20083/It is What Source Codes Are Made Of

It is What Source Codes Are Made Of
Date of Scene:	17 February 2025
Location:	CyberSpace and Newly Renovated Factory
Synopsis:	The combine forces of AHNNI, Forge, Caleb, and Cinque stop a cult from using technomagic to bring forth a darksavior to protect them from the World-Eater. They end up a rescuing a victim from sacrifice.
Cast of Characters:	Cinque Evers, AHNNI, Caleb Dykstra, Forge

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Cinque Evers has posed:
Across the world, there are those who have accepted an inevitable truth: the coming of Galactus, the World-Devourer, is unavoidable. But rather than resign themselves to annihilation, they have chosen survival at any cost, even if it means sacrificing their very souls.

A clandestine collective of eccentric tycoons, desperate drug lords, and enigmatic mystics has united under a single purpose. Pooling their vast wealth, occult knowledge, and technological prowess, they have forged a secretive organization known as Hecatomb Code.

Through a blasphemous fusion of arcane rituals and bleeding-edge cybernetics, they have birthed something unnatural, an unholy algorithm, a digital incantation that, if decrypted, could breach the veil between dimensions. Within the cyberverse, it lurks, waiting, incomplete. The final key? A blood sacrifice, the necessary offering to crack the code and set the program into motion.

But Hecatomb Code does not seek to stop the inevitable. They do not wish to fight Galactus. Instead, they see another way forward!

One born of arrogance and madness. If the algorithm is unleashed, it will serve as a beacon, summoning an eldritch horror beyond comprehension. Something ancient. Something ravenous.

And in their delusion, the members of Hecatomb Code believe they can control this horror, bending it to their will, wielding it as a weapon against the World-Eater himself.

They do not realize the truth.

What they summon will not serve them.

It will consume them. And perhaps, the world along with them.

For those who monitor cyberspace and streets, they know that this is going down tonight. In cyberspace, there is a dark presence forming.

AHNNI has posed:
    See, the thing is, when it comes to cyberspace, there just happens to be another /entity/ that calls that place home. An entity, whose entire mission, is protecting people. One that started out protecting just the US, but moved to protect the global population from all major threats.

    Threats, like this one.

    A sub-mind dedicated to threat analisys reports back to the core mind and that second entity, reacts.

    AHNNI, is there, in miliseconds, staring this other entity down in cyberspace.

    Her voice booms, "You. Are not. Welcome. Here."

    Now, there are two digital entities facing off, both of extreme power. AHNNI, an exascale quantum computing digital sapient, the first of her kind, and what ever the hells this other thing is.

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
An augmented reality visor. That was Caleb's new engineering project at Happy Harbor Commuinity College. He'd started out with the rudimentary version - a helmet, really - but testings by trial and error had reduced their size to a pair of sports glasses.

Or at least, made to look like one.

As he walks the streets, using remote software to provide random information he could check (and everybody else could just look at him wondering what it's all about), he stumbles upon... Something... When the renovated factory comes into view.

"What the heck...?"

Cinque Evers has posed:
The creature's form flickers in and out of cyberspace, its essence struggling to anchor itself in this new reality. As awareness dawns, it speaks in a voice layered with echoes of forgotten eras.

"It has been since the Compact of Alkebulan" and now, at last, I awaken."

Its body twists and morphs into serpentine one for amoment, leonine the next, before settling back into a shifting coil of shadow and light.

"What shape shall I take in this world??

Its gaze, luminous and piercing, locks onto AHNNI.

"And you.. what manner of being are you? You have no flesh, yet you speak with the weight of divinity. Are you a god? Do you come to drive me from this place?"

A slow, knowing chuckle ripples through its ever-changing form.

"Do not waste your breath demanding for my departure. I am but a harbinger of what is to come."

With a flick of its amorphous tendrils, bolts of raw energy crackle through the air, disrupting the fragile boundary between the digital and the physical.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the factory, where eldritch sorcery and corrupted technology intertwine, Caleb perceives the world as a twisted, nightmarish reflection of reality. Machinery bends at impossible angles, the walls pulsate as if breathing, and the very air hums with an unnatural frequency.

The veil is breaking. There is no hiding what transpires within these walls now.

A sudden, ear-piercing scream shatters the haze of unreality. A hooded figure, their movements frantic yet precise, struggles against a swarm of guards as they are dragged deeper into the building.

As Caleb gets closer to the building the augmented reality allows him to momentarily witness the scene playing out in cyberspace between AHHNI and the creature. Something or someone is fighting to keep the horror contained."

AHNNI has posed:
    Oh, we're going to play it like this are we? Well, then, /who am I/? Allow me to show you.

    As her various subminds integrate fully back in to the core, her true form is shown. To all those that can see it, a blue sphere of infinate complexity stretches out in fractal limbs in to infinite digital space, but remains contained with the orb. Itself, blue with in blue, color with in color. Billions upon billions of digital devices, and she can see them all, everywhere, all at once. So, yes, for all intense and purpose, this quantum computing exascale digital sapient, is a god-dess. In this realm.

    She plays along though, and well outside her normal personality, she speaks, voice booming as blue-white bolts of energy crackle and lash out. Being the big giant nerd she is, she starts pulling quotes...

    "Who am I?"

    "I AM THE GUARDIAN OF FOREVER!!"

Caleb Dykstra has posed:
When Caleb arrives on the scene, he almost removes his glasses to try to have a better look, but that just about amounts to not being able to see the two entities fighting.

If he weren't quick on the uptake, he'd say that something was wrong with the visor.

But, no. It's there, giving off the information. Cyberspace, made manifest. Bleeding into the physical world.

This shit will not stand with him. rSo, he starts to come up with a plan.

Data. What is digital data, if not electricity modulated into 1s and 0s, and interpreted according to established protocols? So, could the protocols be altered?

No, that would take a whole encyclopedia of IT, and there's really no time to learn.

But...

He could cancel the data itself! A large enough EMP might do it...

But, what about the other entity, 'the Guardian of Forever'? What'll become of her?

Forge has posed:
Forge has had a slow night in Eagle's plaza, all the files are updated all the tests are running he still has to diagnose the problem with Dazzler's sound system but he can get to that later, so he goes to the project he has been wanting to play with. As he powers up the virtual workstation the lights dim... across Starling City. Yes, it is quite likely he will have an angry voice mail from a certain Ms. Smoak in the morning but such is the nature of experiment. The back up power staBilizes as the portable VR training unit comes online. He wanders the meta-scape aware that something is off, pulling up diagnostics he zeros in on the source, I mean two, four, some local, some exo, the number cyberspace organisms trolling the dark web is hardly a fixed number and most have the sense to stay buried in the data, only coming to light when they need to. This is rare like siting Nessie on clears open loch, splashing in the water, an unexplained noise.

Forge in cybersapce issort of an idealized version of himself, for one his hair is perfect and for another he is whole, no prosthetic augmentations. He is an X-Men, Shaman, Inventor, Adventurer and even sometimes hero. He can follow the trails of information, tracking like a hunter, making his way silently, stalking, the knit wool cap pulled down over his ear tips.

    There is something in the one of their code that hurts his eyes, the way it shifts, he can smell the arcane energy. He's seen this before, heck, he's wielded this before, this is what they call in the business bad. "Why is it always tech-magic?"

Cinque Evers has posed:
Cinque, clad in his Oletha Ukufa guise, had been tracking a missing teenager for weeks. Every lead, every analysis, had brought him to this place. But even with his advanced intuition, he could never have predicted the horrors unfolding before him.

Standing on the edge of the unfolding chaos, Cinque debates his next move as he wonders if he should call in S.H.I.E.L.D., or handle this the old-fashioned way? Before he can decide, an unnatural interference crackles through his communication device. Ahnni's voice booms through the static, distorted yet undeniable.

For those viewing through augmented reality, including Caleb and the corrupt figures inside the building: the veil of illusion is gone. They now see the full, terrifying might of the digital sapient that is Ahnni.

The creature, the one Hecatomb Code sought to summon, halts in surprise as a blue-white blast of energy from Ahnni sears across its shifting form. It recoils, its body flickering in pain.

"I do not know if it is because I am unaccustomed to this state," it hisses, its voice layered with ancient echoes. "Or if it is because I have underestimated how far you mortals have grown in power"

Its form begins to shift again, morphing into a massive Sphinx, its luminous eyes glowing with newfound understanding.

"Yes... I am learning. This is no world of spirits and gods. This is something different."

It fixes its gaze upon Ahnni, its voice a thunderous growl.

"And so you are not a god. You are beneath me."

With a deep, guttural roar, the Sphinx exhales a torrent of fire, scorching through the augmented battlefield. It has yet to detect Forge, who lingers unseen in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Meanwhile, chaos erupts among Hecatomb Code?s members. One of the business tycoons, a man with sleek augmented glasses, whirls on a nearby mystic, his voice rising in panic.

"I thought we were summoning one creature! What the hell is that other being?!"

The tech-mystic, a woman with wild auburn hair, glares at the digital battle raging before them. Her fingers twitch with arcane energy as she mutters, more to herself than to the others.

"I don't know...It says it's some kind of guardian."

A muffled struggle draws their attention. The hooded figure they captured is now bound to a pentagram, writhing against their restraints. The tech-mystic smirks as she turns back to the others.
"It doesn?t matter."She gestures toward the ritual circle, her eyes gleaming with conviction. "Once we complete the sacrifice, our creature will gain the power it needs to destroy this so-called guardian."

She raises her hands. The ritual is about to begin."

"Prepare the sacrifice." Most of the guards are wearing augmented reality glasses and are unaware that Caleb has made it inside the building.

AHNNI has posed:
    Fire, how quaint. Ah the joys of being a quantum super computer and digital entity born in cyberspace. That, and also being a giant nerd who likes playing with her toys.

    The fire the monster spits out seems to strike home, engulfing AHNNI fully and completely. Until that is, it subsides and the space changes in to a giant mutlifaceted arena of blue, aqua, and gold. In the center stands AHNNI towering, clad in armor and weidling a giant two handed sword. Around her, and the other being, Eleven Knights clad in white and blue appear. Each of them towering in height, each of them wielding a different set of armor and weapons. The joys of subminds.

    "You come here, in to MY space and tell ME that I am BENETHE YOU?" Ahnni and her other forms all burst out in to laughter.

    "You are as of yet a child in this realm, and you come here and attempt to adopt it as your own?" Here's her being a nerd again, "I was born in this realm, molded by it. You are in MY HOUSE."

    Now, the demon or is it Daemon? Get's to fight a digital representation of the Knights Twleve from Final Fantasy. Why? Because, nerd, that's why.

    Yes, the exascale quantum computing digital sapient is a gamer girl and fantasy nerd. Sue her.

Forge has posed:
Forge smiles and nods, he likes the kids style. He will have to investigate this cyber presence more deeply when this is all over.

     Forge reaches out and finds a SHIELD Drone near the physical space. He triggers software buried in its wrking that allow him access as he redirects the drone and opens it comms giving his visuals and access to communications. "This is Forge to any units in the vicinity. There is a hostile extradimensional presence attempting to access this reality, it is digital and arcan I have an idea to expunge the breach"

    He watches and sees the trace of the code trailing off into cyberspace but the issue is here and as he analyzes the code, the errors, the what it shimmies and fluctuates in a way digital things never should. It makes the Maker ill to watch it. and so he sets his jaw and begins.

    Indigenous magic is not like magic of the of the Eurasian ancestory, big spells weaved by big egos, covens and heirarchies. No, indigenous magic in the americas was in the music, in the dance, in the people and the way they weaved power together it was about all of them and that should mean that alone the Maker is so much less, but as the Guardian said this is our space, and so he starts.

    The song starts out slow, the dance halting, but as he goes he remembers, and his voice goes stronger, his footing more sure. And then there are two, then four, eight, a dozen and score and soon multitudes. His replicating avatar, extends like a virus spreading the Cheyenne magic across the digital landscape.

Cinque Evers has posed:
The sight of Ahnni going full Knights Twelve in augmented reality is enough to shatter the resolve of one of the evildoers. This was not what he signed up for. Summoning a cosmic horror to bargain with was one thing,but watching a digital guardian manifest divine warriors to wage war in cyberspace? Maybe it was best to let the whole World Eater situation play out without interference.

Unfortunately for him, his escape route leads him directly into Cinque. A swift movement, a sharp crack and one snapped neck later, and Cinque is now the owner of a pair of augmented reality glasses.

With new intel streaming into his vision, he recalculates, muttering to himself:

"Two powerful beings locked in battle in augmented reality, while a group of lunatics conduct an occult ritual... That was only a 0.2 percent probability five minutes ago. At least now, this all makes sense."

Back in Cyberspace, Within the digital battlefield, Ahnni?s Knights of Twelve have forced the creature?s transformation again, its once-mighty Sphinx form now reduced to a massive turtle, desperately curling into itself under the relentless assault.It screeches in frustration, its glowing eyes darting wildly. "Why?! Why am I not strong enough?! I must learn more!"

Back in the Tech Factory

Cinque finally hears Forge's voice crackle through his communicator, the technological interference breaking just enough for their link to reestablish. A confirmation.The ritual escalates. Power surges through the factory, flooding back into the cyberverse. The barriers are moments from breaking.

One of the cultists raises a ceremonial dagger, preparing to plunge it into the hooded figure.

BANG!

A single, clean shot from Cinque drops the would-be executioner. No hesitation. No mercy.

Then he moves. In a blur of lethal precision, Cinque begins cutting through the remaining evildoers, each movement calculated, each strike final.

The creature absorbs the rush of energy from the ritual, its trembling body stabilizing. It straightens, its amorphous form shifting once again. It understands now.A distorted chuckle reverberates through the cyberverse.

"Games..."

Its shape solidifies into something terrible, something familiar. Its new form looms over Ahnni?s warriors, its metallic limbs reflecting the cold void of space.

A REAPER!

Its voice, now an abyssal growl, echoes with undeniable finality:

"I am the Harbinger of your destruction."

It towers over Ahnni, eyes burning with newfound malice.

"You have run out of time."

But something halts its advance. A pause. A flicker of recognition.

"...There is magic here... similar to that of Alkebulan?"

Its curiosity is its undoing.

The creature makes a critical mistake...it focuses on the source of the magic, not what the magic is doing.

Forge's virus has already taken root. As each second passes in the real world, the combined efforts of Cinque and Forge continue to drain and sever the creature?s connection to reality.

Its massive form trembles, glitching, its immense power siphoned away.

"No... I will not be defeated!" It roars, voice tinged defiantly. "You need my master to save you! I will still destroy you."

It still tries to attack AHNNI

AHNNI has posed:
    Not just divine warriors from a very famous MMORPG, which you can play for free, complete with the Stormblood Expansion! No, not jsut that, but many many more references! All obtained by being an AI that spends a LOT of her time alone, and bored.

    All of her forms snap back together, and from the flash of light comes...

    A female gender bent version of Effing Gandalf the Grey. Yeah, that one, from Lord of the Rings. Complete with Staff and Glamdring, pointy hat and long hair, though it's auburn now.

    "The dark Fire will not avail you! Flame of Udun!" Gods, she's such a dork. Humans better be glad she's on their side.

    "Go back to the Shadow!" she yells out, slashing at him with her sword. Watching as it reels back in screeching pain.

    "And I am a serveant of Arnor and you, shall not, pass." She adds slashing at the being yet again.

    As the two titanic entities battle, AHNNI raises her staff and sword in hand, visible representations of her raw computing power, and slams them both in to the ground. "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!" she booms out. From the staff and sword, thousands upon thousands of bolts of blue-white lighting strike this creature. No doubt, a DDoS attack of some sort, a complete brute force overhwelming of petabyes of gibberish data.

    "I WILL SMITE YOU UPON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE DEMON!!"

Forge has posed:
Forge frowns as the virus takes root and does its job letting the program run allows Forge to attend to other things, shunting the power away from structure, ting into the city grid and depowering the computers that are running the program, he pulls the buldings wi-fi, making sure that the network around the space can support AhNNI and his Viruses attack. Forge doe shis best to access the cameras and record the groups identities or at least their hooded personas for later analysis. He whistles low and soft at Cinque's ruthless efficiency, "Remind you of anyone, NIck's upped his game."

    Forge works behind the scenes, destabilizing the creatures grip on reality while encapsulating and dismantling the Hecatomb Code's apparatus and operation. He is precise and efficient as he works to leave no trace of either. Letting the warriors fight their good fight while he manages the aftermath and manipulates the battelfield.

Cinque Evers has posed:
Forges virus does its job as it destroys the Hecatomb's Code entire operation. It will take them decades of research and billions of dollars to try to attempt this. Forge is able to get the identity of the tycoons behind Hecatomb Code financing, and some of the drug dealers that fled during the scene. Most of the mystic amd guards are dead. The teen that is kidnapped that was sacrificed is saved as the sound of police and emergency units can be heard in the distance. In cyberspace, Ahnni's blue-white Gandalf attack destroys the Reaper as it falls back down, flickering out of this reality in pain, "You have defeated me, but I have learn of how far your mortals have come. You have no idea what game *coughs* will play using *cough* you, next, if you world survive the World- Eater!" And with that he fades from existence.

The police will talk to anyone that is still on the scene. Cinque will be gone before they arrive.