The two words on the System interface glowed with the light of a single, insane possibility: [Hostile Takeover].
It was a term Leo understood in his bones. It was corporate warfare, a battle of leverage and assets, of finding a weakness and exploiting it with overwhelming force. He had no force. He had a dwindling line of phantom credit, a body about to collapse, and a briefcase full of stolen cryptocurrency.
It was more than enough.
The Cleaner glided forward, its energy blade humming, leaving a faint distortion in the air. The remaining investors were frozen, trapped between the immediate, otherworldly threat and the gaping elevator shaft. Evelyn stood her ground near them, her phone still clutched in her hand, her expression a mixture of terror and fierce, analytical focus.
Leo's mind, the mind of a man who saw the world in systems and stress points, latched onto the only variable he could control.
It's an asset, he thought, the idea solidifying from a desperate hope into a concrete strategy. And every asset has an owner. Every system has a backdoor.
"System," he commanded, his voice a low, urgent whisper that was lost in the ambient tension. "Run a full diagnostic on the [Hostile Takeover] function. I need to know the mechanics. The cost."
The interface responded instantly, a flood of information overwhelming his senses.
[Function: Hostile Takeover]
[Description: Allows User to forcibly acquire control of a targeted asset. Assets can be physical, corporate, or conceptual.]
[Requirement: User must identify and overwhelm the target's 'Control Nexus'.]
[Cost: A dynamic expenditure of Universal Credit (UC) based on the asset's value and the strength of its existing control.]
[Warning: Failure to overwhelm the Control Nexus will result in immediate, catastrophic feedback to the User.]
Control Nexus. The key. The central point of command. For a company, it was the majority shareholder. For a computer, the root administrator. For this... Cleaner?
The featureless creature raised its blade. The air grew thick and heavy.
[System Alert: Immediate Threat Detected. User Survival Probability: 0.8%.]
"System, identify the Control Nexus for 'The Cleaner'!" Leo snapped.
[Auditing Entity 'The Cleaner'...]
[Control Nexus Identified: A direct, real-time command link to a parent organization designated 'The Board'. The link is maintained through a subspace frequency.]
[Link Strength: Formidable.]
A command link. Not a soul, not a will. A signal. Like a drone. He could work with that.
The Cleaner lunged.
Its movement was impossibly fast, a blur of motion that his exhausted body had no hope of dodging. But in that final microsecond, Leo wasn't focused on the blade. He was focused on the cost.
"SYSTEM, INITIATE HOSTILE TAKEOVER! TARGET: 'THE CLEANER'!" he roared in his mind. "OVERWHELM THE COMMAND LINK! USE EVERYTHING!"
The interface flared, a frantic cascade of red text.
[Executing Hostile Takeover...]
[Target Value: Incalculable. Control Link Strength: Formidable.]
[Calculating required expenditure...]
[Required UC to overwhelm nexus: 3,250,000 UC.]
[User's Current Balance: 550,000 UC.]
[Insufficient Funds.]
[TAKEOVER FAILED.]
The words were a death sentence. The energy blade was less than a foot from his chest.
But in that sliver of a moment, Leo saw it. The cost wasn't fixed. It was a calculation. A negotiation. And the System had already shown its willingness to play ball if the risk was worth the reward.
"COUNTER-OFFER!" Leo screamed, his voice raw, desperate. "NOT A FULL ACQUISITION! A LEVERAGED BUYOUT! I DON'T NEED TO OWN IT, I JUST NEED TO CONTROL IT! GRANT ME A CONTROLLING INTEREST! A 51% STAKE! USE THE REMAINING 550,000 UC AS A DOWN PAYMENT AND LEVERAGE MY PROJECTED EARNINGS AS COLLATERAL FOR THE REST!"
It was the most audacious, insane, and financially irresponsible proposal in the history of the universe. He was trying to take out a subprime mortgage on a cosmic assassin.
The System, for the second time in ten minutes, paused. The descending blade froze inches from his sternum, the energy crackling against the fabric of his cheap blazer.
[...]
[...Evaluating user-proposed leveraged buyout model...]
[...Risk of catastrophic default is 99.7%...]
[...However, potential for asset acquisition and future profit is... unprecedented...]
[...The Board values stability. The User values growth. This is a fundamental conflict of market ideologies...]
[PROPOSAL... ACCEPTED.]
[Executing Leveraged Hostile Takeover...]
[Debit: 550,000 UC. User Balance: 0 UC.]
[A debt of 1,120,000 UC has been added to your account, interest compounding hourly.]
[Control Acquired: 51% of Entity 'The Cleaner'.]
Simultaneously, in the sterile room across the city, the man in the grey suit frowned. The security feed from the tower had gone completely black.
"Status on the Cleaner?" he asked, his voice sharp.
"Sir... I've lost the command link," the technician stammered. "It's not responding. It's... it's gone."
The man in the suit's expression didn't change, but a dangerous glint appeared in his eyes. "Impossible. Send another. And find out what's interfering with my network."
Back in the tower, the world snapped back into focus.
The energy blade dissolved into harmless particles of light. The Cleaner froze in place, its featureless head tilted as if in confusion. Its glowing blue eyes flickered violently, switching from a cold, steady blue to a brilliant, proprietary gold.
It had a new majority shareholder.
Leo stumbled back, a wave of profound nausea washing over him. The [Energy Debt] notification on his screen was now flashing with a frantic, pulsing intensity, and a new [Financial Debt] tab had appeared next to it, displaying a number so large it made his vision swim. He was running on fumes, both physically and metaphysically.
The Cleaner slowly lowered its hand. It turned its head, surveying the room. It looked at the terrified investors, then at Marcus, then at Evelyn. Then, its head swiveled back to Leo, and it performed an action that was so jarringly out of place, so fundamentally wrong, that it was more terrifying than any attack.
It bowed. A stiff, formal, corporate gesture of deference to its new boss.
The remaining investors stared, their minds completely broken by the scene.
Leo, however, had no time to savor the moment. He was its new controller, but it was still a weapon pointed at the heart of reality, and its previous owners were undoubtedly already reacting.
"Asset," Leo rasped, testing his new control. "Objective. Get everyone out of this building. Safely. Then, erase all evidence of your... initial appearance. Can you do that?"
The Cleaner's golden eyes blinked once. Affirmative.
It turned and glided towards the gaping hole of the public elevator shaft from which it had come. It raised a hand, and the swirling vortex of blackness began to shrink and collapse in on itself, sealing the tear in reality. It then turned to the reinforced wall of the service elevator, raised its other hand, and the solid steel and concrete warped and peeled away as if they were made of wet clay, revealing the elevator car within. It had created a door where there was none.
It gestured for the investors to enter.
They stared, paralyzed.
"GO!" Leo roared, finding a final reserve of strength. "NOW!"
That broke the spell. Spurred by a fear greater than their confusion, they scrambled into the elevator, with Evelyn herding them, her eyes never leaving Leo.
As the doors closed, Evelyn mouthed two words to him. 'Call me.'
Now, only Leo and Marcus remained with the Cleaner. Leo turned his attention to his former boss, who was still a whimpering mess on the floor. A cold, satisfying anger began to burn through the fog of his exhaustion.
"Marcus," Leo said, his voice dangerously calm.
Marcus looked up, his eyes wide with terror. "Leo... that thing... it listens to you... you're a monster..."
"I'm a problem-solver, Marcus," Leo corrected him, taking a step closer. The Cleaner mirrored his movement, a silent, terrifying shadow at his side. "And right now, you are a very big problem. That briefcase," he said, holding up the source of his newfound power, "is full of your personal crypto. The same crypto I suspect you've been using to hide the kickbacks you've been getting for using substandard materials on this project. The same materials that almost got us all killed."
Marcus's face went from terrified to ghostly white. He was exposed.
"That's... that's insane! You can't prove that!"
"Can't I?" Leo said, a cruel smile touching his lips. He looked at the Cleaner. "Asset, secure my former employer. Ensure he doesn't leave my sight. He and I are going to have a long, detailed conversation about his business practices."
The Cleaner glided forward, its featureless face inches from Marcus's. Marcus let out a pathetic squeal and fainted.
Victory. It was ugly, costly, and built on a mountain of debt, but it was victory.
As the adrenaline began to fade, the true cost made itself known. The world tilted violently. The notifications on his screen blurred into an unreadable mess. His legs gave out from under him, he had no more strength left in his body.
[CRITICAL WARNING: USER PHYSIOLOGY AT 0.02% OPERATING CAPACITY.]
[EMERGENCY HIBERNATION IMMINENT.]
The last thing Leo saw before the world went black was the Cleaner catching him effortlessly, its golden eyes glowing in the dim, dusty light of the collapsing tower, a silent sentinel standing guard over its newly acquired, and deeply unconscious, asset.