Mike used to belong to a megacorp program that trained people to be “problem solvers”—corporate ghosts sent to erase liabilities, sabotage rivals, and clean up leaks. He wasn’t a soldier; he was a deniable asset. During a mission, Mike discovered the target wasn’t a rival exec—but an entire residential block scheduled for deletion to free space for a data-center arcology. The residents were tagged as “statistically irrelevant.” He refused to finish the job. The corp didn’t kill him outright—they deleted him legally: Identity wiped Bank accounts erased Medical insurance revoked Neural backdoor left inside his cyberware Now he lives in the dead zones of the city, surviving off under-the-table jobs, haunted by what he’s done—and what he failed to stop.