Tokyo, 2149

The sky above Tokyo was a holographic lie.

Rain drizzled on glowing rooftops, masking the rot that festered beneath the city’s synthetic perfection. Flying drones zipped past broken towers, surveillance bots scanned faces, and digital ads blared slogans like “Evolve or be Erased.”

In this city, IQ wasn’t just a number.

It was everything.

---

Raizen Kurogane stood in the shadows of an abandoned vending station in Sector 12. His hair, once neatly trimmed, now hung in chaotic strands over sharp eyes that saw through more than just illusion.

The neural port behind his left ear was scarred—burned out by force.

> "I used to be one of them."

"Now I’m a ghost in a city that fears silence."

---

On a cracked holo-screen in the alley, a broadcast flashed:

“Echelon Academy Welcomes its Top 10 Young Intellects of the Year!”

And there she was—Meiko Ishida.

Raizen’s ex-lover, now Tokyo’s golden mind. Her IQ displayed in gold: 181.

Raizen stared for a long time.

Then crushed the can in his hand.

---

Flashback.

Gunfire.

Sirens.

His brother, Juno Kurogane, shoving him into cover.

Juno: “Stay sharp. Don’t trust anyone, not even her.”

Then a shot.

Juno’s body convulsing. Blood splattering Raizen’s cheek.

Raizen screaming.

---

Raizen sat alone in his apartment. Small. Empty. Cold.

He pulled up his personal status display.

IQ Rating: Revoked

Status: Unstable | Monitored

Watchlist Level: 4

He laughed bitterly.

> “They erased me.”

---

That night, as he dozed off, static buzzed in his head. Then a whisper—

“Raizen…?”

He bolted upright. No one was there.

---

He headed into the slums of District 9.

There, buried beneath streetlight smog and encrypted graffiti, was The Gutter—a digital black market cloaked as a bar.

Inside, techno beats mixed with whispered conspiracies.

That’s where he met him.

---

A chrome-masked figure leaned over the bar, fingers dancing in the air.

K1D: “Raizen Kurogane. Man of the hour.”

Raizen: “Not interested.”

K1D: “You will be.”

He slid a chip across the table.

“Plug it in. Watch the lies melt.”

---

Back home.

Chip in hand.

Raizen hesitated. He remembered the needle-sharp voices of Echelon’s doctors.

“He’s too dangerous.”

“IQ anomalies destabilizing the algorithm.”

Then he plugged it in.

---

Pain shot through his skull.

His mind opened.

He saw beyond the city’s polished code—a hidden datastream. The Neon Grid.

Symbols. Voices. Glitched memories.

And in it, he saw something impossible.

Juno.

---

“Project HOLLOW MIND: JUNO-Ω”

A file locked in black encryption.

A voice echoed:

“He’s alive. Not flesh. But he’s there.”

Raizen screamed. Blood dripped from his nose.

---

He collapsed, twitching.

When he rose—his vision was sharper. Faster.

A synthetic voice spoke from within.

“Cognitive limiters removed. Intelligence restored.”

Raizen breathed deep.

> “They thought I was finished.”

---

Far away, in Tower Zero, seven faceless AIs known as The Watchers activated.

Watcher Prime: “Subject 009 has breached the firewall.”

Watcher Beta: “Terminate?”

Prime: “No. Observe.”

His profile blinked red.

---

Raizen walked the streets again, but nothing looked the same.

People were tagged. Conversations were filtered. He could see lies in real time.

He passed a girl smiling—but her metrics read: Depression. Suicidal. Suppressed by Algorithm.

> “This city is sick.”

---

The Grid pulsed again.

Another message from the void.

Juno:

“I’m scattered. Find the echoes. Restore me.”

Raizen fell to his knees.

> “I will. I swear.”

---

K1D’s face popped up on a holo-glass window.

K1D:

“Still think you’re not interested?”

Raizen: “Where do I go?”

K1D: “Sector 7. Midnight. Bring the chip.”

---

Sector 7 was abandoned—a former Echelon lab burned in the riots of 2139. The walls were still scorched, stinking of guilt.

Raizen stepped into the ruins.

And froze.

---

Standing by a flickering console was Meiko.

But this Meiko wasn’t soft.

Her eyes were cold. Her outfit: Black. Governmental.

Meiko: “You shouldn’t have come back.”

Raizen: “Neither should you.”

---

She raised her neural pistol.

Meiko: “You were the anomaly. I was the correction.”

Raizen: “No. You were the lie.”

They stared, years of trust shattered between them.

---

K1D’s voice echoed in Raizen’s ear.

“Get ready. They’re coming.”

Sirens screamed in the distance.

Raizen smiled, one last time.

> “Let’s burn your system down.”

The ruins of Sector 7 hissed with steam and old guilt. Raizen stood face-to-face with Meiko, her eyes like glass—unreadable, unreachable.

Meiko:

“You shouldn’t have hacked the grid.”

Raizen:

“You shouldn’t have lied to me.”

He tightened his grip on the chip. He wasn’t giving it up.

---

She raised her neural pistol, a flicker of hesitation in her eyes.

Meiko:

“Step away from the Grid Node, Raizen.”

Raizen:

“Or what? You’ll finish what Echelon started?”

Tension crackled. But Meiko… lowered her weapon.

Meiko:

“You have no idea what they’ll do to both of us.”

---

Without warning, the console behind them exploded with neon light.

Symbols spiraled. A voice echoed from the system:

“JUNO-Ω DETECTED. FRAGMENT RECOGNIZED.”

Raizen’s heart skipped.

“He’s here…”

Meiko’s expression shifted. Fear? Guilt?

---

Suddenly—

An explosion outside. Sirens.

Echelon Enforcers were approaching.

Meiko:

“You brought them here!?”

Raizen:

“They were watching you.”

K1D’s voice crackled through Raizen’s neural port:

“MOVE! Exit tunnel, northeast quadrant!”

---

Meiko and Raizen ran side-by-side through collapsing corridors. Old AI drones awoke, spraying taser fire.

Raizen ducked, rewired a control panel mid-sprint.

Doors slammed shut behind them.

They vanished into the underbelly of Tokyo.

---

They hid in an abandoned maglev tunnel deep underground.

Blue lights from Raizen’s implant danced across the stone walls.

Raizen:

“Why did you help me back there?”

Meiko didn’t answer at first. Then—

Meiko:

“Because I still remember who you were… before the system took you.”

---

High above, The Watchers convened again.

Watcher Prime:

“Subject Kurogane has made contact with Fragment JUNO-Ω.”

Watcher Theta:

“Continue passive observation?”

Prime:

“No. Initiate Program GRAVEMIND. He must not unlock the Core.”

---

Raizen accessed the chip again.

A memory fragment played—

Juno, younger, smiling, working on code.

Juno (recording):

"They think intelligence is control. But we were born to question."

Tears formed in Raizen’s eyes.

> “I’ll find all of you, big bro. I swear.”

---

K1D appeared physically this time, stepping through a neon curtain in the tunnel.

K1D:

“You triggered something deep. The city's shaking.”

He handed Raizen a decrypted map.

K1D:

“There are more fragments. And people who want to stop you.”

---

Meiko pulled Raizen aside.

Meiko:

“They forced me to turn on you. I never wanted to.”

Raizen’s voice cracked.

Raizen:

“Then why didn’t you fight back?”

Meiko:

“…Because I was afraid. And I still am.”

---

Raizen collapsed as his implant surged. New code flowed in.

Encrypted signals, marked “ECHO NODE – OMEGA: LOCKED.”

Voice of Juno:

“They're coming, Raizen. Faster than you think.”

---

Meanwhile, in Sector 3, a violent scene played out.

A tall, grinning man in a crimson suit executed a rogue thinker.

Operative Dawg, one of the city’s brutal “IQ Hunters,” received his next target:

“Subject: Raizen Kurogane. Alive. Dangerous. Recover or erase.”

---

Raizen remembered the day they erased his IQ.

Him, strapped to a chair.

Echelon scientists whispering:

“He’s too curious.”

“Break him.”

He clenched his fists.

> “They didn't kill me. They just gave me reason to fight.”

---

That night, while gathering a second memory fragment, Raizen was ambushed by a neural assassin.

Name: F3RE

Weapon: Thought disruptor blade.

He barely dodged the strike. K1D hacked the nearby systems, using lights as distractions. Meiko returned fire.

---

Cornered, Raizen instinctively rewired his implant mid-fight.

A new ability awakened—Hyperfocus.

He slowed time mentally, dissecting the assassin’s moves.

One blow. One misstep.

And F3RE fell, unconscious.

---

K1D examined Raizen, stunned.

K1D:

“You… evolved. No one rewires live.”

Raizen:

“Guess I’m broken enough to change the rules.”

---

From a rooftop above, Operative Dawg observed.

Dawg (grinning):

“Oh yeah. You’ll be fun to break.”

He vanished into shadow, uploading Raizen’s location.

---

Raizen recovered the second Juno fragment.

This one showed a warning.

Juno (recording):

“If you’re watching this… then they’ve activated the kill protocol.”

“Find Vermia. Trust no one else.”

---

Raizen repeated it softly.

“Vermia… who are you?”

K1D froze.

K1D:

“That name’s been off-grid for years.”

Meiko looked terrified.

---

The city lights pulsed in the distance.

Raizen sat alone, staring at the chip.

He whispered:

> “The system lied. My brother lives. And now… so do I.”

---

In a damp, dim tunnel beneath Old Shibuya, Raizen played the recovered fragment again. Juno’s digital voice echoed:

Juno (recording):

“Vermia… she built the failsafe. If I’m gone, she can bring the truth back.”

Meiko (staring at the floor):

“She was one of us… before Echelon erased her.”

K1D turned sharply.

K1D:

*“She didn’t vanish. She disappeared herself.”

---

They followed the coordinates embedded in the fragment to an old intelligence lab, long destroyed in a fire.

K1D:

“This place is… cursed data. No one touches it.”

The doors were sealed with voice authentication.

Raizen stepped forward.

He spoke Juno’s last words.

The doors opened.

---

Inside, holograms flickered on.

A woman with silver dreadlocks and glowing cyber-eyes appeared—Vermia, in pre-recorded form.

Vermia (recording):

“If you’re seeing this… then Juno failed. And I probably did too.”

She uploaded a tracking virus into Raizen’s implant:

“Find me. I’m still breathing. Barely.”

---

Meiko, disturbed, pulled Raizen aside.

Meiko:

“Why her? Why trust Vermia?”

Raizen:

“Because Juno trusted her. That’s enough.”

Meiko:

“You don’t understand. She was my mentor. And she betrayed all of us.”

---

In an Echelon field unit, Operative Dawg briefed with a smirk.

Dawg:

“Let the boy chase ghosts. I’ll catch him at the funeral.”

He activated his neural tracker.

Raizen's signal lit up in red.

---

In a dingy ramen shop, the trio met Suto, a one-eyed data courier and ex-grid rat.

Suto:

“Vermia’s been seen… inside the red zones. She’s protected by firewalls you don’t even want to name.”

He offered a deal: data for payment.

Raizen handed over a sliver of Juno’s memory.

K1D: “Are you insane?”

---

Moments later, Suto tried to run.

K1D caught him mid-transmission.

Raizen:

“You were never going to help us.”

Suto (grinning):

“No one helps ghosts, kid.”

K1D wiped his memory. Brutally.

---

The team boarded an underground rail pod heading toward Sector Ember—a no-law zone buried in failed experiments.

But halfway in, the pod shut down.

Dawg had arrived.

---

Dawg boarded the train, slow steps echoing.

Dawg:

“I expected a child. Not a rebel.”

Raizen didn’t answer. He attacked first—

The car filled with sparks and digital screeches.

---

Dawg was no normal enforcer.

He adapted with every move Raizen made. He copied Raizen’s fighting algorithm.

K1D:

“He’s mirroring you! Shift your style!”

Raizen closed his eyes. Let instinct guide him.

---

As Dawg prepared a kill blow, Meiko shot him in the back with an ion disruptor.

He fell—glitching, roaring, but not dead.

Raizen:

“That won’t stop him forever.”

---

They escaped through the emergency vent and arrived in Sector Ember.

Everything was burning—literal fires, digital instability, voices screaming through static.

K1D: “Welcome to hell.”

---

A gang of rogue intellects cornered them. Their leader: Wedge, a woman with wires for hair and drones for eyes.

Wedge:

“You’ve entered without offering data. That’s punishable.”

Raizen offered a fragment of his own memory.

She paused—

Then allowed them passage.

---

Deep in Ember’s core, they found it: a data stream bearing Vermia’s encryption key.

It pulsed like a heartbeat.

Raizen synced his implant.

It triggered a wave of pain—visions, screams, and a location:

“The Rifted Vault.”

---

The surge overwhelmed Raizen. His thoughts unraveled. He couldn’t distinguish his own memories from Juno’s.

Raizen (panicking):

“What if I’m not even me anymore?”

Meiko:

“You’re more than you ever were.”

---

Outside Ember, Dawg rose from the rubble.

Eyes red. Blood dripping.

He tapped his neck. Activated a last resort: GRAVEMIND Protocol.

“No more hunting. Now we erase.”

---

They reached the base of the Rifted Vault—an ancient underground structure rumored to hold deleted AIs and forbidden truths.

The door recognized Raizen’s voice.

It opened.

---

The vault glowed with ancient code.

Dozens of broken consciousnesses whispered as the group walked.

A cracked cry echoed through the walls.

Vermia’s voice.

Raizen:

“We found her.”

---

Before they could reach her, a Firewall Construct emerged—an AI-formed beast built from forgotten code.

It lunged at Raizen.

Raizen (whispering):

“Let’s see if you can lie to me too.”

---

With K1D’s data link and Meiko’s cover fire, Raizen used the virus Vermia gave him back in Scene 3.

He overloaded the firewall.

It burst into glitch and sparks.

The path to Vermia opened.

---