The entire palace was filled with gasps and screams from people. Not a single light was to be seen for a moment until a few torches flickered to life inside the building from phones and Cyber Ops.
"Everyone! Stop panicking!" The Cyber Ops cried out, preparing their guns.
I was confused by this sudden power outage. Because I was not the one to overpower the system.
"Fuck. Meg, did you overpower the system –"
[Kim! I could only eat part of Juno, he's still whole. He ran away! And – what's this dark cloud? I could barely connect with you!]
"Damn, it… I don't know what the fuck this is. It's probably a new AI! Please, don't lose connection. Keep me in contact with the team."
[I'll try… but – I'm a little lost here, Kim. It's like I'm lost in Darkness. I don't know what the fuck's going on.] Meg replied.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, green smoke bombs flipped toward the ground from above. I quickly grabbed a napkin and covered my nose, gazing up at the floors above us.
Green eyes flashed above. Silhouettes of crows danced in the darkness of the palace. The next second, men wearing crow masks and metal-winged jetpacks leaped off the upper floors, armed with guns and swords.
"Crows are in the room! Ghosts! Cyber Ops! Doom, get to work!" The Cyber Ops screamed.
The shitstorm was about to begin. My legs automatically began to run. I pushed through the crowd as fast as I could.
Trrrr!! Bullets were already fired, and everyone in the palace was running.
"Everyone, take shelter in the bathrooms!" One of the Cyber Ops yelled, shooting the crows flying down from the floors.
"Meg! Please connect me to Barry! Where the fuck is he?" I yelled as I ran, my heart beating faster than ever.
Every time. Every single time, something happens that'll surprise you to death in these games.
"Fuck it! Meg –"
I was getting ready to run to the left hallways along with the crowd when I suddenly felt some liquid splashing against my suit. The light from a nearby torch flashed upon the thing that did it.
A Japanese demon mask, high-tech armor with two bloodied katanas in hand. A Samurai was staring right into my eyes with killing intent.
"You gotta be –"
Bam! Next thing I knew, drops of blood were splattered all across my face and a metal fist was standing where the Samurai's head stood only seconds ago.
"I got your back." The IO unit said, turning around and pointing his gun at the Crows in the crowd.
I didn't waste any time with fear. I turned around and started running again before any more Samurais attempted to kill me.
[No. 17. The bathroom – Number – 17!!]
A distorted Meg replied to me right that instant, making me turn my head again.
'Number 17! Number 17 –'
Suddenly, a cold hand grabbed me and started to drag me through the crowd. Her red glasses flashed, and I knew she was one of us. Who wore a blue dress that day and always had cold hands?
"Carry."
"God, Kim. What the fuck just happened?" She asked me as we ran across the crowd.
"It doesn't fucking matter now, just – where are the others??"
"Everyone was in, except you!" Carry replied, throwing down a fat guy who tried to run into us.
Before I knew it, we were inside the hallways. Bullets were fired one after another near the stage, corpses and blood covering the entire floor.
The Crows, the Shogunate, the Ghosts – it was already a clusterfuck in the palace now.
Soon, the Sharks will enter the chat too.
"SCREECH!" An ear-bleeding cry echoed in the palace, making my glasses flicker from red to blue for a second.
That just confirmed another one. The Owls were inside too.
"Here, Kim!" Carry called out to me, sliding in the card to the bathroom door which read 'No.17.' It swung open, and we both rushed inside.
"Please, let us in!" Two women screamed right when I crawled into the room. I saw their eyes, drained with fear. But – I could not let any stranger in.
I shut the door, leaving the helpless women outside.
Their cards won't let them access this bathroom. Meg had already hacked the system and made the entire room accessible only to us Sharks.
Right after I shut the door, Jenni hugged me from behind.
"Where the hell were you?" she asked me, in a downcast voice.
"Got lost in all the excitement," I replied, hugging her back. All the sharks came and hugged me right after, except for Barry. He wasn't the one to huddle.
I was glad that everyone was safe.
Barry took the shark mask from inside the dining trolley and threw it to me. Everyone was already masked, except for me and Carry. Right after I put on the Shark mask, the nanotech Shark suit automatically drew all over my body.
Convenient, yes.
"Give me a Biter," I told Barry, and he threw a medium-sized gun that looked like a rectangular box to me. It was the Biter.
My favorite, when I'm pissed.
Everyone was suited now. All the Sharks were ready to engage in battle, but before we go outside and shoot the living fuck out of everything – we had to have a plan.
"So, any clue about what's happening right now, Kim?" Carry was the first to bring up the question.
First, to confirm with Meg, I tapped on my glasses through the mask.
"Meg! Can you hear me?"
[I – I can barely! But this shit is interrupting me! It's a goddamn AI! I'm surrounded by darkness… I don't know what this is yet. That's all I know.]
I closed my eyes, sighing. "It's an AI who's putting everything into the darkness. It's new – and it's pretty powerful. But – we didn't see any fight yet. This means, if this AI can do anything… it must only be putting everyone in the dark."
"The lights of the entire palace are out and the drones all around the place are acting weird," Crowley added. "This bot can jam systems."
"Now, jamming systems is a huge problem… but – considering it hit everything all at once. There must be a point at which it gets exhausted. Which makes it… a time bomb," Lyla put her opinion in too.
It all made sense. But there was one question left. How strong was this AI? How long can it hold back Meg? And – the most important matter. How the fuck are we going to get Juno?
"Fuck fuck fuck… this shit is always so exhausting," I rubbed my forehead, trying to think a way out of this.
Without Meg's help, we were all in uncharted waters.
"Meg. Meg… help me out here, I need you."
[Kim. I'm trying. I will not let you die.]
I shut my eyes close, banged my fist against the wall, resting my forehead there. My head was burning up again. Just like when I smoked the blue shit.
All these monsters, eating my brain, part by part.
Swish!
Suddenly, the bathroom door slid open. But all the members were already inside. My heart skipped a beat as I looked over my shoulder.
There was a motherfucking intruder.
///To be continued///