The wind at 30,000 feet didn't just howl; it screamed.
Arthur stood on the edge of a stealth transport drone, his long coat whipping violently in the thin air. Below him, the city lights were a glittering web of gold and violet. Above him, the HARP-04 loomed like a predatory whale made of chrome and white carbon fiber.
[LOCATION: THE STRATOSPHERE – SECTOR 7]
[TARGET: CORE FRAGMENT 4/7 (THE WIND SEED)]
"Arthur, the magnetic tethers are active, but the drone can only stay in the 'blind spot' for ninety seconds," Elena's voice crackled through his comms. She was back at the safehouse, her eyes hooked into the global satellite feed. "If the HARP's scanners pick you up, they'll drop the altitude and pancake the city just to kill you."
"I see the entry port," Arthur said. His Architect Eyes were glowing a piercing gold, cutting through the clouds.
OBJECT DETECTED:HARP-04 Exterior Vent > INTEGRITY:94% > GLITCH DETECTED:Thermal Exhaust Sync-Error at 0.04s intervals.
"Sarah, on my mark," Arthur commanded.
Sarah, wearing a pressurized tactical suit, gave a thumbs-up. They jumped.
[The Gravity Leap]
They didn't fall. Arthur used Phantom Grip to manifest two massive spectral hands that clamped onto the underside of the airship. He swung himself and Sarah upward, landing silently on the pressurized hull.
[SKILL: REALITY EDIT – COMMAND: 'SILENCE RADIUS']
As they moved toward the airlock, a squad of Sky-Sentinels—winged drones with jagged obsidian blades—detached from the ship's spine.
"Sentinels!" Sarah shouted, drawing her pistols. "They're faster than the ones on the ground!"
"Don't shoot," Arthur said, his voice eerily calm. "You'll trip the pressure sensors."
Arthur raised his hand. Instead of a physical attack, he used Reality Delete on the air behind the drones. By deleting a cubic meter of oxygen, he created a localized vacuum. The sudden pressure differential sucked the drones into the void, where they collided and shattered.
[The Server Core]
They breached the airlock and entered the heart of the ship. The interior was a forest of glowing coolant pipes and humming server racks. In the center, suspended in a vacuum chamber, was the Green Fragment.
But someone was waiting for them.
Standing in front of the fragment was a woman in a white lab coat, her eyes replaced by glowing violet lenses.
NAME: Dr. Aris Vane (System Researcher)
STATUS:Mind-Linked to HARP-04 > THREAT LEVEL:Environmental Controller
"Arthur Vance," she said, her voice sounding through the ship's speakers. "You think you're hacking the system? You are the system's favorite experiment. This ship isn't a vault. It's a furnace."
She slammed her hand onto a console.
[WARNING: CABIN PRESSURE DEPLOYED AS WEAPON]
[GRAVITY: INCREASED TO 4G]
Sarah collapsed to her knees, her bones creaking under the sudden weight. Arthur felt his heart struggle to pump blood to his brain.
[The Overclock]
"You... forgot... one thing," Arthur gasped, his golden eyes flickering.
He didn't fight the gravity. He looked at the Fragment.
COMMAND:Remote Sync.
Arthur didn't wait to touch the fragment. He used his Level 4 System Commander access to "ping" the fragment from across the room. The Green Fragment, the "Wind Seed," responded to its master.
The vacuum chamber shattered. The fragment didn't fly to Arthur; it began to pull the atmosphere of the ship into itself.
"No!" Dr. Vane screamed as the air was sucked out of the room, neutralizing the 4G gravity trap.
Arthur lunged forward, his hand turning into a black void. He touched the console, and instead of deleting it, he Edited the ship's flight path.
[EDIT: DESTINATION – NULL]
[COMMAND: 'FREEFALL']
The massive airship tipped. Engines died. The "predatory whale" began its terminal descent toward the ocean.
[The 4th Acquisition]
Arthur grabbed the Green Fragment mid-air.
[NOTIFICATION: CORE FRAGMENT 4/7 ACQUIRED]
[ACCESS LEVEL: 5 – 'SYSTEM OVERSEER' REACHED]
[NEW PASSIVE: AERO-KINESIS (LIMITED)]
As the ship plummeted, Arthur grabbed Sarah and Elena (via her remote link's data-anchor). He didn't need a parachute. He stepped out of the jagged hole in the hull and walked on the air, the wind swirling around his feet like a loyal pet.
He watched the HARP-04 crash into the Atlantic, a massive plume of violet fire lighting up the night.
"Three left," Arthur whispered.
But as he descended, his Architect Eyes caught a new signal. A signal coming from the safehouse where Elena was.
LOYALTY UPDATE:Elena – 15% (CRITICAL) > CURRENT STATUS:Transmitting Arthur's coordinates to 'The Man in White'.
Arthur landed on the beach, the sand glassing under his heat. He didn't look at Sarah. He looked at the horizon.
"Sarah," Arthur said, his voice sounding more like the Chrome King every second. "How do we handle a traitor?"