The glowing neon of Riga’s skyline reflected in a puddle as Aleksei stared at the strange link on his monitor. He had been searching for a way to play the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, but the local stores were sold out. Then, he found it: He clicked "Download."

The progress bar didn't crawl; it raced. Within seconds, his room began to hum. A low, rhythmic vibration rattled his keyboard. Suddenly, the screen didn't just show the game—it bled green light.

"Watch it, kid! You're blocking the line of sight!" a gravelly voice barked.

"The Foot Clan has hijacked the local servers," Leo explained, drawing his katanas. "If we don't clear the malware by sunrise, the whole city's grid goes dark. You ready to earn that high score, Aleksei?"