The AI

For anyone who's confused, I'll like to remind you once more that Engjell is Leona. Leona is an alter ego she created to conceal her true abilities. So whenever I mention Leona please keep it in mind that I'm talking about Engjell.

Leona watched as they connected to the network and started with the livestream, she closed her eyes and scanned her personal space for the gadget —An isolated satellite buckle (ISB); useful for evading detection while on the net, it was equipped with its own network connection, meaning it had an independent network that could be accessed solely by the primary user. She sneakily got it to aid her in indulging in those internet activities and searches that were best kept to herself. She was glad she kept a spare with her, perfect for this occasion. 

She connected it to her phone, then connected to the universal livestream, although she could see their every move, one of the shortfalls of penetrative vision was its inability to decipher sounds at a certain distance, limited by strength or in this case blood. The higher your Tier, the higher your ability to utilize, well, your ability.

The rebels started the livestream with a polite tone. "Greetings, citizens of Aurora. It has come to our attention that a certain Professor Lacnof Rakiel has meritoriously contributed in creating a one-of-a-kind, state of the art AI whose capabilities far surpass the current ones available on the market. Now we all know that I hate uncharitable souls who do not share, and I love nothing more than to send them off to limbo.... But luckily for you guys, I'm in a great mood today, so I settled for kindly extending an invite to the nine thousand three hundred and twenty-four people in this building to accompany me as we impatiently wait for the highly esteemed officials to meet with the demands that I'm about to forward to you after this livestream concludes." The red headed mage graciously informed with a mockingly sweet smile. Her gaze calmly regarded the camera with a warm look as if she didn't just threaten to wipe out thousands of innocents. "You have only 10 minutes to meet our demands, if you exceed the allotted time frame —which I hope you don't— I'll be forced to take drastic measures." She paused calmly, her purple gaze locked on the camera. Then with an afterthought continued. "Oh, I forgot to mention. We have the professor's only bloodline in custody, so for his sake if not for the thousands of hos- I mean, the guests held with him —do be fast— and remember, you have 10 minutes." The camera panned quickly to the sea of hostages forced to sit on the floor of the huge event center, then to the tied-up professor's son before shutting off.

Leona turned off the livestream with a cheshire grin and an excited gleam in her eyes. This was just perfect! Just what she needed! Her head turned upward in contemplation. How was she going to go about this. She thought, as she ran a hand down her hair contemplatively. She gave a shrug, deciding to do it the old-fashioned way and just intercept the package and to cause a distraction to keep them busy so they couldn't track her.

She pulled out her PC from midair, taking a seat on a chair behind her before beginning with her work. She wasn't much of a hacker, but she was pretty skilled, especially when she could literally get first hand info straight from the opponent. Her fingers flew on the keyboard as she typed in the codes, sneakily peaking at the opponent's screen once in a while. Soon her finger slowed down before coming to a halt, as she stealthily, infiltrated the opponent's system without raising an alarm. Then she waited patiently, for the perfect moment to ste- sorry, I mean to permanently borrow the fruits of their labor.

She pulled out a beverage with a relaxed sigh, leaning back on the chair as she casually used her powers cool down the drink, taking a sip, she wordlessly watched the ongoings in the building with interest. She let out an ooh when she caught sight of a buffoon's brain being sent straight to factory reset from a merciless blow to the head when he made what he might have thought was a sneaky move on the stoic guards.

Tsking in pity at how easily he went down, he should have at least put up a fight. She continued watching the show with overflowing excitement, even pulling out snacks at one time and before she knew it, the ten minutes were almost up.

She sat upright immediately when she picked up movement on the upper floor, picking up the laptop. Her fingers flew on the keyboard as she intercepted an incoming signal, redirecting it straight to a hidden network. She swiftly cleaned up her footprints from the opponent's computer. And like a ghost, she disappeared like she was never there. She took a second to scan the scan the contents of the stolen contents, making sure it was legit and nodding in satisfaction as she scanned the rows of symbols. It looked authentic —at least from what little she could make out with her half-baked computer language skills.

She leaned back in her chair, smiling in victory in contrast to the enraged rebels who looked like they were now spewing a bunch of curses, malevolently glaring at the terrified Professor's son like he was the bane of their existence. The redhead fired orders at the dumbstrucked computer whiz, presumably ordering him to restart the livestream, because that was just what they did. Leona did a double take at the computer nerd, recognizing him now as the guy known as Coda, five names below her on the wanted list.

Knowing she beat the notorious Coda —the coding god—at his own game made the victory all the more sweeter. She took her time to unwrap a lollipop as she offhandedly connected back to the livestream. 

"Greetings again citizens of Aurora. The allotted ten minutes are up and now once more, the officials you all trust and respect have proven how little they care for you!" The red head's voice thundered slamming down hard like the hammer of death and sealing their fates. The red head looked deeply into the camera —always one for the theatrics—as her face drew downcast, foreshadowed with deep regrets. "It's a little disheartening to say the least. I sort of hoped you'd prove me wrong. So, know it's with deep regrets that I do what I'm about to do." She genuinely looks sorrowful as a pretty pink button appeared between her fingers.

Leona rolled her eyes in exasperation in the middle of casting a barrier canceling spell. She really knows how to act! Leona scoffed, as her fingers came to a rest a moment later. Her spell finally complete.

The atmosphere shook and rippled as the barrier they had quietly erected noisily broke down. Distracting the red head —pardon her for not knowing the red heads name, although their names were both on the wanted list, what could she say? She really didn't care for things or people that were of no use to her. The only reason she knew the name Coda was because of the similarity of his name to his profession—Leona opened a wormhole above the distracted redhead and at her side, she placed her hand in the wormhole, it apeared on the other side in the wormhole above the redhead's head, then she quietly stole away the pink button. She regarded the pitiful little guy with a guilty conscience. With a sigh of annoyance she teleported the prof's son to another location.

Leona smiled cockily in a mission accomplished manner, paying no heed to the chaos she left behind her as she quietly slipped away to the event center. The stunned rebel's brains finally kicked in gear as they started making their escape one by one. The rest turned to the hostages and started shooting at them. Leona watched with cold eyes as the hostages started fighting back when they felt their abilities return.

Leona exchanged glances with her clone, they exchanged a surreptitious nod, then taking advantage of the chaos and snuck off with her clone to a corner, merged with it, before transforming back to herself.