Page 12 of Neon Flux

Her hand reached out, trembling, and touched my face. “Mi corazón.” Then the moment passed, her eyes clouding once more. “¿Quién eres? ¿Qué haces en mi casa?”

I pressed my lips to her forehead, inhaling the institutional shampoo that had replaced her familiar floral scent. “I love you, Mamá. I'll fix this.”

“E, you need to move. Now.” DITA's voice was urgent.

I slipped past as the night nurse rushed in, my mother's confused cries following me down the corridor. Each step away felt like betrayal, but what choice did I have? The system had made it clear—pay or she'd be "processed." I couldn't let that happen.

Outside in the rain-slick streets, I pulled my hood up against the endless downpour, the neon lights blurring through my tears.

“I need a job, DITA. Whatever it takes.”

“E...” DITA's voice was soft with concern.

“Whatever. It. Takes.” I wiped my face, hardening myself against the memory of my mother's fear. "Find me something. Anything.”

I pushed through the crowd again, heading home.

The religious fanatics had thrown up one of their holographic angels, his wings reflecting in the puddles on the concrete walkway as people tried to avoid eye contact. I stepped under the awning of a street vendor serving grilled meat that smelled more like rat than anything else, just watching the angel as his polychromic wings spun over the crowd.

I looked up at the sky, hazy with fog and smoke from the grilled meat. “Don’t suppose you have a miracle for me, do you?”

There was no response. There never was.

I leaned my head back against the steel wall and let the tears fall.

I’d done everything right. I’d gotten clean, gotten out of the club, gone straight. Why did it feel like that was the worst choice I’d ever made?

“A call for you, E. From Taos…should I decline?” DITA’s voice was low, most likely sensing my distress from the heart rate monitor in my Vysor.

“No, it’s all right. Put her through.”

“You sure, E? Last time you said—”

“It’s all right,” I repeated.

A wink and Taos’ avatar popped up on my screen, her face just as beautiful as I remembered, with far less war paint than usual.

“Been a while, Taos.”

“E, I need your help.” Straight to the point. “I’ve got a job coming up. A big one.”

My heart leapt. I looked back at that glowing angel, not appreciating his sense of humor.

“You need a cyberrunner?”

I saw her tiny avatar bite its lip. “We don’t need you on the tech side. We’ve got an issue. I was hoping to rely on your…other skills.”

My stomach dropped. Of course. I flipped the angel off.

Very fucking funny.

Taos kept speaking. “The job…got leaked, but we can’t call it off now. POM Security has caught wind of it. We think…they will send their kaijin.”

I felt my palms sweat.

My Flux pulsed at the memory of a hand around my neck and unlimited current flowing through me. Kaijin—most people’s term for POM Security’s alpha assets. The ghosts who hunted those who disobeyed the corps in the night.

Taos’ face mimicked my nervousness. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but you have experience in social engineering. They’ve got their lead assets on this. We’ve seen it on their internal Net. We need you to distract them.”