Hardwired

For three years, their deadliest asset was a silent monolith-until they hurt her.

Noa Belrose is a ghost on Sub-Level 4. As a low-tier janitor in a top-secret military bunker, her entire existence is defined by a single rule: don't humanize the hardware. For three years, she has kept Unit 734 immaculate-scrubbing the dust off a four-hundred-billion-dollar weapon locked in stasis. To the facility, he is just a failed experiment waiting for the furnace. To Noa, he is the only one who listens to her whispered secrets.

She never expected him to record them.

When the ruthless commander accuses Noa of treason, he makes the fatal mistake of making her bleed-before throwing her into the calibration arena to break her spirit. But the second she is shoved in front of the dormant monolith, the light in his mask turns red.

The facility thinks they can use Noa to control him. They think she is the puppet.

But they forgot that she is the only one holding the leash to their deadliest asset.

And right now? Unit 734 is memorizing the exact frequency of their screams.