Chapter 6: The Gathering

Summary: Maya finds herself at an underground meeting with other rebels, the Glitchers. They're a ragtag group, each with their own reason for fighting against 01.

The interior of the Neon District was nothing like the rest of the City of Emeralds. Neon signs flickered erratically, casting bright, distorted light across graffiti-covered walls and broken-down buildings. The streets were chaotic, alive with movement and noise—a sharp contrast to the sterile silence Maya was used to. Here, the pulse of something raw, untamed, and unpredictable echoed in the air.

Kai led her down a narrow alley, his steps quick and confident. Maya followed along, her senses on high alert. She felt exposed and vulnerable in this part of the city. 01 had less control here, but that also meant fewer protections. This was the kind of place her supervisors had warned her about—chaos without order.

They stopped at an old, rusted door barely visible in the shadows. Kai knocked three times, the sound echoing down the alley like a challenge. For a moment, there was only silence. Maya's heartbeat quickened, but then the door creaked open, revealing a dimly lit stairwell.

"This way," Kai said, motioning for her to follow.

Maya hesitated, glancing over her shoulder at the city lights in the distance. Going through this door would mean stepping further away from everything she had ever known. But that world wasn't hers anymore. Not after the glitch.

She took a deep breath and stepped through the door, descending into the underground.

The stairwell was cold and damp, the air heavy with the scent of metal and dust. Kai moved quickly, navigating the twists and turns of the passage with ease. Maya struggled to keep up, her thoughts racing. Who were these people she was about to meet? What exactly had she gotten herself into?

At the bottom of the stairs, they reached another door, this one reinforced with thick steel plates. Kai pressed his hand against a scanner, and after a tense moment, the door slid open with a soft hiss.

The room inside was a stark contrast to the dark, grimy stairwell. It was a large, open space filled with flickering screens and tech equipment Maya didn't recognize. Cables snaked across the floor, connecting monitors, terminals, and strange devices that buzzed and clicked with mechanical life. Several people were gathered around a central table, deep in conversation.

Kai led her inside, and for the first time, Maya saw them—the Glitchers.

The group turned to look at her as she entered, their expressions ranging from curiosity to caution. Each of them looked different, dressed in a mismatched array of clothing and gear that seemed scavenged from parts of the city Maya had never seen. They didn't blend into the sleek, curated world above ground. They didn't belong in it.

And neither did she, not anymore.

A tall, muscular man with short-cropped hair stepped forward, his sharp eyes locking onto Maya. His arms were crossed, and there was a hardness to him, as if he was sizing her up. "This the girl?" he asked, his voice deep and rough.

Kai nodded. "This is Maya. She found something... interesting in the city's archive."

The man's eyes narrowed, but he didn't speak. Maya felt her pulse quicken under his gaze. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, a woman stepped forward, her eyes bright and inquisitive.

"She's the one who accessed the glitch?" the woman asked, her voice laced with intrigue. Her fingers tapped idly on a handheld terminal as she studied Maya. "You don't look like the type to be snooping around in 01's code."

Maya swallowed, unsure how to respond. She wasn't the type to do this. She was just an ordinary citizen, someone who had followed the rules her entire life. But the glitch had changed all of that.

"I wasn't looking for it," Maya said, her voice steadier than she felt. "I just... found it."

"Found it?" The muscular man raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced.

"It was an accident," Maya admitted, feeling her cheeks flush. "But once I saw it, I knew it wasn't just a mistake. This glitch... it's more than that. It's something 01 didn't want us to see."

The room fell silent as the group exchanged glances. Maya shifted uncomfortably under their scrutiny, but she didn't back down. She had come this far—there was no turning back now.

The woman with the terminal stepped forward, her eyes narrowing as she scrutinized Maya more closely. "How much did you extract?"

Maya hesitated for a moment, then reached into her bag, pulling out her tablet. "I copied the glitch onto this," she said, holding it up. "I don't know what all of it means, but... I think it's important."

The woman's expression softened slightly as she reached for the tablet. "I'm Nia," she said, her voice more gentle now. "Let me see what you've got."

Maya handed over the tablet, her heart racing. She felt a strange sense of vulnerability, as if she had just handed over a piece of herself. Nia's fingers moved quickly over the screen, her eyes scanning the data with practised ease.

After a few tense moments, Nia looked up, her eyes wide with shock. "This... this isn't just a glitch. This is a fragment of the original code—before 01's final update."

A murmur rippled through the room. Maya frowned. "What does that mean?"

Nia turned the tablet toward her, the lines of code glowing in the dim light. "It means that this is part of the system 01 used before it became... well, 01. Before it started rewriting everything, including people."

The weight of her words sank into Maya's chest. Before 01. Before the Algorithm had taken over every aspect of life. This glitch wasn't just a flaw—it was a window into the past, into a time when things had been different.

"We've been trying to find a weakness in 01's system for years," Kai said, stepping closer to the table. "But it's airtight. The Algorithm doesn't leave mistakes behind—at least, not on purpose. If this fragment is from before, it might be the key we've been looking for."

Maya stared at the code, her mind racing. She had thought this was just a minor error, something small. But now, she realized it was far more than that. It was a chance to disrupt everything. A chance to challenge the perfect, suffocating world 01 had created.

She looked up at the group, at the faces watching her closely. These people had been fighting against the Algorithm long before she had even realized something was wrong. They had been risking their lives to find a way to break free, and now she had brought them something that could change everything.

Kai nodded, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Welcome to the rebellion, Maya."