The Lucent Trade Corp building looked calm and safe under the moonlight, sitting far enough from the fancy Lucent Restaurant Tower to seem secure. Michael thought it was untouchable, but he was totally wrong.
Down in the basent, Alpha’s tech floor buzzed with high-end systems and servers, but HK’s team slipped inside like ghosts through vents and service doors. One group kept watch over the exits, while another quietly uploaded a virus to every terminal. The third team set up electromagnetic disruptors, scrambling unprotected systems and wiping out tons of data in just seconds.
Myles, leading the operation, tapped his comm and said, "Phase two. Full wipe."
Gas capsules released were harmless to people but wrecked electronics, frying cooling lines and smashing drives. In less than nine minutes, the basent fell silent, no alarms, no gunfire, just complete stillness.
HK’s crew left the building without leaving a trace, having covered their tracks and creating a digital graveyard where vital info used to exist.
******
In Michael Arthur’s fancy Lucent Tower Penthouse, Alpha kicked back in the lounge with glass walls, looking out over the city lights below, completely unaware of the trouble brewing beneath him. His assistant, Linda, was busy scrolling through surveillance tabs on one side of the room, while the tech team kept an eye on any threats from their slick lab hidden behind mirrored walls.
Then his phone buzzed, breaking the silence, it was an untraceable call. Alpha raised an eyebrow and smirked as he picked up.
"Who’s calling at this hour?"
"Soone whose shadow you thought you could snatch," ca a cold voice from the other end.
Instantly, Alpha’s expression changed. "...Hazard King."
"Lucent Corp building. Basent level. It’s all set," Hazard said calmly, but there was a dangerous undertone in his voice.
Tension gripped Alpha. "You really thought you could make a na for yourself using stolen blood and sneaky tricks. I told you, I don’t hand over my throne to liars."
With a mix of anger and urgency, Alpha marched toward the mirrored lab, noticing that one of the guys had gone pale.
On the screens, chaos was playing out: Lucent Trade Corp Building, offline. Basent systems, totally down. Backups: ssed up. Fire suppression systems: triggered.
They’d lost everything.
Fury bubbled up inside him. "You’ve crossed a line," he said, gripping his phone tighter.
"No. You crossed it first. I’m just drawing blood where it hurts," Hazard shot back.
The call ended abruptly. Alpha turned, his eyes blazing with anger as he faced the ss waiting for him.
Outside the sleek glass facade of the Lucent Tower Penthouse, a crowd of reporters shouted questions, creating a chaotic buzz. Inside, the air was thick with tension. The network was on the edge of crashing, with alerts popping up on screens like warning lights. Emails ant to secure important corporate deals bounced back, signaling disaster was brewing. To make things worse, corporate partners were pulling away, distancing themselves from the fallout.
And Selina? She had disappeared, hiding out at a fancy spa disguised as a wellness retreat, supposedly to chill out and relax. It felt like the ultimate act of cowardice, leaving behind a whirlwind of chaos.
In a fit of anger, he slamd his fist into the mirror, the glass vibrating from the impact.
Alpha (snarling): "They’ve turned everyone against us... all because of one hacker. One ghost."
Not realizing the hacker he was after was a girl, he called her "they." With determination, he walked over to his private data room, where screens covered the walls, showing a constant stream of data. He reached under the sleek console, letting his fingers brush over the familiar commands. In just a few quick moves, he typed in her handle: LUNEL.
Next, he switched on the voice search feature, his tone sharp and authoritative:
"Track IP. Match typing styles. Analyze how she navigates the screen. Cross-check her click patterns."
The system kicked into gear and, after a brief mont, it spit out a solid result: a 94.6% match.
Jackpot.
A grin spread across his face as ideas started to form in his mind.
"Activate city surveillance. Check all CCTV footage in Manhattan from the last 48 hours. Disable mask detection. We’re about to find out who they really are."
With every command, he felt like he was regaining the upper hand, ready to turn the tables on the slippery Lunel.
******
After getting everything ready, she stepped out of the small room and made her way out of the shop. She had already wiped her apartnt clean of any trace of her data and tossed out everything useless. Now, she was on her way to her secret hideout: her Warehouse Safehouse in the Bronx, a place her dad had given her just for situations like this.
Once inside the safehouse, she headed straight for the tunnel where she stashed all the stuff she needed for her escape.
She yanked open the cupboard and started shoving her belongings into a bag, her heart racing as she moved quickly. Each item felt super important: caras, servers, hard drives—each one a reminder of the crazy ss she’d been caught up in. The caras had been wiped clean, with no incriminating footage left. The servers were burnt to ash, making any data unrecoverable. The hard drives were smashed into tiny pieces, scattered everywhere like her peace of mind.
Since she uploaded everything, sleep had been out of the question, leaving her restless and overly aware of her surroundings. There was sothing off in the air, a heavy feeling that made her skin tingle with unease.
Then, out of nowhere, a red light started flashing on her device. It was from GHOST NET.
She leaned in closer to read the alert: "WHAT DID YOU DO, LUNEL?"
She didn’t have ti to reply; that was the last thing on her mind as she kept packing.
A mont later, the red light blinked again, cutting through her nerves. She leaned in to see what it said. The ssage read ominously: "They know." A second ssage quickly followed: "Run."
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