His hand brushed hers, but neither of them pulled back.
"I'm not just some genius in glasses, Ryker," she whispered. "I break too. But I fix myself. That's the difference."
"I know," he said, kneeling beside her. "That's what terrifies them."
Suddenly, a red flash blinked in the sky. A drone.
Elara didn't even flinch. "Let it come. Let them all come."
But Ryker pulled her up swiftly. "No. This isn't the place to make a stand."
As they ran down the winding metal staircase, her mind worked faster than her legs. Z-Tech had gone silent too long. That drone wasn't just watching. It was tagging.
They reached the alley behind the building. Elara scanned for movement, her brain decoding patterns in seconds.
"Ryker, split up," she said. "They want me alive. You… not so much."
He grabbed her wrist, stopping her. "Elara. Don't treat me like a side character in your equation."
"You're not," she said, voice low. "But you're not the target."
"Then why do I feel like I'm burning in the middle of your war?"
Elara stepped close. Too close. Her hand touched his chest, feeling the rapid heartbeat beneath.
"Because you are," she said. "You're my risk factor."
Then, she kissed him.
It wasn't soft.
It wasn't slow.
It was a kiss that felt like a fuse being lit.
Seconds later, she pulled back and whispered, "Now run."
Meanwhile, in Z-Tech's command bunker…
Dr. Voss stood before a giant screen showing live feeds of Elara's movements. He smiled without joy.
"She kissed him," he murmured.
"Sir?" the tech beside him asked, confused.
"Emotion is her glitch," Voss said. "And glitches can be hacked."
Back on the street, Elara ditched her jacket and ran into a crowd, disappearing like smoke. Her heart was loud, not from Ryker's kiss but from the truth it brought.
She was vulnerable now.
Not just to bullets.
But to love.
And love had a habit of leaving people exposed.
She ducked into an underground shelter she had programmed to open only for her biometrics. The room lit up as she entered, revealing a hidden arsenal and her next plan mapped on digital panels.
Z-Tech wanted to play games with her heart?
She'd beat them at it.
With her brain.
And this time, she wouldn't just outsmart them.
She'd break them.