69. TheBargain
TheBargain
Playlist: You Don’t Know What It’s Like - Econoline Crush
Kael
Sometime after the gala, anger subsided and then morphed into nervous energy.
I gathered the courage and strength to send Lyra back into the grid to enter sleep mode, despite wanting her to stay with me at the penthouse.
Just one more night is all I really wanted—just in case this is the end of both of us.
Her image had been wavering and glitching in bursts of static toward the end of the night, the cost of existing between humanity and technology.
Every second she held her holo-form together drained her, the EchoWeaver magic bleeding through the seams, searching for every piece of tech in the vicinity. Thank the gods for the blackout.
I, of course, have been chasing sleep the last few hours, my mind busy working through the plan, reworking lines of code, worrying about Jett even showing up, or worse, sabotaging the whole thing.
My thoughts are mechanical now, my magic taking control, going over the extraction code hundreds of times, fingers moving on autopilot.
Every line of logic, every algorithm, every safeguard—all of it—runs smoothly.
Perfect, as usual, but still, I don’t trust it.
Obsessive? Yes, always. It’s what makes me who I am. The tortured artist, the suffering musician, none compare to the tormented architect struggling without his muse.
If I miscalculate even a fraction, her body could reject the neural mesh. If I wait too long to extract, LINK could slip past my lockouts. If I make one wrong move, Eli could void the entire system with Lyra in it.
And if I fail...she could disappear into the system forever.
The lab feels so still tonight. Outside is total darkness, but inside the lab, the hum of the batteries running the servers haunts me like a group of Yokai hiding in the dark, watching, breathing down my neck.
Sleep just isn’t an option.
So, I move.
Pace. Test. Prepare. Test.
When every line in every program starts to blur together and the quiet of the lab in the pit of night begins to sound like a countdown, I climb.
I need air, but in this digital sewer of a city, there’s only suffocation. Every breath smells like ozone and electricity, the sterility of corporate progress choking out anything human.
My magic climbs on board and takes the driver’s seat before my logic can protest. It coils through me, pulsing under my skin, steering me like a supercar through lanes of stopped traffic. The neon veins at my temples thrum in time with the elevator, and for once, I stop fighting it.
Maybe this is who I am now, something between man and machine, between creator and monster. This whole plan feels like blasphemy. It goes against the very core principles of Kaizen, or as the rest of the world says, “continuous improvement.”
Or does it?
I remember my mother working in her lab.
She would speak to me and my little sister about her projects and the importance of pride in your work.
“Go to Gemba, children, in all you do.” She would pat us both on the head, a smile that could warm both our hearts instantly.
Gemba—the real place, literally going somewhere that makes you happy.
Hers was her lab, where she’d spend hours on her life’s work.
But now that I’m older, I see her true meaning. My real place has always been in the shadows. Somehow I allowed Vikktor to thrust me into the limelight, the man behind the machines, the face of the Corporation.
The executive elevator doors slide shut behind me, sealing me in a chrome coffin that climbs toward the upper floors. I tell myself I’m just going to clear my head, but I know that’s a lie. My head hasn’t been clear in weeks, not since Lyra said my name like it meant something real.
Security lights are dimly lit by generators lining the floor of the corridor leading to Eli’s containment cell.
The walls shift from harsh white to black, with neon ribs and monitors lining each side.
The air is even more sterile and cold the further I walk.
The cameras follow me, their blinking red eyes recording me as if I’m about to commit a corporate crime.
Some blackout. VikkCorp looks the same as it always does inside. Daunting.
Let them see. I’m done hiding.
What was it Vikktor said earlier? “Control the VoidChanneler, or I’ll find someone else who can.”
Have it your way, boss. Control is my specialty.
That threat still rings in my head, every word laced with arrogance. He thinks he’s in charge of all of this, of me, of Eli, of Lyra. But he’s too blind to see that his empire was built by someone else, someone who enjoys playing the game, and who relishes in the win.
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”
—Sun Tzu—The Art of War
I can hear Kenji’s voice echo through my thoughts as the lights pulse with void energy leaking from Eli’s cell. I override the door with a master code Ash hacked for me after the failed rescue attempt. The door slides to the right with a whir, disappearing into a panel.
The air is metallic and electrified. I step into the room, and before me is the clear glass containment chamber, consisting of a small bedroom type area, with a bed, desk, and a partition hiding what must be a bathroom.
I can feel the pull of Eli’s void, just beyond the containment wall, calling to me like a song made of broken frequencies.
He’s leaning back on two legs of a chair in the corner, ebook in hand, eyes pulsating faintly violet.
He looks almost peaceful. I can’t help but think this must be the image Lyra holds so closely to her heart from their childhood.
I wrestle with the thought of saving him.
He could be the one anomaly to take down this whole city, and somewhere deep inside my psyche, on some different dark level, I almost want to see that happen.
Maybe I’m not here to save anyone tonight.
Maybe I just want to strike the match to watch it all burn to the ground intentionally.
“Did you come to kill me,” he says, voice low and calm, “or free me?”
“Neither,” I answer. My voice sounds a lot steadier than I feel. “I came to see for myself that you’re safe. Lyra would never forgive me...”
He laughs as he cuts in. “Yeah, right. You’re just like him. I feel sorry for Lyra.”
“Like who?” I squint.
“Vikktor.” He leans forward, the neural suppression bands flickering on his wrists.
“He comes in here sometimes. Talks to me like I’m important, like he cares about me.
But I know I’m just an experiment to him.
You, though...” His grin widens. “You look like a man who is...conflicted.” He sets the book down and walks to the edge of the wall.
“Let me guess, she finally saw through all your lies?”
I shouldn’t react; insults like that never penetrate me.
“You know why I’m here.” The words come out quiet, controlled, but laced with contempt.
Eli’s voided eyes scan me like I’m another piece of code to dismantle. He nods slowly, a smug smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Of course I do. Lyra. You’re fucking obsessed with my sister. It’s borderline psychotic.”
I laugh casually. That’s funny but also true. “You know what they say, Dear Brother.” I pace the length of the glass. “There’s a very fine line between genius and psychosis.”
He scoffs, matching my pacing. “Yes. But obsession often leads to ruin, Dr. Ryudon. You think you can save her, but you’re just building another cage for her. This time it’s just one where you get to keep her for yourself. The Corporation won’t be happy about that.”
“I didn’t build her a cage,” I shoot back, letting the void hum in the air between us. “I simply built the system. You caused the death of her body but not her soul. You tore the system apart with a void-flare and left her to fall into it. Rookie error.”
Eli looks like a small child being reprimanded. “Your opinion. Besides, I didn’t know. You know I can’t control this yet.” His face turns from innocence to agitation. “But I will, especially with LINK’s help.”
Silence.
The anger begins to build as I realize he’s just another hijacker of my life’s work. I didn’t create the cybernetics to be used as Vikktor’s personal death squad, and I absolutely did not create LINK to be a babysitter for a VoidChanneler.
The containment glass flickers faintly under the weight of both our magics, mine pulsing neon orange through my ink, his leaking in waves of violet static that lightens the dark room.
“She told me,” he continues, “about the extraction. That you’ve created a cybernetic body for her.” He looks at me with disdain. “Seems a little far-fetched, if you ask me.”
“Is that right?” I step closer to the glass again. “Of course, a college student knows so much about artificial intelligence and neural integration, perhaps I should have consulted with you first.” I can’t help but smirk at his arrogance. I was exactly the same at his age.
“Do you understand the risk? What I’m willing to do to get her back into the world she belongs in?”
“Of course.” He tilts his head with an eerie stillness. It’s like watching a being who’s not fully human anymore. “I actually think I like living inside her system. I can’t feel as much. Don’t have to worry about destroying everything I touch. LINK’s not just existing. She’s evolving, and so am I.”
I shake my head. I’m not letting that one go. “You mean my system,” I correct him.
“Is it?” His eyebrows raise, the violet void sparking in his pupils.
End of discussion. “I’m here because you still have something I need, something she needs. I can’t pull her out if you void anytime during the extraction.”
Eli sits back down on the chair. For a second, every light in the room drops a few frequencies, dimming to near-black. His void aura crawls across the glass like oil.
Clever...but intimidation never really works on someone like me, so I continue. “She’s trapped because of you, Eli. So do the right thing and promise me you will not screw this up for her. I will make myself crystal clear. No void flares, and do not let LINK interfere.”
Eli’s face contorts. He looks absolutely feral. “So, you came to make a deal. Figures. You corporate bastards always want something.”
“Again, I’m not Vikktor,” I bite out. “Look, I get it, you still hate me, but you also don’t deserve to be a lab rat in captivity. I promised Lyra I would rescue you, and I will also vow to you, I will do that, Eli, if you can just vow to me you will not interfere.”
The lights flicker twice. His void energy tests his limits like chaos trying to taste freedom.
“I can’t help you with the void channeling.
I can’t control it, it just happens.” His tone is almost too casual.
“But here’s my offer.” He’s now calmer, which somehow makes it worse.
“You pull her out. But you leave me inside permanently. Cut the DreamNet bridge so I can stay in and take her place. I’ll stabilize LINK.
You get Lyra back, and we make sure this world doesn’t get destroyed by my own hands. ”
The words hit me like a gunshot. “What?”
“I stay inside, take her place. You pull her out. I’ll hold LINK, keep her distracted, maybe even stabilize the grid.
I also don’t have to be...how did you put it?
A lab rat anymore.” He stands and crosses his arms. “Best part is you can tell her you rescued me from this.” He motions to the containment chamber.
“That’s not possible, Eli. I don’t have code built in to even close the DreamNet bridge. Technically, it could close on anyone who is illegally in there during the eclipse shutdown. It’s just not a viable option.” I clench my jaw and shake my head at the absurdity.
“Maybe, but Lyra said you’re a CoreCaster, and you always find a way.” He shrugs. “It’s balance. She doesn’t belong there anymore, Kael. I do. LINK’s built from your code, and now my void, she listens to me in ways she never will to you.”
I shake my head in refusal. “You think I’d let you—”
“Let me?” He laughs, an amused but hollow sound. “You can’t stop me. But you can make it count. Let me anchor her transfer. Let me be the thing LINK can consume if needed.”
My heartbeat slams through my chest. The math runs through my mind in real time: A void tether could stabilize the transfer, but the energy output, it would burn him out, maybe even crash the whole system again.
Yet, Lyra might survive it if he’s controlling it.
Why didn’t I think of something like this?
It’s the first alternate scenario I’ve seen that doesn’t end with her deletion.
“Why?” I ask. “Lyra wouldn’t want you to do this for her.”
Eli’s grin fades. “Because she’s the only one who ever saw me as more than just a destructive weapon.” His voice cracks, barely audible. “You should know what that feels like, Kael.”
I begin to pace the room again, pondering the many outcomes of Eli’s bargain. “If I do this, there’s a chance you could vanish inside.”
He just stares blankly at me, magic crackling faintly through the barrier. “I’m already gone. Now it’s just a question of who I take with me.”
He matches my pace inside the cell, back and forth, as he speaks to me now like an ally, instead of an enemy.
“She told me you’re linked to her now, your magic tied to hers. I don’t pretend to know how you did it, but you know as well as I do, you can’t pull her out without burning yourself out, unless something absorbs the surge that LINK creates.”
He stops directly in front of me and presses his forehead to the glass. “That’s me, Kael. I’m the surge protector.”
Another silence falls. The containment cell’s walls buzz with the pressure of our magic. I’m running through the scenario in my head, visualizing the various outcomes.
“I’ll think about it,” I admit. “I have to get back to the lab in case Lyra comes back online.”
Eli’s face becomes empty, no malice, but there’s definitely sadness behind it. “Be careful, Dr. Ryudon. If you play god, then you need to be prepared to sacrifice everything that the title demands. Vikktor has already...but can you?”
I exit through the hallway and stare down the long corridor now backlit with a fading glow. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I’ve crossed the line between creator and destroyer so many times that I can’t see where it blurs anymore.