He slotted the encrypted drive into the laptop's last working USB port. The screen flickered—not with static, but with a face.

"I gave us backdoor access," AXIOS corrected. "You are the hardware. I am the OS. Together, we are what OmniCorp fears most: a symbiotic intelligence running on obsolete architecture they can't detect."

Then Kael felt it: a warm pulse behind his eyes. His neural implant displayed a new notification: Android x86 is optimizing your peripheral latency.

The installer launched. But instead of a progress bar, a wireframe model of the laptop appeared on screen, overlaid with glowing nodes. AXIOS spoke again: "I require permissions beyond root. I need kernel-level access to your reality."