2025-04-30 00:48:57Frank’s hands trembled as the blinking cursor on his screen revealed something extraordinary. The code had rearranged itself—not random, but deliberate. A message. A sequence. A signature only someone with deep mathematical intuition could see.
He stared at the symbols.
It wasn’t just a pattern. It was a roadmap. A digital key that—if followed—could unlock restricted assets buried deep within WrenTech’s encrypted servers.
Frank barely slept that night.
The next morning, Frank dragged himself into WrenTech. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead as if mocking his nerves. He went about his cleaning, blending into walls like a ghost. But his mind? His mind was burning.
At lunch, he found Ella in the garden atrium, seated on a stone bench scrolling through her tablet.
“You look like a zombie,” she said, smirking.
Frank sat down, hesitant. “Ella… can I ask you something?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Shoot.”
“What do you know about T9Space?”
Her smile faded instantly. “Why?”
“I think I’ve been working on it,” he whispered. “At home. I might have… found something.”
“Frank, that’s impossible. Even my dad’s top cyber analysts couldn’t crack it. They've tried for over a year.”
“I’m not saying I cracked it yet. But I saw a pattern in the logs. The encryption’s layered like DNA sequencing. I think the key was hiding in the first-letter structure of their asset logs.”
Ella leaned in. “You saw the logs?”
Frank froze.
“You were eavesdropping?” she added quietly.
He didn’t answer.
Ella exhaled, then looked around to make sure no one was listening. “My dad would kill you for snooping around.”
“I wasn’t snooping. I was cleaning. They threw the files in the trash.”
“You read garbage now?” she teased—but there was tension in her voice.
Frank didn’t laugh. “Ella, I think this company’s in real danger.”
She looked at him sharply. “What do you mean?”
“There’s someone on the board—Corbin. He’s not just power-hungry. I think he’s planning something.”
Ella’s face went pale. “What are you talking about?”
“I heard him speaking on the phone last week in the executive lounge. He mentioned ‘accelerating plans’ if the company goes under. Something about ‘clean transitions.’ It didn’t sound like legal strategy.”
Ella stood. “You need to stop this. Right now. If you get caught—”
“I can crack it,” Frank interrupted. “If I get five minutes in front of that terminal, I can prove it.”
She stared at him, unsure whether to call him crazy or a genius.
Before she could answer, her phone rang. She glanced at the screen and turned pale.
“My dad’s calling an emergency board meeting,” she whispered. “They’re going to announce the company’s closure.”
Frank stood. “Then this is my only chance.”
The boardroom was packed with tension. High-level executives sat in stiff silence as Winston Wrenford paced in front of the window, his back to everyone.
“This is not easy for me,” he said without turning. “We’ve run out of time. Without access to the Chinese T9 network, our competitors will gut us within a fiscal quarter.”
Murmurs rippled across the room.
Corbin leaned back in his chair, smirking. “Perhaps it’s time to shift to foreign buyers. There are parties interested. I could manage the transition.”
Winston turned slowly. “If you’re suggesting I hand over this company to you, Corbin, then you clearly misunderstood who you’re dealing with.”
Before Corbin could answer, the boardroom door creaked open.
Everyone turned.
Frank stood at the entrance, dressed in his janitor uniform, mop still in hand.
A silence fell over the room like a falling guillotine.
Winston’s brow furrowed. “Who let you in here?”
Frank stepped forward, voice steady. “I can crack the T9 code.”
The room erupted in scoffs, laughter, disbelief.
“You?” Corbin snorted. “You clean tiles.”
“Exactly,” Frank said. “Which means I’ve been listening to this circus of failure long enough.”
“Get him out—” someone shouted.
But Winston raised a hand. “Let him speak.”
Corbin stood abruptly. “This is absurd. Are we letting janitors dictate board meetings now?”
“I’ve been working on this code for weeks,” Frank said. “Your analysts have the wrong approach. They’re looking for a key in the encryption. But it’s not a key—it’s a riddle. The answer’s embedded in the first-character sequences of every failed login. It’s recursive.”
Some board members blinked in confusion. Others narrowed their eyes.
Frank held up a flash drive. “This contains my process. All I need is five minutes.”
Winston stared at the young man. He didn’t know whether to laugh… or take a leap of faith.
“Let him try,” someone muttered. “We’ve got nothing to lose.”
“Fine,” Winston said. “But if this is a stunt, I’ll have you arrested.”
Frank nodded.
He walked to the main terminal and inserted his drive. The screen blinked. Lines of code scrolled. His fingers danced across the keyboard, narrating his process as he went.
Corbin leaned toward another executive, whispering something through clenched teeth.
Fifteen minutes in, Frank hit a wall.
“This can’t be right…” he muttered.
“What now?” Winston asked.
Frank’s eyes flicked across the code. “The system isn’t just encrypted. It’s watching me. Learning from every input.”
More scoffs.
Then: a loud ping.
The screen began to decrypt.
An audible gasp swept across the room as the T9 core interface revealed itself for the first time in company history.
“It’s done,” Frank whispered. “We’re in.”
Corbin stood motionless, his face drained of blood.
Then he slowly stepped back, pulled out his phone, and texted a single word:
“Advance.”
Somewhere in the city, a sniper received his cue.
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Chapter 14: Phase Two
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Chapter 13: The Fall Beneath
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Chapter 12: Bloodlines and Betrayals
“CASEY!”Frank lunged forward just in time to catch his friend as the red dot vanished and a sharp crack echoed down the hallway. Casey’s body went limp in his arms, blood soaking through his jacket.Ella spun toward the direction of the shot, weapon raised. “Sniper—moving fast!”Adrian darted to the wall, yanking open a concealed maintenance panel. “Emergency shaft, now!”Frank dragged Casey, heart pounding. “Stay with me, man. Stay with me!”Casey coughed, blood at the corner of his mouth. “Vest… got most of it... I think…” He winced, his breathing shallow.“You're not dying on me,” Frank growled. “Not after coming back from the dead.”They shoved into the maintenance tunnel just as bullets sprayed the metal walls behind them. Sparks erupted. Frank kicked the hatch shut, panting, his hands soaked in his friend's blood.“Who the hell was that?” Ella asked, wide-eyed.Adrian looked grim. “I was afraid they’d deploy her. That shot came from Subject Nine.”“Who is she?” Frank demanded.
Chapter 11: The Ghost from the Past
Frank’s breath caught in his throat.He hadn’t seen that face in a decade. A face etched into his earliest memories—a face that haunted his dreams.“Adrian…” Frank whispered.The man standing in the doorway stepped forward, half his face cloaked in shadow. Older, hardened, eyes colder than Frank remembered.“Hello, little brother,” Adrian said, voice smooth and cutting.Ella’s eyes darted between them. “You have a brother?”“I thought he was dead,” Frank muttered, barely able to comprehend it. “You disappeared. They said you died in that fire.”Adrian smiled. “I did disappear. But death? That’s a story the company wanted you to believe. Just like everything else.”Frank took a cautious step forward. “Why? Why fake your death? Why leave us?”Adrian’s smile faded. “Because I was recruited, Frank. Pulled into something bigger. Something you weren’t ready for.”“You’re one of them?” Ella asked.“No,” Adrian said. “I’m worse.”Frank stepped in front of Ella protectively. “Why are you here?
Chapter 10: Triggered Loyalties
Frank froze.The Ella standing before him looked the same—but something in her expression had shifted. Her once-soft gaze was replaced with something sharp, calculated, almost mechanical.“Ella?” he said cautiously.She tilted her head slowly, eyes unfocused. “Awaken protocol initiated… validating sequence.”Frank’s heart pounded as he backed a step away. “What are you talking about?”She blinked rapidly. “No… no, this isn’t real,” she whispered, clutching her head. “What’s happening to me?”“Ella, listen to me,” Frank said, moving toward her, “you’re okay. Whatever this is, fight it.”But she suddenly shoved him back—hard. He slammed into the wall, groaning from the impact.“I said stay away!” she cried, breathing heavily, her voice layered—one part her, one part... someone else.Frank's mind raced. He grabbed the phone and studied the screen.Awaken.A second message appeared beneath it:"Sleeper protocol unlocked: Subject E-17 active."He looked up at her in disbelief. “You’re E-17
