It wasn't black, oily digital sludge. It wasn't green, pixelated static.
It was bright, crimson, actual human blood.
"Holy shit," Sebastian wheezed, staring at the red drops.
The deletion of his nociception code—the hack that had kept him from feeling pain for months—was completely suppressed. The firewall was down. Every single phantom ache, every strained muscle, and every micro-fracture in his biological steel bones came rushing back with a horrific vengeance.
It hurt. It hurt so incredibly bad that his vision swam with dark spots. He hadn't felt true, unfiltered physical pain like this since the very first day of the Great Merge.
But the pain wasn't his primary concern.
"Valerie!" Sebastian gasped, raw panic flooding his system.
