The reader chirps once, and the schematic blooms again, Sally's nervous system laid over a Department frequency map. The pulsing hardcase relay is not a tracker alone. It is a leash.
Mark V
This is not surveillance hardware. It's a command node, tied into her bioelectric response.
The Rose
They built a remote trigger into her body. That is what they called research.
A second layer unfolds on the screen, dozens of activation points threaded through the diagram like poisoned breadcrumbs. Each one points to the same outcome, overload, discharge, collapse.
The Rose
Sally, they did not just study your powers. They wired them to obey.
Mark V zooms the image and a hidden label sharpens into view, weapon protocol, live response, Department override. The room seems smaller all at once.
Mark V
This relay can locate her, and if they wake it, it can force an energy burst on command.
The horror in the display settles into something colder. Sally's file was never only about missing records. It was a control system, waiting to be switched on.
✓ Quest Accepted
Stop the Department from using Sally's bioelectric trigger
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect Sally from the Department's remote override
“Can we use this terminal to send a feedback loop back to the Department's main server?”
YES (Likely, rolled 41)
Sally
If this terminal is the source of the signal, I can reverse the flow.
Mark V
The architecture is bidirectional. If we bridge the command node to the uplink, we can flood their main server with the same feedback loop they intended for you.
The terminal screen flickers, highlighting a secondary routing path that bypasses the local safety locks and connects directly to the Department's central hub.
“I bridge the command node to the uplink”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Science, rolled +0)
Sally slides the data key home and bridges the command node to the uplink. The monitor flares bright red, then a flood of code pours upward through the new path toward the central server.
The terminal stutters under the load, and the relay warning light starts blinking hard enough to paint the room in frantic red pulses.
Mark V
It is taking the feed. Keep it open.
Sally holds the connection as the system answers back, and a sharp static bite cracks across her fingers.
Sally
The line is live.
On the screen, a central server icon blooms around the routed signal, and a second overlay flashes the same weapon protocol now aimed outward.
The Rose
That is it. They can reach her from here.
The connection holds, but the cost lands at once, a smoking scorch mark on the terminal edge and a faint tremor in Sally's arm as the Department's control path stays exposed.
“I pull the data key and cut the line”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +2)
Sally yanks the data key free. The red feed snaps off the screen at once, and the blazing uplink collapses into a dead black bar.
The terminal coughs out a burst of smoke, then settles to a harsh warning glow. The relay light still flashes, but the command path is gone.
Sally
That line is cut.
On the monitor, the central server overlay freezes, then fractures into warning windows. A bioelectric trigger diagram stays lit for a beat, exposed and powerless to run.
Mark V
Feed is down. The override path is severed.
The Rose
Good. Now they cannot pull it through this terminal.
The scorch at the terminal edge smolders, and Sally's hand shakes once as the static fades. The room stays tense, but the connection no longer answers.
Quest Complete
Stop the Department from using Sally's bioelectric trigger
Skill Upgrade: Science Mediocre→Fair
Quest Complete
Protect Sally from the Department's remote override
Skill Upgrade: Science Fair→Good