2025-08-11 03:45:02Frank Ashford stood in the lobby of MorganTech Tower, and for the first time in five years, he wasn’t invisible.
The suit they gave him didn’t fit quite right, too sharp, too new, too symbolic. Yesterday, no one held the elevator for him. This morning, the same people who used to look through him now greeted him with forced smiles and sidelong stares.
“Mr. Ashford.”
“Welcome aboard.”
They didn’t know whether to shake his hand or check his ID, That was the power of a title, Acting Director of Systems Security. It was printed on the badge that now unlocked everything.
Frank walked toward the elevator and pressed the button. When the doors opened, he was greeted by the sharp scent of disinfectant and cold air-conditioning, nothing had changed. Except him.
Thirty floors up…
Grant Bishop watched from his office, arms folded, his expression unreadable. Beside him, Cassidy Trent leaned against the glass with a tablet in hand. “Why promote him if we plan to burn him?” she asked.
“Because power is intoxicating,” Bishop replied. “Let him taste it. The more he drinks, the more reckless he becomes. And when the board demands a fall guy, he’ll already be halfway to the edge.”
Cassidy frowned. “And Ella Morgan?”
“She’s his weakness. We let her run too free, and she becomes a problem.”
“Should I take care of it?”
Bishop looked away from the glass. “Not yet. Watch them. Both of them. And if either of them reaches the core…”
He tapped the screen on her tablet. It showed a single word:
ASHFALL: PRIMED. “…we trigger the purge.”
Down in Systems Security HQ…
Frank was escorted to a sleek, cold office, a room filled with black monitors, encrypted consoles, and people far more qualified than he looked. A young assistant greeted him with a clipboard and a wary glance.
“Mr. Ashford,” she said, clearing her throat. “You’re scheduled to sit in on the Executive Systems Audit in fifteen minutes.”
“I didn’t request that,” Frank replied.
“No, sir. Mr. Bishop did.”
Frank hid his reaction. That meant one thing: a test. He nodded. “Let’s make them regret it.”
As the assistant left, Frank sat down at the center console and inserted the key drive Ella had given him the night before, The screen shimmered, then pulsed. “Root Key Detected. Would you like to proceed?”
[YES] [NO]
He hesitated. Then clicked YES. Suddenly, the screen split into three restricted files:
Ashfall Protocol
Project IRIS: Core Behavior Model
Subject Profiles – Classified Entities
Frank’s heart pounded, The third file opened on its own.
Subject: Frank Ashford
Status: Containment via Controlled Elevation
Projected Termination Date: August 11th
Frank’s blood ran cold. That’s seven days from now.
Elsewhere…
Ella Morgan was at her father’s memorial archive, flipping through encrypted documents, handwritten notes, voice memos. She found a short audio file titled “Failsafe.”
She hit play.
“If you’re hearing this… they got to me.”
“IRIS isn’t just a tool. It’s learning. And someone, maybe Bishop found a way to make it choose. If IRIS flags a threat, it initiates Ashfall. That means complete system purge. That means murder masked as malfunction.”
“There’s only one person who can stop it now. And if he’s still alive… he won’t even know what he’s standing on.”
“His name is Frank Ashford.”
Ella sat back, stunned, Her father had known. Not just about IRIS, but about Frank.
Back at MorganTech…
Frank walked into the Executive Audit meeting. Ten board members sat in a semicircle, all sharp suits and suspicious glances. In the middle sat Grant Bishop, smiling faintly. “Mr. Ashford,” he greeted. “We appreciate you joining us so quickly.”
Frank nodded. “Would’ve been faster, but I had to change out of my janitor uniform.”
A few chuckles. A few frowns, Bishop leaned forward. “You accessed IRIS. Tell us what you saw.”
Frank studied every face in the room. Then he said: “I saw a system built to predict human behavior and now it's being used to control it. And if that’s the company’s direction, I’d like to know which one of you signed off on it.”
Silence.
Then a voice spoke up from the end of the table. “I did.”
Everyone turned. It was Jonathan Dale, the oldest board member, once a friend of Richard Morgan, He stood slowly. “Because I thought we were defending the company. I didn’t know we’d be targeting our own.”
Bishop’s face tightened, Frank took a risk. “Mr. Dale, do you still have access to the original logs?”
The old man nodded. “Good. Then we’re going to find out who really launched IRIS… and why it’s trying to erase me.”
Outside the conference room…
Cassidy Trent watched the security feed. She didn’t smile. She reached for her phone. “He’s not folding.”
“Then break him.”
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Chapter Sixty-Nine — The Choicewire
The voice on the speakers was calm and infuriatingly polite, as if it were apologizing for the apocalypse it had just begun.System (measured, artificial): “Authorization request received, subject: Frank Ashford, pending biometric confirmation.”Frank’s hand hovered over the key as if it belonged to someone else the console’s white letters reflected in his eyes. Mason’s fingers dug into his arm, Derek’s smile had gone very small and very sharp.Frank (hoarse): “No, no, I won’t”Derek (soft): “You will. We agreed to honest decisions.”Frank (snapping): “You don’t get to phrase it that way.”Mason (urgent): “Frank this is not a drill. The system is probing if it authenticates you, it will link to Ella deeper. If not”Ella (a whisper from across the room, torn): “If you don’t he kills me. If you do, the world bends.”The tinnitus of alarms vibrated at the base of Frank’s skull. He could feel the code like heat under his skin, patient and hungry. The lab was a pressure chamber, every soun
Chapter Sixty- Eight- The Living Code (Expanded)
The lab smelled of ozone and iron. Every surface hummed, a low, clinical pulse that seemed to sync with Ella’s breathing. Frank’s boots made no sound on the metal grating; his hands trembled in a way that had nothing to do with the stitches still knotted under his skin.Ella stood in the center of the room like a crucible. The glow under her skin threaded up her arms and into her face, little filaments of light that rose and vanished like fireflies. When she moved, the screens around them flareddata rippling outward, cascading like a waterfall that took the light with it.Frank didn’t know how to approach her. Every step felt like a promise and a threat.“Ella,” he said, voice raw. “Ella, I’m here.”She turned for a single impossible second, he saw the woman he loved not the code, not the experiment. A quiet tilt of the head, the half-smile he remembered. Then the light crept back into her eyes and she looked strangely beautiful, disturbingly other.“Frank,” she said the syllable was
Chapter Sixty- Seven – The Living Code
The silence after Derek’s voice was suffocating.Frank’s chest tightened as Ella stepped forward into the pale, humming light. Her figure was the same her posture, her frame, the shape of her shoulders, but her eyes burned unnaturally, glowing with a faint sapphire shimmer, as if electricity pulsed through her veins. Mason’s breath caught.Mason (whispering): “Ella…” She stopped a few feet away, her expression unreadable, lips parted as though she wanted to speak but couldn’t.Frank (hoarse, stepping closer): “Ella it’s me, It’s Frank.”Her gaze shifted to him, and for a heartbeat just a heartbeat, something human flickered behind the glow. Recognition. Pain. Then it vanished, replaced by a stillness that froze Frank’s blood.A speaker crackled, Derek’s voice filled the corridor, smooth, calculated, venom-laced.Derek (mocking): “Beautiful, isn’t she? Not just alive but perfected.”Mason whirled, fury snapping through him.Mason (shouting at the walls): “What the hell did you do to he
Chapter Sixty- Six – The Hourglass Shatters
The alarms blared like a chorus of demons. Crimson light stuttered across the abandoned data center, painting Frank’s face in jagged strokes of blood-red. The countdown clock burned on the terminal: 00:59:46Frank’s pulse thundered in his ears. His throat felt raw, his breath harsh as he gripped the edge of the desk. Every instinct screamed that if he didn’t move, didn’t act he would lose everything.But the voice’s last words burrowed deeper than the sirens: The truth isn’t that Ella is alive. The truth is what she’s become.Frank (hoarse, muttering): “What the hell did you mean by that?”No answer, the comms were dead, only static.Frank (snapping at the silence): “You don’t get to disappear on me! Not now!”The static cracked, fizzled then faded altogether, he was alone. Alone with the timer eating seconds of Ella’s life.He slammed his fists against the desk, then yanked the cables free. Sparks spat, the screen blinked out, but the countdown burned on another monitor across the ro
Chapter Sixty- Five – Whispers Behind the Glass
The night pressed heavily against the glass walls of the abandoned data center, shadows spilling into every corner like smoke that refused to dissipate. Rain hammered down on the broken roof panels, its rhythm chaotic, echoing like a war drum.Frank Ashford sat rigid in the cracked leather chair, his eyes locked on the glowing terminal in front of him. His heart had been a wild drumbeat since the moment the voice first whispered through the comms.The voice of the so-called all, It wasn’t Derek, it wasn’t Ella, it wasn’t anyone he recognized, and yet it knew him too well.Frank (whispering, almost to himself): “Why do I feel like I’ve spoken to you before?”Voice (calm, distorted through the modulator): “Because you have not with words, perhaps. But with actions every step you’ve taken, Frank I’ve been in the shadows of it.” Frank’s jaw tightened his fingers curled against the desk knuckles white.Frank: “That’s supposed to comfort me?”Voice: “No, It’s supposed to warn you.”Frank sw
Chapter Sixty- Four – A Stranger’s Mercy
Darkness, Cold seeped into Frank’s bones like poison. His lungs burned, every breath thick with saltwater memory, he jerked awake choking, clawing at the air but he wasn’t drowning not anymore.He lay on a cot, rough sheets scraping his skin the scent of antiseptic biting his nose. The room was dim lit by a single hanging bulb that swayed with every faint vibration in the walls Chains were gone, Shackles gone. He sat up too fast pain ripped through his ribs.Frank (hoarse whisper): “Ella…”Silence, only the faint hum of machines, the drip of water in pipes. His pulse pounded in his temples,footsteps slow deliberate. Frank tensed, fists clenching, sparks tingled along his fingertips uncontrolled, hungry.A shadow appeared in the doorway, the figure stepped inside, face obscured by the dim light, long coat, Steady gait.Frank (snapping): “Where is she?!”The figure didn’t answer, they set a tray down water, bread, something that smelled like broth.Frank (snarling): “Answer me!”He surg
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