Chapter 76 - The Architect’s Will
Before Eleanor could close the distance, the main console behind her chimed with an abrasive, Klaxon-like alert.
The screens displaying the North American grid turned from sapphire blue to an ominous, flashing amber.
*EMERGENCY BROADCAST INCOMING.*
*ORIGIN: CHICAGO SURFACE MUNICIPAL ARCHIVE.*
*CARRIER FREQUENCY: SAMUEL BELLINI GHOST PROTOCOL.*
A holographic projection flickered into existence in the center of the laboratory, cutting through the steam and mist. It was an image of Samuel Bellini, recorded not in the decrepit state of his final years, but in his prime—a sharp-eyed, ruthless man in a bespoke pinstripe suit, sitting in the very mahogany chair that had started this entire nightmare eighteen years ago.
"If this recording is playing," the phantom of Samuel Bellini spoke, his voice deep, gravelly, and saturated with the smoke of old tobacco, "then Eleanor has broken containment."
Marco stared at the projection of his dead father, his knuckles turning white as he dragged himself up using the console edge. "Dad...?"
"Eleanor," Samuel’s recording continued, his eyes seeming to bore into the mechanical woman standing before us, "you always believed the flesh was weak. You believed that by digitizing our bloodlines, you could create an immortal syndicate that ruled from the shadows of the power grid. But you forgot one thing: I built the foundation."
The console beeped again, and a series of explosive charges, armed decades ago, showed up as flashing red dots along the structural pillars of Sub-Trench Lab 04.
"I knew Richard Vance was too weak to finish you," Samuel’s voice echoed from the grave. "And I knew my boy Marco would be too blind to see the strings. So I left a dead man's trigger inside the heart of the chair itself. The moment you attempt to harvest Laura, the bedrock anchors will blow. We sink together, Eleanor. The Syndicate ends with us."
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Eleanor’s head tilted thirty degrees to the side. "Samuel was always a dramatic fool. The bedrock anchors cannot detonate without the master authorization code."
"He didn't give the code to you," Marco whispered, raising his gun, his hands now completely steady thanks to the stabilized current flowing through his chest. "He gave it to me."
