Neonspire's skyline blazed with neon, a city that never slept but always schemed. At St. Vayne's Academy festival, the air buzzed with fried food smells, screaming kids, and the clink of coins from rigged games. Jace Vorne, 17 and the king of slacking, leaned against a dunk tank, chewing a stolen corndog. His hoodie was two sizes too big, his grin too lazy, and his eyes too sharp for anyone to notice. To the world, he was a nobody. To himself, he was a genius playing dumb.
Beside him, Milo "Glitch" Chen fiddled with a cracked phone, muttering about firewalls.
"Jace, this is a bad idea," Milo whined, pushing up his glasses. "Rex Torva's gonna kill us."
"Relax, Glitch," Jace said, yawning. "You're the tech wizard. I'm just the guy with the plan."
And what a plan it was. Milo had been suckered into a betting scam by Rex, a senior bully with a neck tattoo and a uncle in the Seven Lords. Rex's app promised big wins but drained Milo's savings. Jace, who'd been dodging Rex's crew since freshman year, saw a chance to turn the tables—and make a quick buck.
The plan was simple: Milo hacked Rex's betting app to reverse the scam, funneling cash back to Milo and a cut to Jace's account (for his mom's medical bills, not that he'd admit it). Jace's job was to keep Rex distracted with his slacker charm. No tech skills needed—just pure manipulation, honed in Neonspire's slums and backed by Muay Thai lessons from Uncle Tao, an ex-gangster with a mean elbow strike.
At the festival's gambling booth, Rex was tapping his phone like a trained ape, betting on a digital slot machine. "This app's gold, Vorne," he bragged. "You're missing out."
Jace shrugged, scratching his neck. "Sounds like work. I'm allergic." Inside, he was counting seconds. Milo's hack was live, draining Rex's account. The kid was a genius with code, but he froze under pressure. That's why Jace was here, playing lookout and muscle.
Then it all went sideways.
Milo's phone beeped, and a weird icon flashed: a pulsing key labeled "Pulse Key." The festival's speakers screeched, lights flickered, and every slot machine in the booth spat out coins. The crowd cheered, thinking it was a jackpot. Rex's face turned purple. "What the hell, Chen? You mess with my app?"
Milo stammered, "I-I didn't do that!" Jace stepped in, all clumsy charm. "Whoa, Rex, maybe it's just bad luck?" But his gut twisted. That Pulse Key icon wasn't Milo's code. It was something else—something big.
Two goons in leather jackets pushed through the crowd. One had a scar across his cheek, the other a stun baton sparking blue. "Hey, you two!" Scarface growled. "You took something that belongs to the Fox."
Jace's heart skipped. The Fox? As in Varys, the 7th Lord? How did a high school con rope in Neonspire's top tech-crime boss? "Uh, wrong guys," Jace said, tripping over a cable for show. "We're just here for the corndogs."
Scarface wasn't buying it. He lunged, and Jace's slacker act dropped. Years of Muay Thai kicked in. He sidestepped, landing a crisp elbow to Scarface's jaw, sending him crashing into a cotton candy stand. Baton Guy swung, but Jace ducked, grabbing a tray of soda cans and chucking them. Sticky cola sprayed everywhere, slowing the goon down.
"Run, Glitch!" Jace yelled. Milo bolted, clutching his phone. Jace followed, weaving through festival chaos as the Pulse Key icon glowed brighter. The festival's jumbotron flickered, blasting a random ad for cat food across the school. Milo yelped, "The Key's hacking everything! I didn't program that!"
They ducked into an alley, panting. Jace's mind raced. The Pulse Key wasn't just a glitch—it was a device worth killing for. His phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: "Jace Vorne. You and your friend have my attention. Fox's Den, midnight. Don't be late.
—Varys."
Jace swore. The 7th Lord knew his name. Worse, he knew Jace wasn't just a slacker. The alley gate rattled—Scarface and Baton Guy were closing in, and the Pulse Key was still glitching, setting off car alarms nearby.
"Great plan, Jace," Milo groaned.
"Shut up and run," Jace shot back, grinning despite the danger. He'd outsmarted bigger fish than this. But the Fox? That was a whole new game.