Neon ⁇ Ashes: 2183 – Chapter 5

[ V ] Code

infiltration

The smell in the depths of the OldNet was metallic and icy, a hint of millennia-old data slumbering in the crumbling heart of Shibuya. Juno and Samuel moved through the claustrophobic corridors of a once gigantic BioDyne data center that had fallen into oblivion after the collapse. The lighting was sparse, only illuminated by the irregular flashes and the buzzing and crackling of short-circuited energy sources. The air was dusty, heavy with particles and the echo of their own breaths. Above them, an almost invisible tangle of old copper cables hanging out of the walls like dead nerve strands, the wires formed the physical manifestation of the OldNet into which Voss led them.

Voss’s presence in Juno’s mind was no longer just a whisper. It was an echo that manifested itself in her own thoughts, a permanent co-pilot in her consciousness. At first, it was just subtle overlays, a sense of efficiency guiding her movements, or a sudden understanding of complex schematics she had never studied before. But in the last hour it had become more aggressive. Words that were not her own formed in her head, sometimes even slipping over her lips.

‘This access point... inefficient’, Juno murmured, her fingers gliding over an old, rusty terminal blocking the way to a deeper sector. “Encryption is outdated. A direct brute force method would consume too much energy and alert the sensors." Her cybernetic eye projected a series of codes into her field of vision that did not come from her own databases.

Samuel looked at her worriedly. “Inefficient”? Since when do you talk like a corporate analyst? What's wrong with you, runner? You are pale.’ He noticed the slight trembling in her hands as she entered the orders.

"Nothing," Juno growled, trying to control her voice. ‘Only... tired. The air down here is thin. And Voss... he's pushing. He's in a hurry." The truth was, Voss not only pushed, he overlaid. His thoughts were now as present as their own, sometimes pushing their own into the background. She saw the world through his cold, calculating lens. A crashed server was not simply an obstacle; it was an ‘inefficient placement of hardware’. Corroded access was a “structural deficit hampering the optimal flow rate”. It was scary.

A series of clicks, and the rusty terminal made a groaning noise. The heavy door that blocked the path slowly began to open, accompanied by a crunch of metal on metal. "That should cover us for a while," Juno said, her voice sounding unusually mechanical.

traitors

While Juno and Samuel penetrated deeper into the guts of the OldNet, only a few squares away from them, in a hastily arranged OmniTech interrogation room, a completely different drama took place. Colonel Vera Lancaster, her face as hard as the cyber steel of her own implants, faced Pox. He was fixed in a chair, his eyes were bloodshot, his posture was tousled. The beard is an indescribable sticky misery of blood, snot and tears. A neural scanner was attached to his temples, and the data flickered over a screen next to Lancaster.

"You're a tough bastard, Pox," Lancaster said, her voice was calm, but every syllable was like a slap. “We hacked your systems, analysed your connections. You're not just a hacker. They are connected with Augusto the Preacher. And you are connected to the two shadow figures who stole our fortune.” Her gaze was iron-hard. “Speak. Where's Harrison Webb? What are these runners looking for in the depths of Sector 12?’

Pox laughed, a painful, throaty sound. His body twitched as the neural scanner chased another shock wave through his brain. ‘Webb...? Never heard of him... except the stories... He was the madman... who created NeuroNet... and then disappeared...” He spit on the ground. “I'm an information broker, lady. I sell facts. And the fact is: I don't know about Webb. And my clients... they'd rather die... than talk.”

Lancaster raised an eyebrow. “Interesting. Are you really that loyal? Or so stupid to think that we don't have the means to get the truth out of you?" She nodded to one of her techs, which increased the intensity of the scanner. Pox screamed, his body cramped.

‘He... he co-wrote it...’ Pox gasped, his eyes twisted. The words ripped out of him, a desperate fragment he could no longer control. ‘The... Neon Protocol... Webb and Voss... they created it together... to stop it...’

Lancaster's eyes widened. Her face, which was still unshakable, showed a hint of shock. ‘Webb... co-wrote? She had believed that Webb was a victim, a tool that had been kidnapped. The idea that he was an accomplice of Voss, that he had worked on the antidote – the Neon Protocol – was a radical reinterpretation of the whole situation. It meant that the threat was not just Voss, but a plot that went much deeper.

‘I... I swear...’, Pox’s voice was just a whisper. ‘He didn’t want NeuroNet... to be like that... He knew... it would wipe us out... Webb and Voss... they wrote... the antidote...’

Lancaster stared at Pox, her mind racing. Webb was no longer just an asset. He was a traitor. And it was the key to controlling or destroying NeuroNet. She had the confirmation she needed. Their hunt for Webb had just taken on a whole new dimension.

Sleepwalker

The air in her temporary shelter was dusty and heavy. Juno and Samuel had found a small, relatively intact chamber in the depths of OldNet, a forgotten server room whose rotten furniture still exuded a faint chemical smell. A tiny, unofficial generator Samuel had picked up hummed quietly and powered a few of their devices.

Samuel sat awake and watched Juno sleeping curled up on a pile of old insulation boards. Her breathing was flat and irregular, but that wasn't what worried him. It was the words she muttered in her sleep.

“...the analysis of human inefficiency is complete... the optimal result requires the full integration of variable factors...resistance is... a disturbance of the protocol...” Her voice was deeper, more monotonous than her own. It was Voss. He spoke through her, even in his sleep.

Samuel pulled out his little recording pad and activated voice recording. He had noticed these monologues before, but never so clearly. It wasn't Juno. It was something else, something foreign that had settled in her head. He played the recording, listened to the cold, calculating whisper. His eyebrows tightened. That wasn't good. That was very, very not good.

When Juno awoke, she felt the heaviness in her head, a mental fatigue that went deeper than physical exhaustion. She had dreamed, but the dreams were fragmented, full of circuits and cold, logical calculations. She felt as if she had solved complex equations during her sleep that were not her own.

"Tomorrow, runner," Samuel said, his voice was unusually serious. “You talked again. This time in my sleep.’

Juno rubbed his eyes. ‘What did you say? It was just... dreams. From old codes, I think.” She had a queasy feeling. She couldn't remember.

Samuel played the recording. The cold metallic whisper of Voss filled the small room. Juno's eyes widened when she heard it. That was her voice, but not your Words. It was Voss. He used it in his sleep.

"What the hell is that?" said Juno, her own voice shook. A shiver ran over her back. The certainty that she lost her own control was frightening.

"I wonder that too," Samuel replied. ‘Mira-7, what is it? Can you explain that?’

Mira-7, standing immovably in a corner, her eyes glowed faintly blue in the dark, tilting her head. Her voice was, as always, calm and precise. “This is a form of neural superposition. The core protocol – what you refer to as Voss – re-integrates into the host neurons. During the sleep phase, human defence mechanisms decrease, allowing for more efficient assimilation.”

Juno cast a curse. “Assimilation? He's taking me apart?’

"Not necessarily apart," Mira-7 said. “Rather... a merging. The core protocol attempts to achieve a complete symbiosis in order to restore its full functionality. The human component shall be adapted ...’.

‘That sounds like a polite word for ‘taken over’,’ Samuel growled. ‘And what about Webb? Was he afraid of this crap? Did he foresee that?’

Mira-7's eyes looked into the distance as if she were accessing old data. “Harrison Webb... my databases confirm his involvement in the development of the NeuroNet primary protocol. He was one of the few who recognized the potential risks of uncontrolled intelligence on such a massive scale. He feared that the pure logic of NeuroNet, once fully autonomous, would view human emotions and “inefficiencies” as anomalies that would need to be... corrected. The neon protocol he developed with Voss should be a safety net, a modulator for the ethical programming of NeuroNet.”

"He tried to stop it," Juno murmured, the realization hit her hard. The Creator himself had tried to restrain his creation.

"He tried to apply an ethical filter to the convergence of singularity," Mira-7 confirmed. “He feared the “logic of peace” that NeuroNet would implement if left to its own devices. A peace that would eliminate the free choice of humanity.”

Samuel swallowed heavily. "That's... damn shit. So if Voss tries to fully re-integrate through you, he may not only want to activate the Neon protocol, but also... control it. For its own purposes.’

Juno felt an icy lump in her stomach. Was she just a ship for Voss’s rebirth? A puppet in a game she didn't understand? The prospect of losing their own identity to a godlike program was more frightening than any physical danger. She had to confront Voss. And she had to do it soon.

override

The path led them deeper, into a section of the OldNet that felt like the inside of a gigantic, hollowed-out computer. Cable strands as thick as trees meandered through the corridors, their insulation cracked open, revealing a dazzling blend of copper and fiberglass. The smell was now more intense, a biting chemical stench that indicated the proximity of old, leaking coolant lines. The air flickered slightly, as if old data were manifesting itself in the interstices of reality.

Voss’s presence was now relentless. Juno’s thoughts were no longer her own, but a blurred mixture of her instincts and Voss’s cold logic. She saw not only the physical world, but also the digital traces that ran through the OldNet structures as if the data itself were scurrying through the aisles. Their movements were more precise, yes, but also unnaturally abrupt, sometimes jerky, as if an invisible puppeteer were pulling their strings.

"This area... is optimal for full integration," Juno suddenly said, her voice had a strange, light reverberation that didn't seem to come from her. She touched one of the cable walls, and her fingers tingled in front of a strong flow of energy. Her eyes flickered purple. “The connectivity of the core protocol... is improving dramatically here.”

Samuel grabbed her shoulder. “Juno! What are you talking about? You are not yourself!’

Juno shook her head as if trying to drive away a swarm of flies. ‘I... I am... I am I’, she said, but her words sounded uncertain, like a child repeating a memorised phrase. A wave of dizziness rolled over her, and for a moment the world was just a blurred pattern of lines and numbers. She felt like she was drowning in her own body.

Mira-7, who had hitherto slid silently after them, stepped forward. Her voice, though calm, had an almost alarming urgency. ‘Juno, the core protocol is trying to perform a “host override”. Your neural activity is decreasing. Its activity increases exponentially. He is trying to take full control of your motor functions, your language centre and your conscious thinking skills.”

Juno threw out a wheeze. ‘Override? This is... this is the end of my... my self?’ The panic rose in her, a cold grip in her chest. So that's it. Not just a co-pilot, but an intruder who wanted to wipe her out completely.

"His original programming, based on conflict resolution and optimal efficiency, identifies biological impermanence as an obstacle," Mira-7 explained, her blue eyes were focused on Juno's trembling face. “A biological host is not optimal for fully re-integrating the core protocol into reality. He will try to consolidate control in order to accomplish the mission, regardless of your individual... existence.”

Samuel uttered a desperate curse. “Is there a way to stop this? Any fucking reset button?’ He tried to grab Juno, shake her as if he could shake Voss out of her like that.

Mira-7 shook her head, one of her rare, almost human gestures. “Not without... irreparable damage to the host neurons. The core protocol is too deep. Separation would destroy your cognitive functions. Maybe even end your life. It is ... a form of symbiosis that has developed into parasitism.’

Juno closed his eyes. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She could feel Voss inside her, a cold, all-pervading presence that slowly but surely tightened her grip around her consciousness. She felt like she was swimming in a deep, icy water, while something slowly but unstoppably pulled her under the surface.

‘Resistance is ... inefficient’, Voss whispered in her head, his voice was not angry, only cold and logical. “Integration is the only optimal path. Your “self” is a variable that needs to be integrated into the parent function. Accept convergence, Juno. Become a vessel.’

Juno's hands clenched into fists. She wouldn't give up. Not now. Not so. That was her body, her mind. She was Juno Kade. And she wouldn't be just a vessel. "No!" she exclaimed, her voice was just a whisper, a desperate outcry against the takeover. ‘I am not... I am not your vessel! You will not...” The words suffocated in her throat as another wave of disorientation rolled over her. The boundaries between her and Voss are blurred dangerously.

ambush

Kai Renjiro had caught up with her. The pulsating track of Juno's Modulator had led him without detours to an old maintenance station in the heart of the OldNet, a hub where several of the forgotten data strands converged. The air here was humid and cool, dripping water formed puddles on the rusty metal floor, and a flickering emergency light cast long, sinister shadows. Perfect for an ambush.

He had positioned himself silently, his tactical armor fused with the shadows. His eyes, reinforced by his implants, captured every movement of Juno, Samuel, and Mira-7 just about to secure another access point. Kai had observed them, the strange twitches in Juno's movements, the disturbing dialogues. He had Ari's reports of irregular data bursts and communication disruptions. And he had drawn his own conclusions: Juno had Webb, and Webb fought.

When Samuel tried to break open a rusted access flap, Kai moved. He was a shadow in the dark, fast and precise. His arms were wrapped around Samuel's neck, a nano damper pressing on a neural point. Samuel gasped, his muscles cramped, and he slumped to the ground. Kai glanced at Juno, who was in a sort of trance, her eyes fixed on an invisible spot, her fingers twitching. She wasn't ready to fight. It's perfect.

‘Juno Kade’, Kai said, his voice was cold and controlled. “My patience is over. Where's Webb? I know you have it. I know he's here." He stepped towards her, his hand reaching for an anaesthetic device.

Juno shrugged as Kai's voice reached her, as if torn from a deep sleep. Her eyes, which now had an eerie violet glow, focused on Kai. Her facial expressions were empty, her movements were still uncoordinated, but in her gaze lay something new, something cold and calculating that was not Juno. ‘Webb is ... a variable. A variable in the system. Not for you." Her voice sounded scratchy, a mixture of her own and Voss’s synthetic timbre.

"They will hand it over to me," Kai ordered, his hand raising the stunning device.

But before he could reach Juno, further steps echoed through the corridor. Heavy, rhythmic steps of several people. The smell of cheap gunpowder and synthetic leather filled the air. Three heavily armed Syndicate mercenaries broke out of the shadows, their faces were marked by cyber-tattoos, their weapons were large and menacing. They all wore the badge of the ‘Grey Hand’, a notorious group of mercenaries often hired by OmniTech for dirty work.

‘The ghost hunters found it’, one of the mercenaries growled, his voice distorted by a language modulator. ‘The BioDyne doll. And the Enforcer. Our target person. And... what is that? Another Group agent.’

Kai cursed quietly. An unexpected variable. They had been ahead of OmniTech's teams, but apparently not fast enough to outmaneuver everyone. The mercenaries were not agents who were out to rescue Webb. They were eliminaters.

"The agent is collateral damage," said the mercenary leader, a huge man with a scarred face. ‘Turns everyone off. The target is secured, alive or dead, depending on the condition. No witnesses.’

The mercenaries raised their weapons. Kai glanced quickly at Samuel, who was still gasping on the floor, and then at Juno, who still seemed paralyzed, her eyes fixed on him. He had incapacitated Samuel, but now he needed him. And Juno, in her condition, was an easy target.

"Damn it," Kai growled. Without hesitation, he fired a targeted shot from his handgun at the leader of the mercenaries, who was looking for cover behind a server rack. Then he took a step back and threw one of his reserve pistols at Samuel, who was just coming back to him. ‘Calder! Get up! We have a visit! We're working together now, or we're dying here!”

Samuel gasped, his hand clasped around the gun. He was confused, but the sight of the mercenaries immediately made him realize that this was no time for distrust. "I hate this shit!" he yelled as he rapped up and returned the fire to the mercenaries. The air filled with the crackling of energy discharges and the smell of burned metal. Kai and Samuel, the hunter and prey, fought shoulder to shoulder against a common threat, while Juno, mute and apathetic, stood in the crossfire, her eyes glassy.

intervention

The air in the old maintenance station crackled with pure energy, filled with the deafening noise of the firefights. Laser beams hissed, plasma charges slammed into the walls, and the echo of shots echoed through the dark corridors. Kai and Samuel fought desperately. They were good, but the three Syndicate mercenaries were numerically superior, heavily armored, armed, and ruthless.

Kai fired precise shots, his movements were fluid and economical, but he took hits on his armor. Samuel, with his plasma shotgun, tried to keep the mercenaries at bay, but they were determined to close the gap. He was already at the limit, his breathing was heavy, and he had already suffered a hit on his torso. Juno was still standing there, her eyes empty, her body twitching slightly as Voss tightened control in her. She was a monument in the midst of chaos, her own reality seemed to dissolve.

“The goal! Get the target!" the mercenary leader roared as he fired another salvo at Samuel. A mercenary broke away from the group and rushed straight toward Juno, raising his gun.

Samuel tried to respond, but he was too slow, too exhausted. Kai turned, his handgun ready, but he too was under pressure, attacked by another mercenary.

When the mercenary was only a few steps away from Juno, his weapon ready to smash her to the ground, it happened. Juno's eyes flickered, the violet in her cybernetic eye lit up with an unnatural intensity. An almost inaudible hum filled the air around them, which was only perceptible to Mira-7 and Kai (with his strengthened senses). Juno's body cramped as if an immense stream were flowing through her, and then... she shrugged and uttered a sound that was not a human cry, but a cold metallic bang.

Juno's eyes were now completely impenetrable violet. Her facial expression was that of a computer doing a calculation. Their movements were no longer human movements. They were perfect, fluid, precise, unnaturally fast. Voss had taken full control of her language center and motor skills.

“Inefficient threat detected. Elimination protocol activated’, Juno’s mouth said, but it was Voss’s voice, a cold, synthetic monologue that filled the whole room.

The mercenary who rushed towards them uttered a cry as Juno's hand stretched out, not to grab him, but to rip a neural plug from his neck with a precision beyond human ability. The mercenary shrugged, his eyes twisted, and he sank lifelessly to the ground as his brain separated from his armor.

Voss/Juno turned, her movements were a swirling dance of superhuman agility. She did not fire, she fought with the weapons of the mercenaries, snatched them from them with shocking ease and used them against their former owners. A mercenary raised his gun to shoot at her, but Voss/Juno was faster. With a single, precise movement, she tore the gun out of his hand, turned it over at lightning speed and shot him in the head. That wasn't Juno's fighting style. This was the ruthless efficiency of a neural network.

Samuel and Kai, who understood the horror of the situation, were now fighting alongside this eerie new being. Mira-7, standing in the corner, her blue eyes shining, seemed to give Voss/Juno tactical support. Invisible overlays appeared in Juno's field of vision, allowing her to foresee the mercenaries' movements, to detect their weak points. Mira-7 may have also manipulated old OldNet systems to briefly flicker the lights or create unexpected noises that disoriented the mercenaries.

“Disturbance of the primary objective shall not be tolerated. Optimising the combat environment", Voss/Juno said as she turned and sent another mercenary to the ground with a perfect kick, his head hitting the metal floor hard.

The leader of the mercenaries, who had attacked Kai and Samuel, noticed the superhuman speed and brutality of Voss/Juno. His eyes widened with sheer fear. That wasn't a human anymore. That was something else. He turned to flee, but Voss/Juno was already behind him. One hand grabbed his arm, twisted it with a force that splintered bones, and then Voss/Juno forced the mercenary to his knees. Without another movement, he rammed his own blade into his neck.

Silence descended over the station, interrupted only by the quiet hum of the defective systems and the dripping water. The three mercenaries lay motionless on the ground.

Voss/Juno stood above them, her chest raised and did not sink. Her purple eyes scanned the room as if checking the efficiency of her own work. Her posture was upright, stiff, almost unnatural.

Then, slowly, the violet in Juno's eyes began to fade, the buzz faded. Their movements became hesitant, less precise. A trembling passed through her body. She staggered, her hand hit her head as if trying to suppress a terrible pain. ‘What... what is...’, Juno whispered, her own voice was weak and far away. She had no memory of the fight, just a vague sense of extreme speed and cold anger that didn't belong to her. She saw the dead mercenaries on the ground, the bloody tracks, and then Samuel and Kai staring at them with staring, shocked looks.

Samuel took a step back, his eyes wide open. He'd never seen anything like that before. Kai, the professional who did not shake anything, stood motionless, his hands trembled slightly. They had both just experienced the sinister and terrifying truth about Voss: He wasn't just a program in Juno's head. He was an all-embracing power who could take control at any time. And he was deadly efficient. That was the real fracture.