Perched on the roof of a crumbling apartment complex, Rina narrowed her eyes at the target building—a dingy warehouse with faded "meat processing" signs. The layers of perimeter security hinted at its true nature. Her silenced drones buzzed around the compound, their feeds projecting onto her HUD.
The minimap lit up with red dots: patrol guards, automated turrets swiveling, and a network of surveillance cameras.
Rina (thinking): That's a lot of firepower for storing steaks.
Her binoculars highlight clusters of heat signatures within. A mix of human shapes and odd, bulky equipment lit up her view.
Rina (muttering): Meat, huh? Sure it is.
She scanned for the network's central node, her HUD marking it as a server station buried deep in the warehouse. Getting there wouldn't be easy. She leaped across rooftops with the grace of a predator, vaulting over gaps and scaling walls. Her breath was steady as she dropped into the shadowed alley behind the warehouse, finding a blind spot in the camera coverage.
Crouching by the warehouse's exterior internet antenna, she connected her hacking device. The screen blinked, scrolling lines of code as her AI-assisted software worked its magic.
AI (V.O.): "Initiating intrusion. External surveillance and turret controls in progress."
The feed crackled to life on her HUD—now, every external camera and turret was under her control. She cycled through the feeds and froze. One camera showed a group of workers unloading large metallic crates. Their hazmat suits shimmered under the harsh fluorescent lights, and faint labels on the crates read: "Class-4 Biohazard – Handle with Extreme Caution."
Rina (thinking): Definitely not beef.
AI (V.O.): "External security systems offline. Turrets and cameras feeding looped footage. You now have tactical control. Proceed with caution."
Her next target was the internal network. Slipping through a vent near the back of the warehouse, she bypassed two patrols with quiet precision. Inside, the air was thick and chemical-tinged, leaving a metallic taste on her tongue.
She reached the control panel near the main server room, planting another device. The hacking process began, but this time, layers of encryption slowed her progress. A progress bar appeared on her HUD, crawling forward at a frustrating pace.
AI (V.O.): "System encrypted. Estimated time to breach: 3 minutes."
The wait was tense. She kept her eyes on the infrared feed, noting the guards moving nearby. One wrong move, and she'd be exposed.
Finally, the system relented, granting her access. The feed on her HUD expanded, revealing data logs, blueprints, and video recordings. She clicked through rapidly until one video feed made her stomach drop—lab workers in hazmat suits handling vials of an ominous black liquid.
Rina (muttering): "Not your average racket…"
Her HUD flagged several encrypted files marked with red tags. Digging deeper, she uncovered blueprints labeled as a "Processing Facility." The scale was staggering—this wasn't just a front for human trafficking. It was an industrial-scale bioweapons operation.
Her pulse quickened, but another pop up caught her attention—a surveillance feed showing Mikaela. She was alive, sitting in a storage room, her expression oddly happy.
Rina (thinking): What the hell? Why is she laughing?
Before she could pull out, a sudden spike in her HUD's interface sent her back. Static blurred her screen as her system blared warnings.
AI (V.O.): "Unauthorized access detected. Countermeasures activated."
"Damn it!" she hissed, yanking herself back into control. Guards surged into the building on her drone feed, their outlines stark against the infrared, now alerted.
"This just got messy," Rina growled, pulling her rifle close, now with lethal mode on.
AI (V.O.): "Encrypted files found are being uploaded as an urgent report to InsurLink as sufficient criminal evidence."
Rina's heart raced as she realized the full scale of what she had just unearthed. This wasn't just a shady corporation involved with a high-caliber prostitute kidnapping; it was something much bigger, something that could pose a threat to the entire city.
Rina: "What the hell have I stumbled into?"