Ayane's eyes didn't leave the feed from the core room. She watched the ventilator duct like a hawk ever since Riku said he was going in.
On screen two tube-like cylinders were launched into the chamber. Gas poured out in a gray cloud. One by one the researchers slumped like fallen leaves. The ventilation hatch popped open and Riku dropped out into the room.
"Captain, I've reached the location safely. Over and out," his voice came steady over the comm.
Meanwhile, Riku was very nervous before the jump, though a thrill coursed through him as he emerged. Fortunately, his inbuilt masked helmet was doing its job. He saw the researchers lying on the ground.
He checked the pulse of one of them and discovered they were simply unconscious, which made him sigh in relief. Deep down, he didn't want to kill the technical guys who had worked hard to earn their degrees and had nothing to do with the larger politics.
He caught a corner CCTV and, with a grin that Ayane would see, gave a thumbs-up. He slung the target bag over his shoulder and did a quick sweep of the room.
It was magnificent. The cubical structure resembled a futuristic power source, with connected nodes pulsing faint blue waves. Even though he had some technical knowledge, this was far too advanced.. perhaps a fusion of quantum mechanics and nanotech, and definitely not his cup of tea.
But he kept that all to himself and got on with the job.
He found a suitable port, clipped his mini laptop, and chained external drives to it. .
His mini laptop acted as an interface bridge between the AI core and the external hard drives. There, he saw that the AI core status as dormant(sleep), which made it far too easy to dig in.
As planned, he copied the source code and the clone, transferring the details to the external hard drives. Following Ayane's instructions, he also attached another drive to create a separate backup copy. Everything went smoothly for thirty minutes without a single issue.
Then he tried to inject the access code and the screen changed tone.
A prompt blinked:[Any changes will apply after update. Continue?] [YES] [NO]
He hit YES.
Lines of confirmation scrolled:
[Changes successful]
[Restarting]
[Attempting to wake… handshaking successful]
[Update process initialized… 49%]
And then, a red alert:
[ERROR]
[INTRUDER DETECTED]
[ROLLBACK INITIATED]
Command prompts flooded Riku's display. An alarm bell screamed in the room. From the feeds, Ayane saw guards converge at the outer doors and trying to contact the superiors to collect status.
"Shit," Riku swore into his mic. "Kieta, can you see my screen? I need help, now. Over."
Kieta's hands flew across the laptop as he worked tirelessly. Suddenly, all control of the tower was snatched away. He had been remotely accessing Riku's mini laptop from the beginning, and now he finally realized what had gone wrong.
The moment they sent the malware disguised as a new update to gain access to the AI, the system activated. Its firewall not only detected the intrusion but deliberately allowed it to bypass—just so it could trace the root hacker, that is him.
Now, the AI had stripped him of all control, taken over the entire tower, and designated them as harmful intruders to be eliminated. It was a massive blunder on his part.
"Kieta, what the hell—Riku, incoming!" Ayane barked over the channel, her tone shifting from tense frustration to a sharp warning as new security forces stormed into the fray.
A handful of elite guards from the next inner layer poured into the corridors. Some had already been knocked out by the sedation gas, but three shadows stood out as they turned the corner and advanced toward the center.
Riku didn't give them a chance. He hurled a flashbang, leapt from the corner, and emptied his pistol until every one of them dropped dead.
The immediate crisis was averted, but more soldiers guards were already gathering in the outer layers, forcing their way in through manual unlocking.
As the guns fell silent, Kieta shouted into his comm with frustration, "We need to kill it for good. Blow it up—Fuck!"
Riku was shocked. "What? No—Captain, status? Any options?" He wasn't thinking in code now; his focus was on his hands and his aim. The stakes weren't small—this was about humanity's next leap.
Ayane's voice came as an ice. "They've opened two layers and are entering passcodes for the laser rooms. If they get through the next three, everything is done. Riku: you do it. It's either you or the AI. Over."
Riku felt a pang of guilt. He knew what they were saying, but his life came first.
"Roger that." He took out his two guns and fired multiple shots at the glass. Though the rounds made some impact, he wasn't able to break it—he needed to apply more force.
"Riku, hurry!" Ayane urged. "They've opened three layers. Fourth's next!"
"Copy." He spotted a fire extinguisher in a nearby glass case and smashed it with the butt of his gun.
Fortunately, it was weak and came out easily. He grabbed it and began bashing the outer glass of the core's body. Finally, as the glass shattered, Riku threw the only explosive he had and retreated as fast as possible.
The blast wasn't huge, but it tore the casing apart with a groan of twisting metal and shattering glass. Smoke and sparks filled the room. Some glass panels stayed stubbornly in place; a thin red pulse still traced between the nodes.
Riku cursed. He'd forgotten the mini laptop and drives in urgency to remove. It lay on the floor, still connected, its screen spidered with cracks. He crawled over, wrenched it loose, and saw the status lines through the fuzz:
[BODY DAMAGED: CRITICAL]
[HIBERNATING TO SAVE CORE POWER…]
"Kieta, what's happening? What do we do now?" Riku barked, no time for protocol.
Kieta's hands never left the keys. "You old idiot — why was the laptop still plugged in? Disconnect the drives. Now!"
Ayane cut across both of them. "Everyone—fourth door is unlocked! Hurry up!! They can get in if they bypass the next one."
Riku checked around and saw that everything was safe, but he remained worried about the guards still incoming. He took out another flashbang and reloaded his magazines. For the first time, he found himself praying for his life.
Finally, Riku felt a cold snap of relief as Kieta reported some good news with a sigh.
Kieta exhaled, "Yes! got all controls back. The last door is under control.. and locked."
Everyone sighed in relief, and a brief moment of calm prevailed.
But then came a thud-thud from the door as guards tried to break in. The door had shut just in time, right in their faces.
Kieta chimed in again, "I think this whole thing is a hoax. The actual core is safe. What we destroyed was probably just an external body."
Ayane relaxed slightly. "Perfect. Riku, can you return through the ventilator duct? They're going to blow the door. Over."
Riku checked the duct. It would need some adjustment, but it was manageable.
"Roger that." He gathered all his belongings, left the knockout grenades behind, and arranged a few chairs and crates to reach the height of the ventilator duct.
Just then, the last locked outer door blew open, and the guards poured in. They didn't have any masks, and soon they were sedated by the gas, collapsing to the floor. A few who arrived late finally saw the ventilator duct open.
The latecomers radioed, "Intruders on the floor! They're exiting via the vent shafts!"
Ayane rose from the control room and barked orders like a drill sergeant."Team, time to leave. Riku, head to the top floor—chopper incoming. Kieta, coordinate with Riku, lock corridors, delay guards. Richard, create diversion, sabotage lift on 62, stay low. Everyone else, evacuate building. Repeat: evacuate. Over."
A chorus of "Roger that" replied in unison.
"Copy and Out." She then left the command room.