The Silverlake branch didn’t slow down.If anything, the pace sharpened. Production schedules tightened. Development cycles overlapped. Teams rotated through shifts that blurred the line between day and night. The office lights stayed on long after the city outside dimmed.That was when the first problems appeared. Well, more like another round of problems after the first issues the week before...At first, they were easy to dismiss.A prototype froze during a routine calibration test. A system reboot took longer than expected. A sensor misread data it had processed correctly a dozen times before.Minor things.“Probably a bad update,” one engineer said.“Or a hardware conflict,” another added.Jasper listened. He didn’t comment.He stood behind them, hands in his pockets, eyes fixed on the screen as lines of code scrolled past. His expression didn’t change, but his attention sharpened. Small problems never existed in isolation. Not here. Not now.“Run it again,” he said.They did.Th

The days following the campaign passed without much noise, but the effect was impossible to miss.Silverlake noticed.Jasper became aware of it in small ways at first. Messages sent late at night, phrased politely but carrying urgency underneath. Calls routed through assistants who suddenly sounded cautious, as if choosing each word carefully. Names he recognized from financial reports and closed-door deals began appearing on his schedule without explanation, some of them marked as high priority without his approval.He didn’t comment on it at first.By the third day, Jackson placed a tablet on Jasper’s desk without saying anything.Jasper glanced at it once. Then again. He didn’t reach for it immediately.“Investors?” he asked.“Private ones,” Jackson replied. “Most of them don’t usually reach out first.”Jasper finally picked up the tablet and scrolled. Venture capital heads. Silent shareholders. Family-backed funds. People who rarely showed their faces unless they smelled something

Silverlake Branch.Jasper reviewed the reports again, scanning the logs with precision. The System had compiled every anomaly, every late-night access, every minor misstep that had seemed coincidental. None of it was. Not a single detail.“They tried to destabilize us,” Jasper said aloud, tone calm, almost casual.Marcus leaned against the console, arms folded. “And we know who?”“Yes,” Jasper replied. He tapped the screen, bringing up the mapped access points. “All paths lead to one headquarters. A rival firm. They think they can shake Silverlake.”Lena moved closer, brow furrowed. “We’ve contained the damage, repaired the units, but—”“Not enough,” Jasper interrupted softly. “They need to understand that attempting sabotage has consequences. We’ll visit them.”Marcus glanced at Lena. “You mean… confront them?”“Yes,” Jasper said. He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. Calm carried more weight than anger ever could. “Today.”By mid-morning, the team gathered. Jasper selected a

The news spread quickly. Silverlake absorbed it like a ripple across still water—some celebrated, others shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Jasper’s rise had gone largely unchecked, but the collapse of the rival tech company forced attention. Headlines ran starkly across media platforms, financial analysts dissected the moves, and whispers began circulating in private boardrooms.High above the city, in an ultra-secure office that seemed more like a fortress than a workplace, a man watched the reports play on multiple screens. His posture was relaxed. His expression calm, almost amused. Nothing on the screens seemed to shock him.“Impressive,” he said quietly. Not to anyone in particular, but the words carried through the room.The aides and analysts surrounding him didn’t dare interrupt. They simply reported, detailing Jasper’s recent acquisitions, his operational moves in Silverlake, the efficiency of his System-backed strategies.“They collapsed themselves,” one analyst said ner

The morning broke over Silverlake like any other, but inside Jasper’s Silverlake branch, the atmosphere was tense. Reports had been piling in overnight, emails flagged urgent, calls from minor suppliers landing with hesitance in the inbox. Something had shifted.Axiom Dynamics had made its move. Not subtle. Not cautious. Elegant in a way that left its mark without touching a direct blow. Jasper called Jackson and Lena into the strategy room immediately. Marcus followed, arms folded, watching every reaction.“They’re rolling out a nationwide partnership program,” Jackson said, voice low. He tapped on the screen, bringing up a press release. “Small manufacturers, startups… they offer protection, guaranteed contracts, funding. All in exchange for… severing ties with us. And—get this—publicly testifying that working with us is financially unstable and unsafe.”Jasper read it calmly, eyes scanning every word as if memorizing it. “So they’re buying perception,” he said. “Not influence over