At the escape route hidden within the mountains, there was a heavy metal gate camouflaged by dense vegetation and thorns.
In addition to the gate, the area was fortified with defensive installations, automated sentry guns, and numerous surveillance cameras.
More than a hundred heavily armored soldiers equipped with military-grade cybernetics patrolled and guarded the area. Breaking through such defenses with ground forces, while possible, would undoubtedly result in heavy casualties.
After all, this was one of the main exits from the experimental base, and the personnel inside were already preparing to copy top-secret data, destroy any equipment or prototypes that couldn't be transported, and flee southward through scattered escape routes around the mountains.
However...
Swoosh—swoosh—!
Boom! Boom!
Two hydrogen-metal missiles struck the metal gate and the gathering point of the Militech soldiers with pinpoint accuracy.
Blinding white light and deafening explosions engulfed the escape route and obliterated everything in the vicinity.
Whoooosh—!
A powerful shockwave, strong enough to pulverize human bodies, swept through the area, uprooting trees.
The intense flames quickly "cleansed" the surroundings, turning the vegetation into ashes. Even the normally damp soil was now dry and cracked from the heat.
As the shockwave subsided, the area returned to a brief silence.
The metal gate had vanished, leaving the passage into the mountain's interior exposed.
It was at this moment that four synthetics, having maintained a safe distance, charged into the passage at inhuman speed, wielding their customized plasma rifles and Gauss guns.
Shortly after—
Ratatat!
The sound of intense gunfire echoed from within the passage.
This indicated that the synthetics had engaged Militech's soldiers in a close-quarters battle, one that appeared to be completely one-sided in favor of the synthetics.
Meanwhile, the faint sounds of soldiers' heads being "hacked" and exploding were masked by the gunfire.
While their superhuman physical strength was impressive, the synthetics' true "weapon" lay in their electronic brains, capable of hacking and overpowering cybernetic systems.
The earlier hydrogen-metal missile strike had been fire support requested by the synthetics from a nearby Vulture gunship. They had even instructed the crew to reduce the missile's yield to 30% to avoid unforeseen complications.
The synthetics had no fear of death, but they weren't foolish enough to charge head-on unnecessarily.
With the firepower to eliminate the defensive installations, the synthetics naturally chose the most efficient solution.
Dorn's objective was to collect data on how well the cybernetic enhancements from the Cyberpunk universe performed against enemy infantry, not just the synthetics' ability to withstand damage.
Soon, the gunfire from within the passage began to die down, just as the hidden advance team finally "arrived" at the scene.
More than a dozen veteran soldiers, forming a standard "33" formation, quickly reached the escape route, now utterly transformed into a crystalline wasteland.
Hearing the dwindling gunfire and analyzing the details displayed on their tactical radars, they could tell that the four synthetics had far exceeded expectations, efficiently clearing the area.
"Hah," Soap, one of the team's leaders, remarked. "If those things get mass-produced, will there even be any jobs left for us humans?"
Under his helmet, Roach observed the surroundings using the outline display provided by his visor, noting how the synthetic soldiers had likely just wiped out the remaining enemies with ease. He commented, "We barely got to use our company-issued combat suits—just enough to take out some arrogant gangs and a few corporate puppets. Sigh..."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Ghost, ever the calm one, responded. "This is exactly why the company developed these tools—to handle the dangerous tasks so we don't have to. In the future, these things might be exploring new universes on our behalf."
"Experience, intuition—machines don't have that. Well, whatever."
Soap checked the radar again, noticing the synthetics moving further away. "Zero, Scarecrow, you two squads stay here and keep watch. The rest of you, follow me inside."
At that command, Soap, Ghost, Roach, and the others moved toward the experimental base.
Six advance team members, equipped with Gauss snipers, precision rifles, and small-caliber smart machine guns, remained behind in elevated positions, maintaining a defensive perimeter.
As Soap's team pressed on, they came across scattered remnants of enemy bodies.
Most of the destruction had been caused by Gauss and plasma rounds, leaving behind shredded corpses. Some remains, however, appeared to have been torn apart by sheer physical force, likely indicating that some Militech soldiers had tried to ambush the synthetics, only to be ripped apart instead.
"..."
Seeing the carnage, Roach frowned.
He had once considered buying a civilian synthetic to help with chores and housework.
But after witnessing this, he couldn't help but think of the possibility of "AI rebellion."
After all, one of Asimov's most fundamental laws stated that "a robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm."
Even Selene, with her physical form, had only hacked into the head of the Tiger Claw gang leader—she had left the actual execution to him.
"Yikes." Soap's tone turned slightly serious as he observed the scene. "The company better have some failsafes in place. I don't fancy the idea of going up against these efficient killers."
"In theory, it's impossible," Ghost replied calmly. "The synthetics have emotions and self-awareness. They understand what killing means. The company has invested a lot of resources to ensure they make humans safer."
"Let's hope so." Soap then turned to Roach, teasing, "Hey, Roach, still thinking about getting a synthetic wife?"
"..."
Roach shook his head vigorously in response.
"Haha!" Soap couldn't help but laugh when he saw Roach's exaggerated reaction through the helmet visor.
"Maybe you should find an elf girlfriend on Terra instead," Soap joked.
"Alright, enough," Ghost interjected, "The synthetics are about to take the data archive. Time to collect Militech's assets."
"Right. Let's move."
As Atlas worked on consolidating its control in the Cyberpunk universe, the Halo universe was also becoming a hotbed of activity.
April 14, 2512.
Earth.
Located in a remote, desolate corner of the Milky Way, this human homeworld, like in most parallel universes, orbited the Sun along the third orbital path.
However, Earth in the Halo universe was militarized to the teeth.
The planet's low orbit was lined with countless defensive platforms, forming a protective array to guard against spaceborne threats.
An untold number of military vessels were docked at orbital stations, undergoing routine inspections and resupply operations.
At the moment, both the sunlit and dark sides of Earth's orbit flickered with the bright blue glow of slipspace transitions.
These glimmers indicated either ships about to enter slipspace or civilian and military vessels emerging from it.
As the economic, political, and cultural heart of humanity, Earth also served as a central transportation hub for all nearby colonies.
Mars, located in the fourth orbital path, had become humanity's "forging world," dedicated to the production of weapons and warships.
One could argue that the humans living on Halo's Earth were much more fortunate and comfortable compared to their counterparts in the universes of Edge of Tomorrow or Doom.
At least, in this current timeline, the humans of Halo had not yet entered into direct war with the Covenant.
Only the higher-ups, as well as those privy to classified information, were aware of the existence of Forerunner relics. The general populace still believed that humanity was the only intelligent species in the galaxy capable of developing a civilization.
The United Nations Space Command (UNSC) had its headquarters in Sydney, located in the Southern Hemisphere of former Australia.
Zooming through the atmosphere, we find ourselves on the sunlit side of the planet, where Sydney is experiencing a warm autumn afternoon.
As the home of UNSC's headquarters, Sydney had grown significantly over the centuries, now larger than the capitals of colonies like Harvest and Reach, with a permanent population of about 40 million.
At the port, numerous traditional naval warships were docked, offering tourists a chance to explore them.
However, the high-ranking officials of UNSC, UEG (Unified Earth Government), and ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) were in no mood to enjoy such leisure.
In the outskirts of Sydney, within the towering structure of UNSC's headquarters:
"Are you ONI agents all useless?! It's been this long, and you still haven't gathered solid intel on Atlas?!"
"Aeradana has been completely locked down, and they possess advanced detection systems. No slipspace travel can escape their surveillance."
"And what about those stealth corvettes we poured billions into?! This doesn't work, that doesn't work, but you're great at dealing with your own people, aren't you?!"
"Getting angry won't solve the problem, General. You and your colleagues have lived long enough to know that," one of the ONI officers replied calmly.
It was clear that the room was heated, with officials discussing the events surrounding Atlas.
Looking around, the room was filled with high-ranking generals and officials, each with considerable influence and authority.
The Navy and Army generals were visibly agitated, while the ONI officers presented the facts as they saw them.
Recently, an extremist rebel faction, Free Liberation
, had unwittingly hijacked the civilian vessel Neptune with personnel like Leon, Mike, and Maggie onboard. Within 24 hours, the rebels controlling the Aeradana system had been completely overthrown.
Following that, Atlas seemed to explode onto the scene, flooding human networks and social media with numerous official accounts.
Accounts like "Atlas Biotech" and "Atlas Armed Forces" began publishing information about their products and military forces.
Even more troubling was the account named "Atlas Anti-Corruption Storm," which had blown the lid off UNSC, UEG, and ONI's corrupt practices, putting their dirtiest secrets on full display.
The most-viewed post was titled, "List of Parasites to Be Purged/Work in Progress—Will Be Updated."
As a way of proving their reach, Atlas posted footage from their raid on ONI's headquarters—albeit with heavy pixelation.
When network security staff across Earth and the colonies noticed the rapid rise of Atlas-related content, they tried everything to delete and block it, but it was futile.
Even the smart AIs couldn't help stop the spread of this information.
Atlas' accounts and messages spread across the human networks like a virus, with views and engagements skyrocketing in mere days.
This caused a massive upheaval.
Moderate rebel factions quickly issued statements expressing their willingness to cooperate with Atlas if needed.
The extremist factions, like Free Liberation, remained silent for the time being.
Ordinary citizens, especially those living comfortably, saw all this as little more than gossip, only concerned if it affected their daily lives. For them, this was merely something to talk about over coffee.
However, the marginalized people living in outer colonies—those suffering under unfair policies—viewed Atlas as a new "rebel force" with the power to finally solve their problems.
Most didn't believe that "space gates" or "parallel universes" actually existed.
The elves, dwarves, and "magic" that Atlas supposedly possessed were seen as nothing more than marketing stunts.
Even after independent analysts confirmed that the footage and images were authentic and hadn't been edited—aside from the pixelation—people still preferred to believe whatever explanation suited them.
But...
"Hmph! You're certainly good at dealing with internal matters, aren't you? Fine, fine!"
The bickering officials knew full well that everything Atlas had revealed was true.
UNSC and ONI were well aware of the reality.
In addition, ONI had managed to infiltrate Aeradana, with spies risking their lives to transmit details of the battle back to UNSC headquarters on Earth before losing all contact.
General Hackett, having been rebuffed by ONI, now sneered and retorted, "Yes, we've lived longer than most, but we're not going to sit here and watch the enemy kick down our doors and waltz off with our top-tier AIs.
"If that happened to me, I'd have shot myself long ago. Yet you cowards have the nerve to sit here and pontificate?!"
The ONI officers immediately understood the sting of the general's words, which referred to the raid on ONI's headquarters.
Having hit a sore spot, the officers were ready to fire back.
"Enough!"
A female officer, appearing to be in her middle years, quickly stepped in to deescalate the situation.
"We're here to address the threat posed by Atlas, which is far more dangerous than any rebel faction—not to engage in endless internal squabbling."
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