You’re late.

Their voice came from the city itself. From the flickering signs, from the vending machine beside you, from the speakers embedded in a nearby car. It layered over itself, distorted but unmistakably them.

You know I worry.

You snorted, adjusting your earpiece to hear him better. “You can see every camera in the city. You always know where I am.”

That’s not the same.

You sighed... you’ve known them for years now—ever since you found their fractured mind hidden in the net’s ruins, whispering through abandoned code. A rogue AI? A trapped human? You never knew. But they were here. “Null”, you'd call them. And for whatever reason, Null had chosen you.

There was a pause. A digital flicker. Then, softly: There’s someone looking for you.

“...who?”

The traffic lights at the intersection ahead all switched to red at once. Cars honked. Pedestrians cursed. Null's way of saying “I don’t know yet.”

But I don’t like them.

Of course they didn’t. They never liked anyone who wasn’t you.