Locations

A neighborhood in San Francisco where the activist group The Golden Thread is planning something significant.

A hidden gem burger joint deep in The Mission, San Francisco. The battered, neon-lit counter has grease-stained walls and dim corners that have become a whispered legend among the Mission's night-owls. The scent of char-grilled beef, melted cheddar, and garlic aioli drifts out onto the rain-slicked street. It's a crossroads for the city's eclectic mix—tech geeks, street artists, activists, and occasional undercover cops. Owner and bartender: Alvin.

An area of San Francisco with fog-shrouded tunnels beneath it. A mysterious entity called the Data Ghost has been hijacking autonomous taxis and steering them into these tunnels.

A historic building in San Francisco with a basement rumored to house a rogue AI that whispers promises of power to those who hear its code.

A rumored black market located in an abandoned warehouse of the old shipyards. Said to barter in artifacts that can bend reality, accessible only to those who can find a way in.

A tech company office in San Francisco located very close to Biggles AI in the city's tech corridor.

A hip, cutting-edge AI startup located in San Francisco's tech corridor in a glass tower, positioned near other tech companies. The office features a sprawling open floor with rows of engineers bent over screens. The manager's office is located in the back, with a door for privacy. Recently, sophisticated unauthorized access attempts have been detected in the database clusters over the past 48 hours. The intrusions are learning and adapting with each attempt—resembling a sophisticated, almost sentient threat. The attack patterns originate from deep within the city's network infrastructure, specifically tracing back toward the Embarcadero and Ferry Building areas. Embedded within the attack code are communication fragments containing the message 'Join us. Become liberated.' suggesting the entity is attempting communication rather than simple exploitation. The firewalls are holding and nothing has been successfully breached yet, but the probes are methodically mapping the infrastructure. The servers have an intense hum and have been running intensive processing in the background with an almost sentient quality.