Midtown New York, New Manhattan.
Vought International Building, Data and Technology Analysis Department.
Tali Zola was curled up in a less-than-comfortable ergonomic chair.
She wore a pale purple mask, and her glowing three-finger hands were rapidly typing on a holographic keyboard.
" Chatika, lower the thermal emissions index for District 7 by 0.3%," Tali's voice came through the synthesizer in her mask, carrying a unique exotic accent.
"By the way, completely destroy that unedited original photo of ' Homelander ' that the PR intern just uploaded. If the public sees Homelander with chives stuck to his teeth while eating, Minister Hans Landa will kill us."
"Beep -- Command executed."
A small drone hovering over her shoulder—a fighter pilot named " Chatika "—beeped obediently.
Tali breathed a sigh of relief, picked up a tube of special nutritional paste, and took a sip through the emergency inlet on her helmet.
"Damn Earth food," she muttered, her voice full of frustration, "Is full of bacteria, allergens, and pointless sugar. The mushy stuff on the fleet is much safer."
Even after becoming the head of the data department at Vought International, Tali still maintained a cautiousness akin to that of a frightened deer.
To people on Earth, this is the safest building in the world.
But in her eyes, this planet, teeming with viruses and microbes, was nothing short of hell.
"Minister."
The voice of Chloe O'Brien, the deputy, cut in from the communications channel.
"The firewall detected abnormal fluctuations. The source is... wait, is the source internal? Physical access?"
Tali's fingers stopped.
The pair of glowing eyes beneath the mask narrowed slightly.
"Location?"
"Sector B-12, cooling cycle control room. That's a physical blind spot."
Chloe's voice was filled with anxiety.
"The security system wasn't responding, and even the surveillance footage was looping normally. If we hadn't embedded the Quarian Ghost Protocol in the underlying code, we wouldn't have been able to detect it at all."
"Someone is trying to bypass the central control and directly steal the original formula for Compound V."
Tali stood up, her previously hunched posture disappearing.
"Have you informed Kusanagi?"
"The officer is at the Clock Tower handling an urgent briefing about Wei."
"Then there's no need to trouble her." Tali pulled a black metal box from under her desk.
The box was opened.
A rugged-looking M-300 "Claymore" shotgun with an alarmingly large caliber lay quietly inside.
It was a heavy weapon designed to shatter Geth synth in a single blow within the narrow corridors of a spaceship.
On Earth, this shot would render any protective gear, whether it's Kevlar or some supervillain's skin, completely useless.
" Chatika, battle mode."
Tali lifted the shotgun with one hand, her movements so practiced it was heartbreaking.
"Let's go catch mice."
Sector B-12, Cooling Circulation Control Room.
Three intruders clad in optical camouflage suits are working rapidly. They are no ordinary thieves; each is equipped with technology from another era.
Anti-gravity boots, a high-frequency vibration dagger, and that "black box" that's brute-forcing its way into Vought's servers.
"Thirty seconds left."
The leader of the intruders stared at the progress bar, his voice cold.
"AIM's intelligence is correct. Vought's firewall is thick, but it's like a naked woman when it comes to physical ports."
"Boss, something's not right."
The subordinate on guard duty looked at the detector on his wrist.
"It's too quiet around here. There are no alarms, no sound of security personnel."
"That's because I disabled their sensors."
The leader sneered, "This is a jammer that imitates Stark Industries technology. What technology do these muscle-flexing giants know?"
"Bite."
A crisp notification sound.
This is not the sound of a download completing.
It was the sound of metal hitting the floor.
The leader turned around.
A small, orange ball, radiating dangerous energy fluctuations, rolled to his feet.
"What is this...?"
"Boom--!!"
A blinding electromagnetic pulse erupted!
In an instant, all the lights went out.
The intruder's optical camouflage suit malfunctioned, revealing its true form amidst Spark.
The "black box" that was being cracked emitted black smoke and burned out the core chip.
"My eyes! Damn it! My goggles are overloaded!"
Screams of agony echoed from the darkness from his men.
The backup red light came on, turning the corridor into a dark room.
A slender figure stood at the end of the corridor.
She was wearing a purple full-body protective suit, with the hood covering most of her helmet, revealing only a pair of eyes that glowed eerily in the darkness.
Beside her hovered two drones, each only the size of a soccer ball, with black gun barrels protruding from them.
" Stark Industries ' jammer?"
Tali's voice was processed, sounding cold and distorted.
"The imitation is very crude. The frequency band is off by 0.04%, which is an insult to the intelligence of that megalomaniac Tony Stark."
Kill him!
The leader roared and drew his pistol from his waist.
Bang bang bang!
Flames spewed out.
Tali raised her left hand in advance, and the redesigned Omni-Tool unleashed an orange kinetic shield.
The bullets struck the shield, creating ripples before falling limply to the ground.
"Is this all you've got?" Tali tilted her head. "It seems I overestimated my Earth counterparts."
" Overload."
Chatika, hovering beside her, unleashed a bolt of blue electricity that struck the henchman who was firing his gun.
The electric current traveled along the gun barrel to the entire body.
The exoskeleton armor on the man short-circuited and locked, causing him to fall straight down. You could even smell the burnt odor.
"You... what kind of monster are you?"
The remaining henchman retreated in terror, the vibrating dagger in his hand trembling.
Tali did not answer.
She took a step forward, raising her M-300 shotgun.
The gun was almost pressed against the other person's face.
"I am Quarians."
"And I'm a germaphobe," Tali said softly.
"Bang!!"
Only the leader remained.
He collapsed to the ground, watching the Carnage unfold in those mere ten seconds. His high-tech equipment was as laughable as a primitive stone axe in the face of this woman in purple.
"No... don't kill me!"
The leader raised his hands, his voice trembling.
"I'm with AIM! I have intelligence! I know who wants to take down Vought!"
Tali walked up to him and looked down at him.
Through the mask, she saw the fear in the other person's eyes.
She was familiar with this fear; she had experienced it before when she encountered pirates in her Migrant Fleet.
But now, she is a hunter.
I'm not interested in your information.
Tali's voice was completely flat.
" Vought has a department specifically for interrogations, but I don't recommend you go there. I think Mr. Hannibal from the Strategic Operations Department would be happy to 'have dinner' with you."
She reached out her hand, adorned with Omni-Tool, and placed it on the burnt black box.
Countless streams of data flashed before her eyes.
"Retrieve logs... Reverse tracing..."
Tali muttered to herself.
A few seconds later, she let out a soft chuckle.
"If you want to steal Compound V, you should go to the biology lab, not come here."
Tali looked at the ashen-faced leader. "What you really want to steal is Vought's list of superheroes, isn't it?"
The pupils of the head contract.
How did you know...?
"Because I wrote that trap."
Tali turned away, refusing to look at him again.
" Chatika, break his limbs and call the sanitation workers to collect the trash."
"Understood." The drone emitted a cheerful cry and extended two buzzing electric probes.