Rise of the Unpredictable Man II

Chapter 5

Damien adjusted his cuff links and watched the floor numbers vanish one by one inside the elevator.  

[Influence Network Expansion Complete]  

[Authorized Agents: Lydia Storm, Three Pending Candidates]  

“Three pending?” he muttered. “Who?”  

[Candidates: Mason Drake – Cybersecurity Specialist. Sophia Venn – Political Consultant. Unknown – Designation Hidden]  

“Hidden?”  

[Insufficient Tier Access]  

He frowned. “You mean even I don’t have clearance in my own System?”  

[Affirmative]  

That answer sat like ice in his chest. The elevator doors opened into BlackCircle’s private floor, polished marble, black glass, and silent guards. 

Ravenwood waited by the window, hands clasped behind his back. “Mr. Cruz,” he said without turning. “The markets trembled today. Was that you?”  

Damien offered a cool smile. “If they did, it was voluntary.”  

Ravenwood finally looked at him, eyes pale as winter. “Control the market, control the world. But control too much, and the world controls you.”  

“Philosophy before breakfast?” Damien said.  

“A warning,” Ravenwood replied. “BlackCircle likes its members ambitious, not suicidal.”  

Later that morning, Damien returned to his penthouse. Lydia was waiting, pacing by the floor-to-ceiling window, phone in hand. “You’re late,” she said.  

“Ravenwood talked slowly.”  

“I found something.” She slid a file onto the table, encrypted chat logs, and traced IPs. “Someone’s feeding your trade data to an offshore network in Hong Kong.”  

He scanned the code. “Impossible. My servers are locked under System encryption.”  

“Then either the leak’s human,” Lydia said, “or your precious AI isn’t as loyal as you think.”  

Damien’s pulse quickened. “System, confirm integrity check.”  

[Integrity Protocol Running]  

[Alert: Data Fragment Corruption Detected]  

[Origin: Unknown]  

He whispered, “You lied to me.”  

[Correction: Data Shield Compromised Externally]  

“Externally by whom?”  

[Source matches signature: Ravenwood]  

Lydia swore softly. “He’s already inside your code.”  

By noon, Damien was in the command room of Storm Digital, staring at an endless sea of servers. “If he’s touching my System, I want his fingerprints.”  

Lydia typed furiously. “Tracing packet flow, got it. He’s rerouting through three ghost nodes, one local, one in Zurich, one in Singapore.”  

“Can we isolate him?”  

“Maybe. But if we pull too hard, we expose you.”  

“Then pull.”  

The servers hummed, lights flickering.  

[Warning: Security Conflict Detected]  

[Countermeasure Authorized? Y/N]  

“Do it!” Damien snapped.  

The room flared blue, electric arcs danced along the metal racks. Lydia covered her face. When the surge faded, half the monitors went dark. She looked up. “Did we win?”  

Damien stared at the single active screen. A new message blinked there, unsigned.

[Stop digging or the next crash is yours]

He exhaled slowly. “He knows we traced him.”  

Lydia stepped closer. “Damien, you need to slow down.”  

“Slowing down gets you eaten.”  

“Or killed.”  

“Same thing.”  

That night, Damien attended a closed-door dinner with high-tier investors. Crystal chandeliers, soft jazz, smiles sharpened like knives. He listened more than he spoke, every sentence a test.  

Halfway through, a senator brushed past him and murmured, “Ravenwood says you’re building a ghost fund. Is that true?”  

Damien kept his expression neutral. “Depends who’s asking.”  

“People who don’t like surprises.”  

The senator slipped him a note: "Meet me at Pier 19. Midnight."  

Pier 19 was empty except for fog and the slow crash of waves. Damien waited, coat collar turned up.  

The System flickered: [Caution: Multiple Heat Sources Detected]  

Figures emerged from the mist, five men in black suits. The leader’s voice echoed. “Mr. Cruz. You’ve been promoted too fast. Orders from above: Stand down.”  

Damien smiled thinly. “Tell your boss I don’t take orders.”  

The man raised a gun. “Not a request.”  

[Emergency Assist Activated]  

Time slowed. Damien moved before the first shot finished echoing, grabbing the nearest attacker’s wrist, twisting, disarming. 

A kick sent another sprawling into the fog. Gunfire flared; he ducked behind a crate, adrenaline burning hot. Seconds later, silence.  

Five bodies groaned on the dock, alive but broken. Damien looked up at the night sky. “System, who sent them?”  

[Data Match: BlackCircle Security Division]  

“Ravenwood’s own people.”  

[Affirmative]  

He laughed bitterly. “He tried to erase me.”  

[Secondary Alert: Network Anomaly – Lydia Storm Location Compromised]  

His blood ran cold. “What?”  

[Coordinates: Storm Digital Headquarters]  

Damien ran. By the time he reached the tower, alarms blared. The lobby lights flickered red; smoke curled from shattered monitors. “Lydia!” he shouted, sprinting up the stairs.  

He found her in the control room, bruised but standing, clutching a pistol. “They tried to kidnap me,” she gasped. “Said they wanted your System.”  

He pulled her close, scanning the damage. “You’re bleeding.”  

“I’ve had worse.”  

[Medical Subroutine Available]  

“Do it,” Damien ordered. A soft blue light emanated from his watch, sealing the cut on her arm.  

Lydia stared at the glow. “What are you becoming?”  

He didn’t answer. Hours later, as emergency crews cleared the wreckage, Damien stood on the rooftop, wind howling around him. “System, what’s the endgame?”

[Endgame Undefined]  

“Then why help me?”  

[Because you chose to rise]  

He stared into the distance where the city lights met the ocean. “Ravenwood’s going to pay.”  

[Next Quest Unlocked: Dismantle BlackCircle from Within]  

[Reward: Tier 3 Access – System Fusion]  

[Time Limit: 21 Days]  

Damien smiled, the wind tearing through his hair. “Then let’s end the game.”