>> Secrets In The Dark

## neuroLink :: [Stable]

“You may now speak.” Echoes an ominous voice, from nowhere at all, as numbers and letters dance before my eyes.

Shifting. Twitching. Filled with possibilities.

“Right. Are we ready?” I say, but there's no sound. Nothing. Just the dead vibration in my throat. And not even Polybius can hear me. I slap myself, and jab at the floating keys instead. "Right. Lets. Go.." Buzzes a freaky metallic voice that sounds just like me. "Okay. Weird."

“What. Is. This. Funky. Bullshit.” Kami stutters, next, as the jagged outlines of my friends shuffle in around me. Every word hammered out in a staccato beat.

Followed by a synthetic, blocky, Badger yelling “BRUTAL. I'M. A. ROBOT.”

"I have shut down all systems a rogue AI would require to function." Polybius explains in its own, jarring, voice. "The world you now see is generated entirely within my own Cores.”

“Lol. Your. Graphics. Suck.” Says cubist Zipper.

“Apologies.” The thing ticks at him with almost reproach. “This system was built to require only most primitive layers of technology, enabling my near-total shutdown.”

“You shut yourself down?” I repeat. Then curse, silently, and type it out on the keyboard.

“Correct.” It clicks. “The existence of a malicious AI is now a high probability. However; we have yet to determine its location. It is likely attached to your implants. Perhaps, to subsystems of The Night Tyrant, or the building computers.” The machine mind almost seems to hesitate. “There is also a fractional possibility that it has infected my own Cores.”

Our avatars twist blocky heads, as if sharing a glance. I swallow, and vault my way onto the sofa. Coiling in a way that makes it glitch. “Is. That. Possible.” Kami asks.

“Unknown.” It jutters. “The AI is entirely hypothetical. With unknown capabilities. We cannot know if it is centralised, remote, or fragmentary. It may have invaded any number of systems. Drones. Weapons modules. Operating systems. Polybius Cores. Or any number of other options.”

The machine goes silent. A little too suddenly.

“Like. What.” Kami’s avatar stutters.

The Machine Mind remains quiet for a little too long. But then, it speaks. “The False Moon AI may have been inserted directly into your brains."

The silence is long. And horrified.

"Our. Brains." I type.

"There are numerous possibilities. Neural Encoding. Hidden Implants. nanoTek. Hijack Worms. Artificially engineered cells inserted directly into flesh." The thing indicates. "All can be used to encode an AI on living tissue.”

We all stare at it. Then at each other. At least, as much we can while made of glowing lines.

"Jesus." I breathe, out loud. Cheerful bloody thoughts, right?

And, without warning, the world jitters.

## The Vault :: [Update Installed]

“They can really do that shit?” Kami types, and the words flow more naturally. Almost like she spoke them. "Stick an AI into our brains?"

“Correct.” Polybius flickers, and the blocky image of a cell appears beside it. Carved from horrible purple and green. “Living cells are considered a form of nanoTek. They can be programmed to do anything that nanoTek can. Additionally; they are far harder to detect.” It hesitates again. “They can also be programmed to mutate, mind-control, or destroy their host. And The Vault will not stop them from spying on you.”

“Shit.” Say several of the avatars.

"Maybe we're all the traitor." Zipper adds. And I feel the jolt of uncertainty spike through the room.

“Do not despair.” The machine states. As if simply saying it will make us not despair.

“Easy for you.” Kami retorts. Our text flowing faster as a wave of names and common words spiral out to circle the keyboard.

I tap enter. “Any of that likely?”

“Unknown.” The thing says, repeating it’s new favourite word. “Corporate Citizens, geneFreaks, Soldiers, slaves, GMOs, and plague weapons are all created by this form of bioHacking.”

“Racist BS.” Kami states. “We don’t know where GMOs came from.”

“Not originally.” Polybius turns to her, endless and calm. “However, new GMOs are normally made via this method.”

“Can I has some!?” Badgers robo-voice yells, his blocky avatar flailing about.

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“I am specifically banned from giving you bioweapons.” Polybius informs the digitised dork. Saving me the trouble.

“SAD EMOJI.” States a cold, monotone, voice.

“Forget it.” I interrupt, abandoning all preamble. “This shit ain't why we're here."

"Then what?"

I lean forward. "I know Moon’s real game plan.”

“Stop.” Kami’s avatar interrupts. “Badger tells Tufty everything.”

“Badger was included as a diversion.” Polybius states. “One of my Cores is feeding him a distorted version of this conversation. Moon will hear only what we wish.”

"Tufty? He is okay?" Demon's voice says. Jagged, triangular, horns twisting as he peers around us.

"I am keeping him occupied and observed."

“Good.” I type. “Cause shit about to get real.”

“How real?” Kami, again.

I take a deep breath, and type furiously. “Very. We knew we we're being played. More than usual.” They all lean in. "I've worked out how, and why."

“What?” Zip taps.

“Hatred.” I hammer back. “It wants us bloody hate it. As much as possible.”

“Wait. Not fear?” Kami gestures.

“No. Not fear.” I claw-stab letters. “Fear don’t work. Fear don’t make us do the one damn thing it needs us to.” I glance round at them. “Moon needs us to do 2 things.” I lick my lips. Flexing fingers. Now or never. I just gotta trust Pol's crazy security. “Thing one: It needs us to grab The Left Hand of The Devil.”

Kami leans back. “Called it. Bastard just wants the toy.”

“Two.” I slam out. “It needs us to try and kill Moon.”

The room goes still. And then fingers blur.

“What!? Mate!?” Zip’s slams out. “Killing Moon’s our bloody plan!”

“No shit.” I fire back. “Moon has been playing us backwards. I thought it wanted us scared." My hands are shaking so bad I can barely hit the shifting keys. “But it knew.” I rip at the sofa, and punch it. “It Goddamn knew.”

“Knew what? Spook?” Kami’s robo-voice drones. But I feel the concern vibrating the air.

"Fear ain't enough." I type. Slowly. "The real, actual, Moon.... it's trapped in the ONE place we can never, ever, go. Never. Never. Not as long as we live. Not for anything."

Nobody has to say The School.

We're all too busy thinking it.

“It knew we'd never bloody rescue it.” I continue. Almost whispering the words, though keep my lips tight. “Why would we? It’s a bloody monster. It tortured us. Killed our friends.” I swallow, hard, even though my voice is useless here. “And it knows…. we’re afraid of That Place.”

A long silence. Cold, and dark.

“Yeah, mate. God. I get nightmares.” Zip’s jagged legs retract into a huddle. “No escape. Plan failing…. And.....”

Kami and Demon say nothing. Loudly.

“Going back's suicide.” I tap out, building the crescendo. “We know it. Moon bloody knows it. Even if we bloody wanted to rescue it, we couldn't."

"And we bloody don't." Kami states, and I sense a snarl behind the bland monotone.

“So what’s the next best thing?" I finish. "What's Moon gonna expect, if we show up with a superweapon?”

“Vengeance.” Demon’s virtual horns snap to face me.

“Murder rampage.” Kami corrects.

“Both.” I agree. “Best chance it’s got, though. Ain't it?" I raise a hand, let it fall. "But it knows we ain't gonna try it. Not really. We floated killing Moon, but we didn’t bloody mean it."

"Barely got out.” Zip types.

"Barely." I start shaking. Clenching claws, tight. “Even had a damned superweapon. Just like The Left Hand. And it didn't mean anythin'. Not against.....”

I can't finish. Even typing, the words won't come out.

“Tactically, it would be suicide.” A flickering image of a ruby handgun appears next to Polybius. “The Red Right Hand was not capable of erasing the entire neoSoviet armada. It is doubtful the Left would fare better.”

“Damn straight." My monotone robo-voice states. "We’d have grabbed it, and left Moon to swing. No question.”

“Damn right.” Kami’s virtual voice has a snarl to it. Gaining more emotion as a second update hits. “Right at the last second. Right before it could screw us. And it bloody knows that.”

“The School…. I fear more than Moon's shadow.” Demon adds, jerkily, as cold shakes go up my back.

I want to correct him but no. No.

He’s right.

This AI, or whatever it is, is a damn cupcake compared to……

“We can’t ever go back.” My metal voice whispers, as I rip at the real sofa in the real world. Doing nothing to its digital clone. “Moon knew it.” I slash down the fabric. “It bloody knew.”

“So?” Kami prompts, as the dark around us glitches with eerie colour.

Almost like it’s listening.

But we all know what I'm going to say. They're working it out.

"So...." I repeat, typing so slow the words falter. "Moon has to kill one of us."

"One." Kami states. That one, robotic, word stripped of all the boiling emotion I feel behind it.

"At first." I tap. "It doesn't matter who. As long as it's not....." I stop myself. Even in here, I can't say it. "...too many of us. Enough to drive us into a vengeance fury. Make us fight the other Omega Teams for bits of The Hand, so we can kill it. Or defend against it. Or whatever."

"Then what?" She asks, when I go quiet.

"Soon as we have The Hand, it kills all of us." I shudder. "You. Badger. Tufty. Demon. Zip. All of us." I somehow hit the final key, and press enter. "Except one."

"Mate. All of us? Serious?"

"Yes." The typed word is so flat. So free of the fury inside me.

I wonder where Pol recorded it.

Me ordering coffee? Or telling Badger he can have a treat? Or....

"For Moon's plan to work...." I continue. "It needs suicidal hatred. Hatred with nothing to lose...." I swallow, and it hurts. "Nothing." My fist passes through the keys. "Nothing at all."

My claws grip chest. As if I can feel the spores of that Wrath inside me. Ready to grow. To be born.

Titanic, and ancient, and primordial.

Pure and without restraint.

Raw, and wild. As the first scream against the first, bitter, sky.

Hatred.

HATRED.

HATRED of such power that fear is nothing. Life is nothing. Death is NOTHING.

Sheer. Unfathomable. Endless. HATE.

"So much hate..... I'm willing to do Goddamned anythin' to get at Moon. Because that.... is the only way...." I choke at my own, monotone, voice. Even as I fight to type. "The only way......"

The only way to make me hunt down some kind of insane, nightmare, superweapon from an ancient and forgotten age.

A thing best left buried as deep as it will go.

A thing brim-full of pox, and Hellfire, and murder as wild as Armageddon itself.....

A thing that may have caused The End Of Days.....

A thing just like the one Moon dangled in front of my face......

The Left Hand Of The Devil.

"The only way to make one of us..... Whoever survives...." me. It has to be me "....openly attack the one bloody place we can never, ever, ever go." To fight my way inside The School. Killing. Maiming. Burning the whole world. "Is to kill every other bloody one of us."

And I know. I know I would go. For Badger. Tufty. Zipper. Demon.... Gremlin....

Even Polybius.

We all know I would.

And I would burn my way in. Through the armies. The Nightmare machines. And....

...I would never be enough.

I would fall.

Battered. Bloodied. Already dying.

And then. Just, as I'm bleeding out.....

I would hear a slow, inevitable, clap.....

"And Moon would use your invasion to steal, from you, The Left Hand Of The Devil." Polybius finishes. "Joining it with The Red Right Hand."

And what abomination would that make?

If it were whole.

Right, and Left, united as one.....

With unseen tears, I stare up into the void. My blind eyes clamped, hard shut. Though it does nothing to disrupt the images fed directly into my brain. And I whisper one word.

"Yes....."

As I imagine the shadow of Moon's mask, looming form the void.

Its half-skull face twisting with joy, and glee, and hideous contempt.

And. In my mind....

....or maybe, for real....

....or maybe, both....

Whispering words of death and glee.

And my eyes, slowly, harden. My rage blooming like fire from a gutted tower. Because Moon was right. Moon was absolutely Goddamned right.

The best trick in the world....

...is the one you fall for, even when you know how it works.

"I.... will.... kill.... you.... Moon." I whisper, to the blind dark. "And. It. Will. Hurt."

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