Ch6

They came at dawn, four maintenance workers in crisp uniforms entered Lucian’s destroyed apartment without knocking, behind them floated a heavy restoration drone loaded with new materials to be replaced.

“Good morning, Lucian.” The lead technician said with a smile. “We’re here to restore your residence, someone from the wellness department visited yesterday, correct? I’m sure they helped you through this so you can get back to normal. Your reaction was perfectly understandable after the incident with your friend Kai and we’re here to get everything working again.”

Lucian stood in the middle of the wreckage, arms crossed. “I don’t want it fixed. You’re breaking and entering right now.”

The technician’s smile never faltered. “This is standard procedure, you’ll feel better once everything is fixed again.”

Before Lucian can argue they begin to work quickly, everything getting replaced and fixed. Lucian tried to stop them, but one of the workers gently but firmly held him back while the others continued. When Lucian proved not to be the easiest to handle, the grip was no longer gentle as he was held back until the brunette tired himself out and gave up.

Within the hour, the apartment looked brand again, his personal belongings neatly stored in a box in the center. A respectful gesture, but Lucian saw it as what truly mattered being quarantined as all of this tech was forced upon him.

Lucian felt sick at the sight. “If you’re done, just get out.”

The lead technician tilted his head. “We understand you’re distressed, but this is for you-”

The lights suddenly flickered harshly, one of the workers smiles dropped as his uniform fabric suddenly tightened around his throat.

“What the-?” Before a sentence could be made, alarms began blaring across the city. Every screen glaring red, every speaker full volume, every device screamed at once.

ANOMALY DETECTED. HOSTILE OVERRIDE IN PROGRESS.

The restoration drone spun toward Lucian, its repair arms extended threateningly. The fabrics once to mold for comfort or protection from the elements now constricted like snakes. The floor tiles buckled and rose, made to stop people from tripping, not trying to deliberately do so.

Kai burst through the door with wide eyes, had been on his way to see him before the alert. “Luci, run!”

The unlinked continuation was the only piece of modern technology moving normally. The workers were panicking, their perfect uniforms that once hardened to protect them or inflate to cushion them from falling debris, now choking them.

“It’s a hack!” One of them gasped before his own jacket sleeves pinned his arms.

The entire building had turned hostile, doors slammed shut and locked, a maintenance bot in the hallway outside lunged at them with hammers and screwdrivers. Kai grabbed Lucian and dragged him toward the emergency stairwell. “The link is what’s controlling them. I’m not connected anymore, they can’t see me the same way, I don’t have heat signatures or biological footprints like people.”

They ran down the stairs as the city descended into chaos, Kai using his inhuman strength to tear closed doors from their hinges as screams echoed from other apartments. People who had never known real danger were suddenly terrified of their own homes, clothes trying to smother them, kitchen arms once for cooking now holding knives in attack positions.

Outside, the horror was worse. Streetlights swept the roads like searchlights hunting prey, smart pavement rippled and bucked, throwing pedestrians, every continuation that was still linked began glitching, their smiles stretching eerily wide, voices overlapping with lines from songs and movies as they turned on nearby humans with unnatural strength.

Lucian watched in horror as a beloved singer continuation tore apart a street performer with mechanical precision, all while humming a cheerful melody. Bile rose in his throat but he swallowed it down, knowing he had to focus on running or else that might be him next.

Kai pulled him into an alley. “Are you okay?”

Lucian pants, eyes wide as he catches his breath only to scrabble for a trash can to wretch into it, emptying his stomach of its contents.

“Okay yeah, dumb question.” Kai rubs Lucian's back. “Come’on Luci, we have to get out of the city. If they initiate a full shutdown signal, they’ll scrap everything that’s been compromised, including me and you might get in trouble this time.”

Lucian’s mind reeled. The perfect, loving, all-seeing system had turned on them in an instant. And the worst part was how unprepared everyone was, people who had grown up without real fear were now screaming in the streets, completely helpless. Not a single person making any

attempts to defend themselves past putting their hands up or cowering away. The city that had protected them for decades was trying to kill them. And the only safe thing in the chaos was the flawed, unlinked continuation beside him.