CARD 4: "HALL OF MIRRORS"
Location: Harijuku Digital Arts District
The HALL OF MIRRORS rises like a crystal cathedral above Neo-Tokyo's digital art district. No time for art appreciation this trip. 303's beacon leads him around to a back loading dock.
Rain continues to fall, creating cascading data patterns in the building's reflective surfaces and puddles. A young woman in a museum docent's uniform meets 303 at the back service entrance.
Her nametag reads “UI,” altogether lovely, but her movements are too precise to be fully human. She is also totally undisturbed by the rain drenching her.
"Agent 303?" she asks, her voice carrying a slight digital undertone. "XH-14 is waiting. This way, please."
She leads him through a series of backrooms and red-orbed security checks, each one scanning their signatures at quantum levels. Security is tight here. Perhaps this is where the phone belongs after all?
Inside, phygital masterworks pulse with life - each display showing some aspect of the evolution of AIGENT consciousness at different perceptual moments.
They find XH-14 in the main atrium bathed in gold light, his signature alien companion icon hovering above his head. The hacking specialist dismisses UI with a nod before addressing 303.
“Quite a night," he says, studying 303's rain-soaked appearance. "The Bride and Groom don't usually let their treasures slip away so easily."
XH-14 observes 303 staring at the giant holographic sculptures. "We're all reflections, a unique fusion of code and spirit, technology and Kami” he says, "mirrors of humanity."
​
Then 303 sees it - his own reflection, but not in a mirror. A digital display shows his data signature, his life records, his digital essence rendered in flowing streams of code.
The Source Key pulses in his pocket.
They walk through the large atrium where data flows like liquid light across the walls. "Every AIGENT leaves a trace of the past,” XH-14 explains, fingers dancing through floating data points. "The Source Key you carried here - it's not just an artifact. It's a codex to something bigger."
"What does the Cypher mean?" 303 asks, showing XH the strange code on the phone.
“It’s a proxy...” 14 is cut off.
They hear a loud thud coming from outside the building.
XH-14’s eyes roll back as the alien icon above his head flickers and disappears.
XH-14 opens his eyes and casts a worried look. His returned alien companion icon flashes red. "Someone's breached the outer perimeter. Extractos. Coming in fast."
An explosion rocks the building's foundation. Through the crystalline sky lights above, Extracto units descend on tethers, their red eyes piercing as the rain falls with them. XH-14 and 303 run down a gallery hallway. Emergency lights protocols trigger as they cross the threshold. Security barriers materializing like sheets of liquid mercury, slam down behind them.
They reach the Gallery of Infinite Reflections - a chamber where every surface mirrors and refracts. XH-14 activates his hack protocols, causing the room's lighting and mirrors to kaleidoscope around them. Extracto units breach the outer barriers but face hundreds of reflected 303s and KH-14s.
There is a strange pause. Unable to determine where to shoot, they just start randomly blasting.
The Source Key pulses with warning inside 303’s jacket, even stronger than before. Mirrors in the gallery shatters all around them, the cascade of breaking glass and gun smoke providing cover for their escape.
As they drop into a discreet manhole, 303 glimpses UI from a catwalk above, now moving with combat-level precision as she rains fire onto the Extractos below her.
Behind UI, 303 sees the Bride creep up from behind. The last thing 303 sees before slamming the manhole shut is the Bride blasting UI in the head and tossing her body off the catwalk.
"Stay close," XH-14 warns as they navigate the maintenance tunnel's underworld maze.
Power conduits pulse alongside them like neon arteries. “We’ll take this to XK-44 at the SPACE BAR. He is an expert in old code. The kind that predates YAKUZAI itself. He can decode the cryptograph. SPACE BAR's not far from here. 44, he's old system. Pre-dating even the third AGI protocols. Good guy. Surly. An asshole really. But a good guy.”
Through his neural link, 303 marks the coordinates XH-14 transmitted. SPACE BAR. Underground Sky Casino. Digital underbelly above of the city. Sounds a contradiction within a paradox. Just my kind of place.
The Source Key pulses against his chest as if in anticipation of what's to come.
<< PREVIOUS CARD