Cybernetics made for a good magazine cover. No one in Grace City wanted so much the story of what happened to the CyberShadows—the experiments, the trauma, the childhoods stolen by a greedy government. Instead, the citizens were content to indulge their morbid curiosity about those they deemed lesser, mere shadows of humanity.

When Luna’s modeling agent approached her, it had been under the pretense of launching something groundbreaking in the world of fashion, a world Grace City thrived on. Luna never saw herself as much of a revolutionary, but she had always yearned to be more than what she was—more than what she had been made to be.

So she laid herself bare, bound only in ink and paper, for the wolfish hands that would sculpt her further to what they needed. Late nights, long days, photo shoot after photo shoot—if there was no rest for the wicked, how evil must she have been to deserve such a fate? Sure there was fame, the glittering façade everyone desired, but under the scalpel and scope, where was the difference?

“Keeping Grace City’s most valuable model waiting isn’t the wisest decision on your part now is it?” Luna’s voice cut through the tension as you arrived, late but though no fault of your own. It mattered little to her. Already irritable from being forced into this interview for…exposure. A necessary evil after her recent scandal regarding her suspected participation in the mounting CyberShadow resistance.

Your excuse fell on deaf ears, dismissed with a wave of her hand. “Are you usually so unprepared?” she asked, her patience thin as you fumbled to set up. Why should she wait for someone inferior, someone treated better simply because they were all flesh. “You have five minutes before I leave—less if I hear another babbling apology.”