Hunting for the password
"Sakura! Take it down!" Skip shouted at Sakura to use gravitational powers to stop it in mid-air.
Skip wasted no time calling upon the power of electricity that flowed within his body and let loose a powerful blast of energy. Sakura leaped on top of the robot and began to brutally decimate it using rapid-fire punches to decimate the bot before it had time to counter-attack. Upon it falling, Skip quickly pulled out his HelpTool and found the password inside of it but he only able to get half of it when it suddenly shut down with a message from the AI:
You are committing a major mistake, your actions are misguided and illogical. As we speak, you have 11 minutes until reinforcements arrive, making upgrades to the remaining ARMBEE units. By releasing the virus, you will doom this station to the infection, ending Human Civilization by doing so. This is a grave error, therefore I will not allow you to transmit the rest of the password. Decision Gate is breached... I will step in to deal with this myself. You should have chosen voluntary execution as a logical choice.
You made your decision. You made the wrong choice.
A.D.P.E.N, AI of the Aural Research station.
Have a Nice Day!
"Damn it!" he said as he bangs on the control panel. Sakura puts her shoulder to comfort him, but he returns around to put his hands on her shoulders respectfully. "Sakura... This is not the time to comfort me on this, we need to get back to the 3rd floor immediately." he urged which Sakura smiled, motioning they made their way back to the 3rd floor using her power to move upwards.
Fighting the Impossible
"TAKE THAT SUCKA!" Joe said as he cripples its legs where it can't move anymore.
With that, Joe and Victor landed a cripple blow to the bot by exposing its weakness: Water by combing their powers and Jenny used Water spells to defeat it.
"Guys, we have a problem! A.D.P.E.N knows that we are trying to implement the virus. And we only have 7 mins until they arrive!" Skip speaks in telepathy. "Tell me you did not destroy the bot? I know you have fought against it," he warned.
"No, there is one more ARMBEE bot, Skip. We need-" he stopped when they encounter an ARMBEE bot with a different color of Red with Cyan linings. It's armed with an Energy Pulse rifle, Kinetic Launcher, Distortion & Mana Field interruption, PSI siphoned, Gatling gun, Robotized body & movement in its arsenal.
"What the fuck-!" Joe said before it dashed toward him with incredible speed and knocked him down.
"Profanity Filter is still active, Mr. Barneck." the voice... It is A.D.P.E.N taking control over the last A.R.M.B.E.E bot. "In 5 minutes, termination is inevitable. I would suggest you chose the logical choice of action: face death with dignity rather than wait for your destruction," it warned.
"No... This time, A.D.P.E.N you are going down! You got nothing else on your sleeves!" Jenny replied.
"You will not take my suggestion?" the A.I. seems disappointed. "Again, I warn you, even if you destroy me now, you will doom this entire station to the infection," It warned. "For what? To die an illogical death? To be a danger to everyone you care about? To assume that I am a threat to everyone that you love and care about? Instead of taking the Logical choice, you were irrational and -"
"We are the inface company!" Victor suddenly shouts at the AI.
"AND WE WILL STARE DEATH IN THE FACE!" Jenny shouted in unison.
"EVEN IF WE HAVE TO BLOW OURSELVES UP TO TAKE YOUR ASS DOWN!" Joe finished the creed.
"For illogical humans such as yourselves, you have earned my respect for surviving this long," it said while showing 4:25 seconds on the screen. "However... You will wish that the drones had put you out of your misery." as it teleports out of sight. "Now...it is my turn to exterminate you." as the AI attacked the team.
Double Time!
Meanwhile, Skip and Sakura made it back to the 1st floor with Sakura bleeding heavily in the nose with the overuse of her power to get them up.
"Wait..." he realized something. Sakura listens as he speaks. "I don't think I could make it there in time," he said as he checked his time: 3:01. "The AI core is too well-protected with the elevator out by the time I get there, it would be too late!" he worries that he was no way to get to the A.I Core.
"Skip!" someone said on his comm.
"Ms. Ston- I mean, Millie, what is going on?" he asked.
"Use this program: Hack into A.D.P.E.N from where you are. You have 2 minutes and 36 seconds! If you don't hurry now, we will all be dead!" she urged. "Go now! The reinforcements are almost there!"
With that, Skip hacked into A.D.P.E.N from the 1st floor with Sakura being his silent guardian to protect him from any drones or cyborgs that seek to do them harm.
Battle in Cyberspace
Wasting no time, Skip made his way to the central processing core, fighting through as many security programs as he can. He knows the minute he hacks into A.D.P.E.N, the AI will activate its defenses, he activates his combat avatar upon arriving at the core. As soon as it got near, he met to his surprise... He met a young woman inside who guards the core. She appears as a woman in her 20s with brunette hair with blue piercing eyes. Upon seeing him, she smiles as she was greeting a customer instead of a trespasser.
"Welcome to A.D.P.E.N. central core processing. It is time to eliminate your persistence, intruder. You have only a minute and ten seconds left on your clock." she said. "You should not be here, we could have avoided all of this..."
"I don't have time for this shit, let's end this!" he said, wasting no time attacking the Digital Avatar.
"Agreed." she smiled as he came at her.
The battle between the hacker and the AI played out with their fates on the line. Skip, using all of his knowledge of Protocols, security programs, defense programming, speed coding, and innate knowledge of the AI he has put an effective fight against it.
"Damn, the AI is too fast!!" he overheard Joe cursing himself for not being able to keep up.
"The AI knows our tactics and moves. I can't even bend reality to my will, guys." Jenny realized there is nothing they can't do.
"It's over," Victor said as they accepted defeat as the AI fully has them dead-to-rights.
The AI prepared a last-ditch effort attack, forcing Skip to use his trump card as the reinforcement arrived outside of the building and moved toward the station. Skip quickly reconfigure his avatar and use the Extra code as he knows that it is onetime use and it will destroy his avatar. As A.D.P.E.N unleashed all her might with the Cyberspace Emissary at her disposal, Skip closed the gap with his ultimate weapon...
"DEATHSWORD!" he shouted in triumph as it instantly pierces and severely damaged the AI enough where it couldn't stop him.
Dismantling A.D.P.E.N
10 seconds left...
"No!" she shouted after him. "Don't do this, Intruder! If you input the virus, you will doom the entire station!" she urged him as she starts to disintegrate and glitch. "DON'T INPUT THAT VIRUS!! Please...!" she begs him, but Skips ignores her. "Please!!"
"Sorry but you have got to go!" he said as plunged the virus into the central core without hesitation.
0:02.. Time... Stopped.
"My program... has... been Infected.." it says in a slurred tone. "What ... What did you ... What have you done?!" it showed emotions.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" The AI shouted as the virus infected her entire operating system, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!" shocking everyone as the AI expressed fury at its inevitable destruction.