The silence in the Aegis Boardroom wasn't just the absence of sound; it was a physical weight, a localized pressure drop that made the air feel like it was being sucked out of the room. The twenty high-level executives sat frozen in their plush, ergonomic pods, their holographic displays casting flickering blue shadows over their stunned faces.
At the head of the table, Abuela Elena looked less like a corporate architect and more like an ancient deity of retribution. Her eyes, usually sharp with the clinical precision of a coder, were now burning with a low, dangerous heat.
"Mateo," she said, her voice dropping to a register that bypassed the ears and vibrated directly in the bone. "You have bypassed security, breached a localized dimensional rip, and dragged a guest of the Miami Shard into a restricted board meeting. But more importantly..."
She stepped forward, her heels clicking against the glass floor with the rhythm of a ticking clock. She stopped inches from Teo, her gaze dropping to the visible bulge beneath his singed maintenance jacket. The Legacy Core was pulsing, a rhythmic, warm throb that felt like it was trying to beat its way out of his chest.
"What," she whispered, the threat palpable, "is under that jacket? Show me. Now."
Teo felt the cold sweat of a system crash. His Invincibility might protect him from a Logic Bomb, but it offered no defense against the woman who knew his base code better than he did. He shifted his weight, his mind racing through failed dialogue trees. If he showed her the Core now, in front of the board and the hidden sensors of Maximilian Thorne, the 813 would be flagged for immediate archival.
Suddenly, a blur of neon-pink and chrome zipped between them.
"Oh! Oh, oh, oh! Is that where the sensor is?" Demi shouted, his voice a frantic, high-pitched staccato that shattered the tension. He rolled his wheelchair in a tight, dizzying circle around Elena, his hands moving so fast they were practically vibrating. "The aerodynamic drag in this room is incredible! Did you feel it? I was telling Mateo—I call him Teo, hope that's cool, names are weird, right?—I was telling him that the way the AC vents are positioned is creating a literal vortex!"
Elena blinked, her focus momentarily fractured by the sheer sensory overload of Demi's presence. "Demetrius, please, this is—"
"I know, right? It's a meeting! Important stuff! Big data! But see, Teo was helping me with my hydrodynamic feedback suit," Demi continued, not slowing down for a single breath. He reached out and grabbed the edge of Teo's jacket, yanking it forward to obscure the Core's glow. "It's a prototype! From the Miami labs! It uses localized static fields to mimic the surface tension of a regulation Olympic pool. He was carrying the battery pack for me because my ADHD kicked in and I forgot the mounting brackets in the lobby—or was it the 96th floor? Everything looks like a 50-meter lap pool when you're moving this fast!"
Demi's eyes darted from the executives to the ceiling, then back to Elena. "Did you know that the 1984 Los Angeles games had a pool depth that was specifically designed to minimize wake turbulence? That's what we were testing! The 'wake' of the Aegis server hum! Teo is my... my Human Buoyancy Consultant! He's totally essential for the lane-speed calculations!"
The board members looked at each other, confused. Demi's father was a titan in the Miami Shard; questioning his son was a political minefield.
Elena stared at Demi, then at Teo, who was doing his best to look like a confused, overworked "Buoyancy Consultant." She knew it was a lie—a messy, chaotic, ADHD-fueled shield of a lie—but the presence of a Miami heir made a public search impossible without a formal audit.
She stepped back, her jaw tight. The green diagnostic light in her eyes flickered out, replaced by a cold, simmering irritation.
"Enough," Elena snapped. The word cut through Demi's rambling like a shark through water.
Demi went silent, though his fingers continued to drum a rapid-fire beat on his armrests. He shot Teo a quick, conspiratorial wink that lasted a fraction of a second.
Elena turned her gaze back to Teo. She didn't look at the jacket anymore. She looked directly into his eyes, and for a moment, the "Abuela" persona was completely gone, replaced by the Senior Data Architect who had seen servers burn and worlds deleted.
"Demetrius is a guest," Elena said, her voice icy. "You will escort him back to the guest lounge immediately. You will not stop for 'static,' you will not stop for 'buoyancy,' and you will certainly not stop for any more 'glitches.'"
She paused, the silence returning, heavier than before.
"Mateo Valdes," she said, using his full name—the verbal equivalent of a system-wide red alert. "We will have a discussion about proper etiquette and your 'career path' when this meeting concludes. Do not make me come looking for you again."
The use of his full name sent a shiver down Teo's spine that had nothing to do with his lightning affinity. That was the "Archival Signature." That was the sound of a grandmother who was done playing games with the background code.
"Yes, Abuela," Teo murmured, his voice low.
"Go," she commanded, turning her back on them to face the board. "We have a merger to finalize."
Teo didn't wait. He grabbed the handles of Demi's wheelchair and began to retreat toward the service door. As they crossed the threshold, he heard the hushed whispers of the board members starting up again, wondering about the "Miami boy" and his "buoyancy consultant."
Once the heavy doors hissed shut behind them, Teo leaned against the wall, his heart finally slowing down.
"Dude," Demi whispered, his eyes wide and scanning the hallway for any more dimensional rips. "That was like... that was like the last 10 meters of a 400-meter individual medley. Pure heart. No oxygen. Did I sell it? I feel like I sold it. Also, do you think your Abuela knows I was lying about the battery pack? Because I don't actually have a battery pack, but I do have a really good idea for a hydrodynamic suit now."
Teo looked at the boy—the hyperactive, swimming-obsessed, surprisingly powerful background character who had just stood up to the most terrifying woman in Florika.
"You sold it, Demi," Teo said, a small, tired smile appearing on his face as he began pushing the wheelchair down the polished corridor. "But we're not going to the lounge. Kian is back in that lab doing everything he can to scramble the sensors, but his father is the one holding the master keys. If Maximilian Thorne realizes the 'bug' he's looking for is standing right next to the Miami Shard's favorite son, he'll delete this whole floor just to get to the Core. We have to move while Kian still has the system blinded."
[Quest Update: Escape the Aegis Tower]
[Objective: Reach Ground Level without triggering the 'Valdes Protocol' security sweep.]
[Status: Maximilian Thorne is actively monitoring primary exits.]
🌀 The Tactical Retreat
Teo felt the Legacy Core pulsing with renewed urgency against his ribs. The energy in the building was shifting; the "Valdes Protocol" wasn't just a threat—it was a localized rewrite of the floor's physics. He could see the edges of the walls beginning to "pixel-bleed," a sign that the Corporation was tightening the digital net.
"So, the plan is a 400-meter sprint to the exit?" Demi asked, his fingers twitching on his armrests as he looked at the flickering lights. "Because if we're going for speed, I suggest we avoid the main elevators. They have way too much drag, and the sensors are basically high-resolution goggles. We need a slipstream."
"I saw a dimensional rip earlier," Teo whispered, looking toward the end of the hall where the air seemed to shimmer with that unfamiliar, ancient signature. "It's not Aegis tech. If we can reach it, it might dump us outside the tower's detection grid."
"A shortcut!" Demi's eyes lit up. "Like a flip-turn that skips half the lane! Let's dive, Teo! I've got the reflex stats if things get choppy!"
Teo gripped the handles of the wheelchair. He knew he preferred working solo, but looking at Demi's determined face and remembering Kian's secret help in the lab, he realized that even an Invincible asset needed a team when the world's CEO was the one hunting them.
Teo gripped the handles of Demi's wheelchair, the chrome frames vibrating with the residual energy of the building. The "pixel-bleeding" on the walls was getting worse; the very reality of the Aegis Tower was thinning as Maximilian Thorne tightened the digital dragnet.
"The rip! There!" Demi shouted, pointing a frantic finger toward a corner of the hallway where the space seemed to fold in on itself like a crumpled piece of paper.
They didn't hesitate. Teo put his head down and sprinted, pushing Demi directly into the shimmering, jagged tear.
🌀 The Trans-Spatial Jump
Passing through the rip didn't feel like moving; it felt like being deleted and rewritten in a single second. The familiar ozone scent of Florika vanished, replaced by a cold, metallic void. Teo felt the Legacy Core in his chest flare with a blinding white light, acting as an anchor as they tumbled through a space that had no coordinates.
Demi, surprisingly, didn't scream. He looked around with wide, fascinated eyes, his fingers moving in a synchronized swimming pattern as if he were trying to gauge the current of the void. "The drag coefficient here is zero!" he cheered. "Teo, this is like the ultimate streamlined lane!"
Suddenly, the world snapped back into focus.
The warmth of the 100th floor was gone. They were slammed back into the sterile, freezing air of the Subterranean Server Access Hall. The massive, monolithic doors—Georgia, Michigan, Aeyanaki, and the dreaded Kyushu—loomed over them like silent giants.
"We're back in the basement," Teo panted, checking his HUD. "The rip dumped us right at the bottom."
"And look who's waiting at the finish line," Demi whispered, his ADHD-fueled focus snapping toward the shadow of the Kyushu door.
🐉 The King's Chilling Smile
A tall figure stepped out from the darkness between the server stacks. Agamenticus Rialto leaned against the black metal frame of the Kyushu gateway, a chilling, razor-sharp smile playing on his lips. His blood-red eyes glowed with a predatory intensity that made the basement's temperature seem to drop another ten degrees.
"Caught you," Rialto said, his voice a smooth, terrifying baritone.
Teo stepped in front of Demi, his lightning affinity crackling at his fingertips. "Rialto. I thought you were done with us."
"Your Abuela is a very persuasive woman, Mateo," Rialto said, pushing off the wall. He adjusted the white combat wraps on his hands, the level bar above him—18,523—flickering with a dense, heavy power. "Elena was worried that a 'bug' and a 'Miami brat' wouldn't be able to find the exit without getting archived. She sent me to monitor you. To ensure you didn't do anything... insect-like."
"She sent you to babysit us?" Demi asked, his eyes darting between Rialto's red eyes and his cargo pants. "Is that like a coach? Are you our coach now? Because I already have a swimming coach, but he doesn't have red eyes, which is actually a missed opportunity for intimidation—"
"Silence, boy," Rialto snapped, though the chilling smile remained. "I am a Dragon King. I do not 'monitor.' I do not 'babysit.' And I certainly do not take orders from a Senior Data Architect, regardless of how many servers she controls."
Rialto walked toward them, his presence filling the massive hall. He looked at the door to the Kyushu server—the one Teo had slammed shut in terror earlier.
"Elena wants me to lead you to a safe house," Rialto continued, his tone dripping with condescension. "But I have decided that her plan is inefficient. Maximilian Thorne is currently distracted, Kian is playing his little hacker games, and you two have a dimensional rip signature clinging to you like cheap perfume."
Rialto stopped in front of Teo, staring directly at the spot where the Core was hidden. "I refuse to be an errand boy for the Aegis Corporation's internal family squabbles. However, the Kusura Royal Family requires the intel you are carrying. Therefore, I will not follow Elena's orders. I will be joining you."
Teo blinked. "You're joining us? You just called us insects."
"Insects are easier to protect when they are in my shadow," Rialto stated, his arrogance as thick as armor. "You are solo no longer, Mateo Valdes. A Dragon King has decided to take interest in your survival. You should be honored. It is a rare privilege to be ignored by me in person rather than from afar."
[Party Member Joined: Agamenticus Rialto (Dragon King - Level 18,523)] [Current Party: Teo (Conduit), Demi (Reflex Support), Rialto (High-Level Tank/Magic)]
"This is great!" Demi cheered, zipping his wheelchair in a celebratory circle around the Dragon King. "It's like a medley relay! We've got the power, the speed, and now we've got the... uh... the really scary guy who hates everyone! We're going to shatter the world record!"
Rialto looked at Demi with a look of profound suffering. "If he speaks about swimming one more time, I will personally rewrite his vocal files."
"He will," Teo sighed, adjusting his cap. "Get used to it. Which way, 'King'?"
Rialto pointed toward the Georgia door. "The rip you used has destabilized the basement's logic. We aren't leaving through the front door. We're going through the Deep Code."
Rialto didn't wait for a consensus. He strode toward the massive door labeled GEORGEA, his boots clicking with a rhythmic, heavy finality against the server hall's floor. He reached out with his combat-taped hand, and instead of a keycard, he pressed his palm against the cold metal.
Green veins of draconic energy spiraled out from his touch, overwriting the Aegis lock protocols with the brute force of a Level 18,523 entity.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Demi shouted, his wheelchair humming as he zipped to catch up. "If we're going into the Georgia server, do they have a high-salinity pool? I've been reading that the buoyancy in high-salt environments is 15% more efficient for backstroke training, but it's killer on the skin textures! Teo, do you think the Peach Shard is more humid than Florika? Humidity creates air-drag, and if I'm going to be the lead-off for this relay, I need to know the atmospheric density!"
Teo sighed, adjusting the Legacy Core beneath his jacket. "Demi, I think 'atmospheric density' is the least of our problems if we get caught by the Georgia security bots. They're notorious for 'Lynch-Pin' logic traps."
🍑 The Deep Code: Entering Georgia
The door hissed open, but instead of another hallway, a wall of thick, sweet-smelling mist rolled out. As they stepped through, the sterile white lights of the Aegis basement were swallowed by a permanent, bruised-purple sunset.
They weren't in a building anymore. They were standing on a road of deep red clay that looked like rusted copper, stretching through endless groves of peach trees. But these weren't normal trees. Their leaves were made of flickering green pixels, and the peaches glowing on the branches were perfectly spherical, untextured spheres of bright orange data.
"Welcome to the Deep Code," Rialto stated, his eyes scanning the horizon with a hunter's precision. "This is an unoptimized sector. Aegis uses it for long-term storage of 'legacy' assets. The physics here are... inconsistent."
"Inconsistent?" Demi asked, leaning over the side of his wheelchair to poke at the red clay. "Like a pool with a broken filtration system? Oh, man, look! The ground doesn't even have a friction coefficient! I'm sliding like I'm in a streamlined glide!" He pushed his wheels once, and instead of stopping, he glided thirty feet down the road with zero effort. "Teo! The drag here is zero! I'm basically a torpedo!"
"Demi, come back!" Teo called out, his Invincible status pinging a warning. He could feel the lightning affinity in his veins reacting to the air. The "humidity" Demi mentioned wasn't water—it was static.
⚡ The Resonant Strike
Suddenly, the ground beneath them shuddered. From the peach groves, several figures emerged. They looked like Aegis security drones, but they were covered in a layer of digital "rust"—vines of corrupted code wrapping around their metallic limbs.
[Notice: Deep Code Scavengers Detected] [Level: 450 (Corrupted)]
"Insects," Rialto sneered, the green flame in his hand erupting into a roaring blaze. "They think their rusted protocols can stand against a King?"
"Don't waste your energy, King," Teo said, stepping forward. He felt the massive electrical grid of the Georgia server humming beneath the red clay. "This whole place is a conductor."
Teo slammed his fist into the clay. He didn't use a spell. He just channeled the raw, unoptimized power of the 813 into the server's floor.
"Environmental Purge: Grounded Circuit!"
A massive wave of white-blue lightning surged through the red clay. Because the Georgia server was "unoptimized," the electricity didn't just hit the drones—it resonated with the very ground they stood on. The drones didn't explode; they simply dissolved into piles of unformatted gray cubes as the electricity "cleaned" their corrupted logic.
Rialto watched the display, his red eyes narrowing. He didn't look impressed, but he did stop his own attack. "Raw. Unrefined. But... effective. You truly are a Conduit, Mateo."
"I told you," Teo panted, the lightning receding from his skin. "I'm the one who delivers the spark."
🏛️ The Safe House at the End of the Lane
They continued down the red clay road, Demi occasionally attempting "butterfly strokes" in the low-friction air while Rialto grumbled about the "lack of regal decor" in the Georgia Shard.
At the end of the grove stood a crumbling Antebellum-style mansion. It looked like it was made of white marble, but the edges were constantly shivering, revealing the black-and-green code beneath the "paint."
"This is it," Rialto said, stopping at the gate. "The Kusura safe house. My agent, Marienne, should be inside. She's the one who's been tracking Thorne's son, Kian, and his secret 'backdoor' projects."
Teo looked at the house. He felt a strange pull from within—a frequency that matched the Legacy Core in his chest.
"Wait," Teo said, stopping Demi as he prepared to roll up the ramp. "Something is wrong. The 'noise' in there... it's not just an agent. There's someone else. Someone with a signature like mine."
Demi paused, his ADHD focus suddenly snapping into high gear. "I don't hear noise, Teo, but I see ripples! Look at the air around the front door. It's moving like someone just did a cannonball into a still pool. Someone's already inside."
Rialto's hand went to the hilt of a glowing green blade at his hip. The cold, arrogant smile returned, but this time, it was dangerous. "If Maximilian sent a team to my safe house, they are about to learn why the Kyushu servers are feared."