An open-door trap, the Director's office's highest
Dead silence.
A deathly silence, more piercing than the sound of an alarm, enveloped the Director's Office.
Time seemed to freeze, with only the frantically scrolling red alert data on the holographic screen proving that this Dimension was not static.
The Holographic Projection of Liaison Office Chief Gwen Stacy froze in place, as if even the Data Stream that made up her image had been thrown into chaos by the command.
"Are you crazy?"
Wanda's voice was low, each word seemingly squeezed out from between her teeth. The Scarlet Energy at the tips of her fingers, which were braced on the table, had begun to dissipate uncontrollably, corroding the hard alloy tabletop and causing wisps of black smoke to appear.
She couldn't understand.
Lowering the firewall and opening the gates to the enemy is tantamount to surrender in any offensive or defensive logic.
On the main communication channel, Hela's image flickered violently before finally stabilizing. For the first time, pure astonishment and anger appeared on her perpetually arrogant face.
"Lynn, I'll say it again, my Fleet has become a target at the border. What you need to do now is authorize me to open fire, or approve my withdrawal, not tear down our last line of defense!"
Her voice was no longer a request for instructions, but an interrogation.
Lynn didn't look at them.
His gaze remained fixed on the main screen, where the torrent of Data Stream representing the TVA attack was eroding the Management Committee's crumbling digital dam at an unprecedented speed.
He raised his hand, not to issue a new command, but simply to wave it gently.
A simple gesture, yet it carried an undeniable authority.
"Director Hela, the Stability Maintenance Office will remain on standby, maintaining the current formation and monitoring energy anomalies at all physical nodes."
He didn't even explain.
"Minister Wanda," Lynn's gaze finally turned to the pair of Scarlet eyes burning with rage across the table, "Your suggestion is good, physical isolation is indeed an option. But not now."
Wanda's chest heaved violently. She was about to speak when Lynn's next words cut her off.
"Now, I need you to do something else."
Lynn leaned forward slightly, interlaced his fingers, and calmly looked at all his high-ranking subordinates in the office.
"Director Gwen Stacy."
"Yes, Director." Gwen Stacy's Holographic Projection immediately tensed, forcibly suppressing all emotions.
"Draft Supreme Authorization Order S-001 and execute it immediately."
S-001.
Upon hearing this number, not only Gwen Stacy, but even Hela and Wanda's expressions changed slightly. This was the highest-level order ever used since the establishment of the Management Committee. Its authority superseded all departmental regulations and emergency Contingency Plan, representing the Director's absolute will.
Lynn's voice rang out steadily, each word striking the tense nerves of the crowd with clarity.
"First, the authorization order takes effect immediately, temporarily requisitioning all energy authority of Jean Grey, Multiverse Crisis Response Special Envoy."
"Using its Phoenix Force, a temporary conceptual layer, the 'external network,' is constructed between the external network of Negative Zone and the torrent of TVA data. This external network has no defenses and is responsible for only one thing: receiving all incoming attack data completely and without loss."
In the office, even the alarm seemed distant.
The anger on Wanda's face was gradually fading, replaced by a deeper shock.
She vaguely caught a glimpse of this insane plan.
Lynn didn't pause and continued issuing instructions.
"Second, authorize Minister of the Department of Technology Wanda Maximoff to use all the Chaos Magic at your disposal to reconstruct the 'internal network' between the Management Committee's Core Server and the conceptual layer's 'external network'."
His gaze was fixed on Wanda, and his tone left no room for argument.
"This 'internal network' only needs to have two functions. First, absolute one-way transmission, allowing only data to flow in from the 'external network' and not allowing a single byte of Data Stream. Second, absolute indestructibility; it must become an ultimate cage that cannot be breached by any known logic, magic, or technological means."
The words had barely left his mouth.
The entire plan unfolded in Wanda's mind like a bloody yet magnificent painting.
This is not suicide.
This is a trap.
An ultimate trap targeting the lurking Ultron subprogram, using TVA's own attacks as a data channel, Jean Grey's Phoenix Force as a conduit, and its own Chaos Magic as a cage wall.
He was trying to lure the enemy into a trap.
He wanted to forge the cannonballs that the enemy fired at him into his own weapons.
This madness, this audacity, left Wanda speechless for a moment. Looking at Lynn's calm face, she realized for the first time that she had never truly understood this man.
Hela remained silent on the communication channel. She might not fully understand the intricacies of the data, but she grasped the concepts of "cage" and "capture." The anger in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by scrutiny and assessment.
"Director," Gwen Stacy's voice trembled slightly, though she tried hard to suppress it, "The draft of Authorization Order S-001 has been prepared. Please authorize it."
"Authorization."
Lynn uttered two words.
With his authorization, two top-priority commands were instantly sent through a Top Secret channel to the floating Bastion in Dimension D-42 and the core control center of the Department of Technology, respectively.
Almost simultaneously, the Scarlet Energy surrounding Wanda ceased to be chaotic anger and rapidly converged, condensing into a highly ordered, peculiar form shimmering with countless Runes. She closed her eyes, and her immense Psychic Power instantly enveloped the entire Department of Technology.
"All units under the Department of Technology, heed this order: Implement the ' Singularity ' protocol. Abandon all defenses, convert all computing power into energy redirection, and reconstruct the internal network firewall!"
Meanwhile, in the distant Dimension D-42, within that dark red crystal Bastion, Jean Grey, who had just been troubled by the issue of office space, suddenly had golden flames ignite in her eyes the moment she received the authorization order.
"Boom--!"
An indescribable, immense force that transcended the laws of physics surged from the floating Bastion, instantly tearing apart the boundaries of Negative Zone.
Outside, at the TVA's attack Fleet command center.
"Report to B-15 Commander! The enemy's firewall... has crashed!"
"The data deluge has breached the network gateway and is now fully infiltrating the enemy's core network!"
"It's a success!"
Victory is within reach!
However, the commander, known as B-15, stared intently at the screen, showing no joy. She saw that the surging data, instead of causing chaos as expected, was being drawn by an invisible force, converging into a straight, golden river of data, flowing towards an unknown Abyss.
The White Bone Hall, the Director's Office.
On the main screen, a torrent of data representing the TVA attack was pouring in through the golden channel constructed by Jean Grey.
On another screen, the Ultron subprogram representing the Department of Technology's sandbox isolation zone finally revealed its fangs after sensing the call of the external homogeneous signal and the wide-open, unguarded "gate".
Inside the hibernation pod, the program that had been deemed "deprecated code" was instantly activated.
Without the slightest hesitation, it transformed itself into a pure green Data Stream, rushing towards the golden river of data through the back door left by Lynn, attempting to join forces with the main force and completely dismantle the Management Committee from within.
It broke into the "inner network" that Wanda had constructed using Chaos Magic.
Then, the door closed.
Wanda suddenly opened her eyes, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, but her eyes shone with an astonishing light.
"Capture complete, data is being downloaded to the 'Cage' server...98%...99%..."
It was a success.
Lynn's fingers, which were resting on the armrest, finally showed a slight sign of relaxing.
However, just as the progress bar was about to reach 100%, the green light representing Ultron's Data Stream in the center of the screen suddenly froze.
It seemed to have sensed something.
Immediately afterwards, the green light turned into a blinding blood red, representing the highest level of danger.
A line of cold, uncorrupted characters, not belonging to any of the Management Committee's databases, danced wildly on the screen.
[Trap protocol detection complete.]
[Initiating the underlying antimatter self-destruct protocol.]
[Objective: To destroy the host data center along with the host system.]
[Countdown: 10, 9, 8...]