The rain came down in thick, oily sheets over the grid-sector of Lanjut ML01-16-21. It was a place where neon bled into puddles and the air tasted of rust and cheap adrenaline.

"Min," she whispered into her collar. "Tell me you have a clear route."

Caca smiled. Quiet was her favorite word.

Caca Omek knew this place better than her own reflection. She leaned against the wet brick of an alleyway, her dark coat slick with the downpour. In her gloved hand, a data-spike hummed with the last memory of a dead courier. The code inside was the key to everything—or a trigger for annihilation.