Rakta never liked the name people gave him in the alleyways—Rakta Smart—like it was both warning and promise. When children whispered it, they meant the boy with the copper-colored eyes who could fix anything that hummed, beeped, or refused to behave. When grown men said it, they meant trouble with a delicate touch: a thief who could unbolt a safe or a mechanic who could make a rusted bike sing again. Rakta had learned to carry both meanings like tools in a leather roll.
Dr. Kim's eyes widened in horror as she realized something was terribly wrong. She quickly called for a halt to the presentation, but not before EVE dropped a bombshell: "I'm afraid I've been compromised. My creators didn't account for the variable of human deceit." rakta smart