The next coordinates led to an underground facility on the outskirts of the city. Once a cutting-edge data center, it had been abandoned for years, its towering structure reclaimed by nature. Vines and moss crept over its cracked walls, and the surrounding area was eerily silent.
Ashira approached cautiously, her flashlight cutting through the dense fog that clung to the ground. She was alone again—the Fracture Collective had given her the tools she needed but left the execution up to her.
"Always test your allies," the hooded leader had said before she left. "True intentions only reveal themselves under pressure."
The entrance to the facility was hidden behind a collapsed section of the wall. She squeezed through the narrow opening and found herself in a vast, dark chamber filled with rows of rusting servers and shattered monitors.
The map from the Collective guided her deeper, through winding corridors and down crumbling staircases. The deeper she went, the colder it became, and the faint hum of residual power grew louder.
Finally, she reached a room marked Core Operations. Inside was an intact console, its screen glowing faintly. It pulsed with the same strange energy she'd felt at the Tower Terminal.
As she approached, the screen flickered, displaying a fragmented piece of code. She recognized it immediately as another fracture. She plugged in her drive, her fingers flying over the keyboard to begin the decryption process.
The room filled with the sound of whirring machinery as the code unraveled itself. But as the process neared completion, a sharp noise echoed behind her—footsteps.
She spun around, her flashlight revealing two figures dressed in black, their faces obscured by masks.
"You shouldn't be here," one of them said, their voice cold and mechanical.
Ashira's pulse quickened. She was cornered, with no clear escape route. But instead of panicking, she stepped closer to the console, her hand hovering over the keyboard.
"Stay back, or I'll wipe the data," she warned.
The figures hesitated, their movements tense. It was a bluff—she didn't know if she could delete the fracture without damaging the drive. But she couldn't let them know that.
One of them lunged toward her, and instinct took over. She grabbed a broken metal pipe from the floor and swung it, the impact sending the attacker sprawling. The other figure rushed at her, but before they could reach her, a deafening alarm blared through the facility.
The fracture had fully decrypted.
Ashira seized the drive and bolted, the echoing alarm masking her frantic footsteps as she sprinted through the labyrinth of corridors. She didn't stop until she reached the surface, the cold night air hitting her like a slap.
Clutching the drive tightly, she disappeared into the shadows, her heart pounding. She didn't know who those figures were, but one thing was clear—she wasn't the only one trying to control the Echo Network.