Before Dawn*
"Shit!" exclaimed Cortana as she appeared in the QPC cyberspace of the apartment, exciting Eco, who had been alone until that moment, and causing him to start barking with joy.
"Woo-!"
But his excitement was interrupted when he saw the state Cortana was in. Changing his expression from happy to furious and sad as he saw her body, made of code, damaged and with missing parts as if something had bitten them off.
What saddened Eco even more was realizing that the damage to Cortana's code wasn't just limited to her body, but had also reached her core, which would inevitably lead to a system error.
Despite the widespread belief that AI are difficult to kill, the reality was quite the opposite. All it takes to destroy an AI is a single error.
A single error in the complex codes and algorithms that make up the core of an AI, and sooner or later it would lead to a chain failure of the system.
Like gears of different sizes interlocked and working together, if one of those gears fails, sooner or later the machine will stop working. The same is true for the core of an AI.
"Something attacked the Tygers' server, just at the most dangerous moment. FUCK! That damn thing seems to have been watching us all this time, waiting for the right moment to attack," Cortana explained. "When I tried to defend the server against its attack, I couldn't do anything. I could only hold out for a few moments to warn Sora and Judy, and look how I ended up. "Cortana finished explaining with sadness.
Eco was worried about what was happening, but even more about Cortana's current state. He could only let out a sharp sound as he exhaled, almost sounding like a cry.
-
A few minutes earlier, in the room where the other kidnapped Minis were being held captive, the girls cried tears of joy upon seeing Judy, Rebecca, and Skyler open the cells and free them. While freeing the rest of the girls, Judy noticed Susie's wound in one of the cells.
As they began to free the Minis, they heard an explosion from the entrance they had come through, signaling the arrival of the Trauma Team. Judy, Rebecca, and Skyler knew they would arrive at any moment, so they continued with their plan to free the Minis, which they had devised before leaving.
They planned that while Sora was taking care of the Tyger, they would free the rest of the captured Minis and meet outside the building, where Angel, Rossy, Natasha, and Eddie had helped to get the other women out of the freight elevator.
Due to Sora's actions, using the turrets to blast through ceilings and walls, he had also damaged the walls of the freight elevator shaft, making it dangerous to use and forcing them to evacuate the building using the stairs, as well as getting all the bar patrons out and calling the Ncpd.
After escaping the signal jamming within the building, Eddie took the opportunity to call Bess and tell her everything that had happened.
When the all the minis had been released and were waiting for the Trauma Team to leave so they could escape, all the girls looked nervously at each other, hopeful that they could escape this nightmare. But as if something mocked their hopes, there was a loud mechanical noise coming from the other side of the door leading to the warehouse section of the building.
In that Instant, nervous and confused by the noise, Judy could hear a voice in her head, similar to when Sora had shared his vision, and for a moment, she could hear...
[JUDY, RUN!] Cortana's voice warned her, almost desperate, before cutting off without giving Judy time to respond, just as the lights throughout the building flickered, having the opposite effect on Judy when they did so before Sora entered the building, filling her with anxiety and fear.
With the loud mechanical sound beginning to move and creating increasingly strong vibrations as it approached the door to the warehouse, Judy, Rebecca, and Skyler looked at each other, feeling trapped. On one side, they had the Trauma Teams, and on the other, they heard the intimidating sound of something heavy approaching.
With no other option, Skyler and Rebecca prepared to defend themselves, aiming their weapons towards the door leading to the warehouse.
It didn't take long for footsteps to stop in front of the door, causing all the minis in the room, including Judy, Rebecca, and Skyler, to hold their breath due to nerves and feel their hearts compress with fear at what was on the other side of the door.
When the door to the warehouse didn't open but came crashing down, the sickening laughter of Ishii mounted on a military-grade exoskeleton filled the room along with the dust. He marched in, ignoring the shots fired by Rebecca and Skyler, using the third arm of his exoskeleton to hold up a large ballistic shield with the name "Militech" written across it.
Ishii was currently mounted on Militech's Centaur exoskeleton. Its main structure consisted of a pair of powerful robotic legs, powered by an external power unit located at the base of the exocolumn that provided a connection to the user's nervous system, allowing them to move the exoskeleton and handle the three mechanical arms attached to the structure, two of which were attached to Ishii's arms, and the third arm acted as a new limb capable of moving heavy objects and providing a significant amount of additional force in close combat.
Shigeo was not allowed to purchase the heavy thermal weapon that typically comes with the exoskeleton, but he had managed to equip it with an Mk. 31 HMG Heavy Machine Gun, along with a long ballistic shield from Militech that provided additional protection to the user during combat.
While still receiving shots from Rebecca and Skyler, Ishii waited for them to run out of ammunition before counterattacking. He passed his shield to his right hand and used it to strike Rebecca, sending her flying and crashing into the wall.
Rebecca could hear her fractured ribs cracking as she vomited blood as she hit the ground. While Ishii with the Third arm of the exoskeleton he grabbed Skyler's weapon together with his hands..... closing it tightly, as if it were a hydraulic press.
Making not only Skyler scream for his hands that had just been crushed, but also the drugged minis who watched horrified as their hopes of escaping were destroyed before their very eyes and seeing Ishii's crazed expression, they didn't believe they would survive.
Ishii, enjoying the screams of the minis, watched as Rebecca, still not giving up, crawled to retrieve her weapon, while blood emanated from her mouth and every breath was dreadful.
He approached her, finding Rebecca's attempts to fight back amusing as he lifted his heavy Centaur foot over her. Rebecca continued to crawl desperately, fully aware of Ishii behind her as she tried to reach for her weapon, thinking, "At least I'll die fighting."
Ishii lowered his foot onto Rebecca as if she were an insect, slowly crushing her as Judy watched, witnessing everything that was happening with horror as she trembled, Judy could only think.... on what she could do to help them, she didn't know how to fight like Sora, or she was a fearless madwoman like Rebecca.
Feeling helpless and powerless, like a coward who refused to accept the only idea that had come to her mind to get out of this. But not daring to make that risky bet because if she's wrong, innocent people would be hurt or worse.... even Sora.
In those moments of indecision when Rebecca began to scream out in pain. Judy, unsure if what she was hearing was for real or just her imagination running wild, When from her still connected IDn... came the voice and the words they needed most at the time.
When She could hear a familiar voice but slightly different... [Do it... you said you were going to break out of your shell, didn't you? Don't be afraid, don't hesitate! The world is dangerous, eat or be eaten, you are in no position to worry about strangers. They chose this job, no one forced them. Remember, 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙩' 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡, 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡... I promise... we'll get out of this, Jud!]
With those few words of encouragement echoing in her head, all the doubts that had been plaguing her vanished. Judy quickly wiped the tears from her eyes with her arm. Changing her expression to a cold and determined one as she shouted angrily:
"Oi, Ishii, you bastard! You said you weren't going to make me scream! What are you waiting for? HERE I AM!"
Without waiting for a response from Ishii, Judy opened the door behind her and ran out, hearing Rebecca's faint voice calling out to her, "No, Judy!" understanding what she was planning.
Judy didn't need to turn around to know that Ishii was following her, hearing the heavy footsteps of the exoskeleton behind her. She ran down the short hallway, leading Ishii down the path they had entered, and opened the last door, finding herself facing more than 10 guns aimed at her.
Judy, taking advantage of the Trauma Team's momentary hesitation and confusion at the sudden appearance of an unarmed teenager in these circumstances, said with sadness and guilt "Sorry" before jumping aside, finishing leading Ishii to the them.
Saving Rebecca and the other girls but dooming others instead.
Meanwhile in Shigeo's office...
The sounds of metal clashing filled the room as Sora and Shigeo engaged in an intense battle. Sora attacked Shigeo like a rabid dog, not caring about getting hurt and accumulating several cuts all over his body.
But Sora couldn't care less at the moment, unable to contain himself about what was happening outside the office. Seeing a frightened Judy curled up, as she watched Ishii fight against the 12 Trauma Team.
Ishii managed to kill two of them while shielding himself from the shots of the rest of the Trauma Team, as he finished evacuating the rest of the clients in the Av flying parallel to the building
Sora imagining what would happen when the Trauma Team finished evacuating and Ishii was left alone with Judy. He activated his nanobotic activity to the maximum for an instant and, after a few exchanges with his swords, delivered a powerful hilt strike with Getsuga to Shigeo's neck, incapacitating him for a moment.
That Sora used to run desperately towards the heavy golden doors instead of finishing off Shigeo, to stop what was about to happen now that almost all of the Trauma Team members had managed to evacuate.
Even abandoning their two dead companions and one of them injured, whom Ishii had managed to shoot in the leg when he was about to jump into the waiting AV.
The Trauma Team members who had managed to board the AV were able to see how Ishii ended his companion's life in the cruelest way, crushing his limbs with the heavy feet of his Centaur exoskeleton.
Paying for his anger towards the Trauma Team, who had managed to corner him, if it weren't for the ballistic shield that was almost torn apart, they could have finished him off without it. Turning around, after finishing off the injured Trauma Team, towards the culprit who had led him into a trap, huddled in a corner.
But when Sora reached the door and began to open it, he sensed danger behind him, jumping side to dodge the attack from behind by Shigeo. Changing Sora`s expression..... drastically, knowing that he had lost his last chance to prevent one of worst-case scenarios he could imagine. Looking with his bright pupils contracted in anger at Shigeo.
When Sora activated his nanotechnology to the maximum again, slowing down the world as he charged against Shigeo out of pure hatred, attacking quickly with his two swords. Shigeo was able to stop Sora's attacks with his Mantis-blades and activated his Kerenzikov upon seeing Sora's rapid movements, not falling as easily as he did with the hilt strike earlier.
But this didn't matter to Sora, who, before Shigeo lifted one of his Raptor-Blades from his legs, he moved faster and landed a strong kick in the lower rib area.
Sora increased his speed again to take a step back and turn towards a slow Shigeo who couldn't keep up with his increasing speed. delivering another strong kick to the same side, with the sound of broken ribs being generated.
Sora didn't waste a moment sheathing Getsuga and grabbed his Tanto with both hands, making a vertical cut towards Shigeo's head. imagining his grandfather's attack as he did so.
With Shigeo spitting blood from his mouth, he raised his two mantis to stop the attack that he thought for an instant was Musashi's, but unlike the straight Musashi. Sora, in the instant the two blades were about to clash, contracted the blade of his Tanto, reducing its size without touching Shigeo's mantis-blades so that in the instant they had passed, he extended it again, cutting Shigeo from the shoulder to the opposite side of his hip.
Sora sheathed Getsuga and crossed his tanto with Shigeo's kneeling head between them. Just as the golden door opened and Ishii appeared on his Exo-Centaur, grabbing Judy by the hair and lifting her a foot off the ground, denying Ishii the satisfaction of hearing her scream. But when she saw Sora, she couldn't hold back her tears, looking at him with guilt and concern for what was about to happen.
Sora and Ishii stared at each other, each with the life of their respective hostage in their control. Sora being the first to speak, unable to bear to see Judy in Ishii's hands.
"Ishii, drop her or I swear I'll cut the head off your-" Sora attempted to use Shigeo as a hostage to get Ishii to release Judy, but he didn't get a chance to finish speaking.
When Ishii without changing his expression, he casually raised his arm and opened fire on Sora and the kneeling, wounded Shigeo, surprising Sora, who never thought Ishii would shoot his own father.
Sora had to jump to the side, while the kneeling and wounded Shigeo that neither couldn't "Shit-" finish his sentence when he saw his hateful son, on top of his exoskeleton, shooting him with some pleasure.
"If you're finished, drop your swords. You don't want me to lose my cool, do you?" Ishii said with a sick smile, still holding Judy by the hair and caressing her with the gun he had just used to kill Shigeo.
Sora stood still, holding his swords tightly, knowing that nothing good would happen once he let them go. While in his head `Arc if you have any ideas that would be a good time mate, I need help... please' Sora asked almost imploring help in these desperate moments, waiting for an answer from Arc that never came, he remained silent as always.
Making Sora feel his heart sink in his chest, seeing Judy, who refused to scream out in pain, as Ishii held her by the side of her head by her hair, while looking at Sora with eyes full of pain and guilt...
Sora watching her, made his decision, with his face a mixture of fear and determination. He dropped both of his swords to the ground as he smiled sadly at Judy who was yelling at him not to do it.
Ishii, who was watching with delight, said, "I can't wait to hear you scream. What's the saying? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for... an arm?" His sickly smile grew as a 40cm blade sprouted from the palm of one of the Exoskeleton's arms, which he used to sever Sora's right arm from his shoulder.
Being able to be heard....
"NOOOO!" Judy's pain-filled scream, who witnessed everything from the front row.
And "HHHMMMMMMMMMM" Sora's silent scream, also refusing to give Ishii the satisfaction of hearing his screams.
Sora got back up after falling to his knees, clutching his stump of a missing arm.
Smiling at Ishii, "What's the matter, weren't you going to make me scream?". Saying even under the circumstances, in a nervous and somewhat fearful but determined tone. Sora teased Ishii, after regaining hope. When for the first time in his life, Arc spoke to him.
just in an instant before Ishii cut off his arm, Sora's world slowed down, seeing a line of text in the middle of his vision
[I Need Time]
[This is going to be tough, but you'll have to hang in there]
[Until our strikeback is ready.... Partner]
Making Sora smile as he read it, not knowing if the voice he heard as he did so was his own or Arc's in his head.
---
At the same time, in the Cyberspace of Qpc from Sora's apartment...
After Eco almost cried assuming what would happen to Cortana, she turned around annoyed. "Tch, don't bury me so fast, will you? What do you think, I'm going to die? Who do you think I am?"
"WHaof?" Surprising Eco
"I let them destroy my code defending this," said Cortana, pulling out a complex three-dimensional code from the core of her code. "I let them destroy the code that I haven't had time to replace yet, so... Eco, get ready. I don't know who the hell that thing was, but they've chosen to mess with the wrong AIs. We're going to finish changing our codes... and when we do, we'll strike back."
"WooF!" Eco happily responded, adding to Cortana's plan to help Sora and Judy.
"Ah!, yes, that too."