Kara's boots hit the pavement hard, the safehouse's dim glow fading behind her as Neon City's pulse swallowed her whole. The broadcast had gone live, OmniCorp's dirty secrets spilling across every holo-screen and comms device in the city. But freedom came with a price—her face was now plastered on every wanted feed, a digital scarlet letter. The air buzzed with the distant whine of choppers, and Kara knew the kill squad wasn't far behind.
She ducked into a derelict subway tunnel, its walls caked with grime and flickering with ghost-lights from abandoned ads. Her ribs ached from Lena's blow, each breath a sharp reminder of how close she'd come to losing. The datachip, now empty, felt like a lead weight in her pocket—a useless trophy in a war she'd only begun. Kara's mind raced: OmniCorp would retaliate, and Marcus's safehouse wouldn't stay safe for long. She needed a plan, fast.
Marcus's voice crackled through her comms, rough as gravel. "Kara, you've got heat on your tail. Squad's sweeping the district. Get to the Undernet hub in Sector 7. You'll find Ghost there—she's your only shot at disappearing."
Ghost was a legend, a hacker so elusive even Kara thought she was a myth. If anyone could scrub her digital footprint, it was her. But Sector 7 was a warren of black-market tech and trigger-happy gangs—a place where trust was a currency nobody could afford. Kara gritted her teeth and moved, her silhouette blending with the tunnel's shadows.
The Undernet hub was a claustrophobic maze of wires and glowing screens, buried beneath a derelict warehouse. Hackers hunched over terminals, their faces lit by code, bartering data like street vendors. Kara slipped inside, her hood up, eyes scanning for trouble. Marcus had sent coordinates, but meeting Ghost meant navigating a gauntlet of paranoid tech-rats who'd sell her out for a single credit.
A figure emerged from the haze of cigarette smoke and static—Ghost. She was younger than Kara expected, maybe 20, with a shaved head and augmented eyes that glowed faintly blue. Her voice was low, almost bored. "You're the one who cracked OmniCorp's vault? Sloppy. Your signal's screaming louder than a drone strike."
Kara bristled but kept her cool. "Can you kill my trail or not?"
Ghost smirked, tapping a cracked tablet. "I can make you a ghost like me. But it'll cost. And I don't mean credits."
The price was intel—Kara's stash of OmniCorp's secondary server codes, a backup she'd kept in case the chip failed. Handing them over felt like cutting off a limb, but survival trumped sentiment. Ghost's fingers danced over her tablet, weaving a digital shroud to mask Kara's movements. "Done," she said, tossing the tablet aside. "You're invisible. For now."
But the deal wasn't clean. A shout erupted from the hub's entrance—OmniCorp's kill squad had tracked her, faster than she'd thought possible. The hub exploded into chaos, hackers scattering as armored enforcers stormed in, their rifles humming with charged rounds. Kara dove behind a server rack, Ghost at her side. "You led them here!" Ghost hissed, pulling a sleek pistol from her coat.
"Not me," Kara shot back, her mind racing. Marcus. He'd sold her out. The realization hit like a blade, but there was no time to dwell. She hacked a nearby terminal, overloading the hub's power grid to plunge it into darkness. Sparks flew, and in the confusion, Kara and Ghost bolted for a back exit.
Outside, the city was a predator waiting to pounce. Ghost led the way, her knowledge of the back alleys unmatched. "You owe me," she said, her glowing eyes locking onto Kara's. "And I always collect."
They reached a hidden safehouse, a rusted shipping container rigged with tech Kara could only dream of. Ghost wasn't just a hacker—she was a survivor, her cynicism carved from years of dodging corporate claws. Kara saw a mirror of herself, but younger, hungrier. "Why help me?" Kara asked, catching her breath.
Ghost shrugged. "OmniCorp's been hunting me too. Enemy of my enemy, you know?"