Riley Gage's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

Riley makes it three blocks before his burner phone starts buzzing. He doesn't need to check it to know what's happening. The Rats saw something. Someone always sees something on Level 13, and GiganCorp doesn't let a dead drone go quiet. He rounds the corner near the workshop and freezes. The Rats are already there, clustered under the spray-painted orange rat that marks their turf. They're not looking at him. They're looking at the massive screen mounted on the building across the street, the one that usually cycles through sponsored feeds and corporate ads. Right now it's playing footage on loop. Security camera angle, timestamp in the corner. Riley's face, clear as day, thumb pressed to the EMP detonator. The drone dropping. Xyra running. The caption scrolling beneath reads: GiganCorp Property Destroyed by Alley Rats Affiliate. The Rats turn toward him as one, and Riley sees it in their faces before anyone speaks. They think he burned them. He opens his mouth to explain, but the words tangle up with the realization that there's nothing he can say that won't sound like an excuse. One of the Rats steps forward, holding up a small metal data chip. Riley recognizes it from the timestamp. Surveillance footage, packaged and delivered. "They sent this to us," the Rat says, voice flat. "With your face on it. Said you've been working with a rival crew, hitting their assets to frame us." Riley shakes his head, trying to form a sentence, but another Rat cuts him off. "You got proof otherwise? Because they got footage of you doing exactly what they said." Riley's brain spins through a dozen explanations, each one requiring him to admit he helped Xyra, admit he acted alone, admit he didn't think about how it would look. The silence stretches too long. Someone mutters a curse and turns away. The others follow. Riley stands there, alone under the orange rat graffiti, watching the Rats disappear into the alleys. The screen keeps looping his face, over and over, with the lie underneath. GiganCorp didn't just catch him. They weaponized it. He could chase after the Rats, explain everything, beg them to listen. But the truth is worse than the lie. He helped someone outside the crew without asking, without thinking about what it would cost them. And now the one place that made him feel like he mattered just walked away. His phone buzzes again, but he doesn't reach for it. For the first time since Marcus left the auto shop, Riley understands what his brother saw. Not that Riley built dangerous things, but that he kept building without caring who got hurt. The noise in his head roars back, louder than before, and this time he can't run from it.