“Freedom is a privilege proportional to your liability index.

  Those with higher value naturally require fewer choices.”

  — Aurelia Academy Security Charter, Section 3: Movement Restrictions

  Alice dragged me after Cecilia, weaving between stalls and dodging through gaps in the crowd. My armor clanked with every hurried step, rifle bouncing against my back. People shot us annoyed looks as we pushed past, but no one tried to stop us.

  Unfortunately, the bodyguards didn’t need to dodge.

  The crowd just... parted for them. Automatically, as if everyone on Floor 72 could smell the danger and decided they wanted no part of it. The three figures moved in a straight line, closing the distance with casual efficiency.

  We made it maybe fifteen meters before they caught up. “Ladies,” the leading one said, voice calm and professional.

  Alice stopped, still gripping my arm and Cecilia froze mid-step.

  The bodyguard wasn’t even breathing hard. He stood there in his expensive tactical suit, hands relaxed at his sides, that faint chrome jawline catching the neon light. His expression was neutral, but there was something almost paternal in the way he looked at the twins.

  “We agreed on an hour,” he continued. “It has been almost one and a half.”

  Alice immediately pouted, releasing my arm to cross hers over her chest. “But we just got here! I wanted to try the noodles! We barely finished eating!” She gestured dramatically back toward the stall. “You can’t expect us to just—”

  The man’s smile was faint but genuine. “I can, and I do.” He tilted his head slightly. “You know the rules. We agreed you could move in gray areas. This—” he gestured at the bustling bazaar around us, “—is a light green zone. You can’t go here alone.”

  “We’re not alone!” Alice shot back, grabbing my hand and thrusting it upward like I was some kind of trophy. “Dash is here! He’s... uh... a friend! He’s super duper good with a pistol and also has a license!”

  All three bodyguards turned to look at me.

  I stood there, one hand raised awkwardly in Alice’s grip, the other hovering near my side like I wasn’t sure what to do with it.

  “Uh,” I said. “Hi?”

  The lead bodyguard’s eyes scanned me, head to toe, taking in every detail with professional precision. The TitanWard armor. The rifle. The sword. The general aura of someone who’d recently been fighting for their life in a chaos shard. “I haven’t seen him visiting you,” he said, still looking at me but clearly addressing the twins.

  “He’s not at the Academy,” Cecilia snorted, as if that explained everything. “Of course you haven’t.”

  The man nodded slowly, as if that made perfect sense.

  Wait.

  They couldn’t meet strangers at the Academy?

  I blinked, processing that. Were they... not allowed to have friends outside of Aurelia? Was that a corpo security thing? A paranoid parent thing?

  Both?

  “Uh, yeah,” I said awkwardly, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “I kept an eye on them. That counts for something, right?”

  The bodyguard’s smile didn’t fade, but he shook his head. “Perhaps.” He glanced at the twins. “But we need to go. You have your lessons, ladies.”

  Alice groaned long, and theatrically, like she’d just been sentenced to hard labor. “Fine. FINE.” She turned to me and, without warning, pulled me into a hug.

  I stiffened, armor clinking awkwardly against her jacket.

  “It was preem meeting you, Dash!” she said, squeezing my armor tight. “We should totally dive together for real next time!” She pulled back, grinning, and I felt her slip something into my palm. She closed my fingers around it with a wink.

  Cecilia stepped forward next, her hug briefer but no less genuine. “Thanks for not being weird,” she whispered. “Most people are weird.”

  “Uh... you’re welcome?” I managed.

  She stepped back with a small smile, and both twins turned toward the bodyguards, who were already moving, forming a protective triangle around them. “Bye, Dash!” Alice called over her shoulder, waving enthusiastically.

  “Stay safe,” Cecilia added, quieter.

  And then they were gone, swallowed by the crowd, the bodyguards guiding them toward the elevators. I stood there in the middle of Floor 72’s chaotic bazaar, surrounded by merchants shouting and people pushing past, and suddenly it felt...

  Lonely.

  The noise was still there. The heat, the smells, the constant motion. …But without Alice’s relentless energy or Cecilia’s presence, it all felt... empty.

  I blinked.

  “Never in my life did I think I’d miss strangers I just met,” I muttered to myself.

  Then I remembered the thing Alice had slipped into my hand.

  I opened my palm.

  A holographic card sat there, no bigger than a credit chip but far fancier. The surface shimmered with embedded animation, tiny flames dancing around the edges in an endless loop, flickering in shades of orange and gold that looked almost alive. The fire cast a faint glow against my gauntlet.

  In the center, written in an elegant script that definitely cost extra:

  PREEM ALICE

  Contact Details Below

  [Pulse: AliceOnFire_real]

  [Secure Line: ████-████-██]

  The card alone probably cost more than a hundred sols. Maybe more. I half-remembered an AD from Firefly Atelier, one of those Central District boutiques that charged you an entry fee just to “filter unserious clients.”

  I stared at it, then slipped it carefully into my protected pocket.

  A corpo academy student with bodyguards and custom trait modifications had just given me her contact info.

  And somehow, against all logic, we were... friends? “What the hell just happened?” I whispered to the bazaar at large.

  No one answered.

  I turned and started walking back toward the elevators, armor clanking softly with each step, feeling more confused than I had in months.

  Before I could reach the elevator, my mind was on the gear. I needed a better one, and there was one sure way to get it: the Kallum Inc. store access. Level 2.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Grandmother’s “gift.”

  I’d accepted it last night under Mom’s ultimatum, but I still hadn’t actually... activated it. Probably unconsciously evading it?

  The status had said PENDING when I’d checked this morning, and I’d brushed it off, assuming it just needed time to process through whatever bureaucratic nightmare passed for Kallum’s internal systems.

  Time to find out.

  I pulled out my holoband, slipping it onto my wrist despite how awkwardly it sat against my gauntlet. The device hummed to life, projecting a circular Grome interface above my palm. I navigated to the Kallum Services page.

  Kallum Inc. Store Access

  Status: SUSPENDED

  Level: 2/5

  Restrictions: Account frozen pending verification

  I stared at the word SUSPENDED.

  “What?”

  I tapped the status, hoping for more information. Unliky the stingy system, a new window popped up:

  ACCOUNT SUSPENDED

  Reason: Suspicious activity detected

  Resolution: Visit registered account location for physical identity verification

  Registered Location: Kallum Distribution Center, Sector 7-Alpha, Mars

  “Are you fucking serious?” I said aloud.

  Several people nearby glanced at me. I ignored them, reading the message again just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.

  Mars. They wanted me to go to Mars, the planet I’d left years ago. The place where Dad had died, and we’d sold everything just to afford the move to Earth 2.0… so bad memories.

  Not very keen reliving it, I jabbed the emergency contact button with more force than necessary and routed it into my armor headphones.

  The holoband chimed once. Twice. Then a pleasant corporate voice answered, smooth and professionally cheerful in a way that immediately made me want to throw something. “Thank you for contacting Kallum Inc. customer support. How may I assist you today?”

  “Yeah, hi,” I said, trying to keep my voice level. “My account is suspended. Says I need to visit Mars for verification, which is—”

  “One moment, please, while I access your account information.”

  Soft hold music played. Some instrumental piece that was probably designed by an AI to be maximally inoffensive.

  I stood there in the middle of Floor 72’s bazaar, armor clanking slightly as I shifted my weight, waiting.

  The music cut off. “Thank you for holding, Mister Kallum. I see your account has been flagged for suspicious activity. This is standard security protocol when a dormant Level-2 access is suddenly activated after an extended period of inactivity.”

  “It wasn’t dormant,” I protested. “It was never activated in the first place. My grandmother just sent me the access six months ago.”

  “I understand your frustration, Mister Kallum. However, our security protocols require in-person verification at the registered location to—”

  “I can’t go to Mars,” I interrupted. “Do you have any idea how much that costs? I’m on Earth 2.0. The registered location should be updated to reflect that.”

  “Unfortunately, account registration locations can only be updated during in-person verification. For security purposes.”

  I closed my eyes and took a slow breath, counting to five in my head. “So I need to go to Mars to update my location, which I can’t do because I can’t afford to go to Mars, which means I can’t update my location.”

  “That is... an accurate summary of the situation, yes.”

  “That’s insane.”

  “I understand this may be inconvenient—”

  “Inconvenient?” I let out a laugh that had zero humor in it. “It’s not inconvenient; it’s impossible. There has to be another option.”

  The operator paused. I could hear the soft clicking of a holo-keyboard in the background. “There is... one alternative option available.”

  “Which is?”

  “You may visit any Kallum Inc. office location for manual verification. However, please be aware that walk-in appointments are processed on a first-come, first-served basis of priority scheduling. Current wait times at our Tago location average between half an hour and an hour.”

  I groaned. “An hour of waiting... Time for Pulse? I guess.”

  “Yes, Mister Kallum. The Tago office is located in the D?mmergrund District. Would you like me to transmit the address to your device?”

  I wanted to say no. I wanted to tell this operator exactly where he could shove his security protocols and his wait times, but I needed that store access. Well, rather I needed the equipment, and more importantly, I’d promised Mom I’d use Grandmother’s resources.

  “Fine,” I muttered. “Send it.”

  “Transmitting now. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?”

  “No.”

  “Thank you for contacting Kallum Inc. Have a productive day.”

  The call ended with a soft chime.

  I stared at my holoband as the address loaded: Kallum Tago Office, D?mmergrund District, Tower 14-B, Floor 3.

  D?mmergrund. That was... across the city. At least an hour on the train, probably more depending on connections. I glanced up at the bazaar around me, at the chaos and noise and life happening in every direction.

  “Great,” I muttered. “Just great.”

  I turned and started walking toward the elevators again, already planning my route. Floor 72 to ground level, then out to the nearest train station, then...

  My boots clanked against the stained permacrete, armor plates shifting with each step.

  Six months of waiting. Six months of living without the advantages every other Kallum heir probably took for granted. And now, when I finally tried to use them, I got hit with suspicious activity flags and security protocols designed by someone who’d never had to worry about train fare.

  The elevator doors opened with a hiss. I stepped inside alone this time and jabbed the button for ground level.

  As the elevator descended, I pulled up the train schedule on my holoband. East Corporate District to D?mmergrund District. Two transfers. Seventy-three minutes.

  “Fine,” I said to my reflection in the elevator’s polished metal doors. “Let’s go visit Grandmother’s company office.” The elevator chimed, and the doors opened onto the ground floor lobby.

  … Also time to deal with more corporate bureaucracy.

  The train station near SMB11 was packed.

  Rush hour had hit, or maybe it was always like this in the East Corporate District. Bodies pressed together on the platform, everyone staring at their devices or the arrival board overhead, tracking the next train with the intensity of people who’d miss something important if they weren’t on it.

  I stood near the edge of the platform, armor making enough of a buffer that people gave me space. The rifle on my back probably helped. So did the general aura of someone pissed at corpos.

  The arrival board flickered:

  NEXT TRAIN: D?MMERGRUND LINE

  ARRIVING IN: 3 MINUTES

  Three minutes. I could do three minutes, so I pulled out my holoband again, intending to scroll through Hendersons’ news feeds or something to pass the time.

  Instead, my thumb hovered over a different app.

  Contacts.

  I’d been putting this off. Since yesterday, actually. Since I’d discovered the emergency system, since JD had appeared and told me about the system drain, since everything had spiraled into this mess.

  There was exactly one person I could talk to about this. One person who might actually believe me and not think I’d gone insane.

  Omar.

  My best friend from System Prep. One of the few people who’d kept in touch afterward. While most of my old classmates had ghosted me the moment I “failed,” Omar had stuck around. Called every week. Invited me to movie nights with others that “totally did not ghost” me.

  I tapped his contact before I could talk myself out of it.

  The call connected after two rings.

  “Yooo, Dash!” Omar’s voice crackled through my headset, familiar and carrying that slight Arabic accent that got stronger when he was excited. “Habibi! Been ages, man! How you been?”

  Despite everything, I felt myself smile. “Hey, Omar. Not dead yet.”

  “That’s the spirit!” He laughed, the sound genuine and infectious. “What you calling for? You finally ready to admit my thief build is better than yours? Because I’ve been waiting for that apology since—”

  “No mmorpg today, I need to meet up,” I cut in. “Today, if you’re free.”

  The tone shifted immediately. Not worried, just... focused. “Today? Like, right now today?”

  “Yeah. Something came up. I need to talk to you about... system stuff.”

  “Oooh, mysterious.” I could practically hear him grinning. “Dunno what can say, but sure man. Why?”

  I hesitated. “It’s... complicated. I’ll explain when I see you. I’ll be in D?mmergrund, if you can?”

  “Alright, alright. So when you wanna meet? I’m free after six, got some training stuff with the Academy football team before that—”

  “Earlier would be better.”

  Omar paused. “You good, Dash? You sound kinda stressed.”

  “I’m fine. Just... it’s important. Might be late, corpo stuff for like a few hours now.”

  “Okay, okay. Let me see...” I heard rustling in the background, the faint sound of him checking his schedule. “I can ditch the review session after lunch. Meet you around two? That’s in like four hours? There’s that café near—”

  “Perfect. Two works. Send me the location.”

  “Will do, will do. Oh! Wait! This means you’re coming to movie night, yeah?”

  I groaned. “Omar—”

  “No, no, no! You can’t skip this one, Dash! Everyone’s gonna be there! We’re watching that new Alliance War holo-film, the one with the crazy effects everyone’s been talking about!”

  “I don’t know if—”

  “Kunal’s coming too!”

  I groaned louder. “Kunal? Really?”

  “What? He’s cool!”

  “He laughed at me last time,” I muttered, remembering the last movie night two months ago. Kunal had made some joke about “the unranked consultant,” and everyone had laughed. Even Omar, though he’d apologized later.

  “He was just joking!” Omar protested. “You’re too sensitive, man. Besides, everyone missed you last time. It’s not the same without you.”

  Nobody missed me, except you, man… I wanted to say, but held as the train’s arrival chime sounded across the platform. I glanced up to see the sleek silver Schwarzstahl’s cars gliding into the station, maglev rails humming with contained energy.

  “Fine,” I blurted. “I’ll go to movie night. But you have to meet me today, if corpo meeting goes preem.”

  Preem? Damn, Alice’s slang is creeping!

  “Deal! See you at two, habibi!”

  The call ended just as the train doors hissed open.

  I stepped inside, squeezing into a spot near the back. The doors sealed shut with a soft chime, and the train lurched into motion.

  [Paid: ￠2]

  Through the windows, the East Corporate District began to slide past.

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