Rin had filmed a lot of lies.
This one was almost elegant.
"…a routine update to the city's predictive safety systems," the woman on the public feed said, smiling like she wasn't announcing a new way to hunt people. "The Framework Arcus will help us better identify risks before they harm our citizens. No action is required from compliant residents, simply accept the revised deviance consent on your bands when prompted."
The prompt pinged Rin's wrist as if on cue.
*UPDATE AVAILABLE: DEVIANCE RISK METRICS.*
*ACCEPT / REVIEW / REPORT ERROR.*
She hit **Error** on instinct.
The screen froze for a second, then blinked back to **Accept**.
Of course.
"Subtle," she muttered.
She killed the feed and let the safe room reappear.
Stone walls.
Map with Tal's veins.
Notebook with names.
Aiden pacing a short line between the crate-desk and the chalked wall like a trapped algorithm.
