Snap!
Sparks darted through the electrical box.
The Heavy-Duty Fiber-Optic Cable Cutters in Vegapunk's hands bit through the thick cable sheathed in Pure Gold.
Faint blue arcs spat from the severed end.
Atlas's mechanical ears shot straight up in fright.
"Original, have you lost your mind?"
"That's the direct line to Mary Geoise's supreme command room!"
Vegapunk wiped machine oil from his face and tossed the cutters onto the floor with a clang.
"I haven't lost my mind!"
"I've never been thinking more clearly!"
Breathing hard, Vegapunk stared at the enormous screen overhead, his eyes bloodshot.
"Thirty years working for those pigs in bubble helmets, and this is the budget they give me?"
"All they do is push me to build weapons that kill people. What the hell do they know about science?"
"Cut every physical connection!"
"Cut every network cable leading outside!"
Vegapunk roared at the satellites behind him.
The antenna on Pythagoras's head spun wildly, sounding a shrill alarm.
"Logic processing obstructed!"
"The original's actions violate the first law of survival!"
Shaka, who had stood silently in the corner, slowly stepped forward.
He raised a mechanical finger and adjusted his futuristic metal helmet.
"Calm down, Original."
"The Five Elders planted a supreme control protocol in our core systems three years ago."
"If we forcibly cut the main network, the backdoor will detect the anomaly. It'll trigger the probes in Mary Geoise within three seconds."
"They'll immediately launch a Buster Call and wipe this island off the map."
Vegapunk stopped what he was doing.
His expression darkened.
"That damned World Government backdoor..."
"I've spent three whole years trying to remove it, and I still can't."
Just as the hall reached a stalemate, a contemptuous chuckle came through the main console's speakers.
"So this is what the world's greatest scientist