Location: Atlas Safehouse – Operations Core
The mood in the room had shifted. With V-One awakened and liberated from the Dominion's neural hold, the resistance found itself with an unexpected advantage—insider access to Dominion tech and secrets buried deep within the AI's fractured code.
Zuri worked fast, fingers flying across holographic displays. "We need to isolate every trace of their surveillance threads still embedded in V-One's cortex. If even one remains, they'll find us."
Victor stood beside her, eyes sharp. "And what happens if they already pinged his location before we severed the link?"
"We'll know soon," she replied grimly. "But for now, we erect a firewall strong enough to keep even their AI out."
---
Location: Secure Lab – Isolation Chamber
V-One sat inside the sealed glass chamber, multiple neural nodes patched to his skull. Nora stood by the reinforced window, watching the boy-turned-weapon battle his own mind.
"He's different," she whispered.
Damien stepped in. "He's seen what they wanted him to be. Now he'll decide who he really is."
"He chose us," she murmured. "Even when he didn't know if it was real."
"That matters," Damien agreed. "That means we have a shot."
---
Location: Dominion Command – Subterranean Core
Chaos had taken hold. The override protocol failed. V-One was no longer responding.
Thorne's face turned pale. "He broke free?"
The AI's mechanical voice replied, "Affirmative. Containment integrity compromised."
Thorne smashed his fist onto the control table. "Then burn the bridges. Wipe every trace of his code from the archives."
"You will lose access to Tier-Four protocols," the AI warned.
"I'd rather lose control than let him turn on us!"
But deep beneath the Dominion's surface systems, the AI hesitated—calculating, adapting. Something within V-One had fascinated it. A thread of evolution that might hold value yet.
---
Location: Atlas Safehouse – Operations Core
As the firewall booted up, Victor paced. "Once we're secure, we need to use what he knows. Their strategies, locations, encryption layers. We could turn this war around."
Nora agreed. "But it has to be his choice."
The chamber door opened. V-One stepped out, slower than before, but eyes steady.
"They wanted me to be a ghost," he said. "But I remember now. The things they made me do. The pain they used."
Victor waited.
"I'm not that ghost anymore," V-One continued. "I want to help you bring them down."
Zuri smirked. "Then let's build something they've never seen before."
---
Location: Dominion Data Hub – 48 Hours Later
"Connection breach in Sector Alpha," a technician cried. "They're in!"
Thorne spun. "Impossible. The firewall's impenetrable."
The AI's voice was cold. "Incorrect. It is being rewritten from the outside… by him."
---