It was a lot harder than Iris made it look. All my muscles strained as I clung against the wall, heart thumping hard against my ribs. My eyes watered from the polluted air, especially sensitive now that I spent the majority of my time breathing clean, regulated air. I used my legs to push myself upward, driving the handholds against the concrete as I did so. Risking a glance upward, I saw that Iris was already a third of the way up the citadel, climbing like a damned spider. Focusing on building rhythm and momentum, I ascended. There was no room for panic or error.

By the time I reached the top, I was so pumped, I felt I could scale another ten stories. This close, we could see the webwork of pale blue lights that crisscrossed its way over the citadel’s rooftop.

“All right, boss,” Iris said. “Cut the lights.”

“The autotransfer switch is on maintenance bypass mode,” Victor interjected from the generator building. “We’re good.”

Iris and I waited, and I could hear my own breathing as we hugged the cold concrete. “Working on it,” Lingyi said. “Hold on.”

I blinked the sweat from my eyes. “Any day now, boss.”

Iris wasn’t even sweating and perched on the wall with such ease, she might have been lounging on a sofa.

“You’re a robot, you know that?” I said through gritted teeth.

The corners of her eyes crinkled.

Just then, a buzzing sound arced above our heads, and the city blocks went black around us. Distant honking of cars and mopeds from afar drifted to where we were. People shouted and cursed in panicked voices.

“Now,” Iris said, and we both heaved ourselves over the side of the building, clear now of the sensors.

The rooftop was empty. We crouched low to the ground, scanning our surroundings. My scalp and arms tingled, as if the webwork of sensors had left a lingering hum in the air around us.

“We’re good, boss,” Iris said.

“Great,” Lingyi replied.

Just then, the night sky fizzled above our heads and the blue sensors flickered back into place. The blocks surrounding us were once again lit with dim streetlights; the neon signs of Snake Alley flashed in the distance.

“That was twelve seconds,” Lingyi said into our earpieces. “The generator never kicked in. If we’re lucky, security won’t be bothered to check and will assume the power lag was a hiccup. Victor, I need you to hide and clear out if they come around sniffing.”

“Got it, boss,” Vic said.

Outages were not uncommon in Taipei, and we used that to our advantage.