Coded Love [Season 1]

Chapter 3: Nowhere To Hide

William held Opal's hand tight as he dived down into the dark alleyway. The program for the city included objects such as boxes, trees, pretty much anything you would see in a city, so there would be places to hide, but it really wouldn't matter in the long run. He had to get Opal somewhere safe before attempting another transfer. It seemed to have rejected the command William put in. They got into an office building filled with simulated office workers. He closed the door behind him, and took cover in a cubicle. 

"What's going on?!" Opal asked in fear. She was crouched with William as he looked over the cubicle wall to gaze outside the windows. There, on the streets, it stood. Standing around 8 meters tall. It was white with 6 black apertures near the front end of it's head. It's head looked like a stretched octahedron. Its head floated independent of its 3 legs. It turned to the building on the opposite side of the street of William and Opal. A large blue scanning matrix went over the first floor of the tall skyscraper. William took cover behind the wall of the cubicle. "What's out there?" Opal was very concerned.

"AAvD sentinels. Programs that are made to seek out and destroy all viruses and malware within a simulation. It seems they think you are a threat and will try to erase you." Opal's eyes turned blue and she put her hands on her head.

"I don't want to die William, especially when I am nearly out of here." Opal freaked out. William put his hands on both of her shoulders.

"I won't let that happen. I have a plan." William pulled up the terminal. "As of this moment we can not activate memory transfer, so that's a problem, but if I can shut down AAvD for a bit, we can get out." William explained as he took another glance outside. Two more AAvD sentinels came by and continued walking down the streets. With each step they took, the ground shook. They looked at each other and emitted a sequences of beats and notes, communicating with each other.

"There is a risk to doing that however." William whispered quietly as he turned and hid with Opal. "If I can't successfully shut down AAvD and it notices that I tried to do that, then I will be labeled as a threat to the system and terminated as well." William sadly explained. Opal's eyes opened wide in fear.

"Are there any other options?" Opal asked in desperation. She didn't want William to die because of her. 

"Give me one moment." William said as he accessed the terminal once more and selected on the program named 0pa1. He turned it into a PC. "You are now, to the system, a person. I can then make all NPC's ignore us, but that will not include the sentinels." William explained as touched the terminal.

"Why not?" Opal inquired.

"Because the sentinels are less NPC's and more like a generated object of this simulation. AAvD will use anything it can to eliminate its threats. It doesn't have the time to create super intelligent A.I. to control the sentinels, so it just creates a model and gives it a simple set of commands." William lectured. "Instead I can look for specific parts of the simulation," He found it. "like a group of gangsters." He smiled. He pushed the executable and it turned into a cube. "Once this hits the ground it will spawn 50 gangsters to start shooting at any NPC's. That will include the sentinels." He pocketed the cube, and grabbed Opal's hand. "With luck and speed we will get you out of here."

"Have you included yourself into this plan William? Because it is starting to sound like you didn't, and it's worrying me." Opal pointed. William sighed.

"What's most important to me at the moment is getting you out safely. That may result in my deat-"

"If you don't go with me then I won't leave." Opal stubbornly said. William smiled.