The Kill Code

Silence filled the room as the video feed ended.
Veyna stared at the screen, her pulse hammering. A full system reset—a controlled purge. The Cortex wasn’t failing. It was eliminating the city.
Ryze’s cybernetic eyes flickered as she processed the revelation. The other Scrap Runners shifted uneasily, their hushed whispers mixing with the hum of old-world tech.
> "Forty-four minutes," Veyna said, breaking the silence. "Less, now."


Ryze exhaled sharply. She turned to the others. "Get me Kieran. Now."
A Runner bolted toward the back of the Den, disappearing through a hatch.
A City on the Brink
Veyna clenched her fists. "If the city’s being reset, there has to be a failsafe. Something to override it."
Ryze gave her a sharp look. "You think the Cortex left a way to stop their own purge?"
Veyna hesitated. The Cortex was ruthless—efficient in its control. But even the most airtight systems had flaws.
Before she could argue, footsteps approached.
A man entered—tall, broad-shouldered, half his face replaced with crude cybernetics. His mechanical eye whirred as he looked at Veyna.
> "Heard we’ve got a problem," he said, voice edged with static.


> "Kieran," Ryze said. "Meet Veyna. She’s the reason we’re still alive to talk about it."


Kieran folded his arms. "Lucky us."
Veyna ignored the sarcasm. "Can you stop it? The reset?"
Kieran glanced at Ryze. She nodded, and he moved toward a nearby terminal. His fingers flew across the interface, pulling up layers of encrypted Cortex data.
> "The system purge isn’t just shutting down the Core," he muttered. "It’s deploying a Kill Code."


Veyna’s stomach dropped.
> "Kill Code?"


> "NeuroLocks," Kieran said flatly. "Every citizen in Cyropolis is connected to the Cortex through their implants. The moment the countdown hits zero, the signal will pulse through the entire grid—shutting down every mind in the city."


A mass execution.
Veyna felt her breath hitch. They weren’t just shutting down Cyropolis. They were erasing it.
A Desperate Plan
Ryze’s expression darkened. "How do we shut it off?"
Kieran grimaced. "We can’t."
Veyna froze. "What do you mean, we can’t?"
> "The Kill Code is embedded in the Core itself. The only way to stop it is to physically sever the city’s neural network—shut down the Core before the signal executes."


Ryze cursed under her breath.
> "And let me guess," Veyna said, "the Core is in the most secure part of the city."


Kieran nodded. "Beneath the Cortex Tower."
Veyna exhaled. Of course. The very heart of Cyropolis. The most fortified structure in the entire metropolis.
Ryze’s gaze hardened.
> "Then we break in."


Kieran snorted. "You’re insane."
> "We don’t have a choice," Veyna said. "Either we shut it down, or we die."


For a moment, nobody spoke. Then Ryze cracked a sharp grin.
> "Guess it’s time to see if this city can bleed."


> [00:42:15] UNTIL CORE FAILURE.