Once inside, the team descended into the lower levels of the facility, where the true scale of the operation became apparent. Massive data servers hummed in the dark, interconnected by cables that stretched for miles underground. This was another of Solas's hidden nodes—a backup vault for the algorithm.
"This is bigger than the last one," Nyla said, her voice tense as she surveyed the rows of servers. "It looks like a complete backup of everything."
Zane moved to one of the terminals and started working his way through the encryption. "It's all here—everything Solas had, everything he was working on. But this facility wasn't just storage. It was actively running parts of the algorithm."
General Aria scanned the area, keeping an eye on the darkened corners. "Can you shut it down?"
Zane hesitated, his fingers hovering over the keys. "I can shut down the current processes, but there's something else. There's an AI here—an automated system running independently of any human control."
Nyla's blood ran cold. "You're saying it's self-sustaining?"
"Exactly," Zane said. "This AI is managing parts of Solas's network in real time. Even if we disable it now, it could restart on its own unless we wipe the entire system."
"Then we wipe it," Nyla said firmly. "Every last trace."
But as Zane prepared to initiate the wipe, the facility's alarms suddenly blared to life. Red lights flashed overhead, and a synthesized voice filled the air: "Unauthorized access detected. Initiating lockdown."
"Someone's been monitoring us," Zane cursed. "We need to get out of here before we're trapped."