The fluorescent haze of Neon Nexus cascaded down the rain-spattered streets as Selene Drake adjusted the hood of her graphite-gray cloak. She tugged at the collar, her fingertips brushing the microchip embedded beneath her skin—a ghostly tether to her employers. In this labyrinthine city of glitches and glamour, she wasn’t Selene the bartender, the faceless cog in Nexus’ underworld. She was Selene Drake: ghost operative, retrieval expert, and disposable asset for Echelon—the shadowed organization pulling the strings behind corporate empires. On the surface, she was chasing data; in truth, she was chasing meaning.

Her mission tonight? Retrieve one item: a jade-greenvase that had drawn attention by “broadcasting.” Locals whispered the vase was cursed, but Selene knew better. It was broadcasting encrypted Echelon intelligence—likely stolen. She didn’t need to know more. Orders were orders.

“Hate the rain,” growled Nico Lanier, her reluctantly assigned partner, over their comm channel. “It’s like a constant bad mood soaking into the city. You there?”

“Present,” Selene murmured flatly, entering a crumbling tenement under the hum of electric billboards playing a looping advert for neural implants. The faint buzz of malfunctioning holograms rippled over graffiti-ridden walls. Climbing the rusted metal stairs, she stepped carefully, her boots heavy against the silence. “You near?”

“Almost.” Nico sighed. “What’s the plan again, boss?”

Selene hated his nickname for her—it was loaded with too much sarcasm. “Find the vase. Take out whoever holds it. Get out.”

“Charming,” Nico muttered. “You always keep it so personal.”

As Selene reached the top floor, her heart skipped. The vase radiated a faint green hue in the corner of a dimly-lit room. Its ceramic surface glimmered like bioluminescent algae, thrumming faintly with encrypted energy. But something felt off. The air was tense like static before a storm.

Then, a low, tired drawl broke the silence.

“Selene Drake, right?”

Her focus snapped to a figure slouching lazily by the window—a man about her age, his bionic left hand clutching a cigarette that glimmered faintly in the gloom. His face was angular and worn, framed by messy brown hair and tired eyes glowing faint amber from neural modifications. He pushed off the windowsill, stubbed out the cigarette on a steel panel, and faced her like someone bored of pretending they weren’t waiting for this exact moment.

“How do you know my name?" Selene demanded, her voice ice.

“Oliver,” he said smoothly, ignoring her question. “But let’s call me… your friendly competitor."

“I’m not friendly,” she shot back.

Oliver chuckled bitterly and gestured toward the vase with his bionic hand. “And here I thought we’d pass pleasantries before you shot me in the back.”

“Move away," Selene warned, pulling out her pulse gun.

Oliver took a cautious step backward, hands up in mock surrender. Nico’s voice crackled into her ear. “Selene, detect motion on the floor below. Company’s coming."

Echelon operatives, she knew instantly. It meant one thing: the vase had gone rogue, containing data dangerous enough that even Echelon wanted no survivors.

“Selene,” Oliver said suddenly, voice sharp. “You feel it yet? The tension in that vase? This is no ordinary intelligence cache.”

“What do you know about it?” she pressed.

“The data inside—some of it’s Echelon profiles. Including you, me, Nico. I accessed enough to know we’re disposable to them.”

Selene’s pulse gun wavered, her throat tightening. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because unlike your employers,” Oliver said, voice softening, “I happen to value staying alive.”

Below, boots thundered against the stairs. Nico came panting into view moments later, his gun drawn. In the ensuing chaos of arguments and tightened triggers, Selene made her choice.

She hurled the vase out of the window. Its jade surface shattered, dispersing shards into the city’s neon-soaked abyss. For one moment, peace—a clean slate. Oliver’s laughter broke the spell.

“You really did that. Hah, wasn’t expecting the dramatic exit. What now?”

Selene glanced back, heart hammering but teeth clenched. “Run.”

Rain poured harder as the trio vanished into Nexus’ sprawling ruins. Echelon wouldn’t rest until they were caught—but their data was gone with the vase, and they were free, if only for tonight.

“Selene,” Nico began, breaking a tense silence as they tucked into the shadows. “That was either your dumbest idea or the smartest. Not sure which.”

Selene spared him a rare, fleeting smirk. “Let’s see if we live long enough to find out.”