The first rays of dawn filtered through the dilapidated façades of the old simulation village—once a training ground for the inaugural cohort of Explorers. Steam hissed from software conduits and synthetic fog drifted across the abandoned streets. Lea and Mio stood panting beside the wreck of a driverless shuttle, gazing at a cobalt sky streaked with engineered clouds and solar-panel–toting cranes. This place had been their safehouse, but now it would be their staging ground for the next operation.
Lea withdrew the flash drive from the Core Node's data port and tucked it safely into her jacket pocket. She lowered herself onto a broken brick ledge, fingertips trembling as her HUD flickered with the reminder: Maintenance Points: Frozen. Yet her mind buzzed with the torrent of information they had just extracted—so much that no HUD override could contain it.
"Did we really pull it off?" she whispered to herself, glancing at Mio, who was silently rechecking mission codes on his console.
Mio exhaled heavily. "Yes. But the truth is still on that drive—and now we have to return to the Real World Subnet to transmit it out." His tone was steady, a mixture of hope and resolve.
Lea nodded and rose to her feet. Activating her Scout+ abilities, she brought up the underground map on her HUD. The Warehouse Sector route remained clear, but they would need to move faster and quieter than before. She looked toward Mio. "Do we take the old path or cut through the new shortcut?"
Mio studied the holographic map. "We drop into the maintenance tunnel beneath the factory, then veer into the shortcut Charu set up under the derelict parking zone. There's a hidden relay connected to ARK's Digital Backdoor there."
A yawning darkness opened before them: the subterranean alley, bathed in scattered amber emergency lights that cast complex shadows on the concrete walls. Leaking gas pipes hissed, their pungent tang filling the air. Bundles of tangled cables formed twisted knots overhead. They paused, then switched on Night Vision to reveal every crevice and crawl space.
"Stealth Mode," Lea murmured, tapping her wrist console. Her form dissolved into a translucent wisp, seamlessly merging with the shadows.
Footsteps echoed from down the corridor. A small patrol drone glided along its rail overhead. They pressed into a side niche between conduits, hearts pounding, as the drone's scanners swept past without detecting them.
Exiting the dark tunnel, they surfaced amidst the rusted skeleton of a transport depot. Abandoned shipping containers lay scattered across a wide expanse. Nestled among them stood the camouflaged Digital Backdoor relay.
Mio whistled. He produced a handheld scanner from his inventory and scanned the metal panel until an orange beacon icon blinked on his HUD. "There," he whispered, moving toward the access console.
Lea kept watch, then sprinted forward in Scout+ stealth. Her Night Vision IR beam traced the cable runs up to the relay port on the wall.
Mio slid the drive into the secret socket and tapped twice.
"Inject Relay... 10%... 50%... 100%."
A hydraulic hiss echoed as the relay box's mechanisms engaged. The comm unit in their suits crackled to life with static interference.
+1 MP (Re-established Data Link)
The rusted gate swung open, revealing a dark steel tunnel lined with power conduits. Emergency switches blinked with warning lights.
Lea and Mio descended the concrete staircase toward the Real World Subnet. At a fork in the corridor, they parted ways to reduce the chance of triggering the remaining security cameras.
Confrontation with a Special Agent
Lea crept down the narrow passage. Reflections from her Night Vision goggles glinted on the walls. Heat sensors were installed at intervals atop utility poles.
Suddenly, a Special Agent emerged: clad in a translucent tactical suit and wielding an electro-magnetic rifle with a holographic shield.
Lea reacted instantly, firing a wrist-mounted Claw Shot. The retractable wire impaled the agent's leg, sending him sprawling.
Gathering speed, she vaulted onto a reinforced pipe, then flicked the wire to jam open an emergency door before he could re-aim.
+1 MP (Agent Distracted)
Sirens wailed once more as they fled into the final control chamber linking to the surface network.
Return to the Real World Subnet
Inside the chilled control room, rows of circuit racks blinked with red warning lights. Cables snaked across every surface.
Mio stood at the master console. At the sight of Lea holding the flash drive, he seized it and inserted it into the upper data port.
The main monitor overlaid an image of the Real World Subnet, with a prompt: Transmit to Surface Relay
Lea pressed the confirm icon. Hundreds of megabytes of critical data streamed in microwave pulses upward to orbiting satellites.
A mission-complete chime sounded. Though their MP remained frozen, their hearts burned with hope.
"We've sent the evidence," Mio whispered, placing a hand on Lea's shoulder.
"Now… our families are waiting."
In the subterranean darkness beneath the real world, the hum of microwaves mingled with the beating of two courageous hearts as they prepared to step into the first light of a new day…