The Interrogation : Base Cellblock
Rayne sat bound to a magnetic chair, wrists raw, face half-lit by a single interrogation lamp. The silence was sharp. Too sharp.
Seer'ah entered, flanked by Zyn. No mask. No mercy.
Seer'ah: "Your name."
Rayne: "Rayne Vexis."
Seer'ah: "Your father?"
Rayne: "President Souris Vexis."
Seer'ah: "Your mother's maiden name?"
Rayne: "What is this "
ZAP — the chair flared blue. Rayne arched.
Seer'ah: "We ask. You answer."
The questions came like gunfire:
"What was your father doing at the Mars accords 10 years ago?" "Why did he personally fund RaveLight's memory servers?" "Who designed the echo core interface blueprints?" "Do you have access to Project Mira's terminal?" "Where was your father during the Conn terminal experiments in 3xxx" "What's your last conversation with him about the Black House?" "Do you know what Echo-17 was used for?" "Do you know what they did to Soy's people in Sector 3?" "Who's protecting RaveLight now that the breach is known?" "What's your father's link to new muc'vha?" "Why did you visit the CenTech building ruins every last day of the month?" "What are the Blue Vaults?" "Why did your father grant diplomatic immunity to Mira's founder?" "What are the Cold Sites hidden beneath Artemis Base?" "How many AI shells have been deployed since the Dra war ended?" "Does the President know the vaults are still online?" "Do you?"
Rayne (gasping): "I don't know half the things you're saying!"
Seer'ah leaned in.
Seer'ah: "Then it's time to start learning."
Rayne's breath shuddered. Zyn raised the voltage again.
Soy's voice cut through the intercom.
Soy: "Enough. Let me talk to him. We've got the crates. Let me take it from here."
---
Glimpses of the sacrifices : the loved ones
Soy sat down across from Rayne, tossing a bottle of water between them.
Soy: "She likes pain. I prefer conversation."
Rayne: "You think I'll talk to you?"
Soy: "No. I think you'll ask questions."
Rayne (spits): "You're terrorists."
Soy: "To them, yeah. And what are they? Saints with billion-dollar bombs?"
Rayne: "Why are you doing this? Why go against the world?"
Soy: "Because we already saw the future—and it's built on corpses."
Rayne: "That's not an answer."
Soy (calm): "Your father isn't clean, Rayne. He funds companies that build AI weapons. He signs silence deals. He greenlit experiments that turned my people into batteries."
Rayne: "You don't know him."
Soy: "And you don't know the world you live in."
Rayne: "Why kill soldiers? What about their families? Their kids? You think grief makes you right?"
Soy stood.
Soy: "You think I don't know grief? You think I haven't lost? The woman I loved was sold, bled, used by the very people your father shook hands with. My people were locked in cages. My mother..."
He stopped himself.
Soy: "We don't fight for revenge. We fight so it doesn't happen again."
Rayne (quiet): "Then why am I still breathing?"
Soy: "Because somewhere, Kael still believes in you. Don't make him wrong."
---
Flashback: The Mafia Deal ( before introgation )
Tichala's voice crackled as the footage played back.
Grainy. Old. Brutal.
The team had hit an illegal weapons depot in Sector 15O. But it wasn't for Conn it was for a mafia boss who'd smuggled cybersteel across the border for them. Payment? Blood. The team wiped out two rival gangs trying to muscle into his territory.
It was a massacre.
Rav got slashed across the shoulder during a hallway ambush. Juno broke two ribs diving through a kinetic minefield. Rav went through the front gate like a storm—bare fists against shock-axes, cracking spines until the floor was red and twitching.
Zyn: "We did all that… for him?"
Kruu (flat): "It kept us breathing. And bought us the next two raids."
Zyn turned. A flashing alert glowed red.
Zyn: "We're on the world's most wanted list."
Tichala: "Expected. But not military. These are corporate blacklists. Intelligence cells. Off-books assassins."
Zyn (grim): "That's worse."
---
Hidden Room : UN Industrial Block
A reinforced door hissed shut behind them. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead. No windows. No cameras. Just secrets.
Hadrek slammed a case file onto the titanium table, papers spilling out—schematics, thermal signatures, missing crate reports.
Hadrek (furious):
"We've lost the prototypes. The quantum drivers. The phase-firewalls. All of it gone."
Souris stood across from him, calm in a pristine gray suit, eyes tired but sharp.
Souris:
"We'll buy time. Trigger media silence protocols. We still control the leak funnels."
Hadrek:
"Japan expects shipment in four days. America in six. India just paid in advance. Our partners will smell blood."
Souris (low):
"It's not the deals I fear. It's the war. Our military isn't ready for another full campaign."
Hadrek:
"We were ready… until he betrayed us."
(They never say the name. But they don't need to.)
Souris:
"Then we strike first. Leak a cover story. Rogue AI attack. Discredit everything."
Hadrek:
"This can't go wrong. We've made too many enemies… in too many languages."
Above, hidden in the rafters Kael listened.
Eyes wide. Chest tight. World unraveling beneath him.
---
Return to Base : War Room Briefing
The war room's lights dimmed as Seer'ah entered, her cloak trailing embers from the cold outside. Soy followed behind, bruised but unreadable.
Seer'ah:
"Phase crystal count confirmed. Neuro-drivers stable. Inventory is complete. The weapons list is now updated."
She tossed a data core onto the central console.
Tichala, already scanning the uplinks, didn't look up.
Kruu turned, grim-faced.
Kruu:
"We've got a problem. They've launched the bounty through private channels. No national seals. No flags. Proxies only."
Soy:
"They're not hunting us out of pride. They're doing it in shadows. Quiet… cold."
Kruu:
"More than that. They're burying the truth. The Ravelight breach? Never happened—on record."
He flicked his wrist. Holo-screens buzzed to life—news anchors reporting a supposed "Echo AI malfunction," entire military panels discussing "internal failures," nothing mentioning the heist.
Kruu:
"They're rewriting the timeline. And worse? They're doing it well. Every trail leads to a fake culprit. Some malfunction. No names. No rebels. Not even us."
James (smirking):
"So we pulled off the perfect heist and don't even get credit?"
Seer'ah (coldly):
"No. It means they're scared. And scared people are the best liars."
Zyn:
"If they're hiding this… what else are they building?"
Kruu:
"The Black House files. We've seen glimpses. Mira wasn't the end. RaveLight is just one head of a hydra. There's data connecting them to CIA cell funding, human trials, and interplanetary arms trafficking."
He brought up a map of vaults hidden under key UN cities.
Kruu:
"That's our next move. We get those files. We expose them."
Eira:
"And Needle?"
Everyone looked toward Soy. His silence broke slowly.
Soy (firm):
"Phase Two… is for him."
Seer'ah nodded, her voice unwavering.
Seer'ah:
"36 hours. Heal, prep, arm up. No more half-measures. We take Needle… and burn the rot behind him."
---
End of Chapter 12: The Truth That Burns
They didn't put the bounty themselves. Not the military. Not the government. They used proxies—blacklisted contractors, corporate shells, even dead firms. Why? Because doing it publicly would mean admitting the truth: RaveLight got breached. Their golden tech, exposed. If the world knew, other countries would start circling like vultures. Every deal, every handshake they made—gone. And the people? They'd lose trust overnight. So instead… they covered it with shadows. They set the bounty like cowards—through backdoors. Quiet. Hidden. Because pride is louder than panic."