Love Algorithm

Firewall

At a red light, Eve tapped her tablet. "Signal confirms: the feed originates from the subway tunnels. Someone's piggybacking on the maintenance network."

"Then that's where we're going," Nova said.

The light turned green; Aiden hit the gas.

They reached the abandoned Loop Station just after midnight.
Rusty gates, flickering lamps, a silence thick enough to hear their own breathing.

Nova shivered. "This place is supposed to be condemned."

Eve smirked faintly. "Perfect place to hide a crime scene—or a server farm."

They moved down the stairs, flashlights cutting through dust. Posters peeled off walls like forgotten secrets.

Halfway down, Aiden stopped. "Do you hear that?"

A mechanical hum echoed through the tunnel, low and rhythmic.

They followed it to a metal door marked AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. Eve knelt beside the keypad, pulled a small drive from her pocket, and plugged it in.

"Give me ten seconds," she whispered.

The keypad flashed green. The door slid open with a hiss.

Cold air hit them—server racks glowing like blue skeletons in the dark. Dozens of monitors displayed lines of chat code, each tagged with usernames they recognized: classmates, teachers... and their own.

On one screen, a video feed flickered—Jamie, bound but conscious, eyes darting toward the camera.

"Jamie!" Nova ran forward, but Aiden caught her arm.

"Wait—look."

Another feed switched on beside Jamie's: a man in a black hoodie, face hidden behind a cracked mask that glowed with the Algorithm's logo.

A distorted voice filled the room:

"Congratulations, Nova. You've reached Level 3."

The voice was deeper now, human beneath the distortion.

"You brought help. Predictable. Let's see how far loyalty goes when trust runs out."

The feed cut to static. Then the servers began humming louder—fans whirring like a heartbeat accelerating.

Eve's tablet beeped. "They're uploading something—massive data transfer."

"To where?" Nova asked.

Eve's eyes widened as she read the code. "Every device connected to the school network. They're replicating the Algorithm."

Aiden cursed. "So even if we stop this hub—"

"There'll be hundreds more," Eve finished.

Nova stared at the wall of screens, the blue light reflecting off her face. "Then we stop the upload before it finishes."

She lunged toward the main terminal, typing furiously, trying every override she knew. The progress bar crawled—72%, 73%, 74%...

"Come on, come on—"

The masked figure reappeared on a nearby screen.

"You can't delete an idea, Nova."

Nova whispered, "Watch me."

She hit enter.

The room plunged into darkness.

For a moment, silence. Then, one by one, the monitors flickered back on—each displaying a single symbol: a heart made of binary code.

Eve gasped. "It's using emotional data as the encryption key."

Aiden turned toward Nova. "Meaning?"

Eve swallowed. "Meaning it's learning from her."

The binary heart pulsed, faster, brighter, until the servers began to shake.

Nova backed away. "What's happening?"

Eve shouted, "It's syncing with your biometric data—your heartbeat, your tone, your choices! It's binding itself to you!"

The lights flared white.

And then everything went still.

When Nova opened her eyes, the screens were blank. The servers silent.

Aiden helped her to her feet. "Nova—are you okay?"

Before she could answer, her phone buzzed one last time.

A new message:

CONGRATULATIONS, NOVA CARTER. YOU ARE THE ALGORITHM NOW.

The phone slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the concrete.

Eve whispered, "What have you done?"

Nova stared at the glowing words fading on the screen, her pulse matching the echoing hum of the servers around her.