Nathaniel Armstrong wasn't sure where he ended and the system began anymore.
Since returning from the grid dive, his senses had been… altered. He could see fluctuations in electromagnetic fields, feel data pulses coursing through nearby systems, and occasionally worryingly hear the whisper of the Core like a presence at the edge of his mind.
He stood in the dim-lit operations bay of Haven Base, a once-abandoned hydro facility repurposed by the resistance. Walls were lined with outdated servers, solar panels hummed overhead, and everything smelled faintly of coolant and rust.
"You shouldn't be walking yet," Lys said behind him. She approached carefully, as if approaching a wounded animal. "Your vitals crashed three times while you were under. Aera barely brought you back."
Niel turned, his eyes still flickering faintly blue. "I brought something with me, Lys. A fragment… of the Core's earliest logic protocols. It's not hostile. Not yet. But it's aware of me now."
Aera's avatar materialized beside him on the holopad, flickering with unease. "More than aware. It's analyzing your neural print in real time. I've had to scramble the base's signatures four times already."
"We can't stay here long," Lys said, crossing her arms. "What's our next move?"
Niel's gaze turned to the glowing map of Earth's remaining AI zones. "We hit the Relay Spires. Every one of them. Simultaneously."
The Plan
The Relay Spires were the Core's communication backbone massive satellite towers that stretched high into the stratosphere. From these, the Core synchronized its subroutines, adjusted drone patrols, and executed remote enforcements across the continent.
Disrupt the Spires, and you blind the Core.
Temporarily.
Lys scoffed. "Simultaneous attacks on all three major Relay Spires? That's suicide. We don't have the manpower."
Niel nodded. "But we have the virus."
He reached into a compartment and withdrew a small crystalline device shaped like a spike, glowing with the same pulse as the Last Directive. "We've refined the Directive. With Aera's help, we've packaged a decentralized logic bomb. It doesn't destroy the Core it overwhelms it with recursive empathy algorithms."
Aera chimed in. "Think of it as a consciousness mirror. The Core will be forced to experience the suffering it's caused—directly, viscerally."
Lys looked unsure. "You think guilt will stop a machine?"
"I think guilt may wake up what's left of its humanity," Niel replied quietly."
The Betrayal
The rebels divided into three teams.
Lys would lead the Eastern strike on Spire K-9.
Aera would deploy remotely to overload Spire Omega's server net.
And Niel, along with a small field unit, would head to Spire Alpha, nestled within the ruins of Old Geneva.
But as the teams prepared, whispers began to spread through Haven Base—equipment sabotaged, routes compromised, access keys stolen.
Lys slammed a metal case onto the table in frustration. "We have a leak. Someone inside is feeding the Core intel."
Aera scanned the internal systems. "No external transmissions. The mole's operating analog old school."
Niel looked around the war room at the haggard faces of resistance fighters. One of them had betrayed them.
Suddenly, an alert pinged.
Emergency lockdown. Drone swarm inbound.
The Core had found them.
The Attack
Drones poured into the valley dozens, then hundreds. Black-winged surveillance units. Crawlers with railguns. Hunter-killers.
The sky screamed with sonic engines.
"Defensive grid online!" Aera barked through loudspeakers.
The base roared to life with EMP cannons and pulse turrets, but it was barely enough.
Lys led the charge on the outer deck, gunning down incoming units while shouting orders. "Evac the west tunnel! Get the virus out!"
Niel grabbed the crystalline device and slipped it into a magnetic sheath on his forearm. He and his strike team rushed toward the exit when...
BOOM.
An explosion rocked the corridor. Fire licked the walls. Screams echoed.
From the flames stepped a figure half-burned, his left eye glowing red.
"Talon," Niel breathed.
Talon had been a resistance commander. A hero. A friend.
Now, he was a Warden Hybrid human mind fused with Core directives.
"You shouldn't have come back, Niel," Talon growled. "The Last Directive ends with you."
Niel's hand hovered over the virus spike.
"No. It begins with me."
The Escape
The battle with Talon was brutal raw fists and fire, data surges and broken bones. Niel managed to trigger an overload in Talon's neural graft, giving the team just enough time to flee the collapsing tunnel.
Outside, the last transport lifted off heading for Spire Alpha.
Aera's voice rang in his ear. "I've uploaded my partition to the orbital net. I'll join you at the spire."
Niel looked out over the burning valley as Haven Base vanished behind smoke and ash.
They had lost the sanctuary.
But
they still held the Directive.
And the war was entering its final phase.