The day, Fii returo Tweak's hideout. As she pushed her way through the cealed entrance, her senses were immediately assaulted by the heavy odor of burnt wires and overheated pstic, a far cry from the typical mustiness of the pce. This wasn't a good sign. Tweak usually kept a retively orderly chaos in her personal sanctuary—the smell hi things getting out of hand.

  Tweak was croug under her primary sole, surrounded by a tangled mass of cables and tools. Her sleeves were rolled up, dispying the vibrant hues of her tattoos that covered her arms in a living mural. When she heard Fii enter, her face peeked out from beh the desk, strands of dark red hair esg from her loose bun.

  A radiant smile of wele briefly appeared, but it was quickly clouded by something that seemed a lot like —or even fear. Firl as audacious as Tweak, any sign of fear meant trouble with a capital 'T.'

  Fii felt a tinge of worry. "Bad time?"

  "No, it's never a bad time for you, babe." Tweak brushed her hair back, exhaling a sigh ced with a blend of amusement and frustration. "Was chasing down a ghost in the system when the damn thing decided to nuke one of my hard drives. Smoke and sparks galore. Been trying to resurrect it, but the tech gods aren't on my side today, it seems."

  Fii stepped closer, taking in the disarray around them. Wires and pos were scattered haphazardly, evidence of a frantic, focused effort. In the midst of it all, Tpeared more harried than usual. Her hands were slightly smudged from her attempts to recover whatever was lost.

  "So," Fii began, approag her. "This is about yesterday's thing?"

  "Partially," Tweak replied with a weary sigh. "Gimme a minute. I'll update you." She waved her hand dismissively at the wires and ectors near her. "Just o disect this pile of junk."

  While waiting, Fii did her best to tidy up some of the mess. Cables were coiled a aside ly, tools were collected, and a few empty energy drink s found their way into the overflowing trash bin.

  When Tweak emerged fully from beh her table, she was carrying a small bck box, its exterior scorched and damaged. Fii, trying to be as helpful as possible, took it from her. It weighed more than she expected, with an ominous heat still emanating from within. An odor of melted eleics wafted out.

  "Could you put that on the spare desk?" Tweak asked, nodding towards a small desk at the back of the room, buried beh piles of eleik. "I o make space."

  Fii carefully carried the burned-out drive over. The area was littered with a medley of tools and dismaech that spoke volumes about the frantic hours Tweak must have spent trying to recover whatever precious data had been lost. Clearing a space among the clutter, she set down the charred remains, dusting off her hands afterward.

  As she turned, her gaze fell upon Tweak, who was still engrossed in her work. The hacker's back was turo her, her fingers moving quickly across the keyboard. Even from where she stood, Fii could dis the tension in Tweak's movements, the speed that was a little too frantic to be her usual. Something had unnerved her deeply, but Fii knew better than to pry.

  Finally, the ctter of keys subsided. Tweak turo face her, a tight smile on her lips that didn't quite reach her eyes.

  "Sorry, I'd usually say something witty," Tweak began, "but my charm reserves are running a bit low at the moment." She moved to grab a bottle of water from a mini fridge tucked away in the er and chugged half of it in one go before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Let's just say these st few hours have been no piic."

  Fii eyed Tweak, the barely hidden exhaustion in the slope of her shoulders and the furrow of her brow. Dark smudges sat under her eyes, stark against her pale skin. She had likely pushed herself long past the point of fort. The urge to berate her for not takier care of herself rose in Fii's throat, but she swallowed it back.

  "Sounds like you've got a lot on your pte with whatever that mess is," Fii replied. She crossed the room to per the edge of Tweak's cluttered desk. "Talk to me, Tweak. What's going on?"

  With a sigh, Tweak slumped bato her chair, running her hands through her dark red hair as if trying to brush away the stress. "That server job I mentioned before? Turns out it was a trap, a ho to get someoh my skill set. And... they did." The st words were barely audible. "Fell right into it."

  "They baited you?" Fii's shock arent. She kweak was too smart to be baited, which made the euation seem all the more absurd.

  "Yeah. Bastards used tech we would typically use as bait to lure some lower-tier Wirehead. Except... they weren't after a low-tier, or even mid, for that matter. They wanted someone like me."

  Tweak drummed her fingers on the desk, a nervous tic that betrayed her ay. She tinued, "They've been pying a game of virtual tag with me ever since, esg every time I think I've ditched them. When you came by yesterday, it was more of the same—trying to shrough my firewalls, feigning attacks, probing for weaknesses."

  She gestured towards the damaged drive. "That's what that mess is all about. They slipped something nasty in and fried one of my babies while I reoccupied elsewhere."

  "Someone who keep pace with you?" Fii's brow arched in disbelief. "They'd have to be a serious Wirehead—maybe even Corp-level."

  Tweak smirked humorlessly. "Thanks for the implied pliment. But yeah, that's the rub. This is way above average. I don't think they're corporate, though. More like a well-funded and persistent annoyance."

  "So you have an idea who's behind this?"

  Tweak rubbed her face with both hands, her voice muffled through her palms. "A gang calling themselves Circuit Breakers. Some of their trademarks in the code have popped up. Tech-tric, have a pent for ruining a girl's day, and, unfortunately, are pretty good at their job."

  "Circuit Breakers?" Fii tried to remember if she had e across that name before. Tweak ofte with all sorts of tech-savvy groups. But no, that was a new one. "New rivals?"

  "That'd be a fun spin, wouldn't it? Nah." Tweak gave a wry chuckle. "They've been around. Just never been this..." She trailed off, searg for the right words.

  "Insistent?"

  "Pestilent," Tweak corrected, an edge to her voice. "My best bet? They're either after something I have—which, holy, could be anything, givea trove I'm sitting on—or they're trying to recruit me. Forcefully."

  Fii paused. "her of those is great, Tweak."

  "Oh, absolutely not. It's just peachy." Sarcasm dripped from her tone. She slouched ba her chair, eyes fluttering briefly closed. "But don't worry your pretty little head. The only thing they're recruiting is trouble."

  "Wao go over there and deal with them?" Fii offered. She gestured a fist pung. "Ya knh them up or something?"

  Tweak's expression was a blend of surprise and amusement. "Are you serious? What, you gonna go all superhero and start smashing down doors? Aren't you supposed to be the pirl for slum justice? Wasn't expeg that kinda attitude from you."

  "It's not like that." Fii ran a hand through her hair. "But... I don't like the idea of someone harassing you. And you look—well, stressed. It's not often I see you like this, ya know?"

  "The Great and Powerful Tweak, quered by a few lines of malicious code?" Her ughter had a biting quality to it. "Guess my reputation eat it. But seriously, I think it's pretty sweet that you're so ready to pound faces for me. Kinda toug, really. Still, try not to burn those white capes just yet, huh?"

  A tense sileretched out, Fii mulling over their predit. Her mind wandered back to the ret attack she had endured on The Wires.

  "Tweak..." Fii hesitated. "The ht, the whole... zip-line i... think it could be reted?"

  For a moment, Tweak didn't respond, but the flicker in her cyberic eye gave her thoughts away.

  She leaned back, letting out a soft whistle. "ce be a real bi... witch. Hard to say. Then again, not all that hard. Circuit Breakers have access to some fancy tech. And, the way you described that little ambush—the tevolved—well, doesn't sound too far off from their game. Ambushes aren't typically their thing, but who knows?"

  "I'm grasping at straws here," Fii admitted, her tone lighter despite the lingering in her eyes. "You know me. I always see es where there aren't any."

  Tweak chuckled lightly, lifting a hand in mock surrender. "Alright, alright. Let's see what I dig up on those chumps. At least it gives us somewhere to start."

  "I thought your hard drive was burned?" Fii pointed out.

  "Please." Tweak fshed a fident grin. "I've got more where that came from. Redundancy is my middle name. Now, shush ahe genius work." Tweak swiveled around to face the monitain, her fingers already flying across the keyboard with renewed energy.

  Fii, having resigned herself to the role of observer for now, leaned against the wall, watg as streams of code reflected in Tweak's eyes.

  "Tweak?" she murmured, as the hacker tinued her rapid-fire typing. "Promise me something?"

  "What's that?" Tweak replied without turning around, her foot wavering from her s.

  "Be careful. I don't want you getting into something you 't get out of. This isn't our usual game."

  Tweak scoffed, a touch of her typical humor g her response. "You don't get to where I am by not taking risks. But for you, fine, I promise. Happy?"

  "Very. If you 't out-think a drive-frying virus, who ?"

  "Now you sound like Quinn." Tweak shot her a warning look. "And quit looming over there. Drag a stool or something. I feel your anxious eyes b into my back, and it's really putting a cramp on my style. Anyway, give me all the details you remember about the guys who attacked you. It might help narrow my search."

  Fii provided a detailed at of the assault. As she spoke, Tweak's s lit up with a dizzying dispy of information. Images and ss of data flickered and vanished in a dance orchestrated by her deft keystrokes.

  As the information poured in, Fii moved over to the cluttered workbend snagged a battered office chair, wheeling it over to join Tweak. She plopped down into the seat, and the chair gave a mournful squeak, sagging noticeably under her weight.

  A stream of teical jargon poured from Tweak's lips, mixing with Fii's own description of her enter.

  "Oh! This is iing." Tweak's eyebrows shot up in a sudden dispy of i.

  Fii leaned forward, squinting at the dispy. "What'd you find?"

  "Some fresh faces popped up a few days before the ambush." She poi a list on the monitor. "They didn't mingle much with other Zippers, but they're new enough to raise an eyebrow."

  "Few days before, huh? 't be a ce," Fii agreed, scratg her cheek.

  "Probably not, no." Tulled up their profiles, revealing a group h-looking individuals, all appearing to be ie teens or early twenties, dressed in outfits that seemed pieced together from bits of what you'd see on typical Wireheads. "See their gear? Totally fits what you saw."

  "Yup, I remember that tech-garbage aesthetic," Fii muttered, narrowing her eyes at the picture. "Where'd they e from?"

  "That's the thing..." Tweak leaned in, her face illuminated by the flickering monitors. "Best I tell, they're not from anywhere. I got access to the list of vetted Zippers and these guys, they're not on it."

  "That doesn't make sense," Fii stated, puzzled. "You gotta be vetted to work as a Zipper, right?"

  "Yeah, it's not an easy process either." Tweak cracked her ned shifted in her chair. "Their rep has to be rock solid to eve in line."

  "Maybe they went off the radar after getting bcklisted?" Fii wondered out loud.

  "Doubtful. That would mean they already blew their shot, and the Zipper code is pretty strict. Orike and you're out, no sed ces." Tweak made a throat-cuttiure. "Doesn't matter how slick their tech is if no one wants to deal with them. Being reliable is half the deal, and that's not something you build up ht."

  Fii mulled that over. "Hmm, so then how'd they know about the parts shipment? They 't be pletely detached if they got that intel."

  Tweak tapped the side of her nose. "Spot on. It's not the type of info that flows freely. These guys have es. What we o find out is where those es run."

  "And by we, you definitely mean you."

  Tweak cackled, letting herself sink further ba her chair. "Well, that's why you keep me around, right? 't resist my magic charm."

  "By that logic, I also keep you around for your poor jokes. Such a martyr."

  "But you love me for it. I'm amazing. Just say it." Tweak gave a little wave of her hand. "Go on. Feed my ego. It's good karma or something."

  "Yes, yes, your lordship, yital voodoo is matchless, and so on," Fii retorted dryly. "So... any clue how those upstarts are pulling this off? Do you think they're lio those Circuit Breakers you mentioned?"

  "Could be. Seems a bit... hands-on for their style, but who knows? Maybe they're brang out. Or, worst case, this could be sue offshoot." Tweak exhaled a long sigh. "You never know in these parts. It's a sad, wild world out here."

  Fii leaned in again. "When did these mystery Zippers show up?"

  "They registered two days before the ambush. Real tight window to set up that kind of heist." Tweak frowned, lost in thought. "They either got someone on the inside or somehow swindled one of the delivery crew to sell the info."

  "Hmm, where are they usually seen? Do they hang out anywhere?" Fii's curiosity iqued.

  "I don't know that either." Tweak adjusted her seated position, sitting cross-legged now. "But... I've got an idea."

  With a dramatic flourish, she began typing away rapidly. "Let me see if I , shall luck their strings a bit." A notification ping sounded. "A-ha! Bingo! Let the magic happen."

  "What did you do, Tweak?"

  "Oh, the usual. Created a dummy profile on the Zipper , hi a sweet deal going down, dropped a juicy but fake ma for a big tech shipment, and hey, I'm a generous soul, so I even included a faked route map. You're wele."

  The ease and speed with which she outlined her deceptive setup gave Fii pause. "Damn, Tweak, that was quick."

  "It's all pre-coded, babe," she replied, giving Fii a cheeky wink. "Just had to personalize it a little to catch their i. Now, let's sit bad see who bites."

  "That's... holy pretty genius."

  Tweak responded with a smug grin. "Aww, you're just notig?"

  Fii punched her lightly on the arm. "Ego infting to burst."

  "Now, now, o resort to violeweak said, ughing. "Just sit tight. They'll likely start nosing around."

  Moments ter, a blip appeared on the monitor. Tweak's smile was one of pure satisfa. "I khey wouldn't resist. Hook, line, and sinker. Nothing like some fresh meat, eager to get their teeth into anything."

  "Okay, they're snooping around. So what?" Fii wasn't getting it yet.

  "Patience, babe," Tweak said with a chuckle. "Now that the trap's set, all we o do is wait for them to crawl out of their hole. Ohey ehat's when you e in. Think of yourself as my loyal knight." She nudged Fii's side. "Go get 'em, champ."

  Fii sighed. "It's raightforward with you."

  Tweak shrugged pyfully. "Nothing worthwhile ever is. Now, go on yrand adventure while I hahe digital drudgery."

  "Yeah. This time, I won't be blindsided by those drones a zapped out of the sky, that's for sure." Fii straightened up, rolling her shoulders as if preparing for a fight. "Those punks are going down."