Neon Rush {M/M} ❀

Ch.24.1 Bonobos Loose from the Zoo

Zef's panic rose.

>>Where are you?

The string of texts that follow make no sense at all. They may as well be a cypher. Zef is no Alan Turing. He can't crack the code while bringing out canapes. He sends anxious messages to Damo trying to explain, but of course she's already on it.

>>I was monitoring him, but he's gone dark. Just infiltrated the hotel cams. Looking for him.

It takes an alarmingly long time for someone who can process several terabytes of data at a time.

>>Okay, had to review old footage 'cause he's not visible on cams. He's in the bathroom, third stall on the right.

Zef hastily excuses himself, instructing another server to cover for his restroom break. He makes a beeline for the bathroom, past the backs of men at urinals. Thankfully, the hotel holds huge conferences so there are several rows of stalls, not just a single one with a fucked up door like ninety percent of men's bathrooms. He taps his knuckles softly against the door of the third.

Gray says, "Occupied," in a strangled rasp.

Zef feigns embarrassment like he walked in on someone. "Oh, sorry!"

Gray recognizes his voice. The latch on the door clicks, and Zef slips inside, locking it behind him and turning the hologram off so Gray knows it's really him.

It's hard to wrap his head around what he's seeing at first. The hologram of the generic server replaces the real Gray in a disconcerting flicker like a radio signal fuzzing between stations. Gray holds the edge of the stall in a white-knuckled grip, his other hand knotting in his hair, expression twisted. The glow of his tattoos, when not hologrammed away, blaze under the foundation.

"My gild," he rasps, quiet so no one can hear. "Think it's— I don't know. It was fine, and now." He stops talking. A tendon strains in his neck.

Zef touches his shoulder to comfort him, but Gray flinches. He's not straining to control his gild; he's holding in a scream of agony. It's a miracle he managed to get to the bathroom without attracting attention. He can't go back to the diners like this.

Damo:

>>It's hard for me to diagnose the problem remotely, but his implant data is all over the place. Something's messing with it.

"Can't be the server hologram," Zef murmurs. "He's had that on for hours before—"

The correlation hits him.

"It's her," Gray whispers. "She's done something— rigged her gild to fuck up mine. It started right before her speech."

Zef's blood runs cold. "If it's some kind of short-range wave her gild is giving off, does that mean she knows you're here?"

Gray's wan expression doesn't change, his head shaking stiffly. "D-don't think so. Would have sent a goon by now. Probably a— a preventative measure."

Damo pipes in. >>My firewalls should block any kind of detection, but I don't want to get cocky. They'd normally block any kind of hacking attempt like this, but Rylan designed your gild for subjugation by hers. Might be rerouting the signal through the new data fort.

"Any chance of figuring it out in a hotel toilet?" Gray hisses.

>>I thought the 'you need to get the fuck out of there' was implied.

Gray winces. "Haven't finished what we came here for."

"I'll do that," Zef says.

"No. Not alone."