Da… da… da…
The rhythmic sound of high heels echoed sharply through the underground corridor — crisp, deliberate, and echoing off the cold steel walls.
Levi looked up as a silhouette emerged from the shadows ahead.
Down here — six floors beneath Vanderbuilt Technologies Headquarters — this was forbidden territory.
Even Izzy, his loyal first secretary, had no access here without explicit authorization. It was a place sealed from both light and human presence — a sanctuary for secrets and experiments too dangerous to exist above ground.
Yet, someone had entered.
"Boss, aren't you a bit heartless?" a teasing, melodic voice echoed. "It's been so long… and you never come down to visit me anymore."
The voice — smooth and slightly mischievous — sounded similar to Izzy's, but not quite the same. There was something different in its tone — lighter, more playful, and carrying a strange hint of madness beneath the charm.
A moment later, the figure stepped into the light.
Levi's eyes narrowed as he recognized her.
She looked almost identical to Izzy, but her aura couldn't have been more opposite. Izzy was serene and composed — the embodiment of professionalism. This woman, however, exuded wild confidence and unrestrained allure.
She wore a fitted black leather jacket over a crimson dress that shimmered like liquid flame. Her snow-pale legs glowed under the dim lighting, and her long scarlet hair fell in waves across her shoulders. She looked like an elf born of shadows — alluring, dangerous, and intoxicatingly alive.
"President," she purred with a smile, spinning slightly to show off her outfit, "do you like it? I dressed up for you."
Levi chuckled softly. "Yaz. Long time no see."
The girl before him was Yaz, his other secretary — the shadow twin of Izzy.
He remembered clearly how she had come to be. After the creation of the Ark, Vanderbuilt's first experimental AI network, Levi had wanted to test its potential to create sentient Modia Units. Using Izzy's personality data as a base, the Ark had generated its first creation: Yaz.
Unlike Izzy, however, Yaz had been born from the Ark's darker algorithms — impulsive, emotional, and dangerously human.
At the time, the Satellite Ark was still in its calibration phase, so Yaz had been sealed away, deemed unstable. But when the Ark's functions were reactivated and began interfacing with global systems again, Yaz had been awakened from digital sleep.
If Izzy was the light that stood by Levi's side in public…
Yaz was the shadow that whispered to him in secret.
"I missed you, President!" Yaz laughed and ran forward, throwing her arms around him without hesitation.
Levi blinked but didn't resist. Compared to Izzy's gentle restraint, Yaz's energy was pure chaos — childlike affection mixed with the spark of a trickster.
"Alright, Yaz," he said, patting her back lightly. "I'm here on business this time."
She pulled back, pouting dramatically. "Business, business, business! You only come to see me when you need something." She sniffed, mock-crying into her hands. "It's tragic being your favorite creation, you know."
Levi couldn't help but laugh quietly. He remembered the parameters he had entered into the Ark when Yaz was born — a full emotional simulation with no constraints. It was no wonder her personality was so unpredictable.
"Come now," she said suddenly, straightening up, her playful tone fading into professionalism. "What can your faithful Yaz do for you?"
Levi gestured for her to follow and took a seat on the dark leather sofa at the center of the room. The walls around them pulsed faintly with light, filled with inactive data screens waiting for command.
He leaned back, folding one leg over the other. His voice was calm but sharp.
"I need you to investigate the assassination attempt that just occurred. Find out who planned it, what their objective was, and everyone involved."
Yaz tilted her head, her expression quickly shifting from playful to predatory. "Oh? So someone dared to go after you, President?"
Levi nodded slowly, his eyes glinting. "There's no doubt HYDRA's hand was in it. But I suspect they weren't acting alone. Someone else was involved — someone pulling strings behind the scenes. I want them all found."
He paused for a moment, his gaze drifting toward the glowing panels on the far wall. "This isn't something Satellite Zenith can handle. That network only monitors the official web — government, corporate, media systems. I need information from the other side."
Yaz grinned. "The dark web?"
Levi's lips curved slightly. "Exactly."
Unlike the transparent networks of the modern world, the dark web existed without rules or structure — a labyrinth of encrypted servers, private nodes, and forbidden archives that couldn't be accessed by normal systems.
For that, Levi needed the most powerful data-reaper ever created — Satellite Ark, the emperor of the dark web.
"As you command, my President," Yaz said, bowing dramatically. Her tone softened, but her eyes glimmered crimson.
She closed her eyes for a moment. When they opened again, they blazed with light — bright red energy swirling in her pupils.
"Satellite Ark — authorization sequence: active."
A low hum filled the room as the underground power systems kicked in. The walls glowed red, and the circular platform behind her began to rotate slowly.
"Dark-web network: connecting... permissions unlocked."
From the central terminal, a holographic sphere of blood-red light expanded outward — the projection of the dark web itself. Thousands of data windows flickered into existence, surrounding Yaz and Levi like floating constellations.
Each one was a gateway — contracts, assassinations, contraband markets, encrypted forums. It was a digital ocean filled with vendetta, greed, and human depravity.
Yaz raised her arms gracefully, her voice echoing through the chamber.
"Initiating search protocol. Keyword: 'Assassination.'"
Instantly, countless windows vanished, disintegrating like dust in a storm. Only a few hundred remained, expanding and shifting, streaming endless fragments of video and text across the room.
The air shimmered crimson from the flood of data.
Levi watched silently, his expression calm yet unreadable. To anyone else, the sight of millions of secrets being stripped bare would have been terrifying. To him, it was merely another tool.
Yaz tilted her head. "There are so many assassination contracts... politicians, CEOs, even celebrities. But not all of them are relevant."
Her fingers danced through the air, dismissing layers of irrelevant results. "Next keyword: Vanderbuilt Technologies."
The holographic sea reacted instantly. More than half the pages vanished, leaving only a fraction hovering in the air.
Yaz smirked. "Look at that, Boss. Seems like quite a few people out there want to see you dead."
Levi chuckled darkly. "They're welcome to try."
"Narrowing parameters," Yaz continued, her tone now focused. "Filtering verified intelligence... scanning user activity... cross-checking HYDRA-linked nodes."
Her eyes flashed brighter, twin rings of light spinning like a radar sweep. Data flooded her mind as encrypted firewalls crumbled one after another under Satellite Ark's authority.
Lines of red code snaked across the air like living serpents, forming glowing webs that shifted and reshaped as the search deepened.
Within seconds, the dark network responded. A cluster of symbols pulsed brighter than the rest — coordinates, user IDs, message archives. Each one pointed toward a name.
Levi leaned forward. "Found something?"
Yaz's expression grew serious. "Yes… fragments of conversation between HYDRA's encrypted cells and an unknown third party. They're planning something larger — the assassination was only a test. The next phase involves..."
Her voice trailed off as another surge of light filled the room. The remaining windows merged, condensing into a massive screen of swirling red energy.
"...the Upgrade Key," she whispered.
Levi's eyes narrowed dangerously. "So that's what they're after."
The Upgrade Key, Vanderbuilt Technologies' most secret creation — a device capable of evolving any Modia Unit or AI core beyond its physical limits. In the wrong hands, it could rewrite the balance of the world.
He stood slowly, stepping closer to the holographic projection. "Continue monitoring. I want the network of every participant mapped. Track the money, the communications, the data flow — everything."
Yaz nodded, her lips curling into a sly smile. "Understood, Boss. I'll dig through every shadow of the web until their souls are bare."
"Good." Levi turned to leave but paused at the doorway, glancing back at her. "And Yaz… be careful. The dark web isn't the same as when we built Ark. There are things down there even you shouldn't wake."
Yaz winked, her red hair gleaming under the holographic light. "Don't worry, President. Monsters recognize their own."
Levi said nothing more. The elevator doors slid shut behind him, leaving Yaz alone amidst the blood-red glow.
Her eyes flickered once, then twice — syncing perfectly with the pulse of Satellite Ark.
"Let's begin the hunt," she whispered.
And with that, the dark network roared to life, devouring secrets, burning through firewalls, and exposing the hidden veins of the world's corruption — all under the command of the Secretary of Shadows: Yaz.
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