NANITE

Johnny glanced at the door. "Go call Red. I need to talk to him. After that, you can head out." He waved Ray away, his attention already shifting to the myriad problems that demanded his attention, the business that never slept.

As Ray walked out of the office, he exhaled a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. His shoulders eased. The burden wasn't gone, but it felt... lighter. Johnny always knew the right thing to say—not to fix the pain, but to make it bearable. To remind Ray, in his own gruff way, that he wasn't entirely alone in this concrete jungle.

Ray headed out, the city's perpetual twilight already settling in, to pick up some food on his way home. Some ramen in foam cups. Cheap, salty, and filling—a quick, familiar fix that fit the scraps of his budget. He had a few NEX stashed in a repurposed spice tin under his bed, cash scraped together from odd tips and spare change. He used what was left to pay for the food, and just like that, his meager savings were back to zero. He didn't have any more cash. He'd have to see Julia soon—convert the last of the credits on the shards he had tucked away.

When he stepped into the apartment, the door creaked its usual mournful greeting. The lights flickered before holding steady, casting a pale, uneven glow across their small living space. A faint hum came from the broken radiator in the corner, a sound so constant it was almost part of the silence. The air smelled of old fabric, his mother's meds, and a faint, lingering trace of antiseptic. His mom, Lina, was lying on the couch, a worn-out tablet in her hands, its screen flickering every few seconds with some newsfeed or cheap game. She looked up as he entered, her face brightening with a smile that made Ray feel both warm and profoundly guilty.

"Hey, Ray, are you alright?" she called, her voice thin but clear, lifting her gaze from the screen.

"I'm just a little tired, that's all," he replied, forcing a half-smile. The exhaustion in his voice wasn't just from work, or the lack of sleep his body no longer craved. It was the weight of things unspoken, the relentless pressure of survival, the bone-deep ache from years of carrying too much.

He set the ramen on the small, scarred table and walked over to her. On the way, he grabbed the wheelchair leaning against the wall, unfolded it with a soft, practiced click, and gently helped her into it.

"You don't need to. I can put myself in the wheelchair," she said, her voice thin, almost embarrassed, a familiar protest.

Ray didn't answer. He just nodded slightly, lifting her with a care honed by years of practice. Her frame felt even lighter than before, more fragile. He hated that.

He wheeled her to the table, then took his seat across from her. She whispered a quiet prayer under her breath, a ritual that had survived years of hardship. He remembered when they used to pray together—back when his dad was still alive, when there was more laughter in the house than silence. But after his father's death, his mom's illness flaring up, and the ugly, brutal things he'd seen growing up on the streets, the prayers began to feel hollow to him. Useless. Still, he never stopped her. He let her believe. It was one of the last things she had left, a small flickering candle in the overwhelming darkness.

He peeled back the lid of his cup and blew gently on the steaming noodles. They were still too hot for a normal person, but whatever had happened to his body, whatever the injector had rewritten in his biology, made the searing heat no longer bother him. He could feel it, but it didn't burn. Another small, chilling testament to his transformation.

They ate in silence for a while, the steam from the ramen curling in the dim kitchen light like ghosts. It wasn't much, but they were together. That, at least, felt real.

"It's been a while since we've had a quiet evening like this," Ray said, the words softer than he intended, as if afraid to disturb the fragile peace that had settled over their small, dim kitchen. The steam from their ramen cups curled between them, momentarily obscuring the harsh lines of their reality.

His mother nodded, her eyelids fluttering for a second as she caught her breath, a small, familiar struggle. "So, how's everything going with work? Anything exciting happening lately?" Her voice was light, but her eyes, when they met his, held a familiar, searching quality.

Ray paused, the question settling heavily in his chest, a lead weight. Exciting? He thought of the alley, the injector, the impossible healing, the chilling discovery of his silent heart. "Work's been busy," he said, the lie feeling thin and inadequate. "But nothing too out of the ordinary. Just trying to stay on top of things, you know?"

Lina looked at him, a small, knowing smile touching her lips. "You look just like your father when you lie."

Ray managed a faint chuckle, but his gaze dropped back to his noodles, the steam suddenly feeling like a shroud.

"Is there something on your mind?"

He hesitated, the truth a dangerous, unformed thing. "Nothing, Ma. Just another night shift." The excuse felt flimsy even to his own ears.

Her eyes searched his face, a mother's intuition seeing past the carefully constructed facade. She knew there was more, but she didn't press. Instead, she bit her lower lip, a habit he recognized—the precursor to words she wasn't sure she should voice. She knew. She knew what he did to keep them afloat, the risks he took in the city's underbelly. They'd argued about it countless times.

"You need a real job," she'd said, her voice laced with a fear she tried to hide. "Something safer."

But the arguments always ended when Ray mentioned the pay, the crushing cost of her medication. It wasn't just pride that drove him; it was stark, brutal necessity.

Ray had never finished high school. This city, Virelia, didn't offer the luxury of second chances or easy paths. Johnny and Julia had helped them out more than once—financially, medically, emotionally—their kindness a lifeline in a sea of indifference. But relying on them, on anyone, didn't sit right with Ray. He couldn't stand the feeling of being a burden, another mouth to feed, another problem to solve.

So he took whatever job Johnny offered. Started cleaning the HQ building, running errands, making deliveries. Quiet stuff, at first. But over time, as he proved himself capable and discreet, the tasks grew riskier, more important. He became a courier. For four years, he never missed a single drop.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Until yesterday. The day he almost died and was reborn.

They continued eating in a silence thick with unspoken anxieties. The food was bland, synthetic, but there was a fragile comfort in the quiet, in their shared presence. It was a small thing, this meal, but it eased the tightness in Ray's chest, just a little. For a moment, he let himself breathe, let the crushing weight of his new reality recede.

After they ate, Ray headed to his room. He sat on the cold concrete floor, staring blankly at the exposed, stained ceiling. The room was dim, lit only by the weak, flickering LED bulb on the table. The silence pressed in around him, heavy and close, amplifying the frantic thrum of his thoughts. He closed his eyes for a moment, just long enough to feel the familiar tightness in his chest, the phantom ache of a heart that no longer beat. Then, slowly, he stood.

In the far corner of the room sat an old electric toothbrush—cheap, scuffed, its bristles worn, long since repurposed for scrubbing grime from his boots. He picked it up, weighing it in his hand, seeing it now not as a tool, but as a test.

He sat back down, cross-legged on the cold floor, and took a deep, steadying breath he didn't technically need. He focused, reaching inside himself, trying to recall the strange, consuming sensation from when his computer had been… absorbed.

Suddenly, his right arm rippled. It began as a subtle itch beneath his skin, like a swarm of invisible ants crawling through his veins. Then it surged—a mass of shifting, living metal flowing up from his elbow, engulfing the toothbrush in a silent, inexorable tide.

In its place, a rush of raw data flooded his mind: the internal specs of the toothbrush, the coil strength of its tiny motor, the battery voltage, the exact weight distribution, the materials used down to the alloy composition of its cheap plastic casing. It wasn't just information; it was understanding, intuitive and absolute. He could rebuild it from memory, from scratch.

He stared at his hand, now returned to its normal, fleshy appearance. "Now what do I do with it?" he murmured, the question echoing the larger, more terrifying uncertainty of his existence. It wasn't just about the toothbrush. It was about everything.

He sighed and grabbed his battered old laptop, flipping it open with fingers that still trembled slightly. He logged into PulseFeed, his favorite social media platform, a constant stream of city noise. The usual feed scrolled by: news of gang wars, vapid influencer ads, public arguments that devolved into digital shouting matches. Just noise.

But as his eyes moved across the screen, something strange happened. He remembered everything. Every headline. Every comment. Every click. It was as if the information was being tattooed directly onto his brain, a complete, indelible record of all data he encountered. There were no gaps. No forgetfulness. His mind had become a perfect, horrifying archive.

A loud, sharp bang on the door shattered the moment.

Ray snapped upright, his body tensing, the laptop clattering shut. He opened the door. His mother was in her wheelchair, hands folded neatly in her lap, her usual tired smile gracing her lips. But standing just behind her, an unexpected presence, was Julia.

"Sup, kid," Julia said, giving a small, almost imperceptible wave. Her voice was casual, but her eyes, sharp and analytical, were already taking him in.

"Hi," Ray replied, a knot of apprehension tightening in his gut. What did she want?

"Julia just arrived. She said she needed to talk to you," his mother explained gently, her gaze soft with concern.

Ray nodded, his mind racing. "Give me a minute," he said and turned quickly back into his room, closing the door behind him. He knelt before his bed, reaching underneath for a small, dented metal box. Opening it with care, he peeled back the rags protecting its meager contents. At the bottom lay a collection of shimmering data shards—his last real assets. He pocketed them, stood up, and walked out to meet them.

Julia and his mother were chatting quietly in the living room but stopped when they saw Ray emerge.

Julia gave a nod to his mom. "We'll talk outside, Lina, if that's okay," she said, her tone polite but firm. Ray followed her out into the dim, echoing hallway. The air out there was cooler, tinged with the mechanical whir of the building's aged, failing ventilation system. A flickering light buzzed overhead, casting brief, dancing shadows against the mold-stained walls.

"I think I might know what happened to you," Julia said as they headed for the elevator, her voice low and serious.

Ray pressed the call button and, out of habit, gave the panel a light slap to encourage its reluctant cooperation. The old lift groaned, then began its slow, shuddering descent, the floor vibrating beneath their feet.

"Have you ever heard of nanites?" Julia asked, glancing sideways at him.

Ray frowned slightly. "Kinda. Little machines, right?"

"Exactly. Tiny machines that modders use to install high-end modifications—especially neural mods that need incredibly delicate connections. They're also used for self-repairing tech, advanced regeneration protocols, even experimental anti-cancer treatments. Real bleeding-edge stuff. Mostly corporate, some military."

Ray nodded slowly, absorbing her words, a cold understanding beginning to dawn. The elevator dinged, its doors creaking open, and they stepped out into the grimy alley behind the building. The quiet hum of the city loomed just beyond a wall of old brick, a constant, oppressive presence, mixing with the distant sound of maglev trains and far-off emergency sirens.

"But," Julia continued, lowering her voice further, her expression unreadable, "the scans I ran on you don't match any standard nanite behavior I've ever encountered or read about. Yours are too widespread, too numerous, too… integrated. They don't form any recognizable diagnostic frameworks. And they definitely shouldn't allow for the kind of shifting you described."

Ray kept walking in silence, Julia's words coiling tighter in his chest, a cold serpent of dread.

"So what am I supposed to do?" he finally asked, his voice barely above a whisper, the question hanging heavy in the damp air.

They passed a small, twenty-four-hour street kiosk. Julia ducked inside, emerging a moment later with a pack of cheap cigars. She lit one with a shaky flick of her lighter, the flame briefly illuminating her troubled face, and took a slow, deliberate drag as they continued down the sidewalk.

She exhaled, a plume of acrid smoke curling around her. "I can't offer a fix yet, Ray. We need more data. A lot more. Come by my clinic later. We'll run deeper tests. Off the main grid, if you know what I mean."

She handed Ray a cigar from the pack and lit it for him. He took a hesitant puff, letting the harsh smoke fill his lungs. But there was nothing—no dizziness, no familiar sting in his throat, just a strange heat and a bitter, chemical aftertaste. His body didn't react.

"I think I'm resistant," he said, staring at the glowing tip of the cigar with a detached curiosity. "If not immune. This stuff doesn't do anything to me anymore."

Julia looked at him, then quickly glanced away, a troubled expression flitting across her features. Her hand twitched slightly as she took another drag from her own cigar, too fast, too deep.

Ray lowered his voice, a new urgency in his tone. "I absorbed an electric toothbrush. And then... I saw everything about it. The specs, motor power, battery voltage, weight, materials. Every single detail. Like I had designed it myself." He tapped his temple, his eyes wide with a mixture of fear and awe. "It wasn't just data. I could understand it. Intuitively."

Julia stopped walking abruptly. She flicked her cigar to the ground and crushed it beneath the heel of her worn boot with a decisive, angry movement.

"Of course," she muttered, more to herself than to him. "It's gotta be bleeding-edge freak tech. Experimental. Maybe some rogue prototype strain. Not even corporate. Military, maybe. Or black market. Something that was never supposed to see the light of day."

Her eyes, sharp and intense, locked on his. "You need to be careful, Ray. Incredibly careful. Whatever this is... if the wrong people find out what you can do, they won't see a person. They'll see property. A weapon. A resource to be exploited. Or eliminated."

Ray didn't answer. He couldn't. But in the heavy silence that followed, something cold and metallic settled in his chest. Like chains tightening, binding him to a future he hadn't chosen and couldn't yet comprehend.