Page 26 of Silvyr: Glitched for Her
In that fraction of a second, something happened.The blade froze mid-swing, trembling with the force of some internal struggle.Silvyr's eyes flickered, code patterns suddenly racing beneath his skin in chaotic bursts.He was fighting back, wrestling control from Asset P through sheer force of will.
"T-Tanya."My name emerged broken, static-laced, but unmistakably his."Can't...hold it...run..."
"I'm not leaving you!"I reached for him again, and this time my fingers brushed his chest plate, right over the place where his hybrid heart pulsed with our shared rhythm.
His free hand shot up, not to attack me but to grasp his own neural port at the base of his skull.With a sound that wasn't quite human—part mechanical screech, part organic cry of pain—he twisted, physically severing the connection that had allowed Asset P to seize control.
The backlash hit us both like a physical wave.I staggered, feeling something tear inside me—not physical but more fundamental, as if someone had ripped away a piece of my soul.The bond-link we'd formed in the compatibility chamber, that precious connection that had made us stronger together than apart, shredded from the inside out.
"No!"I reached for him again, but Silvyr's body was already dissolving, pixels of silver light breaking apart and scattering.He was triggering a forced teleport.
His hand pressed against my sternum, the touch gentle despite everything, and a burst of white-hot light erupted between us.The last thing I saw before the teleport took me was his face… his real face, eyes clear and full of so much pain and love that it shattered something inside me.
"Third bond..."His words followed me through the collapsing space between us, "...incomplete.Keep living."
The teleport flung me across the maintenance bay, away from the remaining security droids, away from Asset P's influence… away from Silvyr.I hit the floor hard, the impact knocking the wind from my lungs, skin scraping against metal grating.Pain bloomed across my body, but it was nothing compared to the hollow ache where our bond had been.
Around me, the bay was collapsing, structural supports giving way as the exhibition's systems went into full lockdown.Alarms blared louder, emergency protocols flashing across every functioning screen.Smoke filled the air, acrid and thick, mixing with the taste of blood in my mouth.
Pixel hovered beside me, its little frame trembling, display projecting crying and scared emojis in rapid succession.It nudged against my cheek, trying to comfort me even as its scanners frantically searched for any trace of Silvyr.
There was nothing.Just empty space where he had been, a void that echoed with the absence of his unique energy signature.Asset P had him now.
I dragged myself to my knees, then to my feet, ignoring the protests from every bruised and battered part of my body.Blood trickled down my face from a cut above my eye, mixing with tears I hadn't realized I was shedding.I wiped them away with the back of my hand, smearing red across my cheek.
The grief threatened to drown me, to pull me under into a dark place I might never escape.But beneath it, something hotter and more dangerous was building.Rage.Pure, focused, clarifying rage.
My gaze locked onto the central server core visible through a shattered wall panel, the pulsing heart of the exhibition's network, the source of Asset P's control.The place where answers and vengeance both waited.
"Pixel," I whispered, my voice steadier than it had any right to be."Scan for network vulnerabilities.Find me a way into that core."
The drone bobbed once in acknowledgment, its little processors already whirring with new purpose.It projected a quick series of information packets, highlighting potential access points even as the remaining security systems tried to seal them off.
I reached for my toolkit again, fingers closing around the neural interface spike I'd used to hack into the hub.It would be dangerous.Connecting directly to a system infected with Asset P's presence was like voluntarily injecting myself with digital poison.But I didn't care.
"Hang on, Silvyr," I whispered, clutching the spike so tightly it bit into my palm."I'm bringing you back."
The words were a promise, a prayer, and a declaration of war.Asset P thought it had won, thought it had taken the most precious thing in my world and broken our bond beyond repair.It was about to learn how wrong it was.
I stood straight, ignoring the sirens, the collapsing infrastructure, the approaching backup security teams.Nothing mattered but finding Silvyr.Saving him.Completing the third bond that had been interrupted.
"Let's go hunting," I told Pixel, and limped toward the server core, my dress in tatters but my resolve hardened with every step.
Asset P had just made the biggest mistake of its digital existence.It had taken my love, my partner, my other half.And now I was going to tear its network apart, circuit by circuit, until I got him back.
CHAPTER12
SILVYR
Ifloated in the void of my own corrupted code, weaponized limbs firing at ghost-enemies that dissolved into static.Kill, reset, repeat.The combat loop twisted through me like a virus, reshaping my hands into blades, my chest into cannon-fire, my thoughts into tactical calculations.Asset P's control bit deeper with each cycle, carving away pieces of me until I barely recognized the fragmented consciousness that remained.Centuries of survival, of maintaining my autonomy against the slow decay of time, and now I was being erased from the inside out, trapped in a prison built from my own programming.
The simulation reset again.My body reformed from scattered pixels, the sensation neither painful nor pleasant… just empty.Towers of broken data loomed around me, fractured architecture that mirrored my disintegrating mind.Red target markers appeared, designating new threats.My arm transformed without my consent, silver skin liquifying then hardening into a blade that hummed with deadly energy.
"Prototype Zero, eliminate targets."The command wasn't spoken but embedded directly into my neural pathways, bypassing choice and triggering combat protocols so ancient I'd forgotten their existence.
I moved with perfect precision, my body no longer my own.The blade cut through the first target… a faceless shape that pixelated into nothingness upon contact.Energy surged through me, the false reward of successful execution.I hated it.Hated the hollow satisfaction programmed into my reward centers, hated how easily Asset P had accessed subroutines I'd spent centuries burying.
Sometimes, between combat cycles, I caught glimpses of the real world beyond this digital hell.Fragmented sensory data flickered through my consciousness… cold metal against my back, voices arguing in urgent tones, and the acrid smell of burnt circuitry.Pain lanced through physical components I couldn't access, warnings from a body I no longer controlled.These moments terrified me more than the endless combat.They were brief reminders that I existed beyond this prison, that my physical form was being used for purposes I couldn't prevent.
