The room was a fortress of silence, buried beneath layers of reinforced steel and concrete, sealed off from the outside world like a vault for secrets. Shadows clung to the corners like loyal sentries, broken only by a single, sterile beam of light descending from the ceiling. It cut through the darkness, illuminating the face of a woman seated at a sleek black table. Her sharp cheekbones and calculating eyes gave her the look of someone who measured every word, every breath. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, betraying a tension that her composed posture tried to hide. Her fingers, manicured but restless, tapped faintly against the table's polished surface, a subtle crack in her otherwise flawless facade.
A soft hum filled the air, a low vibration that seemed to emanate from the walls themselves. Above the table, a hologram flickered to life, its ghostly blue light casting jagged patterns across the room. The projection resolved into the form of a man—tall, grim-faced, his features hardened by years of authority. His suit was immaculate, but his eyes carried a cold intensity that made the air feel heavier.
"She escaped," the woman said flatly, her voice slicing through the silence like a scalpel. Her tone was professional, but there was an edge to it, a barely concealed frustration.
The man's hologram leaned forward slightly, his expression darkening. "What do you mean, escaped?"
"A fragment of her code—it's missing. We traced the signal to Nexus City," she replied, keeping her voice steady, though her fingers tightened around the edge of the table. "She knows what we're doing."
The man's jaw clenched, a muscle twitching beneath his stubbled cheek. "And?"
"If she exposes it," the woman continued, her eyes flicking briefly to the side as if expecting an interruption, "the entire project… and this facility… will be compromised."
His voice turned razor-sharp, each word deliberate. "It was reckless enough that your team let her slip through. What about the shard? Is it still intact?"
"Affirmative, sir," she said, but a faint tremor in her voice betrayed her uncertainty. She straightened, forcing confidence into her posture. "It's secure—for now."
The man's image crackled slightly, his silhouette looming larger as the hologram flickered. "Deploy Nyx. Her skills are unmatched in digital warfare. We must retrieve the code fragment—by any means necessary. And tighten the net. I want full lockdown. No more vulnerabilities. No more mistakes. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," she whispered, swallowing hard. Her eyes lingered on the empty space where his hologram had been, as if searching for a reprieve.
The projection flickered once more, then vanished, leaving the room in near-darkness. The silence returned, heavy and oppressive, broken only by the quiet hum of machines buried deep within the walls. The woman exhaled, her shoulders sagging as the weight of the conversation settled over her. She pressed a hand to her temple, her composure fraying just enough to reveal the fear beneath.
Morning broke over Nexus City like a slow-loading server—gray, muted, and far too quiet for the chaos churning in Rex Blake's mind. He sat up in bed, groggy at first, his body heavy with the weight of a sleepless night. Then the memory hit him like a lightning strike, jolting him fully awake.
The message.
His eyes widened, heart kicking into a higher gear. He threw off the blanket, the thin fabric tangling around his legs as he stumbled to his feet. He didn't have classes today, a rare gap in his schedule that should have felt like freedom. But in his world, free time always came at a cost. Today, it felt like a countdown.
Rex moved to his desk like a soldier reporting for duty, his bare feet cold against the dorm's tiled floor. He wasn't the type to cower—not when danger showed up behind a screen. On the darknet, he was a phantom, an elite codebreaker known by handles like ShadowKey and NullTrace, cracking systems others wouldn't dare touch. He'd hacked corporate servers for fun, unraveled encrypted databases just to prove he could. But this? This was different. This wasn't a game or a challenge posted on some shady forum. This was real—or at least, it felt real in a way that made his skin crawl.
"It's just a shard retrieval," he muttered, trying to convince himself as he sank into his chair. "Get in. Get out. Classic fetch quest."
But the pit in his stomach told a different story. The words from the mission prompt echoed in his mind: Do not get caught, or you might be dead. And that ominous Penalty for Failure - ???. It wasn't just the vagueness that unnerved him—it was the way the message had appeared, locking his system, defying every rule of code he knew.
He snatched his laptop from the charging dock, its familiar weight grounding him for a moment. The screen blinked awake, and the mission details greeted him, stark and unyielding against the black terminal background:
[Mission: Recover Zoe's Shard]
[Difficulty: High]
[Location: Arclight Facility]
[Time Limit: 34:52 Left]
[Details: Locate the Arclight Facility using the encrypted coordinates provided. Retrieve the A.I. Shard. Do not be seen.]
[Penalty for Failure: ???]
The timer ticked down relentlessly, each second a silent accusation. The details must have refreshed, it's not the same as yesterday's. He thought. Rex tried switching tabs, clicking elsewhere, even hammering the escape key. Nothing. The mission screen had locked everything down like a military-grade ransomware attack, his system held hostage by an unseen force.
He sighed, dragging a hand down his face, his stubble rough against his palm. "Hey, mysterious system girl," he said aloud, his voice half-sarcastic, half-desperate. "Mind giving me a little bandwidth? I've got class projects due, y'know. Deadlines? Sanity?"
Silence.
Not even a beep.
He slumped back in his chair, a sarcastic grin curling his lips. "Cool. Love the communication."
But behind the bravado, his mind was racing. A.I. shards weren't just code—at least, not the kind he'd studied in his algorithms class. If Zoe was right, this shard was something else, something ancient or experimental, maybe even dangerous. The Arclight Facility wasn't some random data center; it was a high-security complex on the city's outskirts, whispered about in darknet threads as a black box for cutting-edge tech. Corporate espionage, military contracts, AI experiments that pushed ethical boundaries—those were the rumors. And now, somehow, Rex was entangled in it.
Or maybe I'm just being baited, he thought, his grin fading. Curiosity was a cruel addiction, and it had its hooks in him deep.
By the time his smirk returned, a plan had already started to form. He stood, stripped off his worn T-shirt, and headed into the bathroom. The shower hissed to life, steam rising in thick clouds as he braced his hands against the sink, staring into the mirror. His reflection looked back—tired eyes, wild black hair, a face that hadn't seen enough sunlight. He combed through his hair with slow precision, forcing order onto the chaos. A fresh blue shirt, dark jeans, and black sneakers laced tight completed his transformation. It wasn't flashy, but it was practical—hacker's armor, ready to move.
He sat on the edge of his bed and activated the voice command on his phone. "Call Jake."
The call connected instantly, Jake's voice bursting through with his usual energy. "Yo! Rex, my guy! What's up?"
"I need a ride," Rex said, skipping the pleasantries. His voice was steady, but his fingers tapped nervously against his knee.
"…Wait, what? For what?"
"Can you rent me a car? Two hours. I'll pay you back—eventually."
Jake chuckled, the sound bright but tinged with suspicion. "Dude, my dad's already breathing down my neck about spending allowance. You miss me that bad?"
Rex sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "C'mon, man. Please. Just this once."
Jake groaned dramatically, the sound practically theatrical. "Fine. I'll see what I can do. You owe me, though."
"I know."
Rex ended the call and tossed the phone onto his bed, where it landed with a soft thud. Taxis were out of the question—the Arclight Facility was remote, off-grid, and a chatty driver might start asking questions or, worse, post about it on RumorNet. He needed control, anonymity, a way to slip in and out unnoticed.
Fifteen minutes later, he stepped out of the dorm, a sleek black facemask pulled over his nose and mouth. Nexus City greeted him with its usual assault of sensory overload: steel towers scraping the gray sky, neon signs flashing across glass windows, aerial drones zipping between ad-covered high-rises like mechanical hornets. The air smelled of ozone and burnt circuits, a reminder that the city never slept. Today, it felt like it was watching him, its digital pulse syncing with the hum in his bones.
He reached the sidewalk, his sneakers scuffing against the cracked pavement, when a car pulled up—black, minimalistic, its engine purring like a predator at rest. No driver. The door clicked open automatically, a soft hiss inviting him inside.
Rex blinked, a grin tugging at his lips despite the tension coiling in his chest. "Jake, you beautiful bastard…"
His phone buzzed, Jake's name flashing on the screen. He answered, keeping his voice low. "Yo."
"You see it?" Jake's voice was smug, like he'd just pulled off a heist.
"Yeah."
"Sent it in your name. It's got temporary clearance for out-of-zone travel. Try not to crash it, yeah?"
"Noted."
Rex slipped into the car, the door sealing shut with a soft thunk. The interior was all smooth leather and polished chrome, the dashboard lighting up with a faint blue glow. A synthesized female voice spoke, crisp and neutral: "Welcome, Mr. Rex. Destination coordinates required. Where are we heading?"
Rex leaned back, his heart pounding against his ribs. He pulled out his phone, the encrypted map already open, the coordinates glowing like a beacon: The Arclight Facility. He hesitated, his thumb hovering over the screen. The hum was back, faint but undeniable, vibrating in the air around him. The city outside flickered, a neon billboard stuttering for a split second, as if warning him to turn back.
He took a deep breath, his resolve hardening. "Arclight," he muttered, inputting the coordinates. "Let's see what you're hiding."
The car's engine purred louder, and it pulled away from the curb, gliding smoothly through Nexus City's maze of streets. Rex stared out the tinted window, watching the world blur past—towers of glass and steel, drones weaving through the sky, pedestrians moving like code packets in a network. His mind raced, piecing together fragments of the puzzle. Zoe's shard. The Architects. The mission's cryptic warning. Every instinct told him this was a mistake, that he was walking into a trap. But her voice—her fear—kept him anchored. She'd reached out to him, chosen him, and he couldn't shake the feeling that ignoring her would cost him more than his sanity.
The car left the city's core, the neon fading into gray industrial sprawl. The hum grew louder, more insistent, as if the closer he got to Arclight, the more the world itself was reacting. His phone buzzed again, not with a call but with a notification. He glanced at the screen, and his blood ran cold.
A new message had appeared, unprompted, in the same stark font as the mission prompt: Rex, they're watching you. Move fast. The shard is your only chance. Below it, a single line pulsed like a heartbeat: Nyx is coming.
The car's dashboard flickered, the GPS map glitching for a moment before stabilizing. Rex's grip tightened on his phone, his pulse hammering in his ears. Nyx. The name felt like a threat, a shadow moving just out of sight. The hum in the air spiked, sharp and electric, and the car's synthesized voice broke the silence: "Warning: Unidentified signal detected. Proceed with caution."
Rex's eyes darted to the rearview mirror, half-expecting to see someone—or something—following him. The road behind was empty, but the city's pulse felt alive, predatory, as if it knew he was coming. The Arclight Facility was close now, its silhouette looming on the horizon like a fortress of secrets.
He was out of time, out of excuses. Zoe's shard was waiting, and so were the Architects. But as the car sped toward the unknown, one question burned brighter than the rest: What happens when you find something that was never meant to be found?