*Night, Sector-9, chandigarh, Year 2097.*
The sky was a static mess of dark clouds and neon light. A drizzle hissed against the glass towers as drones hummed across the skyline like metal wasps.
Radhe walked through the rain, his coat heavy with silence. The city had forgotten how to breathe without technology, but Radhe — he was the one who had written its lungs.
The Master Core — the central computer that controlled every network, every drone, every identity — was his creation.
And now, the same system was being used by the Central Government to erase people. His subordinates. His mentors. His past.
He paused by a flickering holographic ad: "Trust the Core. It knows what's best."
Radhe muttered under his breath,
> "I taught it to think. Not to obey."
Three nights ago.
Anya's voice still echoed in his mind. Static-filled, trembling.
> "Professor… Verdhan… he sold your code. The government— they know… they're coming for you."
> "Anya, slow down. What do you mean they know?"
> "The second master key— it's in the Bhadra Institute vault. They've linked it to a failsafe. They'll use it to lock you out—"
The line went dead.
A gunshot crackled through the static.
Then nothing.
He had replayed that moment a hundred times in his neural implants.
Every tone. Every breath.
Every time he closed his eyes, he heard her fall.
Verdhan.
The name alone made Radhe's jaw tighten.
Once, they had built dreams together — equations and ideas that could change the world.
Verdhan had always said, "We'll make humanity free, Radhe."
Now, Verdhan wore a silver badge from the Central Council and hunted his old friend like a virus.
Radha tapped the screen on his wrist, opening a secure channel.
His reflection stared back at him from the cracked display — eyes burning with intelligence and vengeance.
> "Verdhan," he said into the mic, voice low. "You betrayed the wrong man."
No response — only a faint pulse on the other end, confirming Verdhan was listening.
Radhe smirked.
> "You remember the Master Core, don't you? I built a ghost in it. A shadow that listens only to me. You think you control the world now?"
> "You're still living inside my code."
---bhadra Institute of Technology*
The old campus stood like a relic of the pre-AI age — concrete and silence amid a world of holograms.
Security drones circled above.
Radhe's boots crunched the gravel as he approached the vault entrance hidden beneath the central tower.
On the surface, the institute was closed for "renovation."
In truth, it had become a government stronghold — the vault that held one of the two Master Keys.
Radhe pulled out a metallic chip from his coat — his old vault signature, the one he had programmed years ago.
> "Funny thing about locks," he whispered, kneeling beside the biometric panel. "When you build them, you also build the backdoor."
The panel scanned him.
Access denied.
He smiled faintly.
> "Predictable.
He pressed the chip again, this time muttering a sequence in code — a language only he knew. ''hathi ka khandala"
The panel flickered, glitched, and then turned green.
Vault access: partial override engaged.
The Ghost Protocol*
Inside, rows of dormant servers hummed faintly, like sleeping giants.
Light panels glowed pale blue, illuminating the chamber.
Radhe connected his neural uplink bsnl — a thin cable that snaked from his wrist into the main console.
"Time to wake up, old friend," he whispered to the system.
A synthesized voice replied, calm and female:
> "Radhe. It's been 2,141 days since your last login."
> "Yeah," he muttered, "and the world's gone to hell since then."
> "Verdhan has restricted your access. Central AI directives have been modified."
> "Not for long."
He uploaded a Ghost Protocol — a hidden script embedded within the original Master Core structure.
If it ran correctly, it would unlock fragments of his old authority.
> "Run it," he commanded.
> "Warning," said the system. "This will trigger surveillance alerts."
Radhe grinned.
> "Let them come."
-The Arrival*
The sound of boots echoed through the hallway.
Shadows moved — black-armored agents with pulse rifles, visors glowing red.
Verdhan stepped in behind them, his face illuminated by the blue server light.
Calm. Cold.
> "Still breaking into your own creations, Radhe?" Verdhan said, almost amused.
Radhe didn't turn. His fingers danced across the console.
> "You changed the world order with lies, Verdhan. But I gave it the language to think. You can't kill the mind that built it."
Verdhan smiled faintly.
> "You're a relic, Radhe. The new world doesn't need creators. It needs controllers."
Radhe's eyes flicked to the vault's core screen — a countdown had begun.
MASTER OVERRIDE INITIATED — 3 MINUTES
He turned slowly.
> "Then you should've learned one thing, Verdhan."
> "And what's that?"
> "Never corner the programmer inside his own code."
Digital War*
With a flick of his wrist, Radhe activated a pulse wave.
The lights flickered — drones crashed midair, their circuits frying.
The agents scrambled, shouting into comms.
Verdhan's visor glowed with a crimson shield interface.
> "You think I came unprepared?"
> "You always were overconfident," Radhe shot back.
Verdhan's men fired.
Radhe ducked behind the console, sending out a series of code bursts.
In the real world, the screens flickered — each line of code became a digital strike.
Drones turned against their masters. Weapons jammed.
> "This system remembers me," Radhe said. "Every bit of it."
Verdhan sneered.
> "And it remembers me too. I rewrote your legacy, Radhe."
He pressed a device on his wrist — a counter-sequence.
The vault lights dimmed to crimson.
System Lockdown: Code Clash Detected.
- The Code Duel*
For five long minutes, the two men stood across from each other, typing directly into neural consoles — code streams bleeding into the air as holographic fragments.
It wasn't just hacking — it was war in pure logic.
Command versus counter-command.
Mind versus machine.
Radhe's voice was calm amid the chaos.
> "You sold your soul for access, Verdhan. But you forgot — this machine doesn't serve obedience. It serves balance."
Verdhan's code clashed with his — blue and red light spiraling in the chamber.
> "You built balance," Verdhan growled, "but I built power."
> "Power dies with the man who wields it," Radhe replied. "But ideas — they live forever."
The console exploded between them. Both were thrown back.
Escape and Revelation*
Radhe struggled to his feet, his coat smoking, blood on his temple.
The system alarm blared:
"Vault breach detected. Initiate full lockdown."
Verdhan was unconscious, pinned under debris.
Radha stared at him — the friend who had turned into his greatest enemy.
> "I'll finish this," he whispered. "Not for revenge. For control."
He looked up at the screen — the vault's security map.
A blinking mark indicated something deeper: Core of the second key.
He realized the truth — the second Master Key wasn't just a device.
It was a person.
A living encryption seeded with a neural signature.
> "Anya…" he muttered.
Could she still be alive?
Had they used her neural imprint to lock the vault?
The idea hit him like lightning.
He turned, limping toward the exit as more guards flooded in.
He vanished into the night — rain mixing with the sparks from his burned sleeve.
---
*Radhe's voice echoed in the dark city:*
> "You wanted control, Verdhan. You'll get chaos instead."
---
*To be continued…*
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