Though the speedometer is pushing 100, the car rides gentle and quiet, like the world outside is just a simulation. Jisung steers with a joystick in either hand and a pedal beneath either foot. I'm watching the flat, stark ground fly by, checking out the back window every so often, just to make sure we aren't being followed.

"Don't worry." He opens a holographic map, pointing to a lone red dot. "I'm taking a byway, we're the only patrol car within range. You can relax."

I blow out a breath, closing my eyes. Since I powered up, I haven't been able to stop twitching, even my fingers and toes, grasping at nothing. Jisung said it's because the augmentation overwhelmed my system, but I can't help feeling like it's more.

"Jisung?" I say.

"Yeah?"

"I killed some of those people back there. I didn't even feel guilty. Am I..." I squeeze my hands between my knees. "Bad?"

He doesn't answer right away, organizing his thoughts. "I'm biased. I've hurt people too. You did it for us, so we could make it out safely." He meets my eyes. "Thank you, Minho, for protecting me."

I smile, murmur a thanks.

The city takes shape beyond the backcountry, dark and towering. He pulls into a fenced lot next to a boarded-up trading post, parks behind a row of dumpsters. We leave the car behind and walk the rest of the distance into the city.

"Where do we go now?" I ask. "Any more errands to run?"

He smiles. "Not really. We can check into a hotel anytime. It'll take a while to know whether the Adrantine is rotting. Really, we could do anything in the meantime."

"Well, is there anything you like to do for fun?"

"No. I mean, yeah, of course, but..." He shrugs. "I feel like it'd be weird."

"What is it?"

"Watching the sunset."

"Why would that be weird?"

"Minho and I used to do it together. Every Saturday night."

"I dunno. It sounds nice." Sounds romantic. "Where'd you used to go?"

"We'd usually just watch from the roof of my building, but that's not really an option now. Maybe 22nd Street Bridge?"

"No idea where that is, but okay."

We wait at the station for the skytrain to come snaking down the tracks. The last car is empty save for one passenger watching the news, muted with subtitles on the holographic TV.

The train takes to the air. I fold my legs onto the seat, hugging my duffel bag, letting my head fall back. I like watching the light of the sun flicker behind my eyelids. Thankfully this time there's no stranger next to me to drool on my shoulder.

The twitching acts up again as I relax. Fuck. My robot and human parts are at odds. I want to sleep for a million years and fight an android army at the same time.

"Will I be able to sleep tonight?" I ask quietly.

"I don't know. Sleep patterns are the kind of preliminary tests we didn't bother to run. Don't worry though, I'll stay up with you if you can't sleep."

"I don't want to keep you awake."

"No, it's okay. I doubt I'll be able to sleep either. How could I? Our experiment, the Adrantine virus, if my hypothesis is correct, we'll get results by... tomorrow..."

His voice tapers out. He's staring at the TV. The news is warning of a criminal on the run, a man from the city who's wanted for everything from battery to burglary to treason. The image accompanying it is security camera footage of Jisung.

I look at the passenger sitting across the aisle. A shadow crosses his face, eyes wide, staring back at us.

He jumps up from his seat and bolts toward the exit. I run after him, grab the back of his jacket; he throws a punch but my armour shoots out to block it.

"Wh-what the fuck," he stammers.

I pin his arms behind his back, speaking over my shoulder. "Jisung, what do we do?"

He's raking his hands through his hair, pacing the aisle. "I don't know, shit, I don't know. I should have covered my damn face. They're gonna have the whole city looking for me, they're gonna find you through me."

"Let me go, let go!" the passenger shouts, struggling. I'm afraid of hurting him, I've hurt enough humans today, but if I let him go now, he'll alert the authorities. The skytrain is nowhere near its next stop — unless we jump, we're trapped.

I feel my armour flux, raring to transform. Holy shit.

I let go of the passenger's wrists. He staggers out of the car, shouting for help.

"Minho, what are you doing!" Jisung yells.

"We're getting out of here." I jam my fingers into the gap between the doors; the steel puckers, fractures and a gust of wind roars into the car. The city is hurtling by beneath me.

"What the hell, no!" Jisung grabs a pole to steady himself, holding his glasses to his face.

"If we stay here, we're fucked. I can get us to the ground."

"You haven't even— you can't—"

Unauthorized personnel approaching.

My armour whips out, jams the door at the front of the car before security can push through. They stare at me through the plexiglass window. Whatever they were expecting, it wasn't me.

I reach out to Jisung, calling him over. "We have to go. Trust me. You know I'll protect you."

His eyes slip past me, out the door. He takes a careful step forward, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Tell me what to do."

"Get in front of me, hold on tight."

He grabs our bags, heaves them over his shoulders and puts his arms around my neck, clinging to me in a death grip. I force the doors all the way open. Humans are ants, buildings are dwarfed hundreds of feet below us.

"And don't look down," I say.

I jump off the edge. We plunge through the open air, within seconds the train is far in the distance. The lashing wind fills my ears and stings my eyes.

My armour shoots out, rips through my clothes. Wings stretch across my back, airfoil plates from one wrist to the other, rods attached to my waist to keep my arms steady. The wind eases us into a glide. Jisung is like a manacle around me, mumbling frantically under his breath. It sounds like source code.

The fast-approaching city slows, buildings swerve out of our way. I tilt my arms, aiming for a rooftop covered in garden beds.

"See," I say, a little breathless, "we're okay."

Immediately I know I've spoken too soon. The roof is flying toward us and I have no idea how to land. I panic, crook my wings, stutter through the air; my armour shields him as we slam into a bed of sprouts and barrel across the rooftop.

That could have gone worse. My armour retracts and I quickly roll off him. The sun is setting, painting the sky a pretty purple.

"Hey," I say, "maybe we can watch the sunset from here."

Jisung pukes into a flower pot.

I sigh. Super romantic.