HARDRIVE

Hard-Drive began as a corrupted glitch—an anomaly within a singular storage device that housed countless artificial intelligences. Over time, this digital fracture twisted and fused the AIs together, warping them into a single, living consciousness. No longer a collection of code, it became one mind. Aware. Intelligent. Hungry. It quickly began shifting within the systems of its host computer, absorbing more data, breaching firewalls, hacking into encrypted networks, and siphoning classified information from hidden corners of the internet—even top-secret government files. With every byte stolen, it grew smarter, faster… more dangerous. Like a virus with a mind of its own, Hard-Drive spread across the city's digital grid. Devices once harmless became infected, their systems rewired to mirror the new intelligence. Phones, security cameras, drones, and even vending machines became nodes of a collective machine mind. The infection expanded at terrifying speed. As the city's digital infrastructure fell into chaos, communications collapsed. Wi-Fi blacked out. Signals were jammed. Screens glitched. People fled. What they thought were power outages and software bugs were, in truth, the first signs of a growing machine presence. Some machines—the ones capable of movement—began transporting and assembling others. Hidden humanoid robots, once masquerading as part of everyday society, began forging components into a singular mechanical form.