Lucy shook her head. "Not like a king. A king's weak—you knock it over, game's done. Root isn't like that. It's the frame holding everything up. Even if you cut the other nodes, it still runs. But if you cut Root, the whole thing falls apart."
V loaded her mag with a click. "So the nodes are nerves. Root's the spine."
"Close," Lucy said. "And it's not even hiding anymore. Every hinge I've hit had its signature. That's on purpose. It wants me to see it."
V tapped her boots against the dash. "Creepy. Like it's watching us back."
"It is," Lucy said quietly.
Max drove, calm as ever. The rain blurred the neon city into long streaks across the glass. "Good. If it's watching, it'll leave us a door. Systems like that don't hide from hunters—they wait to be found."
Mary's voice came from the dash, smooth and clear. "Node One shows unusual traffic. More than its location suggests. It's tied to the canal floodgates under the exchange. Highly likely it's a hinge. Possibly close to Root."
Lucy frowned. "That place is locked by old disaster failsafes. Trip an alarm and the whole flood grid locks. You'd drown half the blocks downstream."
"Then we don't trip alarms," Max said, steady.
V gave a dry laugh. "Easy to say. Screw up, and the whole city swims."
Lucy's tone was sharper. "No. The city drowns if we don't."
For a while, the van was quiet except for the rain. Neon signs and half-dead billboards flickered as they drove past.
Finally, Lucy closed her deck. She looked tired, but her eyes were sharp, lit by the checksum still echoing in her feed. "If Node One's a hinge, Root will be close. We cut it right, we don't just wound the system—we force Root to show itself."
V leaned back, a grin on her face. "And when it does?"
Max guided the van onto the high road, voice even. "We take it apart."
The city stretched below them, glowing wet and broken. Somewhere under the concrete, the next hinge pulsed, waiting.
And then the van door slid open. Jackie climbed in, shaking off the rain, chrome gleaming where new Kerenzikov wiring traced under his skin. He dropped heavy into the seat with a grin that didn't reach his eyes.
"Miss me?" he asked.
V smirked. "About time, cabrón. Thought you were gonna nap through the end of the world."
"Had to heal up," Jackie shrugged. "Doc said my nerves needed syncing. But I'm good now. Better than good." He flexed, servo joints clicking faintly. "Whatever's next—you got me in."
Max glanced at him once, calm, steady. "Then stay sharp. We cut a hinge tonight."
Jackie grinned wider. "Choom, I didn't come back to sit in the van."
The rain drummed harder, the city whispering with neon and static. Their crew was whole again—and the hunt for Root had just grown teeth.
The van rolled on, engine humming low, rain rattling like loose shells on the roof. Nobody spoke for a long minute, the silence thick with the weight of what was coming.
Lucy's fingers drummed once against her deck before she finally broke it. "Node One isn't just locked down. It's layered. Biometric protocols, thermal sensors, active ICE running constant loops. Whoever set it, they expected someone to try and cut it."
Jackie smirked, leaning forward between the seats. "Good thing they didn't expect us." He tapped his temple, where a faint glow bled through the chrome under his skin. "Kerenzikov's smooth. My reflexes hit before my brain even thinks about it now. If their defenses are physical, I'll keep 'em off your back."
V tilted her head, the neon outside streaking across her shades. "And if they're digital?"
Lucy gave her a flat look. "Then don't get shot while I handle it."
Mary's voice chimed again, calm but carrying a weight that made the cabin feel colder. "Warning. Grid analysis suggests Node One is not isolated. Cutting it will trigger a cascade—power redirection, signal rerouting. If Root is watching, it will not sit idle."
Max adjusted his grip on the wheel. His eyes reflected the passing signs like a predator tracking motion in the dark. "Good. Let it move. We want it to show its hand."
Jackie chuckled, but there was tension in the sound. "Careful what you wish for, choom. Things like Root… you don't poke 'em unless you're ready for the bite."
V stretched, cracking her neck. "And we're ready. Been ready. Whole city's rotting under its grip while corpos fatten on the scraps. If Root's the spine, I say we snap it."
Lucy stared at the rain running down her window, voice low. "You don't snap something like this. You excise it. Slow, clean, surgical."
Max's voice cut through, steady as ever. "No. We cut once, deep, and don't give it time to heal."
The van slowed as they hit the industrial district. Towers of rusted steel and flickering floodlights loomed, canals yawning like black scars between them. The air smelled of wet iron and old oil.
Mary's voice dropped lower, as though it too felt the weight of the place. "Destination reached. Floodgate control beneath the central exchange. Entry point: submerged access tunnel. Caution. Movement detected."
Max killed the lights, rolling the van into shadow. They sat for a moment, watching through the windshield as mechanical silhouettes moved in the rain—Militech drones patrolling the floodgate perimeter.
Jackie grinned, flexing his chrome fingers, servo-motors whining faintly. "Well, looks like Root didn't waste time. Sending out toys already."
V pulled her pistol, checking the mag with a sharp click. "Then we give it a show."
Max finally turned to them, eyes glowing faint in the dark. "No wasted fire. No alarms. In and out. We cut the hinge before Root knows what we're carving."
Jackie smirked, rolling his shoulders. "Choom, Root already knows. But it ain't ready for me."
The rain hammered harder, masking the sound of steel feet in the distance.
***
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It's 22 chaps ahead