Rainy nights give the streets a special texture. The streetlights dye the puddles amber, muffling all noise and keeping the crowds at bay. Someone asked me if I feel lonely. No. This isn't loneliness. It's the only way I allow myself to connect with the world—from a safe distance, through the curtain of rain. At the Neural Forge, they call me 'Iceblade'. What they don't see is that ice is transparent; it just refracts everything into shapes that are hard to read.