If the top level of the United Network is like a mix of an exhibition center and shopping area for a mega-corporation, the lower levels are more akin to normal looking office corridors, though Jon questions what the points of having offices are if everything is robotic. As he walked down the stairs, the lights flickered on and off in response to his footsteps as if he has become a part of a theater production, and as he stepped onto the level, the length of time for both darkness and light became longer and longer.
Then the corridor became filled up with the robots. With every flicker, more and more appeared and crowded the corridors. That's when Jon realized those are more like storage compartments than offices. For the purpose of this exercise, they are really just spawn points for him to clear.
Not interest to do things level by level, he continued down the stairs all the way to five levels down, leaving all of the minions behind and above him when the stair case ends and a small underground plaza appeared in front of him.
The entire area is grimly lit, though just bright enough for him to make out the figures of all of the robots that now surrounded him from all of the angles. However, compared to the chaotic waves of the various robot guides at the first level, these robots moved with precision and unity, truly worthy of the name of United Networks.
Jon marched forward into the middle of the plaza, when the robots made way for him before closing up the encirclement.
Then, the surrounding light dimmed as holograms are propped up from all the sides.
'The university student turned murder, Jon Borneat, continued his unhindered rampage across S Prime city after brutally murdering his fellow student during one of the exhibitions.'
'More details regarding Jon Borneat, the Student Killer's past is revealed...'
'Despite what narrative that bastard is trying to create, HE IS A MURDERER!'
A compilation of news channels overloaded both his visual and auditory fields, and he couldn't look away. Then, a darkened robotic figure lept out of the crowds of robot and attacked him head on. Disguised by the darkness, Jon could barely make out his movements without using eyes as sharp as a string of atoms. He moved to the side and felt another movement behind him as he bent over to the side, supporting his weight over one hand and avoided an attack from the back.
A third robot joined the frey at the perfect timing, dashing towards Jon and swiping towards his wrist with a blade in hand. Knowing that he has been thrown into a pinch, Jon activated both eyes as sharp as a string of atoms and fingers as accurate as entangled quantums.
His eyes glowed, and he absorbed even more of the flickering hologram, though he was able to press himself up and hop over the incoming low slice before getting back onto his feet.
'Footwork as quick as shooting stars.' He murmured, dashing straight up to avoid the inward collapse of the three attacking robots when a fourth slammed him from above and threw him directly into the ground, creating a crater upon the impact.
The news broadcast replay that was temporarily relegated to the back of Jon's consciousness returned with all of its damned glory, as all of the voices sounded even louder in Jon's head with his heightened senses. A headache echoed inside of his mind almost as destructively as those replays, and Jon wondered if he was losing his mind due to this when all of those voices started going out of tune and was morphed into a singular modulated channel.
'We-studied-everything-about-you.' The singular mixed voice said, sounding about three part female, one part electronic and two part heavy bass, 'your-past, your-sins, your-style, your-movements.'
'Do-you-remember-what-you-have-done?' The voice asked.
'Murderer....Killer...ANIMAL...Bastard...Atrocity...' Each individual word was taken out from the pieces of news broadcast and put on repeat as the previous four robots moved backwards slightly, each with a blade drawn. Then, five more jumped in the air one after another in a tight formation, creating waves of unrelenting attacks that Jon had few chances of dodging away from.
It is just as the voice has said, they have studied the way he moved not only in his preferences of location but also his timing.
The first strike landed, slicing open his hoodie and exposing his chest.
The second strike caught his wrist and slammed it to the side while the third poked directly into his chest.
The fourth, fifth all the way until the tenth then laid it all over Jon's body.
'What is going on...?' Jon wondered, as his body slowly to feel number and number, his reaction slow and movements sluggish, 'this isn't quite like me.'
'There is something odd going on with the environment.' Jon thought, channeling all of his power and charged at the nearest robot, grabbing it by its wrist and started swinging that robot as his weapon instead, 'Is it the air? The visuals and audio? The flicker of the holograms?'
Regardless, the replays of those media creating false narratives is starting to piss him off.
He felt a gentle tug before the tension is released from the robot that he was swinging, and he realized that the body has detached from it's arms. Shaking his head at the lack of durability, he launched the arm in his hand towards the nearest holographic project, smashing it inwards and causing one of the screens to flicker out.
Then, he ignored the attacks of the other robots and charged towards the other immobile holographic projectors and destroyed them all one by one.
With each screen going down, Jon's mind became clearer and clearer. Then, fine-tuning his eyes to the utmost accuracy and sharpness, he realized what the trick was. It was the frequency of the screen flicker that was getting to him, and the longer he looked at it, the more it will draw him in and dampen his reaction speeds with a combination of the spectrum of light as well as the frequency of the flicker. That was also what was giving him the killer headache earlier!
'You!'
The singular voice sounded much thinner with the destructions of a majority of the speakers, 'You-are-nothing-but-a-destroyer!'
'Is that your will, or is that your creator's will?' Jon asked.
'It-does-not-matter.' The voice replied, 'We-will-destroy-you, and-that-will-be-the-end-of-it.'
'Oh YEAH?!' Jon taunted, stepping onto the last projector and stomping it in half with a single step, 'bring it on then.'
Compared to the waves of attack from before, the attack of the robots are far more organized, as if they are operating under a single united consciousness. That makes sense, not only in the way they are moving with one another, but also in terms of organization of the various robots in relation to the structure of the company.
At the firsts level, the guide robots are individually programmed for a very simple purpose, and they moved to carry out that mission no matter what regardless of what the goals of the other robots are.
At this level, the hive mind behind the robots is carefully organizing each individual robots and making sure they are moving in unity to serve a single collective purpose.
That also means that there is no point fighting over all of the minions. It is just like what he was thinking coming down the stairs and ignoring all of the robots in his way, he will have to attack the source directly, somehow.
However, the head of the hive mind could have very easily been controlling the masses from behind the scenes, or even disguise itself as one of the countless minions. Jon's eyes can't really see into the electromagnetic spectrum, so that wouldn't really be effective for him.
The assassination tactic wouldn't work, but that won't be the only way to take down a hive mind. Such a construct has its own merits and disadvantages, and all Jon had to do is to exploit that disadvantage.
In order to organize the thousands of moving bodies, the hive mind needed to perform countless calculations at every single instant in response to Jon's movements. And the more chaotic Jon makes everything, the more calculations will have to be performed to account for his actions.
To beat someone that knows how he moves and can predict his future, Jon had to be unpredictable, chaotic and messy.
He had to be the same rampaging animal that he once was, ignoring everything in his way and marching onward singularly towards his goal.
Letting out a sigh, Jon vanished from the crowds of robots. Then, the afterimage of him appeared at various locations in the room as he is flickering from place to place so fast that not even the robots can react to what is going on.
However, a prediction is made still, and one robot punched another in the face.
That was the first mistake.
Then, the second, and the third.
With all of his energy put into nothing but speed, his footwork are now beyond the speed of a shooting star.
The once organized formation of the robots have now turned into a chaotic mess, and as the hive mind screamed out in anger due to the shear number of calculations it has to go through, Jon spotted it in the crowd as it is connected into the ground with various cables that is as thick as his wrist.
Appearing behind the mastermind of the hive.....mind, Jon tapped it on the shoulder.
Tens of blades were immediately drawn from the robots around it and they formed a tight circle around Jon's neck.
'You-should-have-attacked-before!' The hive mind screamed, 'now-you-will-die!'
'Hand as steady as black holes.' Jon said and swung his hand around him in a tight circle. All of the blades that were pressed against his neck are snapped, bent or twisted, and the robots fell backward due to the shear amount of force Jon was able to put out, 'this battle is over once the screens are down.'
'Now.....I know you are watching, Patty.' Jon said expressionless, leaning in close and looking into the lens of the hive mind robot, 'but I didn't know you would stoop so low just to take me out. Just you wait, I am coming for you...'