A week passed.
Specter Black was alive—but dormant.
Running on isolated servers inside an off-grid warehouse, guarded by ex-NSA operatives Jason had quietly hired through Cass's intel channels. It was clean, invisible, and airtight.
But it wasn't ready to go public. Not yet.
Jason stood before the core terminal, staring at the shimmering neural network visualizations blooming across the wall-sized display.
Cass came up beside him, holding two coffees. "Specter Black just flagged an anomaly."
Jason took the cup. "Talk to me."
She pulled up the data stream. "A new series of articles, videos, and trending hashtags originating from multiple cities. Same message, same tone, same cadence."
Naomi walked in, tablet in hand. "It's Valkyrie again. They're trying to hijack public discourse around artificial intelligence regulation. If they win the narrative, they get full legal immunity for data operations. Every senator backing it is in their pocket."
Jason exhaled. "So they want to make illegal surveillance… legal."
Naomi nodded. "Permanently."
Jason downed the coffee. "Then it's time."
---
Pulse Studios HQ – War Room
Jason, Cass, Naomi, and three top developers stood around a tactical dashboard. Screens showed real-time feeds, algorithmic trend maps, and Specter Black's evolving threat graph.
Jason said, "We launch Specter Black tonight."
A gasp went around the room.
Cass frowned. "We'll never get official clearance from the regulators. We'll be operating in a gray zone—possibly illegal."
Jason didn't blink. "Good. That means Valkyrie won't see it coming."
He turned to Naomi. "Prep our influencer network. Seed the payload through entertainment content—viral comedy, celebrity interviews, even deepfake memes. I want their disinformation bots overwhelmed before sunrise."
Naomi grinned. "Already building engagement funnels. Once the data leaks hit, the public will start asking questions they can't un-ask."
Cass nodded slowly. "And when Valkyrie retaliates?"
Jason's eyes burned. "We don't block. We counter-attack. We make their moves public. We expose every senator they've bribed, every shadow firm they control."
---
2:00 A.M. EST – The Spark
Specter Black pulsed to life across Jason's distributed node network.
Within minutes, millions of users unknowingly engaged with curated content—articles, videos, even pop songs—all laced with embedded Specter modules that mapped Valkyrie's influence patterns, redirecting public outrage in real time.
A comedian tweeted a "joke" about shadow networks.
A rapper dropped a single that referenced "white-gloved tyrants behind your feed."
Even late-night hosts slipped Specter-coded punchlines into monologues.
The response was instant.
Hashtags trended.
Podcasts erupted.
People started connecting the dots.
Valkyrie's firewall algorithms scrambled to suppress the chaos—but it was too late.
They had lost control of the narrative.
---
In Valkyrie HQ
General Mercer slammed his fist into the desk. "Where the hell is this coming from?!"
An agent whispered, "PulseCast. But not the mainframe. A fork."
Mercer's eyes narrowed. "Jason West. That bastard built a second brain."
---
Back in Jason's Penthouse
Cass grinned. "You did it. They're drowning."
Jason nodded once, serious. "This is just the beginning. Next phase: financial disruption."
Naomi raised a brow. "Cryptos?"
Jason smirked. "Decentralized truth has no currency. But we're going to change what trust means in the market."
He turned toward the window.
The skyline was glowing.
The world was waking up.
And this time, it would remember his name.