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Marcus shouldn't be this close to the main event.

His access permissions were trash-tier, flagged two cycles ago for "suspicious engagement patterns." The system should have blocked him from the premium livestream entirely, but the signal from the substratum lead him right here.

Maintenance always had security holes, anyway. Too many simultaneous viewers. Too much processing load. The system prioritized streaming quality over security.

So, Marcus lurked in a low-visibility viewer slot. Just another anonymous face in the massive audience.

And he witnessed everything.

Sarah hung above the streaming platform as a living advertisement. Suspended by chrome cables that gleamed like fresh handcuffs. Eyes locked in a dead gaze behind manufactured submission, lips still shaped around words that weren't hers.

To the suckers, she looked like salvation.

To Marcus?

She looked like what she was—a woman being murdered in slow motion while ten million people applauded.

The Architect held court below her. "I didn't build an empire. I established baseline continuity."

He let a slight pause linger.

"You're welcome."

The audience swallowed every word.

But Marcus kept his attention on the real story.

Sarah's body hung motionless in those chrome restraints. But something shifted in her expression.

A microsecond break in the artificial serenity. One moment where the glazed submission cracked. Marcus had spent years reading faces, catching the tells that liars couldn't hide. He saw it happen in real-time.

Her gaze locked onto his coordinates. Direct. Aware. A moment of genuine human contact breaking through the corporate-manufactured performance.

It was proof of life.

For one frame, Sarah Walker looked right at him, and Marcus saw the real woman trapped behind all that manufactured worship. She was still in there. Still fighting.

Trapped. Controlled. Displayed like a trophy.

But not completely broken.

Marcus had what he needed. Now he had to figure out how to reach her without getting them both sent to oblivion.

The Architect kept running his mouth. "You don't need freedom when you have functionality. You just need to trust the system."

The nodes went wild.

Marcus filtered out the noise. He wasn't waiting for more corporate bullshit. He was calculating his path to the Core.