2025-05-19 23:27:17
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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 stupi
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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 stupi
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224 Disintegration 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
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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 stupi
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221: The Future in Flame “I wouldn’t have told you if I wasn’t.” Dylan nodded. “Then let’s burn the world down.” He typed the command. A loading bar began to climb. Lilith stepped up beside him and pulled a drive from her coat—sleek, unlabeled, humming softly. “My code’s on here,” she said. “It’ll mimic the framework of Ignis Core perfectly. I’ve even embedded some of your old code from before you joined Ash. They’ll think it’s legit. Familiar. But once it activates… recursive detonation.” She handed it to him. He plugged it in. The system blinked. Code spilled across the screen—lines upon lines of luminous, perfect deception. Lilith crossed her arms as she watched. “We’ve got one shot at this.” Dylan didn’t look away from the screen. “Then we make it count.” The lights dimmed for a moment as the system initiated a shadow crawl—spreading the false Ignis Core like a virus in slow motion. Unseen. Waiting. When it was done, Dylan stood back, eyes cold. “Now we wai
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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—b
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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 stupi
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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
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221: The Future in Flame “I wouldn’t have told you if I wasn’t.” Dylan nodded. “Then let’s burn the world down.” He typed the command. A loading bar began to climb. Lilith stepped up beside him and pulled a drive from her coat—sleek, unlabeled, humming softly. “My code’s on here,” she said. “It’ll mimic the framework of Ignis Core perfectly. I’ve even embedded some of your old code from before you joined Ash. They’ll think it’s legit. Familiar. But once it activates… recursive detonation.” She handed it to him. He plugged it in. The system blinked. Code spilled across the screen—lines upon lines of luminous, perfect deception. Lilith crossed her arms as she watched. “We’ve got one shot at this.” Dylan didn’t look away from the screen. “Then we make it count.” The lights dimmed for a moment as the system initiated a shadow crawl—spreading the false Ignis Core like a virus in slow motion. Unseen. Waiting. When it was done, Dylan stood back, eyes cold. “Now we wai
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