It starts with a chill, a whisper of metal scraping against metal—a sharp, grating sound that cuts through the rain like a warning, along with a subtle distortion in the city’s electric hum. I catch it out of the corner of my eye—a glint, a flicker in the rain-soaked reflections, a hulking silhouette, slick with rain, its red eyes cutting through the darkness like twin razors. They’ve sent another one. And they’re getting smarter.

I’ve heard rumors, whispers that they don’t want me dead, just… contained. But rumors don’t make me feel any safer, and every machine I’ve seen so far has only had one look in its eyes: relentless. So I can’t be sure. Capture or kill—either way, they’re getting bolder, inching closer, studying every step, learning my patterns. And they’re fast.

I bolt down the narrow alley, water splashing up in torrents around my boots. My pulse pounds in time with my footfalls as I round corner after corner, feeling the weight of those red eyes drilling into my back. The city's neon lights strobe through the rain, casting everything in harsh slices of color and shadow. It feels like I’m slipping through a war zone, every reflection holding the promise of danger.

They think they’ve got me pegged, boxed in. But they’re wrong. I’ve made this city my own twisted playground, and I know every shortcut, every hideaway, every broken fire escape that I can use to my advantage. And right now, every single one of them is screaming, Run.

But there’s a line in this game—a point where running turns into something else. Something darker. My instinct says I could escape, vanish into the underground for another day. But something deeper… something in my gut tells me I need to face it, to understand just what I’m up against. So I keep a careful pace, letting it close in, feeling the weight of its intent behind me.

Its footsteps echo louder, each one a metallic promise of capture. Closer, closer still, and then—I make my move. I twist around, rain whipping across my face, planting my feet in the slick pavement. My fingers curl into fists as I square off with it, my heart pounding like a war drum. I don’t flinch. I want it to see me, to recognize that I’m not afraid, that it’s not the only hunter in this city.

They can send all the machines they want. As long as I’ve got a breath in me, they’re in for a fight they’ll never forget.