Scarlet alert windows collapsed in layers across the holographic projection, torrents of data washing past like floodwater through an open dam.
Chen Xiao leaned against the bar, slowly sipping water from a glass as his gaze swept over the blocks of code being forcibly dismantled.
Tony stood beside him with both hands braced on the workbench, his eyes fixed on the constantly refreshing low-level protocols.
"Wait, stop!" Tony swiped a hand through the display, pulling out an isolated log locked behind seven layers of dynamic keys. "JARVIS, extract this segment and use the quantum supercomputer to reverse-flush its handshake sequence."
"At once, sir."
Before JARVIS could fully bring his processing power to bear, Ordis's cheerful voice came from the Titanium Alloy Phone, accompanied by a faint electronic crackle:
"Sir, there is no need for anything so complicated. Although this channel runs on an abandoned military frequency belonging to the Pentagon, its underlying verification key uses a nonpublic encryption algorithm. Analysis complete. This is a highest-priority, one-way distress signal triggered thirty-seven minutes ago."
Tony's eyebrow twitched violently. He pressed his lips together and irritably tapped the edge of the console. "Oh, nice. Who the hell wrote this AI's low-level protocols? JARVIS, rewrite your processing architecture for me tomorrow morning."
JARVIS quietly answered with an apologetic electronic chime.
The holographic screen flickered in midair, spreading into a three-dimensional thermal map of New York City.
The red dot landed neither in Washington nor at the Triskelion. Instead, it settled on the edge of Lower Manhattan, pointing straight at abandoned warehouse district seven in New York Harbor.
"Bring up live surveillance of the target area." Steve walked up to the display, folding his arms across his chest, his jaw tight.
"The civilian and municipal lines in that area were physically severed twenty minutes ago,"