Saturday – 9:14A.M. | Rick's Apartment
The morning light barely filtered in.
Rick stood at the sink, brushing his teeth, staring blankly at the mirror. Foam in his mouth, but thoughts somewhere else.
It wasn't just about the drone crash anymore.
It was the pattern.
The way reality felt just a little... off lately. Like déjà vu that stuck too long. Like the world had a loose wire.
And now Ava was collecting data?
He didn't believe in coincidences. He believed in pressure. In patterns. In signs.
And something told him the universe had just tapped him on the shoulder.
10:03 A.M. | Ava's Apartment– North End
Rick knocked, expecting her usual chaotic energy.
But when the door swung open, Ava was all business. Her messy curls were tied back. She wore a hoodie and jeans. No jokes. No teasing.
"I didn't sleep either," she said before he could speak.
"Then we're synced up," Rick replied.
She let him in and motioned to a wall covered in printed screenshots, sticky notes, yarn connections — like something out of a detective drama.
"You made a murder board."
"Technically, a glitch board."
He stepped closer. Saw words like:
"Neurolock events"
"Temporal blackouts"
"Repetition syndrome"
"Memory drift victims (Confirmed: 3)"
"Event Zero?"
Rick pointed. "What's 'Event Zero'?"
Ava bit her lip.
"That's what I want us to find out."
11:12 A.M. | Campus Tech Archives
Ava talked the librarian into letting them into the restricted server room. (It helped that she offered bubble tea and compliments.)
She typed fast, hacking her way into older system logs while Rick kept an eye out.
"Got it," she whispered. "Drone diagnostics. Let's check timestamps."
Rick leaned over her shoulder.
"Here — thirty seconds before the crash. It stopped receiving remote signals… but not because the signal was lost."
Ava blinked. "It rejected the signal."
"That's not a malfunction. That's a command."
She looked at him. "Someone told it to crash."
1:33 P.M. | Café Azure
They sat in the far corner, phones off, still processing.
Rick stirred his coffee in silence.
"So what do we do? Go to the police?"
Ava shook her head.
"They'll laugh. Or worse, mark us as crazy. Unless we have something physical, they won't touch it."
Rick leaned forward, voice low.
"I think I've felt this before."
Ava raised a brow. "Felt what?"
"Like... my head was adapting to something. Like I was being tested. Everything around me changing slightly, and I was just... keeping up."
She nodded slowly. "That's why you react so fast. Not just instinct. It's like you're ahead of the moment."
Rick frowned. "I used to think it was trauma. Fight-or-flight stuff. But now… I'm not so sure."
Ava suddenly smiled.
"Rick Fyer, you might be a freaking mutant."
He rolled his eyes, but didn't deny it.
4:21 P.M. | Computer Lab B– Off Campus
Ava found a secure terminal. She tapped into old forum posts, shadow blogs, dark web rumor chains.
Rick paced behind her.
"There's a pattern to how these... 'events' show up."
"Explain."
Ava spun her chair around.
"Every incident is near a university, a hospital, or a research facility."
"Government?" Rick asked.
"Or corporate. Either way, it's organized. This isn't chaos. This is monitoring."
Rick stared out the window, jaw tense.
"And we're inside it."
Final Scene– Somewhere Unknown
Monitors flickered again.
On-screen, a live feed showed Rick and Ava leaving the café.
The same gloved hand from before clicked a remote. A new file opened:
> SUBJECT 7
NAME: RICK FYER
TRAIT: ADAPTIVE COGNITION / COGNITIVE ACCELERATION
THREAT LEVEL: UNKNOWN
EMOTIONAL LINK ESTABLISHED: SUBJECT 12 (A. CORDOVA)
A second monitor lit up.
A face leaned forward, barely visible in the dim light.
They whispered to someone beside them:
"It's happening faster than expected."