Moonvale City HyperRail Station
Ethan Gray's neural implant pinged with security alerts as he embraced Mia Li. Her diamond-dust facemask shimmered under surveillance drones - mandatory wear for celebrities in TigerShark's facial recognition grid.
"Two days," Mia whispered through encrypted bone-conduction comms. "Then I'm done with these corporate farewell streams."
Her AI assistant Wendy materialized a holographic itinerary. "Ms. Li's vocal biometrics required for three more sponsorship exits."
HyperRail Cabin 12A
Ethan's retinal display overflowed with NeuraLink notifications:
Vincent Cross (Star Combat CEO): Safehouse coordinates uploaded. Cheng's drones tracking HyperRail.
Trent Zhu (Iron Fist Academy): Brother! The dojo's new quantum sparring chamber awaits!
Mickey "Reaper" Rourke (World Combat Champion): Moonvale's underground fight clubs beat corporate arenas. Let's brew chaos.
His augmented reality feed flickered - 87% message traffic routed through TigerShark servers. Ethan activated military-grade encryption protocols inherited from his combat days.
Moonvale Heritage District
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The autonomous sedan navigated ivy-covered streets where Ethan's childhood neural imprints lingered. Municipal AI recognized his biometrics, unlocking the gated community's retrofitted security gates.
"Welcome home, Master Gray." The smart-house AI projected his father Hank's combat stats across the foyer walls:
Iron Fist Academy Founder
**Peak Muscle Density: 98.7kg (216lbs)**
Current Weight: 102kg - WARNING: Cardiovascular risk
"Still using those Stone Age training dummies?" Hank's augmented knee braces whined as he embraced Ethan. The scent of nanite-infused muscle ointment overpowered jasmine tea.
Elder Shun descended via anti-grav lift, his VR gaming gloves crackling with static. At 88, the former VR Champion "GhostMaster" maintained his record as Moonvale's oldest neural-streamer.
"Grandmaster." Ethan bowed, catching the data chip Shun palmed him - encrypted files from his black-market neural network.
Family Reunion Protocol
Over synth-steak dinner, Hank's cybernetic eye projected combat footage: "Your eight-year-old reverse thrust technique needs recalibration."
Ethan's mother Ling, her age-defying biosculpt body belying sixty years, interrupted with art gallery holograms. "The Venice Biennale wants my quantum impressionist series."
23:47 - Moonvale Underground
In the wine cellar converted to combat lab, Ethan plugged Shun's chip into his neural interface. Government files exploded across retinal displays:
CLASSIFIED: Project Valhalla Candidate List
Ethan Gray - Status: REJECTED
Reason: Incomplete neural synchronization (Right leg prosthesis v3.2 incompatible)
Shun's raspy voice emerged from shadows: "They want compliant weapons, not artists. Time we rewrite the rules."
Outside, TigerShark drones painted the night sky crimson - their laser grid sealing Moonvale in digital quarantine.