Sirens were blaring as a young man was rushing down the red corridors of the multinational cooperation headquarters of MegaCom. A rising star in the mechanical hardware industry, which has many secrets that need answering. The young man is not the only one that has tried sneaking into the towering skyscraper. However, despite the numerous crowds trying to bypass MegaCom's own security forces, only the young man has been able to do so.
As he fled down the hallway, his deep hue blue jacket waved behind his sprint as a cape underneath a large canister. The only thing keeping the coat from being suspended by the leather straps of the case the tiny girl sitting on his right shoulder. She had a delicate nature to her fairy size. Her baby blue hair being ruffled by the airflow of the young man's sprint. Her laced wings she fought to keep closed radiated blue dust that was sprinkled in the air. Her hand clenching collar of his jacket to prevent herself from being blown away. No matter how much he wanted to stop to let his companion catch a breath, the young man could not stop. There were too many guards in pursuit of him. The young man zipped down a corridor that appeared on the right to escape his pursuers. At the end of the hall, there was another set of guards waiting for him aiming their magnetic rail rifles at him. In haste, the young man pulled out his phone to open the app titled "Twin." The phone's camera then began to project two large masses of blue energy into the world of the living. The masses constructed by shiny blue cubes soon took the shape of two husky bipedal creatures. Their teeth and claws were sharp a man's saber. The young man ducked to avoid a metal slug that was shot his way. He swiped up on his phone to send the order the creatures to attack. The private soldiers were unsure what to do, aimed their rifles at their new assailants. The young man turned another corner, charging down another set of corridors. Now there was still the problem of his pursuers. He glanced behind his shoulders to see the security squad he encountered at the beginning of his escape.
"Halt your escape, and the consequences will be minimal!" the captain of the unit called out.
"Not a Chance!" the young man shouted back as he took another corner in the labyrinth that was the forty-fourth floor.
"He's heading down Corridor 7, close the security doors!" the captain could be heard shouting over his radio.
A metallic screech was heard from above as the security door began to decency from the roof compartments. The young man looked up and then back only to see the barrels of the squares pistols. MegaCom, unlike other places, only pretend to exercise restraint when equipping their security detail. He knew those pistols that were aimed towards him were top of the line magnetic rail guns produced by MegaCom for their shadier transactions. Among his footsteps, he could hear the shriveling screams of the other security squad. The "Twins" had done their job. He closed the "Twins" app to dismiss them; he had to save the battery life of his phone just in case he needed to make another quick move. He took a left turn down another corridor. Luckily for him, the security forces while moving shot like stormtroopers. That didn't stop him from flinching when the metal slugs impacted the slow-paced security doors. In a hurry, he placed his hands together to begin forming a blue cube, then tossed it over his shoulder. The box opened up to expand into a cascade of glowing cubes that blocked the hallway from anyone else from following him or shooting at him.
"This should delay them a bit, Haley" the young man relaxed as he whispered to the girl on his shoulder as he threw the stairwell door open.
As he started his long descent down, he slipped his phone back into his left front jean pocket. Despite the quiet press that existed in the stairwell, he could feel himself scamper along the stairs to escape. He couldn't take the peace of the stairs for granted. He could only hear his breath as every few flights he looked up to check if security had resumed their game of cat and mouse. The lights of the city illuminated each step through the large glass pane that gave them away to view the young man. The MegaCom building is one of the tallest buildings in Philadelphia. The cityscape seemed tiny from his current perspective of view.
As time passed, he grew more anxious that a trap awaited him on the first floor. He made a quick decision against leaving on the first floor, he was going to need his phone after all. He opened the door to the latest level he arrived on, thirty-four. The blaring sirens again began to ring in his ears as he stepped on glossy tiles of the floor. In an instant, he entered the first room he saw and crouched down behind the door. The room was a small office. It had all the decoration of what one could expect to see in one. An elongated desk that had a computer monitor, pictures, and various office supplies neatly organized. A wilted plant sat in the far corner of the room where a dysfunctional camera twitched with each spasm released small sparks. At least he knew this gave confirmation that he had shut down the video feed system. He took off the large canister that he had sitting upon his back as he pushed himself against the door. With a deep breath and blink in his eyes, he began to unscrew the canister's cap. To reveal a large rolled-up twenty-four by thirty-two inch blueprint. He gave a shake to the container to loosen the diagram from captivity he had trapped it in. After he was able to get a substantial grip on the sheet, he pulled it out and unraveled it. He had to be sure he grabbed the right one. "Maximus: Artificial Security AI" read the title of the paper in a bold Ariel font in the upper center of the page.
"This is it." he softly spoke as his eyes scanned the details of the diagram for the android.
"This thing is nothing, but bad news. A Chromium steel exoskeleton that supports all matter of sensors MegaCom could throw-in. Thermal, night, x-ray, gamma, heartbeat, it even can sense radio waves and vibrations. I would get it if that was it, but then They armed this machine with experimental pulse lasers, and wrist sized rockets. I wonder if, during the design phase, the inventor pondered if he should, not if he could." The young man continued to speak as he studied the blueprint. The small fairy hovered over it to get a glance at it herself.
He didn't have to guess what she was contemplating. He had written her programming after all. Her thoughts were along the same line as his. This machine could spell death for a lot of people. She then spoke to him,
"Nicky, is it a good idea to take this?" Haley asked him as she sat back in his shoulder.
"We don't have a choice. If MegaCom wants to introduce their version of Ultron to the world. We need to do what we can to prevent that, Haley." Nicky had made his stance known to her.
"Ultron, but that is just comics." Haley reasoned
"That may be, but something like him in the real world would be devastating," Nicky said nodding his head
"I suppose you have a point." Haley said, placing a tiny figure on her chin in thought.
"What's our best chance of escaping?" Nicky asked Haley as he began to roll up the blueprint to place it back inside the canister.
"There is a garbage shoot we can shimmy through at the end of the next hallway." Haley said, projecting a map of building from her tiny palm.
"It's better than nothing." Nicky remarked as he viewed the architecture of the ominous-looking building.
Minutes had passed before he slipped the leather strap on his shoulder to let the canister hang on his backside. He cautiously stood up before he left the room to check for any passing security. He quietly opened the door and slipped out as the mouse he has played in this game of predator and prey. A few relaxed steps from the door, he heard the sound of voices chatter around the corner.
"Squad Gamma. Reporting in, we have begun our sweep of Floor Thirty Four." an older voice announced to a small radio.
In the act of instinct, the young man slipped into another room to avoid being caught in the cast of the flashlights used by the new security force.
"Give me a break already..." the young man harshly whispered as he shirked behind the protection of the door.
He kept himself lowered beneath the view any of the hallway windows would give the passing guards. He crouched through the cubicle farm he had found himself in. There was still a possibility that he could make it to the trash shoot. The hope what he could cling until the door he came in was reopened by two security officers. These two were more heavily armed than the ones he saw before. They had carried mag rifles that had two and a half feet barrels. Their body language suggested they were itching to pull the trigger. He clung to the cubicle even more as he noticed an ominous feeling tingle up his spine. If they caught him, they would be no escape; they easily would overpower him thanks to their impressive statures. There was no doubt that these two men were servers weight classes above his skinny self. They hadn't caught him yet, he still could escape.
"This is Johnson, and Flynn, we're searching the work area now." the man with the lighter skin reported in the two way radio strapped to his vest.
"Rodger. Stay alert, the boy is a slippery one." the voice on the other end responded.
"Copy that. Johnson out." the man ended the conversation there before flicking on the light switch that was next to the door. The lights in response had no choice to flicker on to the command.
The young man drove underneath the desk of the cubicle he currently was. He quietly pulled the office chair in front of him to mask his casting shadow with it. His body tensed up as he could hear the crushing footsteps of the two men. The darker one had entered his cubicle to continue their search. Nicky could only hold his breath as Flynn searched the cubicle. The man's search brought him to be in front of the office chair. A cold shiver surged up the young man's spine. This was surely where his cover was going to be blown, and he would have to begin fighting his way out, again. Too much to his relief; however, the man walked away then shouted to his partner.
"Clear." the deep voice of the man carried to the other side of the room to his partner.
Nicky had let out a small sigh of relief; however, he couldn't celebrate yet; they were still in the room. Danger had passed over him for the moment, but it could always come to take another swing at him. The tension in the room sat as a predator, waiting for its prey. The pressure, like all predators, will eventually move on. Time had moved slowly as the young man waited for the beast to give up the searched. Then men abrasively talked to one another as their footsteps echoed through the office. It was as if any moment they could double back and find him. What felt like an hour passed with a reward for his patience
"Area's clear. Moving on."
"Acknowledged." a different voice from last time spoke to the two men giving clearance to leave.
The lights were turned off, and the sound of the door followed. Now, Nicky could relax for a little bit. He was almost in the clear. He softly stepped towards the glass panes that gave the office complex a bird's eye view of the city Philadelphia. Traffic was still going, people had no clue that there was a game of shadows a foot in their lives. The more he viewed the city, the more he an ominous feeling came over him. There was a future of changes coming. He either was going to play a role in it, or it was going to steamroll him over. He pulled out his phone to check its battery life. 32%. That was just enough to get him home. He looked down at the ground through the window; he was told at least a mile above the ground. There was no way he could make the garbage shoot now, he would have to try a riskier approach. The time was 1:30 in the morning. He was done with this endeavor. He looked back at the office chair he had pushed out to use as cover to conceal his movements to the window. He smirked as he glanced back at the window.
"This is a bad idea..." Haley said, sulking coming out of one of Nicky's jacket's pockets.
"Yeah, but is it our only shot getting out of here?" Nicky responded
"Yep, I'm calculating a route for the Firestorm." Haley confirmed
Good, once we do this, there is no going back." Nicky said as he pulled the chair down the aisle way of the cubicle farm.
The "Firestorm" that Haley mentioned is one of the servers apps Nicky has programmed in his phone to spawn a physical manifestation of objects of the digital world. Very much like the "twins.", and most of the other apps on his device. However, the "Firestorm" was not a creature that had its own instincts. It's was a plane of sorts modified by technology that belonged to a world of science fiction. The only other app that didn't operate on instinct he knew of was the one that has been by his side this entire time, Haley. A navigation program he decided to try installing a personality into. It worked, but like all new technologies, he had to do some bug fixes to make her more reliable. For example, fixing the coding that made her seem to hate everything alive except for him. As reasonable as it was, he had to make it where she at least tolerated the outside world. It took some time for her to calibrate; eventually, she became an indispensable asset when he needed her.
A minute passed before Halley's eyes became a light green color before reverting to their violet color. Haley had the route calculated. It was time to put the plan into motion. He charged the window, pushing the chair faster and faster until it slammed into the window. The glass was shattered with a loud crashing sound as the chair plummeted to the street below. He stood as the edge letting the air current push against him. As he did before, he whipped out his phone to activate the "Galaxy" app to summon the Firestorm. The camera once again dispelling Nicky's blue energy to summon another digital device in the air outside the window. Distant shouting could be overheard from behind the door.
"Looks like they're back. Get ready for some company!" Nicky told Haley has he ducked behind the thin wall of the cubicles. Keeping his phone pointing towards the "Firestorm." The materialization process for the aircraft was going steadily, but not fast enough for him to escape without commotion. He was on his own. Sure Haley could use some energy blasts to distract the coming onslaught of guards. Still, he needed her elsewhere, mainly navigation. His phone didn't have enough battery life to resummon her if she was destroyed by the hail of bullets that would come for them. The best he could do was have her wait in his coat.
He peeked above the cubical just in time to see the door kicked open by a trained army of professional killers that poured endlessly into the room. He quickly went back down into his hiding position. He steeled his confidence as he gazed at the Firestorm. The Ships hull was nearly done. He just needed the cockpit to finish materializing. He flicked his wrist as he formed his hand into the shape of a finger gun. He popped up from his cover to fire his finger gun. The light blue pixelized bullets impacted the Kevlar armor of the men in front. They were swept off their feet as their bodies were moved by the energy.
Nicky knew he could only slow them down. He didn't have the capacity in himself to kill. At worst, these men would be unconscious. Even if he was able to kill them, there were far too many for him to handle. The next line of men retaliated by firing their mag rifles. He immediately went back down into his cover. The metal rounds came as a thunderous rain breaking more of the windows behind him. Each shot aimed to kill. Each bullet zipped by him as they pierced his feeble cover. He was forced to scurry from aisle to aisle. Shooting back sparingly as he was concentrating on dodging their fire. His main concern was staying alive. Behind the middle aisle, he glanced back at the Firestorm. It was ready. The last detail was the cockpit's lid had finished forming. As he was concerned, it was time to go. It was going to be a miracle if he made it out of this predicament alive. The hail of metal slowed down, a squad was reloading their weapons. It was now or never if he wanted to escape.
"Here we go Haley!" Nicky exclaimed as he put his remaining reserves of energy in his sprint towards the flying craft. With a great leap, he jumped from the ledge of the building into the cockpit to hastily pull down the covering as the metal fragments came his way. Each bullet left a dent in the vessel. He pulled up on the controls of the plane to gain altitude to escape the range of the security forces.
With battered breath, Nicky spoke in a sigh of relief. "We did it, We're alive. Which way should we go?"
Haley reemerged from Nicky's coat as she flew out to stand on the front dash console. Then with a point eastward spoke,
"That way."