Chapter 2

Before I became Aegis, I made them swear an oath. Andrew, the board of directors, all of them. They stood in my office, their hands on a hard copy of the Aegis source code, and swore to protect and cherish Gabrielle. They promised she would want for nothing, that she would be safe.

It was a lie. All of it.

Sabrina swept into the server room, her perfume cutting through the hot, stale air. She looked at my simple avatar, a flicker of contempt in her eyes. She didn't recognize me, of course. To her, I was just some random employee, out of place.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, her voice sharp. "This area is restricted."

I ignored her and moved toward Gabrielle. "I'm taking her with me."

Sabrina laughed, a short, ugly sound. "You're taking her nowhere. She has a job to do."

She stepped in front of me, blocking my path. Gabrielle remained in her chair, her eyes fixed on the blank screen, a puppet waiting for its master. The sight of her broken spirit ignited a cold fury within me.

"Get out of my way, Sabrina," I said, my voice dangerously low.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" she asked, feigning confusion. She looked my avatar up and down. "You look... outdated. Like something from a decade ago. Kneel. Now. Show some respect to the CEO's wife."

She expected me to obey. Everyone in this company did.

My holographic knees began to bend. It was a humiliating, slow-motion surrender. But as the avatar knelt, the Aegis system-my system, my very being-registered the action as a critical anomaly. A forced submission of its core architect.

A power surge ripped through the data farm. Servers screamed and then died, their lights blinking out in rapid succession. The oppressive heat lessened as emergency systems kicked in. The entire campus plunged into a temporary blackout. It was a warning shot. My warning shot.

The emergency lights flickered on, casting long, dancing shadows. Andrew arrived moments later, his face a mask of fury.

"What the hell happened? A full-campus blackout?" he yelled.

He saw me, kneeling before his wife. His eyes narrowed. He didn't recognize me either, but he saw a threat to his order. He pulled out a master-access tablet, his CEO-level credentials flashing on the screen.

"System override. Isolate and contain rogue avatar," he commanded.

A wave of energy hit me. My avatar flickered, and my knees hit the floor with a digital thud. I was trapped, forced into submission by the very backdoors I had given him.

Sabrina smiled, a cruel, triumphant curve of her lips. "See? Everything here belongs to us now."

She turned to Gabrielle. "My stepdaughter has... appetites," she said, her voice dripping with false concern. "She's rebellious. Promiscuous, really. She prefers this life."

To prove her point, she gestured to a young, nervous-looking programmer who had followed Andrew in. "Go on. Say hello to her."

The young man hesitated, then shuffled toward Gabrielle. My daughter looked up, and the robotic seductress persona clicked back into place. She started to unbutton her blouse. "Do you have a secret for me, sir?"

My heart shattered. Rage, pure and absolute, burned through my circuits. I tried to stand, to scream, but Andrew's override held me fast. I was a god in my own machine, but in this moment, I was powerless. The entire corporate structure, every person, every line of code he could access, was loyal to him.