For three straight days, the old cannery was the only place they knew. It became their whole world, shut off from the outside. It was a weird, hidden place filled with the constant low sound of computer servers and the endless glow of monitor screens. They all had one job: building their digital shield, and nothing else mattered.

The nervousness they'd felt when they first arrived had slowly faded, replaced by the exhausting routine of non-stop work. The air in the big room, which had once been full of dust and fear, now had new smells mixed in: the strong aroma of coffee, the sharp odor that comes from melting metal with a soldering iron, and the clean, sharp smell of brand new electronics being taken out of their boxes and set up.

Kaito had a secret contact, someone who could get things without asking questions. This person delivered exactly what they needed: brand new, incredibly powerful computer equipment. These new machines now stood next to Kaito's older ones in the dusty cannery. Their modern, sleek black boxes and blinking lights looked completely out of place against the old, crumbling brick walls and rusted factory parts.

Paying for it was tricky. They couldn't just walk into a store and buy it; that would leave a trail. So, they used the business bank account for Aegis Solutions to pay the supplier's company, which had a fake, ordinary-sounding name like "City IT Consultants." The money transfer went smoothly, and there was no obvious sign that it was connected to them. Ace felt a twist of anxiety watching so much money leave their account, but it was a necessary risk.

The supplier, being discreet, didn't deliver to the cannery. Instead, the equipment was left in a rented storage locker across town. Silva was the one who had to go retrieve it, his nerves on edge the entire time, making sure no one was following him. Seeing the expensive, crucial equipment safely in their hands made the scary financial risk feel worth it.

Evelyn and Kaito were a machine. They worked in shifts, one sleeping on the new, decent cot while the other coded, their progress a constant, scrolling stream on the central monitors. The "Aegis Shield" was taking shape, layer by intricate digital layer. Ace helped where he could, using his heightened focus from the Neural-Interface to run diagnostics and check connections, his nanites subtly ensuring every physical component was perfectly optimized. Silva kept them fed and supplied, becoming the master of the hotplate and the keeper of the official coffee maker.

During this time, a feeling began to grow among them. It wasn't quite happiness, but it was a strong sense of shared purpose. They were in this together. A fragile bond was forming between them, created by the intense pressure of their shared crisis.

It was on the afternoon of the third day that the first sign of real trouble appeared. And it didn't come from the digital world; it came from the real one right outside their door.

Silva was outside, taking a rare few seconds to breathe fresh air by the slightly open loading bay entrance, when he saw them. Two young men, dressed in dark hoodies even though the weather was warm, were walking slowly down the alley. They weren't just passing through; they were carefully looking at the buildings, their eyes stopping on windows and doors. One of them pointed directly at the cannery, then pulled out his phone, looking back and forth between the screen and the building.

Silva's blood ran cold. He ducked back inside, his heart pounding in his chest. "Ace," he whispered, his voice tense and low. "We've got company."

Ace and Evelyn were at the main desk, watching Kaito test a section of the shield. They all looked up immediately.

"What kind of company?" Ace asked, his body going on high alert.

"Two guys in hoodies were outside," Silva whispered, daring another peek out through the crack in the door. "They looked like they were on a scavenger hunt and we're the prize. They're gone now, but one of them had his phone out. Like he was checking an address."

Kaito didn't look up from his screen. His fingers flew across the keyboard, pulling up a new window. "I'm checking the motion sensors I set up around the outside. The ones connected to the old power lines." A grainy, black-and-white video feed appeared, showing the empty alley. "Whatever they were doing, they didn't get close enough to set off the alarm. But they were definitely looking."

"How?" Evelyn asked, her face pale with worry. "How could they find us here? This place is completely off the grid."

A cold feeling of dread settled in Ace's stomach. "Silica," he said quietly.

<<THREAT ASSESSMENT: PHYSICAL SECURITY BREACH. PROBABILITY OF TARGETED RECONNAISSANCE: 89%.>>

<<HYPOTHESIS: DIGITAL ACTIVITY (EQUIPMENT PROCUREMENT, POWER USAGE) MAY HAVE CREATED A TANGIBLE FOOTPRINT.>>

<<ALTERNATE HYPOTHESIS: INFORMATION LEAK.>>

The System's cold analysis was no comfort at all.

Before anyone could even process that thought, a soft, urgent beeping sound came from Evelyn's personal laptop. She was using it to keep an eye on the few remaining parts of their business that were still visible online.

"Oh no," she breathed, her hands flying to her mouth in horror.

She turned the screen so the others could see. It was a website where people in the city posted local news and gossip. Someone had started a new discussion thread. The title was simple and terrifying: "Easy Score - Abandoned Cannery on Dockyard Lane."

The post itself read: Heard from a friend of a friend that some tech geeks are squatting in the old fish cannery. They are setting up a whole hacker den. Rumor is they've got a TON of new, high-end gear just sitting in there with barely any security. It looks like they're too busy with their computers to watch the door. It might be worth a look for anyone needing a quick payday.

The post had already gotten several replies. People were asking, 'For real?' 'What kind of gear?' 'Address?'

Silica hadn't tried to hack them again. She had done something far more clever, and far more dangerous. She had doxed them. She had thrown their physical location to the wolves of the city, not to professional hitmen, but to every petty thief, junkie, and opportunist looking for an easy score.

"She didn't attack the shield," Kaito said, his voice hollow with understanding. "She's attacking the hand that holds it. She's making it impossible for us to work."

The terrifying truth of their situation hit them all at once. They were working hard to build a strong digital fortress to protect themselves from a expert hacker, but now their actual, physical back door was being threatened by common, everyday criminals.

The first try to get in came that night. They heard the scary sound of someone shaking the chain on the large door they used to get in and out. Then came a few loud, pounding hits on the metal door. "Hello? Anyone home?" a rough voice yelled from outside, followed by laughter. "We heard you have free stuff for us!"

Silva had done his job well; the new, heavy-duty lock he installed on the inside held strong. After about ten minutes of trying and failing to get in, the voices outside left, complaining as they went.

Nobody got any sleep that night.

The next day, the trouble got worse. A new group of men showed up, and they were much more serious than the first. They went straight to a boarded-up window on the second floor and tried to force it open with a crowbar. The sound was awful—a horrible screech of metal straining and wood splintering. Inside, everyone froze. Kaito, his face pale with fear, pulled up a video feed from a hidden camera outside. The screen showed three men. One of them clearly had a gun shoved into the waistband of his pants.

Ace's first thought was to call Victor Ramos. Using the crime lord's power would make these men disappear instantly. But he stopped himself. Asking Ramos for help would be like admitting they were weak. It would put them even deeper in debt to a dangerous man. And worst of all, it would show Silica that her plan to scare them was working.

So, they had to handle it themselves. Silva became their defender. He stood by the heavy door they had reinforced, holding a solid steel pipe instead of his usual wrench. He tried to sound brave, repeating, "The door will hold. It's going to be okay," like he was trying to convince himself as much as them.

But the constant fear was eating away at them. Every little noise made them jump. They were always waiting for the next attack. This non-stop worry made it impossible to think straight. Kaito, who usually wrote code quickly and perfectly, kept making mistakes. Evelyn's eyes were red and sore from staring at screens and not sleeping. Their big project, the Aegis Shield, had basically stopped moving forward.

Silva started writing in his security log again, but the notes weren't funny anymore.

Every note he wrote felt like another blow to their morale, making it harder and harder to focus.

On the third day, things hit a new low. A rock came flying through one of the broken high windows, shattering the remaining glass and landing near their expensive servers. The rock was wrapped in a note. The handwriting was messy and the message was simple: "We know you're in there. Open up or we will burn it down."

It was probably an empty threat, but the idea of a fire in a building full of dry wood and all their electronic equipment was absolutely terrifying.

This was the final straw. They all stood around the rock, a quiet symbol of their failure, when Kaito spoke up. He was calm but very serious.

"We can't stay here," he said. "Silica has won. This place is ruined. It doesn't matter how strong our digital shield is if we get robbed or burned out of our hiding place."

"So what do we do?" Evelyn asked, her voice shaking from tiredness and stress. "Run away? Where could we possibly go that she wouldn't find us again?"

"No," Kaito said, and a determined look came into his eyes. He was like a brilliant general who had been backed into a corner. "We'll not run. We'll make her believe she's already won. We'll give her such a complete victory that she stops looking for us."

He turned back to his computer. "We start what's called a 'scorched earth protocol.'"

Ace and the others just stared, not understanding what he meant.

"We're going to fake our own downfall," Kaito said, typing quickly on the keyboard and pulling up complicated commands. "But we're doing it all online. We'll make it look like her plan to expose us was a success. We'll create a huge, public digital mess. We'll release fake documents—things like overdue bills, eviction notices, and fake emails where it looks like we're fighting over money. We'll make it seem like Aegis Solutions is falling apart. Then, we'll announce we're closing the company for good. After that, we'll disappear from the internet completely and wipe away any trace of us ever being online."

He looked at them, his expression serious. "If everyone thinks we're done, that there's nothing left here to steal or hack, the thieves will leave us alone. And more importantly, Silica will too. She'll think she's won, and she'll move on to someone else. Then we can finally get back to work without distractions."

The plan was insane, brilliant, and born out of desperation.

"But what about our reputation?" Evelyn asked softly. "The real business we were trying to build…"

"It's already ruined," Ace said, finishing her thought with a steady voice. He glanced at the rock on the floor, seeing the fear on Silva's face. "Staying alive is more important than our reputation. We have to do this."

And so, they began the sad work of tearing down their own online lives. Kaito and Evelyn worked together, writing the code that would make their company seem to die a very public and believable death. It felt like they were attending their own funeral. They were giving up their future just to have a chance at surviving the present.

As they worked, the cheap burner phone that Ramos had given Ace vibrated on the desk. The message was short, and its timing felt like a final judgment.

The noise around your operation is attracting flies. This is the trouble you were supposed to avoid. Come to my office tomorrow at 10 AM.

The digital enemy was destroying them, and the crime lord was running out of patience. Their strategic retreat was turning into a total disaster.

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