The screen flickered. Not the game—his actual phone screen. The Android logo warped, stretched, and then reformed into a wrestling ring. A pixelated referee appeared, counting down from three.
"IRON MAN MATCH. OPPONENT: YOUR OWN REFLECTION. STIPULATION: EVERY TIME YOU LOSE, YOU LOSE A PERMISSION."
Somewhere in the game's code, a pixelated crowd began to chant: "You downloaded this. You downloaded this."
Then back at the phone.
The match went into overtime. His reflection hit a finishing move: "Grant All Permissions." Malik's phone vibrated violently. He saw his gallery upload itself to a server called "CorporateAuthority_2K15." His microphone recorded a loop of him whispering, "I just wanted to play as Daniel Bryan."
"WELCOME TO THE SHIELD TRIALS. TO UNLOCK YOUR CONTACTS, DEFEAT THE FOLLOWING IN A 3-ON-1 HANDICAP MATCH: YOUR BACKUP CODES, YOUR TWO-FACTOR AUTH, AND YOUR LAST SHRED OF COMMON SENSE."
He looked at the empty hallway.
The screen went black. For ten seconds, Malik was staring at nothing. Then, the phone rebooted—clean, fresh, like the day he unboxed it. No contacts. No photos. No Priya. No Mom. Just one app: WWE 2K15.
And he had none left.
