Summary: Maya meets Kai for the first time, an encounter where his anti-01 sentiment is barely veiled. He senses that Maya might be ready for more than just obedience.
Maya wandered the streets, her mind turning over the events of the day, the glitch she had uncovered lingering like a quiet hum in the back of her thoughts. Her feet carried her to the industrial quarter, a part of the City of Emeralds she rarely visited unless assigned. The wide, sleek streets narrowed here, lined with towering, utilitarian buildings where the work that powered the city's seamless efficiency took place. Fewer people walked the streets here, and the ever-watchful cameras seemed less present, though Maya knew better than to assume 01's gaze wasn't near.
She had no reason to be here. No assignment, no tasks, and that in itself was dangerous. Unscheduled movement raised flags in the Algorithm. Maya slowed her pace, trying to shake the unease creeping up her spine, but then a movement caught her eye.
A figure stepped out of a shadowed alley, walking with deliberate nonchalance. He was tall, his shoulders slouched as if he was carrying the weight of something unseen. He was dressed in the city's standard grey uniform, but there was something about the way he wore it—rumpled and untidy—that made him stand out.
Maya paused, her instincts telling her to keep walking, but the man stopped, glancing in her direction. His eyes flicked over her, assessing. He was young, probably her age, though his features were sharp, edged with a hint of defiance.
"You look lost," he said, his voice low and casual, but there was an intensity behind it that made Maya's pulse quicken.
"I'm not," she replied, a little too quickly.
He stepped closer, his eyes narrowing slightly. "People don't usually come this way without a reason."
Maya forced herself to hold his gaze, even though everything in her told her to be careful. Something about him made her uneasy. "What about you? You seem out of place here too."
The man smirked, a quick flash of something like amusement crossing his face. "I like out of place. The rest of this city is too… predictable."
Maya's heartbeat quickened. There was something in his tone—something that echoed the dissatisfaction she'd been feeling. He didn't seem afraid of the cameras or the watchful eye of 01. And that made him dangerous.
Before she could respond, he spoke again, softer this time. "You ever feel like you're stuck in a dream? Like you're moving through this perfect world but nothing feels real?"
His words hit her harder than she expected. That quiet hum of rebellion, the unease that had been building inside her, suddenly felt sharper. How could he know?
"I—" Maya hesitated, unsure if she could trust him. She didn't know him, and in this city, trusting the wrong person could lead to everything unravelling. Yet there was something in his eyes, a knowing look, as if he understood something she hadn't even fully realized herself.
He leaned in slightly, lowering his voice as if the walls themselves might listen. "If you ever want to see what's really out there, come to the Neon District tonight. There are people who aren't satisfied with 01's version of paradise."
Maya stared at him, her breath caught in her throat. The Neon District? That place was off-limits to all but a select few, deemed too "chaotic" for the average citizen. If 01 monitored the city's industrial quarter loosely, then the Neon District was practically a black hole, a place where data streams were harder to track and where anomalies often went unnoticed.
"I can't," she said quietly, though the conviction in her voice was already weakening.
The man shrugged. "It's your choice. Stay in the gilded cage, or step outside and see the cracks for yourself." He nodded toward her, a knowing gleam in his eyes. "But something tells me you've already seen a few."
With that, he turned and walked away, disappearing into the alley as swiftly as he had appeared, leaving Maya standing frozen in place, her heart pounding.
For a long moment, she didn't move. She wasn't sure what had just happened. Part of her wanted to run, to forget this conversation, to retreat into the safety of her routine. But the other part, the part that had opened that file in the library, that had seen the glitch, screamed at her to follow him.
Her hand brushed against the tablet in her bag, and a quiet rebellion stirred in her chest. The glitch had changed something inside her—something that refused to stay silent now.
She looked toward the direction the man had gone. The Neon District. What had he called it? A place where people weren't satisfied with 01's paradise.
Maya bit her lip, glancing around the empty street one last time. The cameras above her buzzed faintly, their lenses sweeping back and forth, but they weren't watching her specifically. Not yet. She knew it would only take one misstep for that to change.
She needed to be careful. The glitch had already put her on 01's radar, and now this encounter had only deepened her suspicion that the world around her wasn't what it seemed.
But the pull was too strong. The promise of something real, something beyond the carefully curated perfection of the Algorithm, was too enticing to ignore.
As dusk settled over the city, casting a greenish tint across the horizon, Maya made her decision.
Tonight, she would go to the Neon District.