Chapter 48: Epiosde 47: A Phone

A spike of white-hot agony drove itself into the center of Nikki’s skull.

Nikki gasped, her eyes rolling back in her head. The breath left her lungs in a strangled wheeze.

Whatever she saw was taking her out.

“Nikki?” Adonis’s voice sounded miles away, distorted and slow.

She staggered back, clutching her head with both hands, the phantom sensation of needles pricking every inch of her skin. The memory was gone as fast as it had come, leaving behind a smoking crater in her mind and a single, terrifying feeling that she couldn’t name.

“Nikki!”

Adonis caught her as she collapsed, his arms locking around her.

“What did you see?!” he roared, his voice shaking the factory floor. “What happened? Nikki, report!”

Nikki looked up at him, her vision swimming, her face pale as the synthetic skin hanging behind her. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a whimper came out.

Something inside her had just knocked on the door.

Then she blanked out.

Some moment later, the first thing Nikki registered was the hum of the car.

She blinked, her eyelids feeling like they were weighted down with lead.

She was in the passenger seat of the black car used when coming to Tower Zero. The leather was cool against her cheek. Outside the tinted window, the gleaming towers of Sector 1 blurred past in streaks of silver and neon.

“Adonis?” she croaked. Her throat felt dry, like she had swallowed a handful of sand.

She was met with silence. Her head was pounding.

She didn’t know what the heck happened back there but she had a bad feeling about it. Very bad one.

She turned her head slowly, wincing as a dull throb echoed behind her eyes.

Adonis was driving. His posture was rigid as he gripped the steering wheel. He wasn’t in auto-pilot mode; he was manually driving, and he was driving fast. The speedometer on the dashboard was hovering dangerously close to the legal limit for a military vehicle.

“Adonis,” Nikki tried again, reaching out to touch his arm. “Hey. General.”

He didn’t flinch. He didn’t look at her. He stared straight ahead, his jaw set in a line so hard it looked like it could snap steel.

The air in the car was suffocating. It was thick with tension, that made the hair on Nikki’s arms stand up.

“I…” Nikki started, then stopped. She tried to remember what happened. “Did I pass out?”

No answer.

“Adonis, talk to me,” Nikki pleaded, her voice rising in pitch. “You’re scaring me. Did something happen? Did I break something?”

Still nothing. He was treating her like a ghost. Like she wasn’t even there.

Nikki sank back into the seat, frustration bubbling up through the haze of her headache.

Was he angry at me? Or disappointed that I don’t always listen to him?

She crossed her arms, pouting like a child who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“So you do feel anger,” she muttered, staring out the window at the passing city. “For a machine that claims to have no emotions, you sure know how to give the silent treatment.”

The car swerved.

It was slight—a micro-adjustment of the wheel—but it threw Nikki against the door.

“That is because of you,” Adonis’s voice cut through the silence like a whip.

Nikki turned to look at him, eyes wide.

“Ever since you came into my life,” Adonis continued, keeping his eyes fixed on the road, “you have been rewriting my code without my permission. You introduce variables I cannot calculate. You force my processor to run simulations that have no logical conclusion.”

He hit the brakes hard at a red light, the car jerking to a halt. He finally turned to look at her.

His blue eyes were turbulent. The [Heart Protocol] bar above his head was glitching violently, flashing between RED (DANGER) and ORANGE (ANXIETY).

“I told you,” he hissed, leaning toward her. “I stated clearly: Tower Zero is a sterile environment. It is dangerous for biologicals. The sensory input is calibrated for machines, not humans. But you…”

He slammed his hand against the steering wheel, the leather creaking under his grip.

Damn…

Nikki recoiled back. Staring at his hands that had just slammed the wheel.

“You are just too stubborn to listen to me! You insisted. You pushed. And then you collapsed. My sensors detected a neural spike that nearly fried your cortex. Do you know what my system classified that as? FAILURE.”

He took a jagged breath, and I blinked, suprrised at his outburst which was scary and at the same time fun.

“I failed to protect you because I allowed you to dictate the parameters.”

Nikki shrank back into her seat. She had never seen him like this. He wasn’t just mad; he was terrified. He looked like a man who had almost lost the only thing that mattered to him, and he didn’t know how to process the glitch in his system.

“I…” Nikki swallowed hard, the guilt crashing over her. “I’m sorry, Adonis. I just… I was curious. I didn’t think touching it would…”

She trailed off. She couldn’t explain what had happened. The memory… the pain… it didn’t make sense to her either.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered again, small and tight.

Adonis held her gaze for a long, agonizing second. Then, slowly, the red in his eyes faded back to a simmering blue. He turned back to the road, the light turning green.

“Apology noted,” he said, his voice clipped.

The silence returned, but it was different now. It wasn’t angry; it was heavy with unspoken words.

Nikki watched the route. They weren’t heading back to the mansion.

“Um,” she ventured cautiously after five minutes. “We missed the turn for the residential district. Where are we going?”

Adonis didn’t answer. He took a sharp left, heading toward the commercial sector of Sector 1, the high-end district where the elite shopped.

He pulled the armored car up to the curb in front of a sleek, glass-fronted store. The sign above the door glowed in minimalist white holographic letters: NEXUS TECH.

“Get out,” Adonis commanded, killing the engine.

Nikki blinked. “What? Why? Are you dumping me here?”

“Do not be absurd,” Adonis muttered, opening his door. “Come.”

He walked around and opened her door. He didn’t carry her this time, but he offered his arm, his grip firm and supportive as she stepped out onto the sidewalk. Her legs still felt like jelly, but she managed to stand.

He led her into the store.

It was like stepping into the future. The walls were lined with the latest gadgets, neural interfaces, holo-watches, and communication devices that cost more than Nikki’s entire life earnings in Sector 4.

The staff, all humans dressed in crisp uniforms, looked up in alarm as a 7-foot General in full military regalia marched in with a disheveled redhead on his arm.

“General A-01!” The store manager rushed over, bowing slightly. “This is an honor. We didn’t receive a notification of your inspection. How can we—”

“I require a communication device,” Adonis cut him off, his voice back to its cold, commanding timber. “Top tier. Military-grade encryption. Unlimited data access. Now.”

The manager paled. “R-right away, sir. We have the new Omni-Link 9. It just released yesterday.”

He scrambled behind a counter and produced a sleek, matte-black box.

Adonis took it. He didn’t ask the price. He just tapped his wrist against the payment scanner.

Beep. [TRANSACTION COMPLETE]

“Come,” Adonis said to Nikki, steering her out of the store before she could even look at the display models.

They were back in the car in under three minutes.

Adonis sat in the driver’s seat, holding the box. He didn’t start the car immediately. He sat there, turning the black box over in his large, gloved hands.

“Adonis?” Nikki whispered. “What is this?”

He took a deep breath softly in the quiet car.

“I calculated the variables,” he said quietly, looking down at the box. “My initial protocol was isolation. To keep you in the house where I can monitor your safety. Where no external variables can hurt you.”

He looked up at her, his eyes soft and sad.

“But today proved that my calculations were flawed. You are a chaotic variable, Nikki. You seek input. You seek connection. And if I restrict you, you will only break yourself trying to find it.”

He shoved the box into her hands.

“Open it.”

Nikki fumbled with the lid. Inside lay a phone—if you could even call it that. It was a thin sheet of black glass that lit up the moment her finger touched it. It was beautiful.

“It is fully set up,” Adonis explained, staring out the windshield. “I have pre-loaded my contact frequency. It has a direct line to my internal HUD. If you call, I will answer. Always.”

He paused, his jaw tightening again.

“I also… I transferred the contact data from your old Sector 4 accounts. The ones the system archived.”

Nikki’s heart skipped a beat. “Roxy?”

“And the others,” Adonis nodded stiffly. “I assume you have… social dependencies.”

Nikki stared at the phone.

“You did this… because I collapsed?” Nikki asked, looking up at him.

“I did this because I cannot predict you,” Adonis admitted, his voice rough. “And if you are going to be reckless… if you are going to wander into danger… I need to know you can call for extraction.”

He started the car engine, the purr of the motor filling the space between them.

He refused to look at her, his cheeks tinged with a faint, simulated flush of embarrassment.

Oh…. That’s new.

Nikky suddenly thought as she saw Adonis show emotion she didn’t know existed in his hud.

“I am sure you have people to reach out to,” he grumbled, putting the car into gear. “Here. Take it.”

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