Plan A

"Hey! Joe. Where are you gonna go?"

Good question, Ariel.

"Who knows?" I continued walking down the stairs.

"Hey! This is serious. You need help. Let me help you."

She's not lying though.

"You sure?" I walk towards her.

"Yes."

I grabbed her phone and threw it away.

"Hey!"

Then, I grabbed her hand.

"Cass, You know what to do."

"Okidokee" Cass replied.

"Are you nuts?! That's the latest Apple phone!" She couldn't believe what I did.

Well, she said yes.

"Done?" I asked Cassandra.

"Yep."

"What did you do, Joe? and who's that girl?" I could tell how confused she was by the wrinkles on her brows when she first heard Cassandra in her head.

"You're technically dead by now"

"W-what!? W-wait??" She touched her face, body, the wall, and the people who were walking down the stairs.

"Huy! Watch it!"

"What's wrong with you old lady??"

"Oh, I-I'm so sorry!" She quickly apologized and wondered about one thing.

"Excuse me? What did you call me again??" She asked that teenager she touched.

"Get lost, Old lady." said the teenager and went ahead.

"JOE!?" She turned in my direction.

"You didn't literally die. Cass manipulated your government papers and information to wipe you out of existence and gave you a new identity. As for our physical appearance, we've got it covered already. I added you to my personal database that's why you can hear Cass, my AI."

"Hi there" Cass greeted.

"Where's Sylvia then??"

Sylvia is the name of Ariel's AI. It's part of the 3rd generation AIs I have released for public use.

"You no longer need her, Ariel." I said.

"No. I do. She has my files, Joe. Those were my life's work! You don't understand." She really looked upset.

"Cass, show her her files." I said.

A hologram appeared in front of Ariel.

"Are those the ones you're talking about?"

"Oh, yeah. But how--" Her face was so puzzled.

"Cassandra has access to all files in the AI world. So don't worry. She's the best."

Well, you must have the wrong impression about this. Afterall, whoever's doing this must've already had the intel about Ariel. She needs protection.

Ariel still flinches every time she hears Cass. She'll get used to it though.

Black bulletproof cars swivelled as they drifted along the corners around my city. People were confined and no one else could enter my land. Ads showing my face with a staggering 50 Million dollar reward were all over the news, posters, and social media. Interpol all over the world mobilized their men finding my face. Drones that I built were used to find me. Funny isn't it?

It's been nearly a week since the incident that took nearly a hundred lives occurred.

On November 6, 2031, I managed to create a new identity for us with the help of Cass. Two days after the incident, I lost control of all my AIs except Cass. Only I know the location of her server that's mainly the reason why. Me losing access to all of my tech could only mean that whoever's pulling the strings behind all these have already physically accessed the root servers in the Hive and probably working with someone with authority to manipulate the government to turn against me. I had no news about Ed but I have high hopes they'd keep him alive. He could be used as a bargaining chip when all their plans go down the drain. I had to start from scratch now. I held on a tiny string as everything I had collapsed in just a span of a few days.

"Hey, everything's gonna be fine."

Ariel stood and patted my back as I was sitting on my bed scanning the vicinity through Cassandra's Server.

We couldn't afford to stay out in the open for too long. Satellite imagery could possibly track our movements and tag it as suspicious ones. Given the situation, it's given that the city is already considered as one of the hot areas. All eyes were possibly looking at least within the ten kilometer radius of our location. So we had to take cover as soon as possible. All we found was a goofy hostel just three blocks away from the entrance of my city. Every other one in the area was full. It was the only choice. I needed to be as close to the city as possible or else the scan wouldn't be accurate.

You must be wondering what the hell am I doing closest to the place where my enemies likely expected me to be. I should be running now right? You're probably right

but...

I know that's what they'd expect.

They would assume that I am hiding far away from my city. Besides, they've got DNA scanners in every exit and entrance of the city they'd be sure enough that I won't be having any attempt to enter.

We'll, that's where all the fun starts.

[𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍...]