He hesitated. He’d heard the jokes. People called it bloatware. They said it was a necessary evil, a chaotic piece of software that gave you godlike control over your hardware in exchange for occasional ghost-in-the-machine weirdness. But Leo was out of options.

Leo let go of the cord. The cursor moved on its own, hovering over the "Download Update" button. He watched his own finger reach for the mouse, not entirely sure if the decision was his anymore.

The file landed in his "Downloads" folder: AI_Suite_3_v3.00.45.zip . The moment he unzipped it, his screen flickered—just once. He blamed the driver.

The text changed: "Thermal limits exceeded. Please close the application: Biological Interface."