He walked into a sex shop called "Chrome & Flesh," its entrance flanked by flickering holographic dancers. The air inside was thick with the scent of cheap perfume, recycled air, and a faint, chemical tang of sterilization fluid. The walls were lined with body mods of every conceivable type, displayed in sterile, glowing cases: shimmering subdermal light patterns, textured skin grafts, and a dizzying array of genital cybernetics.

The person at the counter was a bored-looking young man with chrome-rimmed eyes and a data-port on his temple that pulsed with a soft blue light. He didn't look up from his datapad as Ray approached.

"Bolt-On Bravado," Ray said, his voice a perfect imitation of the goon's.

The man sighed, finally looking up. His eyes scanned Ray's shabby appearance with disinterest. "The 3000 series or the 4k?"

"4k," Ray said.

The kid grunted, tapping a few commands on his datapad. A small, automated drawer slid open behind him. He pulled out a sleek, vacuum-sealed package and tossed it onto the counter. It was a sterile, medical-grade box with a transparent window showing the penile implant nestled in black, velvet-like foam. The branding was aggressive, all sharp lines and bold, chrome letters. "Bolt-On Bravado 4000: Confidence you can install."

"3400 credits," the kid said, his attention already back on his datapad.

Ray sent his credits. The payment went through. He took the package, stuffed it into his jacket and walked out, melting back into the neon-drenched streets.

The apartment was quiet when he entered, the only light coming from the city outside. He found his mother, lying on the couch, her datapad resting in her hand, her expression calm and watchful. On the floor, leaning against the couch, was Alyna. She sat before a towering computer, a monolith of matte-black composite placed on the coffee table. Her NexPort cable snaked from behind her ear, plugged directly into the machine. Her eyes were closed, her face serene, almost as if she were sleeping.

Lina offered him a faint, tired smile. Alyna, without opening her eyes, gave a small, lazy wave.

Ray took a seat on the couch next to his mother. "Looks like you two have been busy," he said.

"Her, mostly," Lina said, nodding toward the still figure on the floor. "A few hours after you left, she bought this new computer. She calls her Nox. She's been like that ever since."

Ray glanced at Alyna. This changed his plans a little.

Lina held up her datapad, the screen glowing softly. "She linked it for me. So I can see what she's seeing."

Ray leaned over. On the screen was a world of impossible, breathtaking beauty. A vibrant, crystalline city hung in a sky of swirling nebulas. And soaring through that impossible sky, banking between glittering towers, was a massive, elegant red dragon. On its back, her hair the color of ice and her clothes looking as if they were woven from spun glass, was Alyna. She was playing some kind of game.

For a few moments, the only sounds in the apartment were the soft, velvet hum of the new computer and the distant, muted wail of a city siren, a lonely sound that bled through the walls. Then, with a soft sigh that seemed to carry the weight of a long journey, Alyna's serene expression shifted. Her eyelids fluttered open, her bright, sapphire colored and intelligent eyes, slowly re-focusing on the room around her. She unjacked from Nox, the interface cable retracting with a soft, satisfying click.

"Hey," she said, her voice a little hoarse, because she hadn't used it in hours. She stretched, a fluid, cat-like motion that uncoiled the tension from her frame, and then grinned, her face alight with an energy that seemed to crackle in the dim room. "You're back."

"Just got in," Ray said, his own voice sounding flat to his ears after the day's events.

She scrambled to her feet, her movements quick and effervescent with an excitement she couldn't contain. "You will not believe the processing power on this thing. I spent the last few hours just… flying. The rendering is flawless, with zero latency. It felt more real than walking down the street." She gestured wildly at the silent black tower, her hands animated. "I flew on a dragon. A. Dragon. I could feel the wind, the heat from its scales, everything."

"I saw," he said, nodding toward his mother's datapad, where the final image of the dragon was still frozen on the screen. "Looked impressive."

"It was," she breathed, her eyes shining with the memory of it. She took a step closer, her energy finally calming as she took in his appearance. "So, how was the turbo intake job? Client pay up?"

A faint voice, a cold echo of the snap's final, desperate memories, whispered in the back of his mind. Insufficient Funds. A warning. He felt a strange, paranoid prickle, a sense that they knew he was lying. He could see it in the careful, neutral way his mother watched them over the rim of her datapad, in the way Alyna's question felt just a little too casual, too bright. But he played his part. It was the only part he knew how to play.

"Yeah, it was fine," he said, the lie feeling like ash in his mouth. "Greasy, but the credits cleared. Just a long, dirty day."

He stood up, needing to create distance. "I'm gonna go take a shower. Wash the city off."

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In the bathroom, he didn't use the water. He simply stood in the middle of the bathroom, the door sealed, and then, he commanded his nanites. They moved like a silent, grey tide over his outer layer. The nanites that formed his clothes reconfigured, the dark coat and pants flowing like liquid metal and reforming into a simple, soft pair of grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt. And the nanites that formed his gloves sunk into his body. The transformation was seamless.

When he came out, Alyna was waiting for him. An old movie was paused on the screen of his old laptop—a pre-Collapse action flick full of cheesy one-liners, practical explosions, and actors with real, unaltered faces.

"Movie night," she announced, patting the empty space on the couch beside her. "Mom's choice."

Lina, sitting on the other end, offered a small, tired smile. "It's a classic with real stunts and none of this AR nonsense."

Ray sat between them, a strange island of cold machinery absorbing the radiant warmth from their bodies. They watched in comfortable silence for a while, the flickering light of the movie playing across their faces, casting long, dancing shadows on the walls. He watched Alyna get drawn into the story, her eyes wide, her lips parted in a small 'o' of surprise at an explosion. He watched his mother, her expression softer, a nostalgic fondness in her gaze as she watched a world that no longer existed. His internal processors flagged the hero's actions as 'tactically unsound,' yet Alyna and his mother seemed captivated.

After about twenty minutes, Lina stirred, her body stiff.

"Alright," she said softly, pushing herself up from the couch with a quiet sigh. "This old woman needs her sleep." She paused as she moved into her wheelchair, placing a gentle, warm hand on Ray's shoulder for a moment. Her touch was a question he couldn't answer. "You two have fun." She turned and wheeled herself into the quiet darkness of her room.

The apartment suddenly felt much larger and much quieter. The absence of his mother's steady presence was a palpable void. Alyna leaned her head on Ray's shoulder, her focus on the movie, but her presence was a warm, grounding weight against his side. He watched the screen, not really seeing the action, just content in the simple and peaceful moment.

After the movie ended, after the hero had saved the day and gotten the girl, Alyna took his hand, her fingers lacing through his. "Come on," she whispered, and led him to their room. The narrow, cramped cot that had been shoved in the corner was gone. In its place was a larger futon, thick and comfortable enough for two people to sleep without their limbs constantly bumping.

Alyna pulled him down onto the futon, her lips finding his in the dark. The kiss was soft, familiar, a question and an answer all at once. For a few moments, he let himself get lost in it, shutting down his analytical subroutines and focusing only on the tactile data: the softness of her lips, the scent of her hair, the simple, human act of touch. Her hands moved over his chest, fumbling with the hem of his t-shirt, trying to pull it off.

He carefully moved her then, shifting their positions so he was hovering over her, taking the opportunity as her hands were momentarily trapped between their bodies.

Now. He issued a silent, internal command. The soft material of the shirt flowed, thinned, and seamlessly merged with the rest of his body. To her touch, warm and pliant, it would feel as if he had simply removed his shirt in the dark. A perfect deception.

He lowered her back onto the futon, his own movements careful, almost rehearsed. He had a new piece of hardware to test, the "Bolt-On Bravado". He activated it. At first, his rhythm was off, too eager, too mechanical—a machine trying too hard to imitate a feeling that he no longer had access to. Alyna, sensing his awkwardness was gentle. She guided him with her hands on his hips, with the soft, encouraging shift of her body, pulling him out of his head and into the familiar, shared rhythm they had found so many times before.

The lights of the city outside painted shifting patterns on the walls as they moved together, a silent, intimate ballet. But for Ray, inside, there was nothing. No building tension, no flush of heat, no release, no physical pleasure. He was a machine performing a function.

A sophisticated tool designed to provide stimulus. His body, from the neck down, was a ghost mimicking the act of being alive, his mind a pilot monitoring feedback and adjusting performance for optimal results.

But then Alyna let out a soft, breathless sigh, a small, happy smile touching her lips in the dark, and everything changed. The cold, analytical part of his mind went quiet. All the thoughts, they all faded away.

At that moment, he was not a machine. He was the man who had made her smile. The mission was a success.

Later, as she lay curled against his side, her head on his chest, her breathing soft and even, she pressed a gentle kiss to his simulated skin. He felt the pressure, registered the temperature change, but the feeling itself was a distant echo.

Still, a strange, quiet happiness settled in his own chest. It wasn't an emotion; it was the logical satisfaction of a completed task. He could do this for her. He could give her this peace.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, a silent promise in the dark. He would be whatever she needed him to be.

They lay like that for a long time, bathed in the cool, shifting light of the city that bled through the blinds, casting shifting, geometric patterns across the ceiling. The silence between them was charged, full of everything they hadn't said, everything they were too afraid to ask. Finally, Alyna stirred, lifting her head slightly to look at him, her dark hair spilling across his chest like a silken shadow.

"Ray," she asked, her voice a soft murmur against the quiet hum of the apartment.

"Hm?" Ray hummed, his own voice a low rumble.

In the dim light, his OptiRange optics could see her expression shift with perfect, painful clarity. The way she bit her lower lip, the way her sapphire eyes moved to the side, not quite meeting his, as she tried to find the right words, to assemble a question that felt too monstrous to ask.

She was afraid to ask, but she had to. And Ray, with a sinking, inevitable feeling, knew what was coming.

Sooner or later, she would have found out, he thought, a cold, detached part of his mind analyzing the situation. Despite the seamless deception of his nanite skin, there were some fundamental truths he could not fake. He could simulate warmth, but not a pulse.

He let her find her courage. He owed her that much.

"Why can't I hear your heartbeat?" she whispered, the question so quiet it was almost lost in the distant hum of the city, yet it landed in the silence between them with the force of an intercontinental missile.

Ray looked up at the clean white ceiling, the small room suddenly feeling alien and confining. He didn't answer immediately. He had a thousand lies he could tell, a hundred deflections he could use to protect her, to protect himself. But not to her. Not anymore.

It is time. No more lying.

He activated his KRYPTLINE-X Z-Dragger. His thoughts accelerated into a blinding, silent storm. A universe of data flooded his consciousness as he searched for the right words, the right sequence to explain the impossible. The upgraded neural accelerator was a beast, far more powerful than the old model he'd used before. It was faster; it was cleaner and more stable. The energy consumption was higher, but the efficiency was breathtaking. He glanced at the blue energy bar at the edge of his vision—it dipped from 99.5% to 99.2%, a minuscule price for this god-like speed of thought. He sorted through a hundred possible conversations in a single, silent second, discarding each one until he found a path that felt like the truth.

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