Fii ducked under a loose, low-hanging wire as she slipped through the maze of alleys leading to Tweak's hideout, the looming walls of the rundown structures boxing her in from all sides. The usual caution was necessary; many of these routes were ideal ambush spots, the tight ers little room for escape. Her feet navigated the broken crete pavement without a stumble, weaving around scattered debris and littering the area.

  The air smelled of burnt circuitry and cheap synth-fuel, tinged with a faint whiff of whatever was being cooked in the nearby vendor's stall, an oily, syia that stu the back of her throat. Overhead, the haphazard tangle of wires stretched and twisted, f an unsightly opy against the afternoon sky.

  The further she went from the Rust Market's cmor, the quieter it became, save for the soft hum of energy c through the overhead power lines, like an ever-present whisper in the background—a subtle reminder of the slums' dependen the electricity they had stolen and harnessed from the metropolis.

  Taking a right at the jun where a particurly dipidated building leaned ominously close to its neighbor, threatening to colpse into the narrow passage, she arrived at the back alley.

  Most of the faces Fii passed were familiar—the kids who always tried to grab a glimpse of Tweak w her tech, the elderly residents stooped on their porches, and the local dealer leaning zily against a wall, his eyes giving her a once-over as she moved by.

  Not everynized her. A few folks were out and about here and there, minding their own business or mingling in small groups, their versations dippiween murmurs and ughter.

  Tweak's hideout wasn't far, tucked away in the er of an abandoned s hub—a defunct building from the old times. It ce the rest of the slum-dwellers avoided, its purpose lost to most but not to Tweak. The girl had tur into her personal sanctuary and workshop, making sure few knew where to find her, and that made it the perfect rendezvous point.

  The entry was easily missed, thanks to the facade of graffiti-covered bricks. Those who knew, knew where to look.

  Croug down in front of the bricked-up portion of the wall, Fii discreetly double-tapped a brick two rows from the base and three over, the cealed identification button sing her fingerprint. It beeped softly.

  She gnced up. From her perspective, she could spot the almost perfectly hidden camera watg her.

  Staring straight at the lens, she spoke, "I need a sult with the hairdresser."

  A grating noise followed, and part of the wall slid away, revealing a passageway into the building. Dug through the low opening, she entered a dark hallway that stretched ahead, lit only by dim, flickering bulbs strung along the ceiling.

  As soon as she was ihe wall closed behind her, and the hum of electricity faded ba. The air was heavy with dust and the lingering st of fried eleics. Rust stains marked the walls, and a patina of grime covered every surface. Wires hung from the ceiling, trailing down like vines, and the floor was a cluttered mess of disused chairs, boxes, and scattered tools.

  She dodged and weaved her way through the obstrus towards the heart of the hub.

  This area had seeer days, no doubt, but no worse than any of the decrepit shacks lining the surrounding streets. It was a marvel it still funed. Yet, she wouldn't put it past Tweak to have sged up parts from all sorts of sources and spliced them together, getting just enough to keep the hub up and running, eve looked more likely to colpse from a shan stand the test of time.

  Deeper ihe hideout, Fii reached a door beled "trol Room." Pushing it open, she stepped into the makeshift studio Tweak had dubbed her ir—a chaotic mash-up of sleek aro. From the doorway, Fii could hear the rapid-fire taps of fingers on keys mingling with the hushed hum of high-performanputer fans.

  Tweak herself was in her usual spot, perched on a swiveling chair that looked like it had been salvaged from a hundred different pces. One leg was shorter thahers, causing it to wobble ever so slightly as she leaned back, her legs casually propped up on a beaten-up sole. Her hood ushed dowing her shock of dark red hair spill out, c up most of her cyberic eye.

  One arm, covered in intricate tattoos, busied itself at the keyboard, while the other exteowards a half-empty of neon green 'buzz.'

  When Fii approached, Tweak aowledged her with a nod and a wicked grin, but her fingers never ceased their frantice, tapping out ands that could either be crag into some corporate database or just posting a piece of doge on a forum, Fii couldn't tell.

  On the holographic dispy o her, an eclectic array of images flitted past: street maps, weather reports, intercepted messages, and satellite imagery of the slums. It seemed like she was monit everything, everywhere.

  "You know, I bet your mom called you a chameleon," Fii quipped, a pyful grin spreading across her face as she surveyed the chaotic mash of decorations around the ir.

  "That's putting it mildly." Tweak let out a ugh. "A walking talking diary maybe, but probably more the kinda girl a normal kid would get nightmares from."

  "Being 'normal' is overrated," Fii replied, a chuckle esg her.

  Tweak stretched, the buzz in her hand giving off a pyful, fizzy sound. "Took you long enough," she said with a slightly raspy tohought something held you up for a minute."

  "Well, you know the rust market: full of fun folks."

  "Mm-hmm, your idea of fun is pretty ed." She winked. "Not judging, though." Tweak ughed, taking a sip of her drink. The way the glow of the s pyed against her sharp features gave her an impish look. But Fii khere was more to her than that deceptively cute face. Underh all the bravado, Tweak was smart, ing, and had a knaaking things happen, whatever they may be.

  They settled into a fortable rhythm, and the versation flowed. They caught up, delving into the mundane and the not-so-mundane, paring notes on their respective gigs, sing stories about the ups and downs of slum life. Throughout their chat, Tweak kept w, her hands flitting over the keyboard as she typed, occasionally pausing to take another swig from her neon of 'Buzz.'

  "So what was so important? Not every day I get to see you this time of the afternoon." Tweak raised an eyebrow, curiosity lighting her face. "A girl needs her beauty sleep."

  "Um..." Fii hesitated. "I was with the Zippers... they got hit."

  That grabbed Tweak's attentioyping halted and her posture shifted, leaning forward in her chair with an intense gaze. Her heteroatic eyes—one green, one a sharp violet from the cyberic impnt—zeroed in on Fii, seeming to read her even before the words could leave her mouth. "No shit, seriously?"

  "Mid Luxy's crates were hijacked off the Wire by a Zipper they've never seen before. The guy was flying across the lines like a freakin' spider monkey on nitro. Had a bunch of drohat flew up and almost fried me." Fii still felt a twinge of irritation when recalling her brief moment of helplessness. It wasn't a feeling she was used to—or liked.

  "Sounds like a hell of a night." Tweak sat back, looking thoughtful. "Never seen before? They snatything good?"

  "Nah, just older puter parts. Thing is, they didn't fsh any gang colors ns. Mid Luxy were pletely thrown off." Fii couldn't shake the thought that there might be more to the attack. After all, if someoo all the trouble of ung an intricate operation, stealing tech without any obvious indication of their affiliation, they were either being deliberately obtuse or had a purpose other thay theft.

  Fii grunted in agreement. "I'd put nothing past those turds."

  Tweak's smile faltered slightly, a glint of flickering across her face before she masked it with a nont shrug. "Well, if it's any sotioing shocked mid-air sounds like an epic way to lose a fight. Not many say that."

  "Wouldn't be my first choice of losing battle strategies." Fii ran her hands through her white hair, pulling out a few pieces of gravel she hadn't been able to dislodge earlier.

  "Well, in your case, it's not much of a strategy at all."

  Fii poked her to at Tweak and blew a raspberry.

  "I mean, think about it. Someone came at you with some seriously slick moves, and all you had was like, 'I trol gravity... oh wait, maybe not,' and then spt!" Tped her hands together, mimig a collision. Her ugh was a little too lively. "Falling from that height is a real game-over, you know?"

  "You know I'm tough to break." Fii held her hands up in mock defeat. "And you're a great fort."

  Tweak rolled her eyes. "Please, at least pretend to care. Who else will bring the rousing speeches after such riveting heroics? You're lucky to have me. There should be statues made to orate this level of friendship."

  "Sure," Fii quipped back. "Your sparkling personality 't be undervalued."

  "Anyway, tell me more about these high-tech party crashers. You sure they were just Zippers?"

  "I'm not sure of anything," Fii admitted. "That's why I'm here."

  "And here I thought you loved basking in my radiance."

  The er of Fii's mouth twisted into a half-smile. "Not your wuess."

  Pushing back from her setup, Tweak let her chair spin zily in pce before swiveling around. "You wao dig?"

  Fii nodded. "If anyone figure this out, it's you."

  "Aw, babe, you know I always got your back, but—" she hopped up from her chair and sauntered over to a dingy, old-fashioned coffee mae. Grabbing the pot, she poured the dark brew into a mug that looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks. Taking a slow sip, Tweak tinued, "—it's been a bit crazy arouely."

  "Crazier than flying droasing someone off a zip-line?"

  Tweak leaned against the table, swirling the coffee in her mug. "Tell me about it. Haven't had a det night's sleep in... who knows?"

  Fii looked at the bank of flickering ss dispying various lines of code and system processes.

  "New gig?" she asked. It would make sehat Tweak was juggling multiple projects, given her skill set and her pent for urning down a challeill, her ck of rest was w.

  "ly." She poiowards one of the ss showing a rapid cascade of characters. "Remember that server job a while back?"

  "Whie?"

  "The one you called a dumpster fire." Tweak's gaze remained fixed on her s, her cyberic eye glowing softly in the dim light. "Turns out, whoever's behind that shit has some serious muscle bag them. Been trying to keep a few steps ahead in this cat-and-mouse game ever since."

  "Wait... They're still on you?"

  "You know me," she scoffed, a hint of pride in her voice, "too slippery to pin down."

  "Seriously though, what's going on? Since when do simple jobs go that sideways?"

  Tweak hesitated before answering, a brief flicker of unease crossing her face. "To be ho, I'm not sure. This thing's got more tentacles than a freakin' octopus. Thought I'd untahe st of it, but here they are again."

  "You o get clear. Lay low for a bit, maybe?" Fii's expression was clouded with worry.

  She kweak was stubborn, always the first to jump into something and the st to admit any sign of struggle. But Fii also khat sometimes a step back was necessary for self-preservation. From what she remembered about that job, it was a mess from the start—a far cry from the straightforward corporate data-scraping gig it had promised to be.

  "Ugh, don't give me that look," Tweak admonished, swatting Fii's arm. "It's under trol. Probably. Just haven't seen anyone e at a hack like this before, all fshy and overblown. It's like they want to prove a point."

  She put her mug down, stretg her arms out in an exaggerated yawn. Her back gave a small pop. "There's a reason I stick to the tech side of things. Might not be as cool as swinging around on zip lines, but at least it keeps my problems at arm's length. And by arm length, I mean safely behind multiple firewalls and encrypted servers."

  "I swear yoing to worry me to an early grave," Fii teased gently. "But... is there anything I do to help?"

  Tohe question, her cyberic eye seemed to whirr slightly as if it was actively part of her thought process.

  "I'll let you know." She reached back to tie her hair up in a messy bun, the movement exposing a tattoo on the nape of her neck—a small, delicate depi of a blue dragon winding through clouds. "Maybe swing by tomorrow? Give me time to sort this stuff out a bit."

  Fii nodded. "I do that. Just... stay safe, okay? No sudden adventures oing dark on me."

  "Who's the one who fell out of the air?" Tweak threw her a wink. "We're the worst at taking our own advice."

  "Low blow," Fii retorted with a pyful pun Tweak's shoulder.

  "Try not to get zapped again. It'd break my heart if my best friend fried her brains out. After all, who else would put up with me?" The jest in her voice was clear, but there was an undercurrent of genuine . This was Tweak's way—hiding her affe beh a snarky exterior.

  "Now you're breaking my heart. I feel the love," Fii quipped.

  "What I say? I'm a regur old softie." She mimicked wiping a tear from her cheek, a twinkle in her eye.

  "Yeah, a big ol' teddy bear." Fii chuckled, taking o look at the s where the code scrolled, w what kind of tech behemoth could make Tweak nervous. It had to be some heavy hitters. "Okay, see you tomorrow. Promise me you'll cate actual sleep?"

  "Only if you promise not to plummet from the sky like a rock again." Tatted her own rear end. "Take care of those assets, babe!"

  "You know it," Fii replied with a smile and a light-hearted salute. "Rest easy, ya crazy data-jockey."