Yuki pried away the layers of digital defenses until the loading door slid open and they floated inside. A quick search of the factory database indicated some valuable processors and actuators were getting critically low. Stealing these would elicit the highest retaliatory response. She sent the info for the storage location of these items to Gus and Aurora. She wanted those sentries riled.
Gus and Aurora sped off, and Tempest let Yuki get into position before he retreated to await her extraction. A tense couple of minutes later, all hell broke loose.
It was on!
Chapter Thirty
Hack 1/Charlie X
Aurora and Gus flew past Yuki, who waited just outside the loading dock. They were traveling faster than she had ever seen psiycles fly. Sentries of all sizes and configurations followed them like a huge robotic hive had been disturbed, splitting in two and weaving out of sight as it followed the two as they fled in different directions.
Yuki activated all the stealth features of the suit and entered the factory. The facility was extremely basic in its layout. She had to make it to the core, which was, as expected, in the very center of the plant. The brain and heart of the building all in one. As such, all corridors throughout the facility led to it.
Passing the now-empty outer layers, the passageways became crowded as she entered the manufacturing portion of the factory. A couple of times she had to backtrack and get out of the way as large components that took the entire corridor were moved from one section to another, not allowing even an inch clearance on the sides.
The dampening field muffled her movements and it felt unnatural. As the activity picked up around her, the hyper-awareness of silence faded as materials clanked and settled as robot loaders of different sizes and shapes interacted with materials.
Passing deeper into the building, the inner walls, floor, and ceiling were an opaque plastisteel illuminated from within. She continued until she arrived at the mainframe control room. Seeing that it was only a Medusa class G made her smile a bit. At least five years old, her skills should be adequate for this.
Not supernally difficult, but she had no history with Serif or their AIs. That had never stopped her before. She still was a master tester for her father’s firm on the rare occasions she visited home. The programmers were always trying to stump her with difficult AIs in all types of environments.
Automated bots and even the smaller AIs had trouble with extensive lateral thinking, so they were ineffective at hacking bigger institutions. Without the capacity and versatility of one of the prohibitively expensive networks her father offered, they weren’t resilient enough to battle an AI that could adapt and modify attacks against it. It was the primary reason her father’s company had skyrocketed to the forefront of digital security.
Yuki wasn’t just a hacker though, and not just an augment either. She was a super.
Yuki steeled herself for the infiltration. Her hands trembled slightly in anticipation, more excitement than fear. She had been fighting AIs that were prototypes for all the major corporations before she was in her teens.
Never losing a possible advantage, her father had noted her gift with computers early on and capitalized on it. As one of the world’s leading developers of software and artificial intelligence, he leveraged her prowess to catapult his company CyberDynamics to the forefront of AI development, specializing in security.
She had enjoyed it more than any game. When she was “in,” she felt like all her barriers were sloughed off digitally. At first, her father would take time as they reviewed her battle technique, analyzing her methods and tactics to defeat the system. It was the first, and unfortunately only, time they bonded.
It was more than disappointing when the interactions waned and eventually she began reporting to Ludwig, whose all-business attitude made the task feel more like a deposition. Cold, clinical probing and questioning, all the while looking down his piggy nose through those ridiculously small glasses perched on the very tip. It was as if they were designed so that he could look down on others to make them functional.
Despite all that, when she was inside—she was free. The irritating things of her life didn’t apply when she was “in.” She could live out her favorite anime and manga. She had always been adept at coding, and the transition of this into AI battling was intuitive for her on a level that seemed to be difficult for others. No matter which prodigies her father managed to gather to the company, they never pushed the system to the limits like she did.
Even now, she ported in remotely and fought the latest creations her father’s company created. She would have done it even if she didn’t get paid, but she didn’t stop them from sending the embarrassing amounts of money anyway. It was a poor substitute for a real relationship with her father, but somehow it felt like sticking it to him by making him pay. For her, it was never about the money, though. Part of her wondered if it was a way that her father maintained his feeling of superiority and control over her. That if she was an employee, he would always have the upper hand.
She shook her head that he felt the need to do that to his own daughter. Still, if the illusion of control made him feel better, she would gladly take the money in case she ever needed it. That was the trick, letting others think they had the upper hand while retaining it all along. Whether she was “in” or “out,” it was all the same.
The maddening thing was, no one would ever see her like this. When immersion hacking, she felt almost like a demigod. No matter the foe, she knew how to pinpoint and determine its digital weaknesses. She had fashioned her gear with a meticulous perfectionism that pushed her to be on the bleeding edge of ultimate protection and amplification of her abilities. She would make some tweak or refinement to push the stats of her gear to make them even that much more formidable. Without the massive monitoring system at CyberDynamics headquarters, there was no other way others could watch her do what she did so well.
It was why she didn’t go into Green Faction—she would be just another cog in the wheel there. Not to mention her father’s heavy influence on their inner workings thanks to the reliance on the technology his company produced. He would forever be pulling strings if she had gone Green Faction.
In Purple she was unique, but they didn’t really know how to use her. She couldn’t prove herself in the same ways and so her assignments were unfulfilling and so far below her abilities she had questioned her choice more than once.
Before she could get too frustrated, the interface faded from orange to green as she overcame the inner defenses. And that was just to log in!
And just like that, she had bypassed the outer security firewall and could jack in directly. She rubbed her fingertips together, activating the implanted receptor pads embedded under her skin. Softly, she caressed the import jack and engaged the Charlie X protocol which would sync her access with the computer.
Unseen to the human eye, tiny Nth bridged the gap and made the connection. With a virtual *thock*, Yuki knew that the system had opened like the door of a huge keep, yawning wide before her. A thrill of anticipation shot down her spine. She loved this feeling.
Yuki activated her Slice ability and dove into the system. The Nth transmitted her consciousness into the machine, facilitating the conversion of her core personality into the environment of the system.
With a *twang*, she materialized and fell to crash onto the surface of a large building. She braced herself and executed a perfect three-point landing, absorbing the shock as bits of concrete shattered and flew away from the landing zone. Cracks spidered away from her in concentric circles but the rooftop held.
Getting to her feet, she heard the tumultuous roar of ocean waves crashing all around. The spray and mist were thrown up as water rammed against the building, becoming tinged orange in the evening sun before falling. This appeared to be some metropolis, swallowed up in some post-apocalyptic tsunami so only the highest buildings remained, skewed at different angles like a ramshackle cemetery.
A tight pre
ssure on her right shoulder reminded her of the presence of her familiar Argus. Argus had always been there from the early days of her coding, and manifested as a rudimentary interface. Just a bobbing light like a will o’ the wisp. Over time he had evolved until he resembled a miniature Transformer or Gundam.
His personality had also evolved the bit’s level, where he could only respond yes or no, to giving vague impressions akin to ‘this might be worth considering.’ Further evolutions improved his ability to communicate directly and give advice, warning against impending attacks and parsing the wild attacks and abilities she imagined into code, shaping her intentions into virtual reality.
As she looked over the edge, she saw the remnants of a large city, with skyscrapers the only remaining structures visible in the churning, swirling waters. Some tilted at odd angles and some had tipped, only being supported by other larger buildings. In this environment, it appeared like the ocean had risen about five-hundred feet, leaving only the tops of a ruined civilization behind.
A glowing yellow light caught the corner of her eye as something disappeared deeper under the waves. Yuki scanned the area, evaluating this arena and its immense size in comparison to others she had fought upon in the past, and readied her abilities.
Mist hit Yuki in a plume as something large burst forth from the surface of the white frothy waves. Bits of a metallic framework glinted in the sun as water poured out of sections of the creature that had been damaged.
A massive jaw opened, the weathered and worn steel screeching with a deafening shriek as the creature articulated and parts of its framework scraped against each other. Intact sections were coated with sharp, jagged sections of coral, giving the appearance of fins along the back of the appendages that separated from the body of the monster, fanning out like a hydra, and undulating in unison. Creatures scuttled along the surface like ants.
Through open sections of the outer surface, bright yellow shone through, the creature somehow holding in its molten blood despite the breach.
Yuki activated her Data-mine ability and squinted at the small creatures. As she expected, they were not simple sea-life living inside the coral, they were active minions that were part of this AI boss’s defenses.
Deathapods
HP: 250/250
MP: 100/100
Active Attacks:
Buzz Saw (Passive): Slashing damage (variable), must be initiated by Kraken.
Swarm (10MP/activation): Stop prey by attaching securely while alive to cover and overwhelm target. Reduces Dexterity .5/deathapod. (Effect stacks.)
With a whip of two tentacles, some of the creatures spun towards Yuki.
She activated Overclock and her perception of time slowed the environment around her, the crablike creatures resembling buzz-saws as they tucked their appendages inward and the sharp barbs on their shells spun like saw-teeth as they flew towards her with alarming volume and in different directions.
She leaped into the air and jumped on the nearest creature like a stepping stone. Their carapaces were slightly rounded but Yuki was able to jump from one to another. She flipped and twisted to avoid the barrage of spinning deathapods, one of the tails of her modified qipao being neatly sliced away as she arched her back to vault over the incoming mobs. The slice of fabric evaporated in a flash of pixels, leaving the revealing outfit a little draftier than before.
She pirouetted and leaned back, kicking incoming crabominations, directing them back at the tentacles. They sped off in real-time and sunk deep with meaty *thunks* as their barbs dug deep into the metal, sometimes tearing through and sailing into the waves beyond. Occasionally one would explode in a burst of pixels as she scored a critical hit with the sharp heel of her boots. They would be utterly impractical in the real world, but here, she could look good and kick some ass.
While she flowed and moved, Argus pummeled incoming deathapods with beam weapons, slicing neatly through those outliers that were approaching on erratic vectors, making the way clear for his master.
There was a brief respite and Yuki pressed forward. She sped ahead, running horizontally along the floating deathapods, pushing off and sailing through the air.
Holding her hand out to the side, she activated Zanbato BFS, which materialized an obnoxiously large sword with a triangular hooked tip. She crashed into the creature, where she plunged the zanbato into the end of the tentacle, her momentum pushing the blade deep into the surface. Coral exploded from the impact, spraying bits away, revealing the rusted metal beneath.
Holding her arms back, she ran down the length of the tentacle, dragging the zanbato as it carved a deep furrow along the length of the flailing appendage. Gobbets of molten metal flew as the sword burned through it like butter, hissing angrily as they hit the wet surface of the tentacle.
The depth of the zanbato served to anchor her as the creature swung the arm back and forth, trying to flick her off. Streams of the molten blood shot out of the gash, cooling and hardening into metallic shapes with swoops and curves.
I am an artist of death! Yuki thought with mirth as she wreaked havoc on the beast.
In reply, the Kraken dove suddenly, the crash of water hitting Yuki like a wall. The blast of water cooled the molten metal spurting out and locked her zanbato in place, a large glob of steel anchoring it in place despite her attempts to pull it free. Pain exploded in her ears as the water pressure increased, feeling like two icepicks.
She screamed NEGA TYPHOON! Bubbles streamed from the corners of her mouth as the ability activated. Water repulsed away from her, forming a barrier a foot away. Yuki spat and coughed up salty water, flicking her wet hair out of her face with a quick neck whip.
Downward the Kraken dove, and the darkness quickly swallowed her, the only illumination was the yellow ports where the creature’s blood illuminated the murk. Gritting her teeth, Yuki began to yank the zanbato back and forth, attempting to free the blade. Metal began to crumble next to the blade and glowing yellow material dribbled from the breach. With Nega Typhoon keeping the water away, the metal could not cool and the blade was soon free.
Yuki didn’t know where this AI was taking her, but she didn’t want to find out. She plunged the zanbato back into the tentacle and ran around its circumference in a spiral pattern, circling towards the main body. Light flared then was quickly doused as the leaking blood supercooled as her protective bubble retreated from the molten material.
The tentacle frayed as it was systematically spiralized. The damaged tentacle ripped free and gouts of metal flooded out, forming glowing red cloud-like shapes as the blood cooled and fell away. The Kraken continued its frenetic dive faster than the metal could be pulled down through the water.
Yuki almost lost her grip when the Kraken rammed into something at full speed. One shoulder was definitely wrenched and she took 87 HP of damage, but she managed to stay clinging to the zanbato. The creature then wormed along the rocky underwater floor, twisting in an attempt to scrape her off.
She crouched down and held on tight, plunging the zanbato a little deeper and lowering her center of gravity. The sudden changes in direction lifted her off the back of the creature more than once, while she clung desperately to her weapon. Data-mine revealed that this tactic was slicing off chunks of the AI’s sizable HP pool. Her efforts had taken off about a third of the total but her options felt very limited as she hung on for dear life.
That was the problem challenging a virtual god to a battle in their universe. They controlled the where and the physics of the fight. The problem with gods was that they often underestimated everyone but themselves. And usually this was enough, due to the huge power discrepancy.
Yuki clenched her fists around the zanbato, letting fury build up inside her core.
Don’t you ever underestimate me!
Chapter Thirty-One
Holding in the World
Yuki blazed with anger and let out the compressed rage that she had been taught to hold deep down inside, funneling that energy into her att
ack.
“Data Kicking Inferno!” she yelled, and poured all the energy straight into the breach by her sword which had slightly sealed as she had stopped moving. The gout of energy lit up the surrounding structures and illuminated the craggy rock wall in the trench they were scuttling through. The area of impact began to implode and crumble inward like a sinkhole. As Yuki’s zanbato was freed, the force of the attack propelled her away from the Kraken.
Upwards she soared, propelled like a rocket through the water. The heat of the beam created a plume of steam and released dissolved gasses which hid the combatants from view. Yuki kept feeding her fury into the attack. She hadn’t tapped into this energy for a while and she had much more available than she was expecting, a wicked grin spreading across her face.
She shot out of the water just as the power started to ebb, and her momentum propelled her high enough that she made an easy landing atop one of the tilted towers. The euphoria that attack generated was beyond most things she had ever experienced, and part of why she loved battling AIs. Her body thrummed with the residual resonance. Releasing that toxic yet powerful energy caused a refractory relaxation that was second to none. The subconscious wrestling of the fury beast could ease. For a while, at least.
The release also served to purge her system. The mental sludge that accumulated over time, like the gunk in drainage pipes, was blasted away, resulting in a temporary increase in her mental stats: perception, intelligence, and charisma. She smirked, remembering how she had thought charisma was a useless stat to boost in a battle, until she felt a surge of confidence and security in the scope of her abilities that allowed her to push past the fear of fighting an impossible foe. The boosts would only last a short time; she needed to use them to their best advantage.
Her mind focused, she peered at the bubbling water below. Steam and large air pockets burst the surface in a stream. A telltale furrow and large wake followed the Kraken as it sped back to engage her again. Data-mine revealed that despite her ultimate attack, the creature was still at 40% max health, which equated to over 200,000 HP still remaining! She needed to get this creature out of the water and fight on her terms or she would run out of juice. Plus, the longer this took while “in,” the more time was passing on the “out,” and the chances for detection went exponentially higher.
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