Chapter 22 - The Oracle's Code - II

Kiera ran her fingers over the satin-smooth surface of her hacking device. "If we get past their defenses, I'm going to need straight access to the Vault's security system. Their network's going to be full of traps."

Zypher nodded quickly. "Good. Orion, you're on guard. We're going to catch a whiff of something and need to hold them off."

Orion cracked a smile, flexing his gauntlets. "Don't worry. They'll never see it coming."

Finally, they found their way to an old shaft buried beneath a series of metal grates. Above it was a solitary rusted sign barely readable: SECURITY LEVEL HIGH-RISK - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

They were in the right place.

Kiera knelt in front of the door, her fingers flying across her device as she accessed the shaft's long-abandoned control panel. The door shuddered and groaned its way open, letting out a cold, stale wind from within.

"Remember," Zypher whispered, his voice barely audible over the sound of his breathing, "we're here for the first fragment of the Divinitas. It should be embedded within one of the Vault's main nodes.".

It was brightly lit inside, the dim light illuminating strange, distorted faces etched in the walls as they moved along the narrow passage - vestiges of the gods of Olympus, transmuted into icons of technology and industry. The very walls seemed haunted by their presence, as if the gods themselves left traces in the machines that went to power Neo-ilka.

They reached the main corridor of the Vault with the walls lined by rows of automated turrets. Kiera sprang into action, tearing through the weapon systems with her device. Her eyes narrowed as she worked her fingers fast, opening layer after defensive layer of Aegis Corp's significant security firewalls. Just when things began to look like they were moving in her favor, an alarm blared, screaming through the corridor in a piercing metallic wail.

"Looks like we're out of time," she groaned, her eyes darting to Zypher.

Resigned, Orion took a step forward, popping his knuckles. "Keep working, Kiera. I'll keep you covered for as long as I can."

He flexed, the neon veins glowing with energy in his arms as he prepared to intercept any security forces that may come at them.

Only the hum of machinery filled the air, the thrumming of machinery hidden deep in the room. A form materialized in the darkness-a security droid, reinforced armor plating, lethal attachments riding low at its sides. Orion threw himself forward, battering the droid with rapid-fire blows. Sparks exploded when metal met metal; their sound echoed down the corridors of the Vault. He battered the droid back with all the focus he could muster, and she had exactly what she needed: seconds.

Yeah, it did." Kiera said with a smile as the turrets went dark and the inner doors on the Vault opened up to reveal the very heart of the facility - and by extension, the Aegis Corp corporation.

They breathed in, stepping inside.

There in the center of the room was the node, a vast, pulsating mass of energy, held glass-walled and aloft in an unfathomable tangle of wires and metallic limbs. Over its surface there crawled intricate runes of pulsing complexity, and they could see within its heart dim images: shifting faces, symbols of the gods themselves. Each face was created in flickering light, and each watched them, silent but aware.

"The Divinitas fragment," he whispered to himself, looking at the node. "It's here. But it's.alive."

Kiera reached out to the node as well, touching the glass surface tentatively with her hesitating fingers. "These faces," she murmured. "They're pieces of the gods. Printed into the machines.".

And a voice came booming through the room, metallic rasps coloring the air with an ancient and artificial timbre. "You seek to recover power lost to us," it said. And every word felt to be centuries old and burdened with weight; "But power is paid for.".

Out of the node walked a Zeus figure, half his god visage and half mass of swirling code, between which his face often shifted. Electric light glowed from his eyes, though his face was stern, and behind the rugged, strong lines, there seemed an ache, an echo of some time long since when he had ruled Olympus.

Zypher took another step closer and looked at the deity full in the eye. "We are here to make things right. Restore what's been lost, give the gods a second chance.".

The Zeus figure looked at him for a moment, then spoke again, voice like thunder echoing through the air. "The code you seek isn't something so simple. It is our essence, a piece of our souls. Take it, and you take part of us. Use it well, mortal, lest you attract the wrath of the gods upon yourself.".

The image faded, within the node leaving a shimmering orb. Zypher stepped forward, hand stretching out toward it, his energy being drawn into the pulsing fragment of the Divinitas. He felt a rush of power as he grasped the fragment, filling his senses with memories older than cities and empires —a battle under darkened skies, the cries of gods and mortals alike, a flash of Zeus's lightning illuminating a world on the brink.

He backed up a step, holding the sliver to his chest. The face of gods disappeared from the node: their bodies drew back into the recesses of memory, but the warning echoed inside his head .

Orion helped him regain his balance. "You okay?

Zypher nodded but his hands still trembled. "I'm fine. But the gods… they are more than just legends. They are here in the very heart of this city, woven into its machines. They are parts of Neo-ilka's bones."

Kiera looked at him, her expression impassive. "We've barely started. If one piece proved this powerful, I have no idea what we will be dealing with when we locate the others.".

The Vault's alarms had begun to screech once more - backup systems returning online. Time to bug out. As they broke free from the final protective armature and crossed over the perimeter of the facility, avoiding the security droids to slip once again into the shadowed streets of Neo-ilka, the weight of the Divinitas fragment settled into Zypher's soul.

Outside, machinery hummed, lights glows, or pulse of technology connecting every citizen to Neo-ilka's lifeblood. Zypher sees the city now. He feels the gods hidden within machines, their power humming just beneath the surface, waiting for someone brave enough-or stupid enough-to unlock it.

And so they vanished into the night, while Zypher himself held aloft the first well-guarded piece, knowing in his bones that all of their efforts had stirred something ancient and something which would not lie still until it retrieved what was its own again.