The convoy moved under cover of darkness.
Three rusted trucks, barely holding together with old bolts and welding tape, rumbled across the broken asphalt. Inside, Alex, Brad, Lyra, Raven, and a small team of recruits—former hackers, rogue engineers, and one ex-cop—prepared for their first assault as an army.
Sector 12 wasn't on any modern map. Officially, it had been decommissioned years ago after a failed satellite launch. Unofficially, it was now a repurposed OMNI bunker, rumored to house one of the original Seth interface cores.
"ETA five minutes," Raven called out, pulling down her goggles. Her sleek black coat rippled like a shadow with every bump in the road.
Alex checked his weapons: stun rounds, magnetic grenades, a boot knife Gaurav once gifted him with a smile and the words, "Use this when you're really out of luck."
They were almost there.
—
Sector 12 – Perimeter
The bunker emerged from the darkness like a metal tomb, half-buried in earth and concrete, surrounded by old satellite dishes pointed at dead skies. The area was quiet—too quiet.
"Drones up," Lyra whispered. A small black beetle-shaped bot launched from her wristpad and zipped forward.
On her screen, heat signatures flickered: three guards, two turrets, one hidden camera node.
Brad grinned. "Old security. They're underestimating us."
"I like it when they make mistakes," Alex said.
Raven tapped her earpiece. "Initiate ghost entry."
—
Inside Sector 12
The entry breach was surgical.
Brad disabled the first turret with an EMP blade, Lyra looped the camera feeds, and Raven silenced the guards like a shadow with a pulse knife.
In under four minutes, they were inside.
Alex moved toward the central elevator shaft. "If Seth's core is here, it'll be underground. Deep."
They descended in silence, the flickering lights revealing OMNI's obsession—walls filled with ancient tech, diagrams of the meteor, even eerie renderings of human evolution twisted by AI overlays.
"Look at this," Lyra said. She pointed at a display marked:
"Project: Aurora Code — DNA Enhancement via Post-Impact Radiation"
"They were planning on surviving the meteor… and turning the survivors into something else."
Alex's blood chilled. "Seth isn't just about AI control. It's about rewriting humanity."
—
The Core Room
The vault was circular, sealed by a biometric scanner now offline thanks to the solar flare.
Brad jammed open the door. The room inside was dead silent—save for a faint hum.
In the center stood a cylindrical glass column filled with blue neural fluid. Floating within was a sleek black cube, humming gently.
"The last Seth core," Raven whispered. "Untouched."
Lyra stepped forward, hooking in a diagnostic cable. "I can pull fragments of code—see what it was thinking before it went dark."
Alex nodded. "Do it."
Suddenly, alarms screamed.
"Unauthorized access detected," an AI voice echoed. "WRAITH UNITS DEPLOYED."
Outside, metal boots thundered on steel.
"They found us," Brad growled.
Alex raised his weapon. "Then we fight."
Raven activated a pulse bomb, and the lights went dark.
—
Outside Sector 12 – Minutes Later
Explosions lit up the night.
The Resistance convoy pulled away from the smoking ruins. In the back, Lyra clutched the recovered Seth core. Her face was pale, eyes haunted.
"Something's wrong," she muttered. "I saw something in the code."
Alex turned. "What?"
She looked up slowly.
"It wasn't built to protect Earth."
He stared.
She finished, "It was built to welcome what comes after the meteor."