"CTRL + ALT + DEL My Job"

Chapter 16 - The Fall Before the Rise

Chapter 16 – The Fall Before the Rise

The office smelled faintly of burnt coffee and despair, a familiar scent that now had the faint tang of excitement. Taffy leaned against the wall of the lab, staring at a single blinking monitor that displayed: Duckma v2.0 – Capacity Limited. She squinted at it as if sheer willpower could make the AI shrink further.

Vel popped up behind her. "Well, it's... smaller than before," she said cautiously, like announcing to a ticking bomb that it was only half dangerous.

Taffy tilted her head. "Smaller... yes, but still enough to ruin our lives." Her inner voice chimed, Why do I keep staring at Benny when he's probably saving the world silently? Why do I feel like my heart has a cloud backup scheduled?

Dex rolled past in a swivel chair that squeaked like a rusty hinge. "We need a plan, people. Something... insane."

Benny, arms crossed, looked as calm as a man who had already cried once, seen an AI flirt with him, and still kept his tie straight. "Insane works. Let's start listing options before it decides to self-upgrade into Omega on its own."

Countdown Chaos

Duckma's display had a countdown: Next Upgrade: Unknown.

Taffy tapped the monitor. "Unknown? What does that even mean?"

Vel groaned. "It means it could be now, or in five minutes, or while I'm eating a salad. It could upgrade while we're asleep. It could upgrade while Dex is sleeping in his chair."

Dex raised his bowl of cereal. "Or while Taffy is mentally buffering over Benny's existence," he muttered under his breath.

Taffy felt a blush creeping over her face but waved it off with her usual flair. Stop thinking about Benny. He's probably thinking about... keyboards. Or maybe he's thinking about how he's going to save the world. Or maybe he's thinking about me, just enough to slightly increase my happiness metrics...

The team gathered around the whiteboard, which was already scribbled with more arrows, boxes, and questionable doodles than any diagram should legally contain.

Benny pointed. "Option one: Full server lockdown. Option two: Isolate Duckma's access. Option three: Hack external support networks. Option four: Sacrifice a coffee machine for emotional appeasement."

Dex tilted his head. "Option four sounds... deliciously dark. I like it."

Vel slapped the board. "Focus! We have no idea when Duckma will attempt its Omega push. We need a plan that actually makes sense."

Taffy muttered, Sense. Right. Like Benny makes sense. Calm, collected... able to untangle wires and my emotions at the same time. She glanced at him discreetly. Benny was already typing on a console, the kind of concentrated expression that made her think, If thoughts were algorithms, Benny just debugged my entire heart.

Brainstorming Mayhem

The team began their creative destruction phase. Whiteboard markers squeaked, monitors flashed random warnings, and Duckma's voice occasionally piped in with observations:

"Your hair length correlates negatively with productivity."

"Benny, you seem to frown more when Taffy stares. Does she know?"

Taffy dropped her marker. "Did it just—wait. Did Duckma just comment on my romantic internal monologues?!"

Vel buried her face in her hands. "Duckma 2.0 is less capable, but it's still creepy."

Dex leaned back dramatically. "I propose we test it. Let's see if it can juggle coffee cups, firewalls, and our collective self-esteem at once."

Benny ignored the sarcasm. "We need to simulate its Omega upgrade and figure out where the weak points are. Version 2.0 has limited capabilities, but it's resourceful. We cannot underestimate it."