Atlanta — 2:43 A.M.The rain didn’t fall,it attacked. Sheets of water slammed against the steel rooftops like gunfire, soaking the cracked pavement and masking the footsteps of a ghost.Darius Raines moved like a shadow through the alleyways of Old Fourth Ward, boots silent over the wet concrete. The city never slept, not really. Neon signs flickered like dying stars, and somewhere, beneath the noise of thunder and sirens, a scream echoed. But he didn’t flinch. He hadn’t flinched in five years.Five years since the fire.Five years since the betrayal.Five years since the world buried a man who refused to die.His gloved fingers tapped the side of the digital contact lens in his left eye,an augmented overlay system built from scrap and secrets. The blue display came alive in the corner of his vision.[TARGET ACQUIRED]LOCATION: SYNDICATE FACILITY 3B — WESTERN HUBDarius paused at the mouth of the alley, eyes locked on the building across the street. No signage. No lights. Just a wareh

8:42 A.M. at the Safe house War RoomThe flash drive hummed in Amira’s laptop, casting flickers of blue light across her determined face. On the wall, three monitors ran parallel—each cycling through live CCTV feeds, security diagrams, and a red countdown timer ticking down from 13:18:46.That was how long they had before Ghost Code went live.Darius paced behind her, tense. Coiled. The floor creaked under his weight like it could feel the gravity of what they were about to do.“They’ve programmed the system to sync with the city’s surveillance grid,” Amira explained, her voice tight with disbelief. “Smart lights, traffic cams, personal devices. Anything with a lens becomes a weapon. Any heat signature can be a kill command.”Darius stopped.“They’re turning the city into a hunting ground.”Amira looked up. “We have one shot. If we broadcast the data through a secure node before the system syncs, the world will see it. Every single murder plot. Every political target. They won’t be ab

7:38 P.M. at the En Route to Vault 09The hum of the underground vehicle was the only sound in the narrow tunnel. Darius drove like a man possessed, eyes dead ahead, hands tight on the wheel. Beside him, Amira’s fingers flew across her laptop’s holographic interface, decrypting another layer of Vault 09’s outer firewall.Cassia was awake in the back seat, strapped in, silent but alert.“She keeps whispering things,” Amira said without looking up. “Numbers. Access codes. Algorithms.”Darius glanced in the rearview. “What kind of codes?”“Deep-level access stuff. Stuff I’ve never even seen in blacksite builds. Some of it’s quantum-locked. The rest looks like it came out of an AI’s nightmare.”Cassia spoke, barely audible: “They put a failsafe in me… a final lock. They called it ‘Null Gate.’ If I get too close, it’ll activate.”“Define ‘activate,’” Darius said.Cassia lifted her eyes.“I die.”8:01 P.M. at the Vault 09 Perimeter, Siberian Exclusion ZoneThe compound was a ghost city—buri

UN Taskforce Headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland – 7:30 P.M.The room buzzed with a tension that cut through the air like a blade. A select group of high-ranking officials gathered around the central table, its polished surface reflecting their weary faces. They’d just received word of the fallout from the Kazakhstan mission—both the collapse of the Phase Zero facility and the disappearance of the rogue woman known as Echo_IX. But what had become painfully clear was that this was just the beginning.Darius sat at the far end of the room, his eyes scanning the digital map projected in the air. Small blinking red dots marked known hotspots, each corresponding to fragments of the Ghost Code—a collection of algorithms that had splintered in the wake of the failed Nexus core.General Thorne stood at the head of the table, his hard gaze fixed on Darius. “We can’t afford another mission failure, Raines. We don’t know who else has copies of the Ghost Code or where they’re going to strike next

At Cairo – 4:00 A.M.The faintest hum of their tactical van buzzed in the cold desert air as the team huddled together, preparing for the mission that could make or break everything. The blacked-out vehicle blended seamlessly into the night, the surrounding desert stretching out like an endless sea of sand. The stars above were sharp and distant, indifferent to the dangerous game unfolding below.Darius adjusted his gear, the weight of the rifle slung across his back offering a comforting reminder of his preparedness. His eyes remained fixed on the compound in the distance. The sprawling complex of Santiago’s operation loomed over them, its perimeter lit by floodlights that cast long shadows on the ground. The security was a fortress—he knew this, and yet the weight of his resolve didn’t waver.“We’re going in under the radar, we stick to the plan,” Darius said, his voice low but firm. His eyes flicked from Cassia to Amira. “Cassia, you’re on the electronics. Disable the surveillance