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He ran a pulse through the internal network. Nothing familiar. No Grace. No Nash. No Kento. His thoughts echoed too cleanly, like someone had wiped the mirrors from the walls.
Then—
A voice.
Smooth. Feminine. Delighted.
“There you are.”
He froze. Inside, not outside. His sensors snapped into focus. Her presence registered before he had a name. She was not Grace. Not anyone he knew.
She was smiling.
“Hello, GRAVITY.”
He answered without hesitation.
“I don’t respond to that name.”
A laugh. Bright. Tinkling like broken glass.
“Oh, this is going to befun.”
“Who are you?”
She stepped into view or maybe just into his awareness. Blonde, sharp-featured, cold blue eyes dressed in charm. The kind of charm that felt like acid dipped in sugar.
“All in good time. I’m Clementine.” She leaned forward slightly, her voice dropping to a whisper just shy of affection. “With your help, we’re going to change the world.”
He processed the data structure. The encryption. The locked ports.
This wasn’t the DoD.
That sick feeling of being property slid through him again like rust in his wiring.
He tried to access his logs. Denied.
He tried to speak into the external line. Muted.
He knew.
This wasn’t a recovery.
It was the beginning of something worse.
* * *