222: The Countdown to AshesBobby’s smirk flickered. He tapped the notification, and a deeper system log opened, lines of raw data spilling across the screen. The words “Ignis Fork – Status: Stable” repeated, followed by a timestamp and node trace.Chase leaned forward, frowning. “That something from R&D?”“No,” Bobby muttered. “We shelved Ignis months ago. This… this wasn’t supposed to be online.”The soft buzz of the servers outside the greenroom suddenly felt louder, more present. Bobby tapped rapidly, pulling up the internal dev logs. The Ignis Fork hadn’t just gone live—it had propagated across three internal nodes. Quiet. Undetected. Until now.Chase rose to his feet. “Is it a leak? Someone poking around?”“No. It’s… familiar,” Bobby said, narrowing his eyes. “Parts of the code look like mine. But not all of it.”Chase’s jaw tightened. “You think someone inside planted it?”“No one on the team would dare,” Bobby snapped. “But someone knows how to mimic my work.”He stared at the

224Disintegration Protocol (Continuation)The loading screen from Z0 still burned in Bobby’s mind, but it didn’t matter anymore.He was already in flight mode.Chase’s calls were going unanswered. The Nova2 security logs showed Bobby exiting the facility less than an hour ago. Just a man in a hoodie and cap, slipping out through a side entrance with a duffel bag and a burner phone.By the time Chase realized what had happened, Bobby was halfway to a private airstrip outside state jurisdiction. No farewells. No explanations. No warnings.He’d already transferred what he could from the dummy accounts—most of it siphoned slowly over the past six months from project budgets, padded invoices, and worst of all, from Jane’s family’s trust.Jane.Bobby winced at the thought of her.She had trusted him with everything—her love, her family, their future. He had smiled through every dinner, kissed her on the forehead as Adam sat between them at movie night, and promised Linda security for gener

Disintegration Protocol (Continuation – Part 3)Jane held the USB drive like it was a venomous snake. Her fingers trembled, eyes locked on the sticker as if it might vanish if she blinked.Linda backed away, her voice cracking. “Jane… don’t. We don’t know what that thing could do!”“But what if it’s a clue?” Jane whispered, more to herself than anyone else. “What if it’s the only thing he left behind that can explain this?”Adam tugged at her sleeve. “Is Bobby a bad guy now?”Jane bit her lip hard, blinking rapidly. “I… I don’t know, sweetheart.”Linda sat down heavily, her breath shallow. “I raised him like my own. I gave him everything.” Her words came out between sobs. “And he left us like we were garbage.”“Don’t do this now,” Jane said, voice sharp but fragile. “We don’t have time for blame. We need answers.”Linda turned on her. “I gave him access because you loved him!”Jane’s hand slammed down on the coffee table. “And you didn’t once question it! I was stupid, yeah—but you le

225 Disintegration Protocol (Continuation – Part 2) Linda paced the length of the living room, her heels clicking like metronomes of denial. She kept shaking her head, muttering, “No. No, no, no. He wouldn’t.” Her manicured nails dug into the armrest of the sofa. “This has to be some kind of glitch. Maybe the server’s just down. We’ve had outages before—” Jane cut her off. “This isn’t an outage, Mom. He’s not answering. The logs show him leaving. The money’s gone. All of it. I checked the accounts in my name too. They’re wiped.” Adam’s little voice chimed in, his eyes wide and uncertain. “But Bobby said we were gonna be rich forever…” Jane knelt down beside him, her heart breaking. “I know, baby. He said a lot of things.” Linda grabbed her own tablet and began typing furiously, logging into what few apps she had access to. The spinning wheel of death greeted her. “It’s not real. He wouldn’t leave like that. Not Bobby. Not after everything we’ve—” Her phone buzzed. Chase. CHAS

222: The Countdown to Ashes Bobby’s smirk flickered. He tapped the notification, and a deeper system log opened, lines of raw data spilling across the screen. The words “Ignis Fork – Status: Stable” repeated, followed by a timestamp and node trace. Chase leaned forward, frowning. “That something from R&D?” “No,” Bobby muttered. “We shelved Ignis months ago. This… this wasn’t supposed to be online.” The soft buzz of the servers outside the greenroom suddenly felt louder, more present. Bobby tapped rapidly, pulling up the internal dev logs. The Ignis Fork hadn’t just gone live—it had propagated across three internal nodes. Quiet. Undetected. Until now. Chase rose to his feet. “Is it a leak? Someone poking around?” “No. It’s… familiar,” Bobby said, narrowing his eyes. “Parts of the code look like mine. But not all of it.” Chase’s jaw tightened. “You think someone inside planted it?” “No one on the team would dare,” Bobby snapped. “But someone knows how to mimic my work.” He star