The Prometheus Protocol

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 cameraman shouted.

Ronan did not look up. He did not speak. A small, cold smile touched his lips. “If only you knew,” he thought. “You are pushing the man who just turned off the world.”

He slipped under the yellow tape. He moved through the shadows of the alleyway. The chaos faded behind him. The screaming sirens became a dull hum.

At the end of the dark street, a long car waited. It was a black limousine with tinted windows. It looked like a shark swimming in deep water. The engine purred softly.

Ronan opened the back door and slid inside. The door clicked shut. Instantly, the noise of the city vanished. Inside, the air was cool and smelled of leather.

A man sat on the other side of the cabin. He was older, perhaps fifty. He wore a grey suit that cost more than most people’s houses. He held a glass of amber liquid in his hand.

This was Silas. Years ago, Silas had tried to destroy Ronan. They were enemies. But tonight, Silas looked at Ronan with a strange expression. It was fear mixed with respect.

The car began to move. It glided over the potholes smoothly.

Silas took a sip of his drink. He looked out the window at the red glow of the fire reflecting on the glass buildings. Then, he looked at Ronan.

"I watched the code stream," Silas said. His voice was low. "It wasn't a malfunction. It was a signature. A style I haven't seen in five years."

Ronan leaned back into the leather seat. He finally pulled his hood down. His eyes were tired, but they burned with energy. "Did you like the show?"

Silas shook his head slowly. He swirled the ice in his glass. "You didn't just crash their server, Ronan. You erased their history. You wiped out their backups. Lumina Corp is dead."

"They stole my life," Ronan said simply. "I took theirs."

Silas let out a dry laugh. "You burned down a billion-dollar company to light a cigarette, Zero. What now?"

Ronan reached into his jacket. He pulled out a thin tablet. He tapped the screen and placed it on the small table between them.

The screen glowed. It showed a graph of the stock market. A bright red line plummeted straight down. That was Lumina Corp’s value. It was dropping to nothing.

But next to it was a green number. It was rising fast.

"I didn't just burn it," Ronan said. He pointed to the green number. "I bet against them. I short-sold their stock five minutes before the crash."

Silas’s eyes went wide. He leaned forward to look at the numbers. The profit was staggering. It was millions of dollars. And it was growing every second.

"You... you shorted the market?" Silas whispered. "You are not just a hacker anymore. You are a thief."

"I am a king," Ronan corrected him. He took the tablet back. "With this money, I don't need to hide in basements. I will build my own system. A real empire. And I will crush everyone who helped them."

Ronan looked out the window. The city lights blurred as the car sped up. He felt powerful. For the first time in years, he was in control. The code was his weapon, and money was his shield.

Silas poured another drink. His hands were shaking slightly. "Be careful, kid. When you shine a light this bright, you cast a very long shadow."

Ronan closed his eyes. He was ready to rest. But then, a sound broke the silence.

Bzzt. Bzzt.

It was not his normal phone. It was the black burner phone in his inside pocket. The one nobody knew about. The one he never used.

Ronan froze. The air in the car suddenly felt very cold.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the device. The screen was black, except for a single notification. There was no number. No name.

Just a symbol.

It was a picture of a silver eye with a line through it.

Silas saw the symbol and dropped his glass. The amber liquid spilled over the expensive carpet. "No," Silas gasped. His face turned pale white. "Put that away."

"What is it?" Ronan asked. His heart hammered against his ribs.

"The Shadow Council," Silas whispered. He looked terrified. "They own the banks. They own the police. They own the city. They think Zero died five years ago."

Ronan looked at the message below the symbol. It was three simple words.

WE SEE YOU.

Ronan gripped the phone tight. The car drove into a long, dark tunnel. The lights of the city disappeared behind them. He wasn't the hunter anymore.

He was the prey.