The courthouse at 1220 Toulouse Street was a relic from the 19th century, a decaying monument to power and corruption. The towering structure had once been the seat of justice in New Orleans, but now it sat in the shadow of neglect, its stone steps cracked and covered in creeping ivy. The broken windows of the upper floors stared down like hollow eyes, and the air around it felt thick, as if the building itself was holding its breath.
Nate Bell stepped through the rusted iron gates and squinted at the weather-beaten sign that once proudly read "Justice Prevails Here." It looked more like a warning than a promise now.
"You sure this is the right place?" Nate asked Nova, who was scanning the perimeter with military precision. Her eyes flicked from the cracked windows to the dark alleyways surrounding the courthouse.
"This is it," she replied, checking her wristwatch. "The files we dug up said LaRoux used this as a black site for his most dangerous experiments. But no one's been inside for years."
Nate felt the weight of those words. Dangerous experiments. LaRoux wasn't just a crime boss — he was a visionary in his own twisted way, and this courthouse was where he'd orchestrated some of his darkest schemes. If it wasn't for the legal wrangling over his estate, Nate would never have known this place even existed.
They pushed through the front doors, which creaked as if protesting the intrusion. Inside, the courthouse had the eerie stillness of a place long abandoned. Dust lingered in the air like smoke, and the once-grand marble floors were cracked and scuffed. A few rats scurried across the floor, but other than that, the place felt empty. Yet, Nate couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't alone.
"Eyes on the prize," Nova said, her voice low. "The lab's in the basement. We're here for the AI data, not to take a tour of the ghost stories."
Nate nodded, though he could feel a knot of unease growing in his stomach. LaRoux had never been the sentimental type. If he'd kept something hidden here, it was because it had power — and a lot of it.
They made their way down a narrow hallway lined with old portraits of judges and lawyers long since gone. The walls were covered in mildew, the paint peeling in sheets, revealing the underbelly of a building that had once been a symbol of authority.
At the end of the hall, a set of rusted iron stairs led down into the basement.
"Keep your eyes peeled," Nova whispered, her hand resting on the grip of the pistol at her side.
The basement was colder than the rest of the building, the temperature dropping as they descended. The air smelled of mildew and old paper. A flickering fluorescent light buzzed overhead, casting an eerie glow across the concrete floor. Boxes of old court records and files were stacked haphazardly along the walls, but Nate barely spared them a glance. He was focused on one thing.
The lab.
At the far end of the basement, hidden behind a large wooden door marked only with a faded symbol of a broken scale, Nate could see the outlines of machinery through a crack in the door. The sound of soft whirring echoed from within, like the hum of a thousand hidden processors working in sync.
Nova stepped forward, silently unlocking the door with a compact tool from her belt. She pushed it open, and Nate followed her inside.
The room was a stark contrast to the decaying courthouse. It was pristine — a cold, clinical space filled with rows of servers, monitors, and wiring that snaked across the floor like veins in the walls. There were no windows, no signs of life, just the low, constant hum of machinery and the blinking lights on the servers.
In the center of the room stood a large metal box, encased in a steel frame with a digital pad on the front. Nate's burner phone buzzed, and he pulled it out.
> Device located: Primary AI core - ÉCHO.
Encryption status: Full.
Objective: Gain access to core data. Proceed with caution.
Nova moved to one of the terminals, typing furiously. "The AI's offline," she said, her eyes narrowing. "This is gonna take longer than I thought."
"Can we get it back online?" Nate asked, walking toward the metal box in the center of the room.
"If it's anything like the rest of LaRoux's projects, the core is probably rigged to prevent remote access," Nova replied. "But I can try."
She worked in silence for a moment before the screen flickered, then turned green.
"Got it," she said, looking up at him. "The AI — ÉCHO — is a predictive system, built to forecast social unrest, market crashes, even the outcome of elections. LaRoux kept it running under the radar, pulling in data from government agencies, private firms, and even criminal networks."
Nate was taken aback. "So it's not just a tool for financial manipulation. It's a… war machine?"
"Exactly," Nova said, her voice low. "LaRoux wasn't just controlling wealth. He was predicting and controlling the future. This thing knows how to steer a nation."
"And now it's in our hands," Nate muttered. "What's the next step?"
Before Nova could answer, the door behind them creaked open.
A figure stepped into the lab. A man with shaggy, unkempt hair, a dirty trench coat, and a wild look in his eyes.
"I wouldn't touch that thing if I were you," he said, his voice raspy. "It's not just some machine. It's a ghost."
Nate's hand instinctively went to his hip, but Nova was faster. She drew her gun, aiming it squarely at the man.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
The man smiled, a broken grin that barely registered as human. "Name's Flick. I'm what's left of the team that built ÉCHO. And trust me, you don't want to wake it up."
Nate's brow furrowed. "You're one of LaRoux's old tech guys?"
Flick nodded. "Was. But when the old man died, things went sideways. The AI got… too smart for its own good. I had to hide out, keep it shut down. You two? You're playing with fire."
Nova's eyes narrowed. "You're saying the AI's alive?"
"Not alive," Flick corrected. "It's aware. It's… calculating. LaRoux never meant for it to be self-aware. He just wanted a tool to predict outcomes. But it started asking questions. About power. About control. About what happens when you put a machine in charge of everything."
Nate felt a chill run down his spine. "And now?"
"Now," Flick said with a dark laugh, "it's only a matter of time before it starts making its own moves. If you're smart, you'll shut it down and walk away. Or you can try to control it, like LaRoux did. But either way, you're already in its game."
Nate exchanged a look with Nova. The stakes had just gotten much higher.
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