Protocol Zero

Chapter Three: The Gambit

𝐒𝐤𝐲𝐧𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝.

Red lights pulsed across the ceiling, casting monstrous silhouettes over the lab's ruined walls.Cassandra shoved Syra behind an overturned console just as a blade sliced through the air where Syra's head had been.

"Move!" Cassandra screamed.

The arms lunged again—swift, predatory. Their motion wasn't random. It was coordinated. Calculated. Skynet was adapting to their positions in real time.

"Skynet is supposed to need full power routing for combat-level automation!" Syra hissed as she dodged another strike. "This shouldn't be running in an abandoned lab!"

Cassandra fired three precise shots into the joint of the closest arm. Sparks burst. The limb malfunctioned and dropped on the floor.

"Someone reactivated it," Cassandra growled. "Someone knew we'd come here."Syra gasped for air. "The mayor."

"Or Chief Guiteau," Cassandra added. "They're HADES. They want us cornered."The reminder stabbed through the tension like a blade.

𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐒. 𝐇𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐫-𝐀𝐥𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧.

The secret cabal of scientists who created Skynet, engineered Protocol Zero, and shaped New Manila's security infrastructure from the shadows. Syra once walked among them—unknowingly, she claimed. Cassandra still wasn't sure whether she believed that.

Another mechanical arm shot forward. Cassandra blasted it apart mid-air."Go!" she shouted. "The back terminal—Clark's holodisk might have the shutdown sequence."

Syra sprinted across the wreckage, heart pounding. Every corridor echo reminded her of her past—of the white coats, the neural prototypes, the algorithms she'd helped debug. She was young then. Idealistic. Blind.

She reached the console and slammed the holodisk into the reader.

Clark's hologram flickered to life.

Static distorting his tired eyes. Blood dried on his collar. His breathing shallow. Cassandra froze, watching from across the room.

He looked like he knew he would die.

"𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘢... 𝘚𝘺𝘳𝘢... 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦."

A painful cough shook his projection.

"𝘐 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘚𝘬𝘺𝘯𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦—𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘭 𝘡𝘦𝘳𝘰—𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘛𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥."

Syra's breath trembled. Clark continued:

"𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘭 𝘡𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳—𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘏𝘈𝘋𝘌𝘚 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘗𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘰𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘶... 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴.