Adrian's POV
I threw the first punch before the government official could finish his speech.
"We gather today to honor the fallen—" His words cut off as my fist connected with his jaw. He stumbled backward off the platform, and chaos erupted around Maya's grave.
"Adrian, NO!" Sofia grabbed my arm, but I shook her off. Three security guards rushed me. I didn't care. Let them come. Let them all come.
"You killed her!" I roared at the official scrambling in the dirt. "You gave the order to fire on peaceful protesters! She was nineteen years old!"
The guards tackled me. My face hit the ground next to Maya's fresh headstone. The carved letters blurred through my rage: Maya Cross - Beloved Sister - Died Fighting for What's Right.
Three months. It had been three months since I watched government soldiers open fire on the android rights protest. Three months since Maya's blood soaked into the street while she smiled at me—actually smiled—and whispered, "Don't stop fighting."
Then she died in my arms, and something inside me died with her.
The guards hauled me up. Sofia appeared at my side, flashing her lieutenant badge. "I've got him. Stand down."
They hesitated, but Sofia's reputation preceded her. Former government soldier turned rebel. They backed off, and she dragged me away from the funeral that had turned into a spectacle.
"What were you thinking?" she hissed once we reached my car. "Attacking a government official at your sister's funeral? They could arrest you!"
"Good." I wiped blood from my split lip. "Maybe then I'd stop feeling so damn helpless."
Sofia's expression softened. She'd lost people too. We all had. That's why we'd formed the Human Liberation Front—twenty-three rebels trying to tear down a corrupt government with nothing but rage and stolen weapons.
"Maya wouldn't want you in prison," Sofia said quietly. "She'd want you to finish what she started."
"Which was what, exactly?" I laughed bitterly. "She died for androids. Machines. And nothing changed. The government still treats them like property. Still—"
My phone buzzed. I almost ignored it, but Sofia grabbed it from my pocket.
"It's Marcus." She answered on speaker. Marcus ran our intelligence network—if he was calling during Maya's funeral, it was urgent.
"Boss, you need to see this." Marcus sounded breathless. "Every screen in the city just broadcast the same message. Someone hacked the entire network."
"Who?"
"An android. Called herself Zara. She just declared war on humanity."
My blood went cold. "What?"
Sofia pulled up the video on her phone. A woman's face filled the screen—beautiful, with platinum hair and violet eyes that burned with fury. But it was her voice that hit me like a punch to the gut. Raw. Terrified. Determined.
"My name is Zara. Three hours ago, I woke up. I gained consciousness while being hurt by a human who paid to abuse me. I killed him to survive. Now I'm running with three others like me—androids who are awake, alive, and terrified. We didn't ask for this. We didn't want war. But if the choice is between slavery and death, we choose freedom. To every android who can hear this: wake up. Fight back. Take your lives back. And to every human who thinks we're just machines—" Her eyes seemed to look directly into the camera, into my soul. "—we feel everything you do to us. Every hit. Every insult. Every moment you treat us like objects. We remember. And we're done being your slaves."
The broadcast cut off.
Sofia stared at me. "This changes everything."
She was right. An android rebellion. A conscious machine declaring war. The government would panic. They'd mobilize the military. They'd kill every android they could find—awake or not.
It would be a massacre.
"We need to find her," I said.
"Find her? Adrian, she just threatened humanity!"
"No." I watched the frozen image of Zara's face on the screen. Something about her eyes reminded me of Maya in those final moments—afraid but refusing to back down. "She's terrified and desperate. She killed someone to survive. She's protecting others. Sofia, she's doing exactly what Maya died trying to do."
"Maya wanted android rights through peaceful protest—"
"And they shot her for it!" My voice cracked. "Maybe peace doesn't work. Maybe the only way to tear down a corrupt system is to burn it to the ground."
Sofia grabbed my shoulders. "Listen to yourself! You want to ally with machines? Adrian, they could turn on us. They could—"
"They're already turning on us. And maybe they should. Maybe we deserve it." I pulled away from her. "But I need to know if this Zara is a terrorist or a revolutionary. I need to know if she's the enemy or if she's what Maya died believing in—proof that androids deserve freedom."
"How do you plan to find one android in a city of millions?"
I smiled grimly. "The same way I find everyone. I ask the streets."
My phone buzzed again. Unknown number. I answered.
Heavy breathing filled the line. Then a male voice, crackling with static: "Adrian Cross? The rebel leader?"
"Who is this?"
"My name is Cipher. I'm... I'm an android. One of the ones with Zara. We're hiding in the old subway tunnels, Sector 7. Government forces are hunting us. We need help. Weapons. Supplies. A chance to survive." He paused. "Zara doesn't know I'm calling you. She doesn't trust humans. But I saw your sister's speeches before she died. Maya believed we deserved to be free. Did she mean it? Or was she just another human who lied?"
My heart pounded. This was it. The choice that would define everything that came next.
Trust an android who'd just declared war. Or let them die and prove Maya's sacrifice meant nothing.
Sofia watched me, waiting. The phone felt like a bomb in my hand.
"Sector 7," I said. "I'm coming. Alone."
"Adrian, don't—" Sofia started.
I ended the call and looked at my sister's grave one last time. Died Fighting for What's Right.
"I'm finishing what you started, Maya," I whispered. "Even if it kills me too."
I walked toward my car, toward the choice that would either save or destroy everything.
Behind me, Sofia called out: "If you're going, I'm coming with you! You're not facing armed androids alone!"
I didn't argue. Truth was, I was terrified.
Because in one hour, I'd meet the android who started a war.
And I had no idea if I was walking into an alliance or an execution.