Isolation

"Is Joe Madrid alive?!"

A question the whole world asked. The audio broadcast made by Cassandra broke the internet and the whole world wanted answers.

As the new leader of the New Earth Alliance, the Russian president was bombarded with questions he wasn't ready to answer.

"Where is Mr. Zellwinger!?" The Russian president asked his men as he arrived in their command center.

"... He said he got this one covered. What's all these??" He panicked.

Calls were made but none of their phones could reach Ed's phone. Satellite trackers couldn't track Ed's location as well.

The Russian executive department was situated in a ten-storey octagon building with three level basements. All equipped with modern day security and surveillance features managed by an AI called 𝘋𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘳𝘪. My AI ofcourse. This AI handles all top secret files and weaponry, early detection systems, and anti-spyware programs of the russians. This AI scans all incoming and outgoing private calls, emails, and chats within the Russian Internet.

As the top AI of the Russian nation, Dimitri only responds to the Russian president's orders.

"Dimitri, find Mr. Zellwinger now!" He commanded.

But Dimitri was silent.

"Dimitri! You damn AI!" The Russian president lost his cool.

Rumbling sounds echoed throughout the Octagon. No alarms were triggered but all the exits began to shut. Maximum security was triggered. 25 inches of Titanium steel blocked all exits; doors, windows, and concrete, including secret exit passages.

"You son's of b*tches get this thing fixed now!" The Russian president started to fear for his life. He knew there was something off of this situation.

All russian decoders and white-hat-hackers worked their way to open the gates from the inside but the Security passcodes were changed every quarter of a second. All administrators were taken off their admin accesses and high class AIs couldn't crack the passcodes set by Dimitri either.

Seconds later, power has been cut off from all key command centers in the Octagon, including the president's Main command center in the third level basement.

"W-what's going on?" The president asked but none of them knew what to say.

"It seems that this is an AI malfunction, Mr. President." What appears to be one of their programmers finally replied.

"F*cking AI!! I have paid Billions for you!!" The Russian president vented out his frustration.

Suddenly, the speakers turned on...

"That's one rude way to talk to your AI, mr. President. And for the record, that money was never yours." Cass provided me with a direct communication link to the President's command center.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

~ 𝙰𝙽 𝙷𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙱𝙴𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙴...

~ 𝙹𝙰𝙽𝚄𝙰𝚁𝚈 𝙾𝙽𝙴 𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚈 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚃𝚈 𝙵𝙾𝚄𝚁

"F*cking die already!!" Ed yelled at me as he tried is best to squeeze me using the robot arm.

"... Gustavo!!!" He continued yelling as if he was asking for Gustavo's help.

I was just staring at him as he lost his cool. He looked so desperate to kill 𝘮𝘦. As soon as he realized he was no longer in control, he started to attack me directly.

I moved the robot arm just enough for his fist to not hit me. He kept on running and trying to hit me with his bare hands. I kept on dodging his every tackle as I stared at him in the eyes.

He gasped and ran after me until he tripped and fell flat on the ground face first ...

He started laughing as he stood up.

"You're supposed to be dead!!" He yelled and went at it again.

But I put myself down far from him so he had to run.

Just as he was about to reach me, I used the other arm and pulled him away from me.

"Go to hell you m*therf*cker!!"

"Lemme go! You piece of sh*t!!"

He yelled on top of his lungs as he looked at me walking towards Ariel's cage. But none of his words went through me. In my mind, it was as if he wasn't even there. It was just me and her...

Cass drained the poison inside the cage.

As the clouds of poison cleared up, a different Ariel revealed herself in front of me. She was still leaning forward to the glass. Her skin was pale and soggy. Her once red lips turned grey. Her silky hairs fell off her head. Her eyes melted by the poison's acidity. It was nowhere near her.

"Cass, release."

"The poison is still active, Joe." She replied.

"Well, in that case..."

Cass and I located the whereabouts of my suit. It was in the same facility just on different floors. It turns out that Ed made his own underground facility in Russia. Using my technology and resources, he tried to compete with the Hive in the shadows. But with that said, it was almost a breeze for us to take control over the whole facility.

Drones started to disobey commands from the scientists and snatched my suit of its chamber. Ed's men tried to recover it but they were outnumbered by the drones and Cassandra's control over the whole facility.

The door where Ed entered opened. My suit came floating in the air using quantum locking features of the drones.

"You stupid drone!! You stupid m*therf--" Ed continued cursing.

Cass then opened Ariel's cage and I caught her in my arms. Pale, cold, and dead.

I recovered everything that was taken from me yet the price again was too big for me to pay. Something money and power could never buy.

Life.

I was robbed of lives of the people I cared so much.

I was robbed of the chances that I could've made their lives better.

Pain.

Rage.

Two emotions that filled my heart.

Two emotions that liberated the beast in me.

I held her in my arms and walked towards the entrance.

"Cass turn it on."

"With pleasure" She replied.

Ariel's cage once again emitted the poison but the glass cover wasn't on. The poison started to spread throughout the room. The very poison that killed her.

"H-hey! Joe! Brother! Don't leave me like this! I'm begging you! Please spare my life. I promi--" Ed begged but...

"My brother died long ago. I killed him." My response as I closed the entrance.

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"Mr. Madrid! Y-your alive!! What a pleasant surprise!!" The Russian president clearly was surprised hearing my voice.

"Really? Do you know what's even more surprising? Please watch closely" I asked him.

A hologram display turned on in front of them. A broadcast was on and it was simultaneously broadcasted to the whole world. Cass broadcasted all his underground transactions with Ed, the massacres he was involved, connections with terrorist groups making business out of local insurgencies, and his affairs and rape cases against women. It was a thirty minute uninterrupted video broadcast to all electronic devices. The whole world witnessed his filth.

As soon as the video ended an attempt for his arrest was made but knowing him, it wouldn't reach that point.

He immediately put a bullet through his head.

Ending his corrupted life and saving his ass for a huge amount of shame that awaited him.

As soon as I got back into the surface, the world knew everything that happened. I regained everything I physically lost...

And lost everything I emotionally had.

[𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍... ]