“No,” Circé said. “Chicago’s Core is the most elaborate, and the most up-to-date. The other Cores aren’t powerful enough to keep copies of it, and because it also stores each of the other Cores’ former versions, it can’t keep too many versions of itself, so it erases the former versions each time a new one is created, only keeping the latest for safety. That’s why we have to hack this one, erase it, and prevent it from resetting itself. If we did the same to any other Core elsewhere, it would temporarily be shut down, but the Chicago Core would send its latest digital version and it would be a matter of minutes before it’s back to normal. The Chicago Core is its own backup, though. So if we manage to take down this one, all the other Cores will be vulnerable too, with only their live versions left and no backup.”
George grimaced.
“...Okay, I think I understood half of that.”
“It’s like a brain,” sighed Eden. “If you lose an arm, you can still replace it since your brain will remember how the nerves work. But if your brain is… gone, you can’t use anything else even if the rest of your body is intact.”
“It’s a no-brainer!” chuckled Loir.
“...Yeah, I think I got the image.”
“What’s in your head, in your head?” Loir sang terribly off-key. “Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie~!”
“Warlock, shut up and move on, we’re on a schedule here,” sighed Circé.
“Yes, yes... Our ladies are all so bossy...”
Despite complaining, he zoomed in again on the building, showing its structure.
“Most of the lower floors are for entertainment,” said Rolf. “There was a flood around a century ago, so they entirely redesigned the ten lowest floors to be for leisure, open to the public, and easy to evacuate. Getting there should be no issue. Above that, everything up to the fifty-ninth floor is private residences and offices. It’s the sixtieth floor and up that we’re aiming for.”
“Better not be afraid of heights, my pretties!” chuckled Loir.
He zoomed in again, showing the upper floors Rolf was describing.
“According to our sources, these are all part of the Core data centers and offices for people working for the System. We need to get there to destroy it physically.”
“So that’s where we get to use explosives?” smirked George. “We better get out quick though...”
“Us hackers need to get there too,” retorted Circé with a glare. “There’s no way to access the System from the Dark Reality unless we are physically connected to those data centers.”
“Oh, shit...”
“You have to get us there, then leave,” said Eden. “Once a few of us get in, we can corrupt the System from the inside and get more hackers to take it down.”
“I thought that was just for getting inside the Core!”
“It’s the same principle,” said Eden. “I can physically get inside the Core and open the way for the hackers into the Dark Reality because my SIN is different, but it still requires me to interact from the other side.”
“Your hacking stuff is too complicated for me,” George shook his head, “but I get the picture. You get in, everybody gets in, and we get the real shit started. Noted.”
Rolf cleared his throat, gathering everyone’s attention before the hackers and George began bickering again.
“Luckily for us, the tower is close to our point of entry. Still, we should expect some resistance. They would never leave this place unguarded, that’s why we’re going in strong and fast. We will use everything in this attack, and we are not expecting any backup from anyone but the hackers.”
“Our main goal is to get Eden in,” declared Dante. “She must survive and get to the Arcadia Tower alive, at any cost. If she dies before we get into the tower, everything will be lost.”
Eden felt her throat clench a little. She wasn’t afraid to die, she had decided to participate in this operation fully knowing the risk. The one thing that resonated strangely was hearing Dante talk about it. He had always been so strongly protective of her, the idea she might die being put out there with his voice felt… odd. She took a deep breath.
“...Once I am inside, I will let the hackers attack the Core so more of us can get in. Not only our group but all sides as well. I will basically force it to accept anyone with a SIN, corrupted or not, which is their current first form of defense. No one can get in until I am in, so all groups will have to endure at the border.”
“How long will it take?”
“Given that the Edge will be helping me, it should only take a few minutes… I hope. However, after that, the System will try to push us back. There will be no use refusing our SINs once everyone is inside, but they can still target the corrupted SINs, one way or another. That’s when the Edge will be the most useful. The hackers will fight back the System’s attempts to attack every fighter with a SIN. It’s a double-edged sword.”
“They already have a limited impact on our SINs anyway,” said Circé. “It’s not like they wouldn’t already have that advantage over us, but Eden’s infiltration will give us a way to fight for control of it and confuse them.”
“...Can they kill us using just our SINs?” frowned George, suddenly realizing. “...They can’t, right?”
