2026-01-21 03:38:36The rain fell like heavy stones. It hit the rusted shipping containers with loud clangs. It washed the blood from Ronan’s forehead into his eyes. He blinked, trying to see, but the world was a blur of gray water and dark shadows.
He pressed his hand against the side of his head. His fingers felt wet and sticky. It was not just rain. It was warm blood.
"Stop running," a voice shouted. It was a deep, bored voice. It sounded like a man ordering a coffee, not a man holding a gun.
Ronan did not stop. He stumbled forward. His expensive leather shoes slipped on the oil-covered concrete of the docks. He breathed hard. His chest felt tight. This was supposed to be a meeting. A simple handshake. A deal to save the company.
He turned a corner around a stack of blue crates. Dead end.
Before him was the edge of the dock. Beyond that, only the black, churning water of the bay. The waves crashed against the wood pilings. The smell of old fish and diesel fuel filled his nose.
Ronan turned around.
The man walked out from the shadows. He was big. He wore a long, plastic raincoat that shined under the yellow streetlamp. The rain dripped off the brim of his hat. In his right hand, he held a pistol. It was black and steady.
"Please," Ronan said. His voice shook. "Take my wallet. Take my watch. It’s a prototype. It’s worth millions."
The man stopped ten feet away. He did not raise his voice. He did not look angry. He looked at Ronan like a mechanic looks at a broken car.
"I don't want your wallet, Ronan," the man said.
Ronan’s back touched the cold metal of a crane leg. "Who are you? The message said—"
"The message was a lie," the man interrupted. He took a step closer. The thunder boomed overhead, shaking the ground. "There is no buyer. There is no deal."
Ronan felt a cold knot in his stomach. "Then why?"
The man sighed. He wiped rain from his face with his free hand. "Elena sent me."
The name hit Ronan harder than a bullet. Elena. His partner. His best friend. The woman who stood by him when they built their tech empire in a garage. Elena, who had smiled this morning and fixed his tie. 'Go get them, Ronan,' she had said. 'This trip will change everything.'
"No," Ronan whispered. "Elena wouldn't. We built this together."
The man raised the gun. He aimed at Ronan’s chest. "She did the math, kid. You are the dreamer. She is the CEO. She says you are too soft. You want to give the tech away for free. She says you are bad for the stock price."
Ronan stared at the man. The rain felt colder now. It froze his skin. It wasn't a robbery. It was a calculation. A cold equation. Ronan minus the company equaled profit.
"She can't do this," Ronan said. He looked for a way out. There was only the dark water behind him.
"She already did," the man said. "Nothing personal. Just business."
The man’s finger tightened on the trigger.
Ronan tensed. He thought about running at the man. He thought about begging. But his mind was slow. He was just an engineer, not a fighter. He solved problems with code, not fists.
Bang.
The sound was small against the storm. Ronan felt a hard punch to his chest. The air left his lungs. He did not feel pain yet, only a great shock. The force pushed him backward.
He lost his balance. His feet left the concrete.
For a second, he floated in the air. He saw the man lower the gun. He saw the rain falling in slow motion. He saw the lights of the city far away, blurry and uncaring.
Then, the water took him.
Splash.
The cold was instant. It was a shock that went deep into his bones. The dark water closed over his head. The sound of the rain and the thunder vanished. There was only silence and the rush of bubbles.
Ronan sank.
He tried to swim, but his arms felt heavy as lead. His chest burned. Saltwater entered his mouth. The taste of copper and salt made him gag.
Elena. The thought faded. Why?
He fell deeper into the dark. The surface light became a small, dim circle above him. He was dying. He knew it. The cold equation was complete. Zero.
His left arm drifted in the water. On his wrist, the black band of his watch sat silent. It was the Omega Link. His life's work. It was not just a watch; it was a computer that connected to the human nervous system. Elena wanted to sell it as a toy. Ronan knew it was much more.
As his heart rate slowed, the watch woke up.
A small vibration buzzed against his wrist bone. It was not a notification for a text message. It was something else.
Under the dark water, a red light began to glow on his wrist. It was bright and sharp.
Beep.
Text scrolled across the small screen.
WARNING: VITAL SIGNS DROPPING.
HEART RATE: 30 BPM.
OXYGEN LEVELS: CRITICAL.
Ronan’s eyes were closed. He was drifting away. The darkness was peaceful.
Beep. Beep.
The watch vibrated harder. It sent a small electric pulse into his skin. It sought a connection. It found the nerves in his arm. It traveled up to his spine. It reached his brain.
New text flashed on the red screen.
HOST STATUS: TERMINAL.
EMERGENCY PROTOCOL: ALPHA.
SAFETY LOCK: DISENGAGED.
The watch let out a low hum. The red light pulsed like a heartbeat. It was no longer just monitoring him. It was taking over.
SYSTEM REBOOT.
SEARCHING FOR USER ID...
ID FOUND.
Ronan’s body twitched. The bullet wound in his chest stopped bleeding. The cold water no longer felt cold. The pain in his head vanished.
The text on the screen stopped scrolling. It displayed three final words in bright, angry red letters.
WELCOME BACK, ZERO.
Ronan’s eyes snapped open.
They were not the eyes of a scared engineer anymore. They were wide and focused. He did not gasp for air. He did not panic.
The water was dark, but he could see. The watch synced with his neural patterns. Information flooded his mind.
He saw the temperature of the water: 42 degrees. He saw the depth: Twenty feet. He saw the trajectory of the bullet that had hit him.
He did not die. He calculated.
He looked up at the surface. He saw the distortion of the rain hitting the water above. He saw the shadow of the dock.
Zero moved his legs. He did not thrash. He moved with perfect efficiency. He propelled himself upward, cutting through the water like a torpedo.
The cold equation had changed. The variable was no longer Ronan.
The hunter was still up there, believing the job was done. Elena was somewhere in a high tower, counting her money. They thought they had subtracted him.
But they had just turned him on.
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Chapter 10: Foundation
The neon sign outside the window buzzed like an angry fly. Bzzzt. Click. Bzzzt.Elena hated that sound. She hated the smell of the room, which was like old wet towels and stale smoke. She hated the peeling yellow wallpaper. Most of all, she hated that this was her life now.Three days ago, she was the queen of the city. She had a penthouse, a limousine, and millions of dollars. Now, she was in room 204 of the Sunset Motel."Elena, please sit down," Jax said. He sat on the edge of the lumpy bed. His expensive suit was wrinkled. He looked ten years older than he did last week. "We are out on bail. We are lucky to be here."Elena did not sit. She paced back and forth on the stained carpet. Her hair was messy. Her eyes were wide and red. She looked like a trapped animal."Lucky?" she snapped. She pointed a shaking finger at the door. "They took my company, Jax! They froze my accounts. The news calls me a fraud. I have nothing.""We have our freedom," Jax whispered. "Let’s just run. We can
Chapter 9: The New King
The air outside the Grand Lumina Hotel smelled like burning plastic and expensive perfume. Black smoke rose into the night sky. It looked like a dark stain against the moon.Ronan pushed open the heavy side door. He stepped out onto the cold pavement. The noise hit him instantly. Sirens screamed from every direction. Red and blue lights flashed, blinding anyone who looked directly at them.A crowd had gathered behind the yellow police tape. There were hundreds of them. Reporters held cameras high above their heads. They shouted questions that no one answered."Is the CEO inside?" one reporter yelled."Did the servers explode?" asked another.Ronan walked straight toward them. He wore a faded black hoodie and jeans. He kept his head down. His hands were deep in his pockets.To the crowd, he was nobody. He was just a scared guest escaping the fire. A cameraman actually shoved Ronan’s shoulder to get a better shot of the burning building."Move, kid! You're blocking the view!" the camera
Chapter 8: Served Cold
The lights in the penthouse office died instantly. A heavy click echoed through the room, followed by the low hum of the backup generator.Suddenly, red emergency lights flashed on. They bathed the luxury suite in a bloody, pulsing glow. The shadows in the corners grew long and twisted.Jax jumped back. His confident smile vanished. "What did you do, Ronan?" he shouted. His voice cracked a little.Ronan stood by the window. He did not move. He did not blink. The red light washed over his face, but he looked like a statue made of ice. He looked down at the street below."Listen," Ronan said softly.From far away, the sound grew louder. Wail. Wail. Wail.Sirens. Many of them.Jax let out a nervous laugh. He adjusted his expensive tie, trying to look brave. "You hear that? That is for you, little brother. I told you. You lost. They are coming to take you away for fraud."Ronan turned slowly. He put his hands in his pockets. He looked relaxed. "Are they?"Elena was sitting at the heavy oa
Chapter 7: The Crash
The air in the boardroom was hot and heavy. It smelled like sweat and expensive coffee. On the giant screen at the front of the room, a digital clock counted down.00:59… 00:58… 00:57.Jax sat at the main control desk. He was not looking at the crowd. He was looking at his laptop. His fingers flew across the keyboard. Click-clack-click-clack. He hit the "Enter" key hard.A red box popped up on his screen. ACCESS DENIED."No, no, no," Jax whispered. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. His skin was wet and shiny. He typed again, faster this time. He tried to break through the firewall. He was the CTO. He was supposed to control the system. But the system was fighting back."Jax?" a board member asked from the table. "Why is the screen turning red?""Quiet!" Jax snapped. He typed a new code.ACCESS DENIED.Ronan stood on the stage. He was perfectly still. He looked like he was waiting for a meal, not destroying a billion-dollar company. He watched Jax struggle."It is a comp
Chapter 6: Panic in the Penthouse
The air in the luxury penthouse was cold, but the people inside were sweating. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling like frozen rain. Below them, twenty of the city’s richest investors held glasses of expensive champagne. They wore Italian suits and fake smiles.Ronan stood near the window. He looked calm. He wore a simple black suit that made him look like a shadow in the bright room. Next to him, Elena stood tall. She wore a dress the color of blood. She looked like a queen, but her eyes were darting around the room. She was nervous."Ladies and gentlemen," Elena said, raising her glass. Her voice was smooth like silk. "Forget the drama. Today, we launch the new system. Today, we double your wealth."The investors clapped. They liked money.Then, Ronan touched his phone. He did not look at it. He just tapped the screen once.On the giant wall monitor, the green line stopped. It froze.A loud beep echoed through the room. It sounded like a hospital heart monitor when a patient
Chapter 5: Source Code
The feedback noise was like a knife in every ear.Screech!The high-pitched sound blasted through the massive speakers of the Grand Hall. Investors covered their ears. Expensive champagne glasses shattered on the floor."Cut it!" Elena screamed from the side of the stage. Her face was twisted with panic. She pointed at the sound booth in the back. "Cut the mic! Turn it off now!"Inside the glass booth, the technician was frantically hitting buttons. He looked terrified. He pressed the master power switch, but the lights on his board stayed green. He grabbed his walkie-talkie. "I can't, Ms. Elena! The system is locked out. I have no control!""Pull the plug!" Elena yelled, her voice barely audible over the screeching noise."It’s not the hardware!" the technician yelled back, his face pale. "It’s the software. Prometheus… it has taken full control of the building. It won’t let me in!"Suddenly, the screeching stopped.It didn't fade away. It cut to total silence instantly.The silence
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