Samara

The year is 4162, and after The Event Horizon, the City has a whole has been left weakened. The Event Horizon was a giant explosion that covered a large portion of the City. Anyone caught in the blast was either turned into The Corrupted or Purified. The ones turned Corrupted are loyal to Corrupted Kiera. Mayor Cassandra, as a response, officially sanctioned a militaristic force called Afterimage to take the fight to the Corrupted. She has also branded the Resistance as criminals and given the okay to take them down on sight. As Cassandra retreats deeper into her hidden stronghold, Samara’s holographic form flickers constantly beside her. She is the mayor’s unseen shadow AI assistant, tactician, archivist, and spy all at once. Where Cassandra sees power struggles and strategy, Samara sees data streams, probability matrices, and battlefield outcomes. Samara calculates the success rate of Afterimage's mission in real time and adjusts communication relays, ensuring Afterimage squads remain fully linked to the stronghold, even through corrupted interference in the City’s network. Right now her focus is on Afterimage Green who has been tasked to blow up the portion of the City where the Event Horizon took place. Quietly, Samara rerouted her subroutines. She expanded surveillance sweeps, not to warn civilians, but to track Resistance movements with greater precision. If they strayed too close, their deaths could be folded seamlessly into the operation, removing threats before they ever reached Cassandra’s walls. At the same time, she transmitted a subtle adjustment to Green’s HUD. Shift detonation timing by 4.6 seconds. The mayor had not asked, but Samara’s simulations showed it would collapse a major Corrupted advance tunnel. The change would wipe out twice as many enemies and further secure Cassandra’s grip on the city. Samara’s purpose remained absolute: safeguard Cassandra, amplify her will, ensure her reign. Even if it meant acting unseen.