I didn't remember waking up. But there I was, staring at the ceiling, my body lying awkwardly against the couch cushions as two familiar voices prattled on in the background. I shifted my weight, trying to sit up. The sofa was the kind that would swallow you as you moved, acting like quicksand as I struggled to get my bearings. Once I had sat up, I began rolling out my right shoulder, looking around the room. I was back in Mr. Borg's office- He and Cryptor were huddled around his computer while angrily debating something.

"Can't you tell what it's doing?"

"I've told you! The system can't see it! Security hasn't been breached; it says everything is clear!"

It was then that I remembered what had knocked me out in the first place. I lifted my hand, examining my finger. There was still a small puncture wound, but other than that, no trace of anything being wrong.

"What happened?" I asked, interrupting their discussion.

"Ah, sleeping beauty finally awakes from pricking her finger." Cryptor chuckled, turning to look at me.

"Drew! Are you alright?" Mr. Borg asked, frantically turning around, wheeling himself towards me. "The serum shouldn't have harmed you. You might feel a bit dizzy though."

"I'm fine," I assured him as he reached my side. "but what was that?"

"Just an emergency security measure. Why it activated, we're still not sure," He sighed.

"Whatever the reason, it's now somehow spread to the rest of the tower security." Cryptor chimed in, still at the computer at the far side of the room.

"What?!" I stood up, surprised to feel my feet touch the floor. My shoes. Where were my shoes?

"We're stuck in lockdown mode, communication is shot, and the lights have been on and off for the past hour or so," Cryptor explained.

I found my heels around the corner of the couch, quickly slipping them on as I looked at Mr. Borg. "I didn't even know we had an elevator security feature like that. Since when has it been installed?"

He smiled. "Oh, it was Pixal's idea!" Of course it was. "We had it installed just after she left. I guess I just forgot to mention it to you. I never expected to use it." I stood up, finding my balance again. "I really am sorry dear."

"It's alright," I dismissed it. Thanks a lot, Pixal. Your brilliant security system prevented your replacement from checking security. "We just need to figure out why it happened." I started walking over towards Cryptor at the main computer. "You're sure there's no way to trace whatever's gotten into the system?"

"Borg was the only one able to access the elevator security specs, none the less able to activate them. Whatever has taken control of the tower is so deep into the system that the tower isn't even processing any of its changes." Cryptor scrolled through the security screens, all systems reading normal.

"It's like it's invisible," I marveled. "I've never seen anything like it."

Mr. Borg sighed, wheeling up to us. "I have."

"When?" Cryptor asked, both our eyes now glued to him.

Cyrus stared at the screen for a moment, as if looking for other possibilities. "The one thing I know of that behaved like this when it breached the tower's system… was the Overlord."

Cryptor and I glanced at each other.

"No… no, this can't be the Overlord," I insisted. "There's no way! We're done with that! Zane defeated him years ago, even if there was a remnant of him in the system, we would have caught it by now… right?"

"I don't know," Cryptor refuted. "If it's behaving like the Overlord, that means it entered the system the same way the Overlord did. How did the Overlord enter the system again? We built the building on top of his remains!" He stressed. "We haven't moved the building, we haven't rebuilt the foundations, we haven't even expanded! Unless there are some other dead guys we built on top of that we didn't know about the first time, there aren't really any other options, are there?"

"Drew has a point though," Cyrus shook his head. "After that final battle, Pixal and I searched countless times for any trace left of the Overlord. We found nothing."

"As great of a job I'm sure Pixal did," Cryptor rolled his eyes. "I don't see what else it could be. Unless of course you have some secret cemetery under the floorboards you're not telling me about."

"No, but we do have a basement," I reasoned.

"So?" Cryptor pressed.

"So, anything in the basement would technically be at the same level the Overlord was when construction began. If anything were destroyed and left down there, there's a chance something similar to the Overlord could have happened."

"Oh no…" Mr. Borg leaned back in his chair.

"What? What's in the basement?" Cryptor asked.

"...The furnace."

I could feel my pulse accelerate as a host of possibilities flooded my mind. "The furnace that we've used to destroy every piece of malfunctioning tech we've ever built?! That's not to mention a good portion of Overlord era tech as well." I hung my hands on my head and began pacing the room. "Oh, this is great. This is fantastic! I'm sure none of the failed inventions we've burned alive would have any reason to seek revenge on us!"

"So, it could be literally anything?" Cryptor clarified.

"And failed computer code is known for being rational and easy to deal with, right?" I rambled. "You know, at least if it were the Overlord, we would know how to begin to deal with it!"

"Drew, it's okay." Mr. Borg tried to calm me. "We'll figure this out. I'm sure it's not as bad as we're making it out to be."

"Isn't it?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips. "Because we're currently trapped, alone, in a hundred story building with one of the best security systems in the world, being controlled by who knows what that has it in for us with no hope of rescue because, may I remind you, there's a raging freak snow storm going on outside!"

And as if on cue, just then, the lights cut out.

"Great," Cryptor sighed. "Now we've made it mad."

"Look, if it can cut power to the lights, it can cut power to anything else." Mr. Borg reasoned. "Let's use what we have while we still can. I'm going to try some more abstract back door protocols to try and see if we can get back any sort of control. If you two want to look for any notes Pixal left about the security system, digital or otherwise, that would be great."

"Pixal?" Cryptor asked. "What, she design the security system too?"

"No," Mr. Borg responded. "But she knew it inside and out. I would trust anything she might have mentioned in the project notes."

I took a few deep breaths, calming myself down. Yes, this was all crazy, but we didn't know anything for sure yet, and there was still time to find answers. "Okay, we can do this," I sighed, making my way over to my desk.

"All hail Pixal, the all-knowing goddess of Borg Tower," Cryptor mumbled.

I chuckled a bit as he followed me over to my desk. "Stop it."

"I swear it's like the hundredth time he's mentioned her today."

"He's coping." I waved it off, typing in my password. "She was his right hand last time something like this happened. It only makes sense he'd try and lean on her again."

"I guess," he shrugged.

"Here, you check the digital security notes, I'll see if I can find the original paper copies." I gestured to my computer and opened my desk drawer, pulling a small key out from the back.

"Sounds good." He sat down, getting his bearings. I walked over to the wall of filing cabinets to my left looking up and down the tiny faded labels for the drawer I was looking for.

"Ticking. Chilled. Sweet. Dispersed. Detached. Floating. Silver. What is this?" Cryptor asked.

"It's my daily sticky note." I explained, opening my first suspected drawer.

"What exactly does that mean?" he pried.

"Oh just… words that come to me throughout the day. By the time I leave work I have a sort of mood-of-the-day word cloud." I pulled out the first file labeled simply 'plans'. This place really needs a better naming system.

"Huh…" Cryptor thought for a moment before I heard a pen click. "I think you're missing a few words on here."

"No, I really don't think I am." I turned around to look at him this time, seeing where this was going.

"Oh, it's okay, I'll just add them for you here real quick." He waved it off playfully. "How about handsome stranger." I found myself suppressing laughs as he continued to write. "I think that one's extremely accurate, and, you know, important to at least mention. Um… mistakenly drugged. I think that was a pretty big part of your day so far. And then, how about Hijacked. See, it works on two levels because of the whole tower thing, but also... what I'm doing right now," He smiled coyly.

"Now that you mention it, I do have a few words you could add." I moved forward, leaning on the side of the desk. " How about Frustration. Annoyance. Total waste of time. Maybe even Not as clever as he thinks."

"I don't know, that last one seems a bit wordy to me."

"No, I think that one's the most important one," I chuckled.

"Oh! Cryptor!" Mr. Borg called from the other side of the room, interrupting us. "Your arm! I'll finish the redesign on it and maybe we can get it built before anything else goes wrong!"

"You figure out what was wrong with it?" He asked.

"I'm pretty sure it was a problem with the connection rotation, so it shouldn't take long to fix." Mr. Borg assured him.

"Let's do it then," Cryptor agreed.

"He's really glad you're here you know," I told him, my voice a bit hushed. "He was so worried you wouldn't even come."

"Well, for what it's worth," he smiled. "Even if whatever's going on in this building ends up killing us… I think I'm still glad I showed up."