"The game is simple," the voice echoed from the clouds. "Save the city, and you keep your life. Fail, and your digital existence—and your hard drive—is deleted forever."
The monitor flared a blinding, cinematic white. When Elias’s vision cleared, he wasn't in his bedroom. He was standing on a fractured Helicarrier suspended over a burning city. He looked down at his hands—they were encased in familiar red-and-gold plating. A heads-up display flickered in his eyes, showing his own bank account balance being donated to a local charity in real-time.
"You wanted to play as a hero," the voice rasped, sounding like a corrupted JARVIS. "But heroes don't steal. They protect."
