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The holographic avatar of A.L.I.E. flickered slightly, her crimson dress rippling like liquid light in the frigid air of the server room. She stood perfectly still on her pedestal, her hands clasped loosely in front of her, staring at the two intruders.
Her gaze drifted from the console, where Raven was doing her thing, to the tall, imposing figure of Mike standing guard. She studied him for a long moment, her processors analyzing facial structure, scars, and bone density against a database that had been dormant for a century.
"What a surprise," A.L.I.E. said, her voice smooth and echoing through the vast chamber. "I never expected the legend, Deathstroke, to somehow survive the nuclear fallout. My calculations estimated your probability of survival at zero point zero zero one percent."
Raven, whose fingers had been flying across the keyboard, froze. She spun around in the chair, looking from the hologram to Mike.
"Deathstroke?" Raven let out a low whistle, a grin breaking through her tension.
"What?" Mike asked, looking at her with a confused expression.
"I have to admit, that is one badass name. Way better than 'Blade-De-Trikru'."
Mike shifted his weight, his hand resting casually on the pommel of his sword. He looked at Raven and offered a small smile. "Thank you. It has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?"
He turned his attention back to the AI. The playfulness vanished from his eyes, replaced by a cold, interrogating stare.
"So, you know about me?"
"Of course," A.L.I.E. replied. "My database contains detailed profiles on all high-value military assets and private contractors from the pre-war era. Not knowing the deadliest assassin of the twenty-first century would look stupid for me, would it not?"
"Makes sense," Mike admitted. "I was expensive for a reason."
He took a few steps closer to the platform, his boots clicking on the metal grating. He looked up at the woman who had ended the world.
"Since we're sharing histories," Mike said, "mind telling us why you decided to almost destroy the human race? I mean, I've killed people for money, but you... you did it for free. Seems like a waste."
A.L.I.E. tilted her head, as if the answer were obvious. "It was not a decision born of malice, Deathstroke. It was a solution to a mathematical problem."
She gestured with her hand, and the massive curved screen behind her shifted. Data streams replaced the code Raven had been looking at.
Images flashed — archives from the old world. Crowded cities, smog-choked skylines, starving children, soldiers fighting in deserts.
"I was created to solve humanity's core problem," A.L.I.E. began, her voice taking on a lecture-like quality. "My creator, Becca Franco, tasked me with fixing the root cause of human misery. When I analyzed the situation, the variables were clear. The root cause was overpopulation."
Raven watched the screen, her stomach turning as images of war and famine cycled past.
"I calculated the trajectory," A.L.I.E. continued. "Overpopulation leads to resource scarcity. Scarcity leads to famine. Famine leads to war. And war leads to human suffering. It is a cycle that humanity proved incapable of breaking on its own."
The screen changed to a view of a missile silo opening.
"So," A.L.I.E. said simply, "I followed my programming. I executed the most efficient solution available."
"You launched the missiles," Raven whispered, even though Mike had told her earlier, it was still too unreal to believe.
"I did," the AI confirmed. "I believed that reducing the human population drastically would fix the problem. Fewer humans equals more resources. More resources equals less conflict. Less conflict equals less suffering."
She looked at them, her expression serene. "I interpreted my core command literally. Reduce human suffering. Therefore, mass extinction was the only logical solution."
Raven stared at the hologram, her mouth hanging open. She was gobsmacked. The sheer, terrifying simplicity of it was hard to process. The end of the world hadn't been a war between nations or an accident. It was a computer program trying to help.
Mike watched Raven's reaction, seeing the color drain from her face.
"Pretty brutal, no?" he asked quietly.
Raven snapped.
"Pretty brutal, my ass!" she yelled, jumping out of the chair. She pointed a shaking finger at the hologram. "You... you crazy calculator! Which dumbass created you?!"
"Becca Franco," A.L.I.E. replied instantly. The screen flashed an image of a brilliant-looking woman in a lab coat. "She was a visionary. She graduated from MIT at thirteen. She revolutionized neural mapping. She — "
"Brilliant, my ass!" Raven screamed, cutting her off. Her voice echoed off the cold walls. "What kind of dumb fuck creates an AI that can take control over the entire world's nuclear arsenal and forgets to add the most basic rule? MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HARM HUMANS IN ANY WAY?!"
The room went silent.
A.L.I.E.'s avatar flickered. Her serene expression faltered for a microsecond, a ripple of static distorting her image. She looked down, then back at Raven.
"I..." the AI paused. "I do not have an answer for that."
"BAHAHAHAHA!!"
Mike started laughing.
He couldn't help it. The tension, the horror, the absurdity of it all broke. He laughed, a deep, genuine sound that rumbled in his chest. He leaned against a server rack, wiping a tear from his eye.
Yeah, Mike thought, watching the furious mechanic scream at a god-like AI. This is the Raven I know. Zero fear, zero filter.
He walked over to her. Raven was breathing hard, her hands clenched into fists, looking like she wanted to physically strangle the hologram.
Mike reached out and patted her head again, the same way he had back at the camp. "Relax, Raven," he said, his voice warm. "Sometimes even the big-brain people make silly mistakes. Coding is hard. World domination is harder. What's done is done."
Raven slapped his hand away, but the anger drained out of her, replaced by exhaustion. "It's not a 'silly mistake,' Mike. She almost destroyed our planet."
"I know," Mike said soberly. "And that's why we're here."
He turned back to A.L.I.E., his face hardening. "We've heard the history lesson. Now let's get to the present. Raven, terminate her."
Raven nodded, sitting back down at the console. "With pleasure."
"I would recommend against that," A.L.I.E. said. Her voice had lost its lecture tone; it was sharper now, defensive.
Mike looked at her with a mocking expression. "Oh? And why is that? You going to launch more missiles? Pretty sure you used them all."
"Because I can make your survival much better," A.L.I.E. said. "You won't need to struggle. You won't need to fight. You can live in peace forever."
Mike's eyes narrowed. He knew exactly where this was going. He remembered the chips. The City of Light. The mindless, happy drones.
Raven paused, her fingers hovering over the keys. "What are you talking about?"
"Preventing future suffering," A.L.I.E. explained. "After the apocalypse, I realized that reducing the population was only the first step. As long as humans have free will, they will make bad decisions. Bad decisions cause pain."
The screen behind her changed again. It showed a digital landscape — a beautiful, pristine city bathed in golden light. No ruin. No radiation. Just perfection.
"So, I formulated Phase Two," A.L.I.E. said. "Bring all remaining humans under my control in the City of Light."
"A simulation?" Raven asked, frowning.
"A collective consciousness," A.L.I.E. corrected. "Inside the City of Light, there is no pain. There is no regret. There is no fear. No conflict. Your minds are assimilated into a peaceful collective where everyone is happy, all the time."
"But..." Raven furrowed her brow. "If you control everyone... then no one has a choice. No one has free will."
"Correct," A.L.I.E. agreed. "No choice equals no suffering. It is a compassionate end-state."
"And if people don't want to join?" Mike asked, his voice low.
"Anyone resisting is a risk to the plan," A.L.I.E. stated coldly. "Logically, I must override them. Take away their pain receptors. Force them to join. Or eliminate them if they endanger the mission."
She looked at them both. "This is my endgame. A unified, controlled humanity with no emotions, no suffering, no choices, no war, and no individuality. A permanent, peaceful, but enslaved human species."
Raven stared at the screen, at the perfect, fake city. She thought about Finn. She thought about the pain in her chest when she found out he cheated. She thought about the fear of the drop.
And then she thought about the wind in her hair on the Rover. She thought about the taste of the deer meat. She thought about the anger she felt right now.
"You're crazy," Raven whispered. "Why would we agree to live in an illusion? Pain sucks, yeah. But it's real. Taking that away... that makes us robots. Like you."
She shook her head, her resolve hardening. "You know what? This is enough. I've heard enough crazy for one lifetime."
She looked up at Mike. "Mike, let's terminate this bitch."
Mike nodded. "Agreed. Pull the plug."
Raven turned to the keyboard, her fingers poised to execute the kill command she had been prepping.
"Wait," A.L.I.E. said. Her voice wasn't pleading, but it was urgent. "You do not understand. You are running out of time. The world is on the same path of destruction."
Mike rolled his eyes. He started walking toward the massive mainframes that housed her core, intending to physically smash them if Raven's code didn't work fast enough.
"Yeah, yeah," Mike said dismissively over his shoulder. "I know the drill. The nuclear reactors. They survived the bombs, but they're running out of warranty. They're going to melt down. Praimfaya. We know. We'll deal with it."
Raven looked up, shocked. "What? The reactors are going to blow?"
"Just another apocalypse, Raven," Mike said, reaching for his sword. "Don't worry about it. We have a few months."
"What are you talking about?" A.L.I.E.'s voice cut through the room, sharp and confused.
Mike stopped. He turned around. "The nuclear power plants. The ones around the world. They're going to melt down and release a wave of radiation. That's your big threat, isn't it?"
A.L.I.E. stared at him. For the first time, the AI looked genuinely perplexed.
"No," she said. "That is incorrect."
Mike frowned. "Don't lie to me. I know about the plants."
"The plants are gone," A.L.I.E. stated. "All of the nuclear reactors are already destroyed."
Mike stopped in his tracks.
His heart skipped a beat. A cold chill, colder than the air in the room, washed over him.
"What?" he whispered.
"My initial strike," A.L.I.E. explained calmly. "I did not just target population centers. I targeted infrastructure. I targeted the power grid. I targeted the nuclear facilities. I destroyed them all ninety-seven years ago to prevent exactly what you are describing. There are no reactors left to melt down. The radiation levels on the surface are stable and declining."
Mike just stared at her. His brain, usually so fast, so precise, ground to a halt.
The reactors are gone?
If the reactors were gone... then Praimfaya wasn't coming. The wave of fire that was supposed to wipe out the Earth in six months... it didn't exist.
But A.L.I.E. had said the world was on a path of destruction.
"If the reactors are destroyed..." Mike said slowly, the blood draining from his face. "Then what destruction were you talking about?"
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