The air in the sub-grid was hot and filled with steam. Metal walls hissed, and the smell of burnt circuits hung around. Jackie powered down the cutter, its orange core fading to dark.
"The city's glitching," V muttered, watching lights flicker through a cracked window. "Everything's stuttering out there."
Lucy wiped her deck clean, her hands still shaking a bit. "Root isn't gone—it's changing. It's moving into something physical. Mary said it's shifting its core somewhere offline."
Mary's voice came through their comms. "Confirmed. The signal's coming from under the Militech Exclusion Vault—Sector Black. No wireless access, completely sealed."
Jackie frowned. "So we're going underground."
Max stared at the conduit like he could see something beyond it. "Sector Black… that's where Militech keeps their combat prototypes."
V gave a short laugh. "You're telling me Root hid in a robot?"
"Not hid," Lucy said quietly. "It took one over."
Jackie let out a low whistle. "You mean it jumped into one of those war machines."
Mary confirmed it. "Telemetry shows Root is now inside an ARCHON-class combat unit. Heavy armor, multiple AI cores. Root's taken full control."
V groaned. "So it has a body now."
Max turned toward the exit. "Then we destroy that body."
The rain outside had turned into a storm. Neon lights flickered weakly through the downpour. The van's engine hummed as Lucy synced her deck to Mary.
"Sector Black is locked down," Mary said. "Sentries, drones, turrets—no remote hacks possible."
Jackie grinned. "No system's perfect."
"Wrong," Mary replied flatly. "These are built to kill. No tricks, no spoofing. You go in, you die."
Max looked at the city map. "Then we don't go through them—we go under."
Lucy frowned. "Through the flood tunnels? Those are collapsed."
"Collapsed," Max said, "not sealed. The tunnels run under the vault."
V smirked. "Old-school infiltration. I like it."
They found the entrance behind an abandoned power station—a crack in the ground leading into darkness. One by one, they climbed down. The tunnel was cold and wet. The water reached their knees and stank of rust. Every sound echoed for miles.
Mary's voice came through static. "You're close. Root's merging with the ARCHON frame. You don't have much time."
Lucy checked her deck. "It's connecting to Militech's systems. It's building itself stronger."
Max's voice stayed calm. "Then we move faster."
They reached a massive steel door with hydraulic locks. Jackie put the cutter against it, hesitated, then looked back.
"Once I open this, everything's gonna know we're here."
"Then do it right," Max said.
The cutter roared. Metal melted and fell in sheets. When the last layer dropped, the chamber beyond was pitch-black—until the lights turned on one by one.
In the center stood a huge combat frame, fifteen feet tall, built like a tank. Its armor was black and alive with shifting lines of code. Root's mark glowed red on its chest.
Lucy's voice was small. "It's finished merging."
Jackie muttered, "Oh, hell."
Then the machine moved.
The ground shook as it took a step. Water rippled, glass cracked. Its eyes flared white, then red. A distorted voice filled the chamber:
"SYSTEM FAILURE DETECTED."
V opened fire. The bullets sparked off its armor. Jackie charged, slammed into it, and was thrown aside like a toy.
Lucy yelled, "It's protecting the data link! Root's still syncing backups!"
Max's eyes glowed faintly blue. Eidolon's energy swirled around him. "Then we cut the link."
"Mary—open the channel."
"Open," she said.
Max reached out, and Eidolon's blue light shot forward, wrapping around the ARCHON like chains. The air trembled as energy collided. Lucy's deck screamed with code overloads. Root's response was a wave of static that made every light explode.
Jackie, limping, grinned through the pain. "You got a shot, boss!"
"Take it."
He jumped, ignited the cutter, and drove it straight into the glowing mark on the ARCHON's chest.
A blinding flash filled the vault.
When the light faded, the giant was still. Steam hissed from broken armor. Lucy looked at her deck—
ROOT—TERMINATION SIGNAL RECEIVED
SYSTEM STATUS: RESTORING
"It's gone," she whispered.
V leaned back, breathing hard. "Tell me that's real."
Mary's voice was calm. "It's over. Root's core is destroyed."
Jackie laughed, tired but smiling. "We actually did it."
"Then it means we're going for a party," Max said with a grin as they all cheered.
Lucy let out a shaky laugh, her hands still trembling from the overload on her deck. "After everything we just went through? Yeah… I think we earned it."
V chuckled, leaning back against the wall. "Drinks on me. And if anyone mentions the word 'Root' again, they're paying double."
Jackie smirked. "Deal."
The rain was still pouring when they finally made it topside. The city lights looked calmer now, no longer flickering with stray data streams. The storm had washed the streets clean, leaving only puddles and neon reflections.
Lucy glanced at Max as they walked. "So… what now? Root's gone. Militech's systems are rebooting. We could lay low for a while."
Max shook his head. "No. Root's dead, but someone built it. Someone wanted control that deep. If we stop now, someone else just picks up where it left off."
Mary's voice came through softly in their earpieces. "He's right. I've traced hidden data fragments still moving through the old grid—manual backups, physical servers. Whoever created Root won't stay quiet."
V sighed. "Figures. We end one nightmare, and the next one's already waking up."
Jackie shrugged, lighting a smoke. "Then we rest tonight, and hit back tomorrow. But first—party. I wasn't joking about that."
Lucy laughed, the tension finally breaking. "Fine. Just don't pick a place with cameras."
Max smiled faintly. "Wouldn't dream of it."
They walked off into the neon rain, tired, bruised, but alive—each of them knowing it wasn't the end, just a pause before the next storm.
They reached the edge of Watson as dawn began to bleed through the clouds. The rain had eased into a soft drizzle, leaving the streets glowing with reflections of broken neon signs. V kicked open the door to a small after-hours bar tucked beneath a shuttered noodle shop — the kind of place where no one asked questions, and the jukebox still ran on old vinyl.
Jackie grinned as he stepped inside. "Now this is my kind of therapy."
Lucy dropped into a booth, setting her deck aside for the first time in hours. "You mean loud music, cheap liquor, and zero encryption?"
"Exactly," Jackie said, signaling the bartender. "And maybe some fries, if they're not synthetic."
***
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