It took Lacia fifteen seconds from the impact to ascertain the identity of the attacker.
“It’s Snowdrop,” she declared.
Arato had been thrown from his feet by the violent impact and was leaning on Lacia for support.
With Methode nipping at their heels, they had finally been forced to detonate some of Lacia’s pseudo-devices so that they could escape the giant storage space. At that moment, hearing Snowdrop’s name was too bizarre for Arato to handle.
“Wait, but... but Snowdrop got blown up, right?” he asked uncertainly.
Fires had broken out all over Higgins’ giant warehouse. With fire all around him, before he could even feel the heat, Arato was already reliving the nightmare memories from his childhood.
“Snowdrop’s actual hIE body was essentially torn in half, yes,” Lacia agreed. “But, the portions of her that created and controlled the artificial nerve units remained alive.”
As Lacia spoke, she sprayed herself down with heat-resistant spray, covering over the places where Methode’s fire had burned away patches of skin. The floating shield pseudo-devices apparently doubled as mobile containers, full of things Lacia thought would be useful within the facility.
One of the pseudo-devices protecting Arato was still displaying the facility map. A hole, five meters in diameter, had been punched straight down from Higgins’ above-ground facility. At the bottom of the hole, nearly fifty meters down, something was moving on the map. From the movements and what Lacia had said, Arato guessed the moving object was Snowdrop.
“Three minutes ago, there was a report from the army’s Kasumigaura Base that one of their bunker buster bombs had been stolen from the facility,” Lacia reported. “I’m guessing Snowdrop was packed into that warhead.”
There was something in Lacia’s voice that made Arato glance over at her.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked. It seemed strange to him, seeing her look so worn, despite the fact that a machine that should never feel tired.
She took hold of the hand he offered her. Then she leaned against him, asking that he take the lead for a while. “When Snowdrop fell, a massive attack was launched on the cloud server I use as my base,” Lacia explained. “Simultaneously, I was hit with worldwide economic attacks. My data and processing equipment are being locked down.”
Just as during the attack on the Oi Industry Promotion Center, Lacia was holding back from using her main unit as a processor to protect her position in the external network.
“Should we get out of here and regroup? Are you going to be able to handle it?” Arato asked.
“No. I prepared worldwide disturbance and interference for this attack. If we were to attempt it at another time, the situation would never be more favorable than it is now,” Lacia replied. “What is hindering me the most is the fact that there are only four routes of transmitting signals to the outside of the facility, meaning my ability to influence the network is severely limited. I was aware that the thirty-seven other ultra high-performance AIs might aim for this weakness.”
Arato kept a tight hold on her hand, guiding her along. Higgins’ storage areas were huge and full of empty space, and everything ahead seemed to grow dim as Arato considered what would happen if Methode showed up to block them at this moment.
“I’m sorry for worrying you,” Lacia said, as if reading Arato’s thoughts. “I have created a countermeasure for a possible attack by Methode, and have put it in motion. However, depending on what action Methode chooses to take, the balance of the situation could easily be broken. I believe this may be our last good chance to repair the world outside this facility.”
“You can handle Snowdrop as well?” Arato asked.
“I was not expecting the other ultra high-performance AIs to utilize Lacia-class units to this extent,” Lacia admitted. “I’ve temporarily severed my connection to the network. It was getting too hard to maintain.”
Normally Lacia would have tried to put on a brave face, but she didn’t seem to have the energy at that moment. That, more than anything, told Arato how serious things were.
The scent of burning things flowed in with each breath, until Arato felt as though his lungs were full of it. After a moment the sprinklers kicked in, raining down water from the ceiling until the floor of the warehouse was slick.
“I guess we’ve changed a little since we infiltrated the Oi building,” Arato commented, thinking back to that spring night. At the time, Arato had thought of Lacia as being a tool to use to fulfill his own desires. Since then, Arato had confessed his feelings to Lacia and the two of them had gone through so many things to arrive where they were right then. At that moment they were acting not for anyone else’s sake, but for their own future.
In a world where people could outsource their hopes and dreams to others, Arato wanted to see Lacia as more than just a tool.
His feet stopped. For how wide the warehouse floor was, there were a surprisingly small number of exits, aside from the freight elevator. Which was probably the reason Methode chose that spot to wait for them. As she heard them approach, she raised her orange-haired head.
“I was waiting for you,” she said.
“Yes, I know,” Lacia replied.
Lacia, despite her inferior specifications, was the one who had gotten the drop on Methode, this time. Her pseudo-devices flew into a formation, protecting their path to the exit which Methode was guarding.
Methode moved to stand directly in their way. That, apparently, was the trigger for Lacia’s trap. A blinding light lit up the room as though someone had set off a flashbang. Even a machine as fast as Methode couldn’t dodge light itself.
Now blinded, Arato found himself panicking; if Methode attacked him in the chaos while he couldn’t see, he would make an easy target. But, when his vision cleared, he saw that Methode was still standing rigidly in front of the exit.
“Again with these visual hacks,” she cursed.
“I increased the amount of light in the room, then aimed for the moment when Methode was switching her optical elements; she has an opening, then,” Lacia explained, between heavy breaths. “She seems to have implemented some countermeasures since last time. However, thankfully her countermeasures were within my predictions.”
Just like during the incident in Mitaka, Lacia had used optical attacks to stop Methode in her tracks. Through analog hacking, she was able to analyze Type-004’s visual equipment and render it temporarily useless with visual junk data.
“Last time you had to use a support unit, but this time I didn’t see anything like that,” Methode said. “How the hell did you get it to only work on me?”
Flames burst from both of Methode’s hands, as if they were physical manifestations of her anger. With the firepower from her device, she could reduce a human or even a large vehicle to ashes. She began lashing out with the fire at anything that made a noise, obviously trying to make up for her handicap.
Arato put his hands out in front of himself defensively. The roar and heat of the fire drowned out everything in his world. All fifteen of the remaining dummy devices formed up to block the all-engulfing flames.
Even with her blazing orange eyes blinded, Methode was still a huge threat. “I may not be able to see you, but I can guess where you are. That should be enough to tag you,” she said, the corner of her mouth twisting up into a cruel smile. “You do realize that you’ll die as soon as you get near me, right?”
With Lacia depending on him, Arato knew he had to move. He swept his eyes over the space around them. Other than the area where they were standing behind the wall created by the fifteen devices, all of the concrete flooring in the area was burning.
“Come,” Arato ordered. One of the floating plates drifted over, sliding under his feet like a surfboard. With Lacia still leaning on him, he stumbled onto the plate, which lifted both of them into the air.