The moment the BoostMemory Card finished syncing with his neural jack, Kai felt the world tilt.
The Grid's neon lights sharpened, every droplet of rain refracting into a perfect prism. He could hear the static hiss of the streetlamps above him, the faint scrape of metal on metal as Echo shifted his stance.
A clean card. Pre-audit. Whoever had lived this memory had bottled their best day and cut away every trace of imperfection. The warmth of the sun wasn't imagined — it was remembered. And now it was his.
Echo's eyes narrowed. "Boost card," he said again, as if the words themselves were an accusation.
Kai smirked. "Don't act like you've never used one."
"Never in a fight." Echo's voice was deep, steady. "It makes you sloppy. Makes you think you're invincible."
"Guess we'll test that theory."
Echo moved first, and he didn't move like a man — he moved like a decision. One moment he was still, the next his cybernetic arm was coming at Kai in a brutal horizontal sweep.
Kai sidestepped, boots skidding on the rain-slick pavement. The arm missed by centimeters but the displaced air hit like a shove.
Fast, Kai thought. Faster than the armor made him look.
He countered immediately, flicking the extraction cable into his hand and snapping it forward like a whip. The tip arced blue as it struck for the side of Echo's head — the quickest way to breach surface memories.
The cable struck the invisible ripple of Memory Guard shielding and sparked violently. The CE drain hit Kai instantly — only two percent, but enough to feel.
"Nice try," Echo said, pivoting smoothly into a low kick aimed at Kai's legs.
Kai jumped back, landing in a crouch. "Guess I'll have to work for it."
He pushed the boost harder. The borrowed summer warmth in his veins urged him forward, making every movement flow. He darted in close, feinted high with the cable, then spun into a low disruptor strike at Echo's ribs.
Echo blocked with his cybernetic arm, the impact ringing like a hammer against steel. Then the arm shifted — panels sliding back to reveal a pulse emitter.
Pulse Emitter >> A compact tool that releases directed shockwaves of destabilizing neural energy, capable of scrambling short-range memory links and disorienting targets
Kai's HUD screamed -
PSYCHIC DISRUPTION INCOMING
- a second before the blast hit.
It wasn't physical. It was a memory, raw and unfiltered, forced into his head like a spike: falling from a skyscraper, the wind ripping past his ears, the ground rushing up —
He bit down hard, forced it out. CE dropped to 46%.
"You weaponize trauma," Kai said, shaking his head clear.
"You think guards only defend?" Echo replied. "We keep our worst moments for people like you."
Kai changed tactics. Straight force wouldn't work — not against someone whose shield adapted to every strike.
He slipped left, letting Echo close in, and triggered -
Memory Extraction – Fragment Pull.
Memory Extraction - Fragment Pull >> A precise technique that snatches small shards of memory — flashes, images, single emotions — without alerting the host
The cable shot out again, this time not for the head but for the cybernetic arm. It wouldn't hold memories, but it would hold CE from the neural links — and draining that would weaken the shield.
The tip made contact. Sparks flared, and for a half-second Kai felt the pulse of data flowing — but then Echo twisted, ripping the cable from his grip.
The older man's grin widened. "That all you've got?"
"Not even close."
Kai reached for the original shard in his coat. (He had it duplicated). Not to use it — he didn't know what the red pulse would do — but to bluff.
He let Echo see it, just for a heartbeat.
The reaction was instant. Echo's stance changed. More careful now. "That doesn't belong to you."
Kai smirked. "Then come take it."
They crashed together in a flurry of strikes — Kai weaving in with the disruptor, Echo blocking and countering with sweeping arcs of his arm. Rain blurred their outlines, the neon overhead casting them in fractured reds and blues.
Kai ducked under a high strike and triggered Memory Reading – Surface Thoughts.
Memory Reading – Surface Thoughts >> A basic scan that skims only recent or active thoughts, leaving deeper memories untouched
The technique was risky mid-fight — it required CE focus — but he needed insight.
For an instant, he caught flashes: a black-market deal gone wrong, a younger Echo pulling someone out of a burning building, the sound of corporate hunters calling his name.
Lower Tier origins, Kai noted. Not a full corp dog.
The moment broke when Echo's cybernetic fist slammed into his ribs. Pain flared hot and white — not enough to break him, but enough to remind him this wasn't a memory duel.
CE at 38%. Boost card or not, he couldn't outlast him like this.
Kai switched to
Memory Weaving – Combat Mirage
Memory Weaving - Combat Mirage >> An advanced application that braids false combat memories into a target's perception, tricking them into fighting illusions as if they were real
The rain shifted. For Echo, the street around them twisted into a wider plaza, with more room to move — and a second Kai appearing just behind him.
Echo reacted instantly, swinging his arm at the double — which dissolved into static as the real Kai drove the disruptor into his side.
The shield flared bright, then dimmed. Kai felt it — a gap.
He flicked the cable up, striking the base of Echo's neck. A memory fragment ripped free — not enough to harm, but enough to stagger.
Echo dropped to one knee, panting. "Not bad," he said.
Kai stepped back, cable still live. "I'll take that as a thank-you."
---
The siren of an incoming corp patrol cut through the rain. Both men froze, glancing toward the rising whine of grav-bikes.
"Another time," Echo said, standing.
Kai kept his weapon ready. "Why let me go?"
Echo's eyes were unreadable. "Because whatever's in that shard… MemoCorp wants it more than either of us. And I need to know why."
He stepped back, fading into the alley shadows as the patrol lights turned the corner. In two heartbeats, he was gone.
Kai holstered the disruptor, retracted the cable, and pulled his hood up against the rain.
His CE gauge sat at 21%, the boost card nearly burned out. The warmth of the borrowed summer day was fading, leaving only the cold wet of The Grid.
He glanced once at the red shard in his coat.
Whatever it was, it had just earned him a rival.
---