Second Chance: A Dark Tale of Urban India-Chapter 64: Fragment of Past

Shanghai Financial Tower outskirts – January 24, 2013, mid night

A man in a faded janitor’s uniform rolled up on a second-hand motorbike.

The engine quieted as he stopped in the shadow of the towering skyline, city lights buzzing around him.

At thirty-six, he looked like an ordinary guy getup: white hairs, glasses low on his nose, cap pulled down, a fresh bandage across the bridge of his face. His wary eyes flicked upward.

Before him loomed the Shanghai World Financial Center, 101 floors of steel and glass rising like a giant bottle opener into the night. Even so, it was dwarfed by its neighbor, the Shanghai Tower, twisting up to 128 stories. He clicked his tongue. Fortune or irony, his mission was in the second-tallest one.

He parked in the queue, touched the fresh bandage over his nose and sighed. Then he walked into the security lane as if he belonged there.

The scanner swept over him. The guard on duty gave him the same half-knowing, half-bored look as always. A month of repetition had bred familiarity, if not trust. The guy returned nothing but silence.

He scratched his neck and walked to the reception. The clerk asked for his card; he handed it over. The scanner confirmed: Riku Hayashi.

Riku smiled, took the card back and let the staff elevator whisk him up. He pressed the button for the hundredth floor and waited. It took time and turns, but he reached the level.

When the doors opened, a figure was already there. A bald, short height American, might be in early thirties with a grin plastered on his face.

"Welcome, brother. We’ve been waiting," the man said.

Riku knew him as Richard Hexon, who had been with him on the core team since the day he joined.

His eyes went to the jacket — black, with the logo stitched across the chest: a samurai’s head, sword forming a sharp V, ’the Shinra Vanguard.’

Shinra Vanguard was, in fact, a mercenary outfit registered as import and export business in Japan. However, their handles took on dirty technical jobs for powerful clients and did the ugly work in the shadows. Tonight they’d been hired by Chinese interests for a technical heist on their own land mark tower that carried NATO’s secret project.

The brief was simple on paper but complex in practice. The "asset" was U.S. tech being tested in Shanghai. China had secured a role in the project for localized data training, but the government had its own agenda. Hence the contract with Shinra Vanguard.

This floor was staff-only: the service area where the cranes and rigging for high-rise cleaners were stowed. Riku grinned and nodded toward Richard’s jacket. "Why the company jacket?"

Richard feigned offense. "Like I had a choice.. boss wanted it for the portfolio. Still, looks good." He led Riku toward the changing room. "Come on. We’ve prepped the gear you’ll need."

Before entering, Richard glanced at Riku’s bandaged nose.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Riku shrugged and ducked inside. "I tripped."

Inside, the room was bare: one table, a bench, a humming water purifier, harsh tube lights overhead. Two duffel bags sat on the table. And leaning against it,while grinning like a devil, was Anton Volkov.

The Russian giant seemed six-foot-four. He tilted his head at Riku’s bandage. "You got balls, bratan. Captain did good, yeah?"

Richard blinked. "Wait.. seriously? She broke his nose? Holy shit. Why?"

Anton shrugged. His English was clumsy but cutting. "You absent, you lose, little American."

Richard bristled. "What did you just say, you oversized vodka barrel?"

While they bantered, Riku shed his cap and glasses and peeled off the janitor’s uniform to reveal the layer beneath: a simple undergarment that showed a lean, muscular frame.

He opened one bag and pulled out a black tactical suit, flexible and tight-fitting, perfect for night ops, with the Shinra Vanguard emblem on the chest.

Despite the chatter around him, Riku’s mind drifted into memory as he touched his bruised nose. A small smirk touched his mouth as the present blurred into the past.

**Scene change, one month ago**

A dark room lit only by projector glow. A young woman stood at the front in a fitted top and short skirt, directing the beam onto the board. Her name was Ayane Sakamoto.

She had a striking, well-toned figure, about five-foot-six, thirty-two years old. Being a retired JSDF officer, she still carried that sharp, commanding presence. Her eyes were focused and intense as she brought the screen to life.

The slide showed a cuboid core encased in a glass cylinder. Tendrils of cabling and node-ports sprouted from its surface like a mechanical heart.

"This," Ayane said, pointing with a laser, "is the engineering marvel of the century. A processor-storage core built from millions of nano-chips. It thinks. It learns. In civilian terms: an advanced CPU with adaptive intelligence. In military terms: an autonomous decision engine."

She keyed the name on slide. "They call it ELOS. Electromagnetic Linguistic Operational System."

A familiar voice floated from the dark. "So we steal it?"

Ayane stared into the shadows. "I’m not done yet, Anton."

The room fell silent. Not out of respect, but fear. Ayane knew each team member’s weaknesses and used them to keep control, no matter how tough the mission.

Still, someone always challenged her. Riku, the eldest member, who find her varying expressions cute, spoke up.

But this time his tone serious "Is it AI? The kind everyone’s whispering about on the dark net, the one that can replace human creativity and push automation to the next level?"

Ayane exhaled, faint annoyance in her voice. "Yes. Military-grade AI. More than automation: defensive and offensive cyber capabilities. Downgraded versions might go public someday, but this iteration is elite. That’s why it’s field-tested in China."

She turned back to the team, her voice steady and sharp as she explained.

"China’s leadership is deeply concerned about this technology. They want to sabotage it, gain remote access without being detected. Their goal is to clone the source code, reverse-engineer it, and use it for their own development."

She paused, letting the words sink in.

"Questions?"

A man with a distinct Chinese accent spoke up.

"But Caps, aren’t NATO members too arrogant to share something like this with non-allies for data training? Wouldn’t they have calculated the risks?"

The speaker was Li Wei, a 28-year-old operative from Taiwan. His tone was respectful, but skeptical.

Ayane replied, "Good observation, Li. I know it might be trap—that’s why we’re being hired. However, they’re too arrogant to take China lightly.

For your info, China holds thirty percent stake in the project.

What they’re aiming for isn’t to destroy it, but to secure space and gain admin rights to regulate and monitor. That’s likely how they plan to bypass NATO’s protocols and justify bringing the system into the Shanghai Financial Tower."

Riku leaned forward, asking, "Which floor, Captain?"

Ayane folded her arms, irritation flickering across her face. "Coming to that part. Kieta, change the slide."

Kieta, the youngest tech genius, generally quiet except when coding, clicked the projector.

The display shifted, showing the building’s layout. The 94th to 100th floors were observatories and non-rental spaces. The 73rd to 93rd belonged to Park Hyatt Shanghai Hotel. JP Morgan Securities occupied the 63rd floor, where the core lab was located.

She explained, "Security is airtight, so no one can simply walk in. However, we got blueprints of the ventilation ducts. Through these ducts, it is possible to bypass the main entrances and enter the core room undetected.

The real challenge is entry and exit. Corridors have CCTV and NATO guards. Even if we manage to avoid detection at the doors or elevators, our movements would still be traced from start to finish."

She pointed at the screen. "To solve this, someone must enter from outside. Best idea is using the high-rise cleaner rig to reach the maintenance room. That’s our infiltration point. For extraction, though, the cable route is off the table.

Once a member infiltrates, the rest of us will be forced to evacuate. If alarms go off, the entire building will lock down immediately."

She raised three fingers. "So we have three exit options:

-first, Hijack a lift, get the infiltrator to ground floor, slip into janitor cover from Room Six.

-second, Grappling gun to the neighboring building. Anton and Li prep that.

-and last the third, Helicopter extraction from the 100th floor. The rooftop is clear at night, and our company will arrange the chopper from nearby towers."

The projector clicked off.

Lights came on, revealing their so-called "briefing room"—a cramped hideout that doubled as Ayane’s temporary apartment.

She narrowed her gaze at the dining table. "You took the last one."

Riku, spoon in hand, licked the final scoop of ice cream before dropping it back. "Oops. Didn’t know it was yours."

She rolled her eyes, ignored him, and moved on to assign roles.

Richard, who had been absent earlier, would act as the "sweeper". He would get into the maintenance room and send the flash signal to mark which door to use.

Anton and Li would rig the grappling hook on the neighboring building.

Kieta would handle the hack; he already had the Chinese officials provided codes to breach the tower’s systems.

Ayane herself would run the operation from the control room of tower.

Finally, as decided Riku would be the assault point man: he’d infiltrate via the high-rise cleaner rig at night.

Riku threw up his hands. "Why me? Last time, you forced me into a cross-dresser act. Before that, you made me ride a bike off a moving trailer. And now you’re pinning everything on me?"

Ayane planted a hand on her hip, her voice firm. "Look, Riku. We need someone technical—someone who can run the sabotage software while inside. Kieta is young, handling his part remotely. That leaves you."

Riku muttered, "Or maybe you’re still pissed about the ice cream."

"Or maybe you shouldn’t have stolen Captain’s panties," Kieta added quietly, adjusting his glasses.

"Right, light punishment for crossing the line, pervert ajhussi," Li chuckled, leaning back and chewing gum.

Riku bristled. "Hey, that wasn’t me."

The room burst into laughter.

"Enough teasing," Ayane said, thumping her palm on table. "Riku, my decision is final."

Li clicked his tongue. "Poor fellow."

"Sad, bratan. Always you," Anton sighed, finishing his beer.

"Captain is best. Thank you, Captain," Kieta added loyally.

Riku groaned, throwing up both hands. "Fine, but what’s my compensation if I fall off the 100th floor? I’ve never been that high in my life."

Ayane gave a smug smile as she leaned forward, her deep cleavage pressing into view from her round bust.

Ayane gave a smug smile as she leaned forward, her deep cleavage pressing into view from her round bust.

With a playful air, she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and spoke mischievously, "Riku-kun, you always wanted a date, right? How about one after we finish this job?"

"Ha! Same bogus trap," Li muttered with boredom.

"Here comes, invisible carrot," Anton muttered with a disappointed shake of his head.

Riku leaned back, shaking his head with a grin. "Nah, I’ll pass. Why risk the fall for a date with yesterday’s Christmas cake when tomorrow’s got way sweeter options? Sorry, Captain.. my life is on the line. Not this time."

("Christmas cake" being the Japanese slang for unmarried women over 25, seen as past their "best before" date.)

Li’s jaw dropped. Then he broke into a huge grin. "He actually said it? That’s the spirit! Go big or go home, yeah?". He joked, earning groans and laughter.

The laughter faded fast as Ayane’s face flushed dark red.

"Bratan is dead, Rest in peace," Anton muttered, making a cross sign with his hands.

Keita shifted nervously. "Control... captain, control."

This time, Ayane was genuinely angry. Teasing was one thing, but being mocked as old in front of her crew was another.

She cracked her knuckles into her palm and fixed Riku with a menacing glare. "Ajhussi, what did you just say? Last chance? Doing it or not?"

Riku gulped, forcing himself to stay calm. "What Ajhussi? I said what I said... Christmas cakes like you should be glad to still be in dema.."

He didn’t even get to finish. Ayane grabbed his hair and slammed his face onto the table in a flash, sending the others into a roar of laughter at his misery.