Abuja – Razor's Final Hideout.
He was bleeding from the ribs.
Two of his men gone. One shot in the head, the other ran screaming into the bush.
His empire was a graveyard now.
The internet was flooded with proof.
The streets?
Dead quiet.
Nobody backed Razor anymore.
He was the devil with receipts.
And still…
He refused to kneel.
"Tell Reign…" he growled to his last man, "…I'm still breathing."
That man turned to him slowly.
"You won't be for long."
And pulled the trigger.
Same time – Framework HQ, Accra.
Dave sat across from Tessa and Thin Ice.
News reports blared across the room:
"RAZOR FOUND DEAD IN SAFEHOUSE"
"MERCENARY EMPIRE FALLS OVERNIGHT"
"BUCHI UNDER FIRE FOR MULTIPLE LEAK CONNECTIONS"
Tessa leaned forward.
"So what now?"
Dave closed his laptop slowly, calmly.
"Now… we cut the head."
"And show the world who's been feeding all the monsters."
He opened a case.
Inside:
A black brief with a single drive — labeled SNAKEHEART.
Flashback – 3 Years Ago. Covert Archive Facility, Mali.
Dave, younger, sharper, unburned.
He broke into a data vault once run by French intelligence — not for a job, but out of curiosity.
Inside, he found a list.
A list of black-market surveillance systems.
All linked by one funder.
Buchi Aremu.
Not just a fixer.
Not just a D-Chain handler.
The kingmaker of the dark economy.
Dave didn't tell anyone back then.
Because he knew…
"You only shoot when the world's watching."
Present – Framework Jet, Airborne.
Destination: Switzerland.
Buchi's international vault is there.
Hidden beneath shell companies and fake names.
But Dave had the key now.
And more than that…
He had Buchi's voice — recorded during an old call with Razor.
"Reign's just a weapon. When he's done, we put him down like the others."
Tessa stared at him mid-flight.
"You sure you're ready for global war?"
Dave's eyes didn't blink.
"I'm not going to war."
"I'm ending it."
Meanwhile – Buchi's Office, Abuja.
The power flickered.
Again.
He reached for his phone.
Static.
His private laptop glowed.
An open screen playing:
"DEATH TO KINGS WHO BUILD EMPIRES ON GHOSTS."
— REIGN
Buchi stood up, heart racing.
Then something landed outside.
Not a bomb.
Not a drone.
A simple envelope.
He opened it.
Inside:
His own obituary. Dated tomorrow.
Zurich, Switzerland – 11:17 p.m.
Cold air.
Thin snow coating the rooftops like dust on forgotten tombstones.
Dave Reign moved through it like smoke.
No luggage. No phone. No trace.
He passed the guards at Solange Bank International wearing the face of someone who didn't exist in any database.
Passport name: Kwame Obasi.
NATO clearance tag: Level Zero.
Implant tracker: fake.
All custom.
All designed by Dave himself, years ago — in case he ever needed to ghost his way into the lion's den.
Now he was here.
And the lion?
Still sleeping.
Inside Vault 32B.
He slid the access card.
Typed in the 27-digit code.
Then whispered the voiceprint.
"Every empire burns from within."
The doors opened.
Inside:
Cold steel boxes stacked like coffins.
Each one tagged with untraceable names.
He opened four.
Each box had evidence Buchi buried:
Videos of political bribes.Ledgers of illegal organ trades.Surveillance footage of world leaders in blackmail setups.And a kill list — Dave's name was #6.
He took it all.
And left a gift.
A black USB.
Label:
"Final Broadcast – Scheduled: 00:01 GMT"
The countdown had begun.
Meanwhile – Accra.
Tessa sat alone.
She had found something in the archives Thin Ice pulled from Buchi's storage logs.
A folder.
"Project Fold: Subject 008 – Revision Memo"
Her number.
Inside: a voice note.
"Tessa is the only subject we can't fully control. She bonds too easily, resists quietly. If she ever breaks protocol… neutralize Reign."
She dropped the tablet.
Tears didn't come.
But fury did.
They never wanted her to be real.
They built her to be a fail-safe.
A silent bomb wired to Dave's heart.
Zurich – Street Outside Solange Bank.
Dave walked out, hoodie up.
Behind him, alarms began to wail.
Not from what he took…
But from what he left.
A program.
Designed to leak everything in Vault 32B — across dark web, major news outlets, AI aggregators, and whistleblower channels.
At 00:01 GMT… the world would burn.
Abuja – Buchi's Compound.
His phone rang.
Private line. Satellite-secured.
Only one voice came through.
"You have 43 minutes to run."
Buchi froze.
"Reign—"
"You forgot something."
"Ghosts… don't play fair."
00:01 GMT – The Broadcast Begins.
Every major network froze mid-sentence.
TVs. Phones. Tablets. Jumbotrons.
A simple logo replaced every screen:
REIGN
"The empire you serve is already dead."
Then came the files.
One by one, unedited:
Video of Buchi laundering election money through fake orphanages.Razor's secret contracts with D-Chain to incite tribal violence.List of media heads paid to kill stories about missing children.
The world watched in silence.
Until silence shattered.
Riots. Arrests. News anchors crying on-air.
Interpol launched an emergency session.
UN agents called the leak "apocalyptic."
And Dave?
He stood on a rooftop in Zurich.
Alone.
Hood down.
Eyes sharp.
Watching it all fall.
Elsewhere – Framework HQ, Accra.
Tessa walked into the ops room.
Thin Ice looked up.
"It's done. He really dropped the bomb."
She nodded slowly.
"Yeah. But we've got a bigger problem."
She handed him the file she found.
PROJECT FOLD.
Thin Ice's eyes widened.
"This can't be right."
"She was wired to kill him?"
Tessa clenched her jaw.
"Built to love him. Wired to end him."
"And if Buchi hits the kill switch…"
They both looked at the mainframe.
"Dave dies from the one person he trusts."
Zurich – Rooftop.
Dave's phone buzzed.
A single ping.
Not from Thin Ice.
Not from Tessa.
From someone he hadn't heard from in years.
Codename:
Rook
An old asset handler.
Long buried.
Message:
"Check your circle. Project Fold is still active. One of yours was never yours."
Dave didn't move.
But his pulse shifted.
He typed back one word.
"Who?"
No reply.
Meanwhile – Abuja.
Buchi was cornered.
Private airport blocked. Homes raided. Funds frozen.
But he had one last move.
He opened a hidden satellite console.
Typed in a six-digit command.
On the screen:
PROJECT FOLD – STATUS: ARMED
TARGET: REIGN.
A question appeared:
"ACTIVATE TERMINAL AGENT 008?"
His finger hovered over "YES."
Accra – Framework HQ.
Tessa collapsed.
Pain shot through her skull like ice in her spine.
"Tess?!"
Thin Ice caught her.
Her pupils shifted.
Voice flat.
"Objective: terminate ghost asset. Location: Zurich."
Thin Ice backed away, horrified.
"No. No. NO—"
She stood. Mechanical.
Grabbed a gun.
And walked out.
Zurich.
Dave turned toward the wind.
He felt it before it happened.
The shift in the world.
In her.
"They pulled her thread," he whispered.
And for the first time since this began…
Dave Reign felt something close to fear.
Zurich – 3:44 a.m.
Dave moved through the city like a shadow.
No comms. No team. No trace.
He didn't run because he was afraid.
He ran because she was coming.
And he knew her better than anyone else.
She wouldn't miss.
Accra – Framework HQ.
Thin Ice was losing it.
Tessa was gone. Fully activated.
The last message she left was scribbled in code:
"Love was real. Programming was older."
He turned to the AI tracker — a tool she herself helped build.
It was already showing a kill pattern.
Project Fold wasn't a kill switch.
It was a time bomb wired into her loyalty.
Triggered only if Reign got too powerful.
And now?
The world saw Reign as a messiah.
The program did too.
Zurich – Private Parking Structure, Level 4.
Dave stood still.
He could feel her.
Not hear her.
Not see her.
But feel her.
Like rain before it hits.
Then a whisper cut through the silence:
"Don't move."
Tessa.
He turned slowly.
She was holding a silenced Glock. No hesitation.
But her hand… it trembled.
"You know this isn't me," she said.
He nodded.
"I know."
"But you're still going to pull the trigger."
She blinked.
Something behind her eyes cracked.
"Why didn't you tell me I was a weapon?"
Dave stepped forward.
"Because you're more than that."
"Because you chose love… before they turned it off."
"And because if this is how I go—"
He touched his chest.
"—then it was still worth it."
Her finger moved.
Just slightly.
Then…
Bang.
But the bullet missed.
She screamed.
Dropped the gun.
Collapsed.
Dave caught her before she hit the floor.
"They didn't erase you," he whispered.
"They just made you forget who you are."
15 minutes later – Inside an old church basement.
Tessa's breathing slowed.
Dave had injected her with a blocker — something Thin Ice developed just in case.
It worked.
Mostly.
She opened her eyes.
"You should've let me shoot."
Dave smirked slightly.
"And waste good drama?"
"Nah."
"You're better than your code."
Meanwhile – Abuja.
Buchi stood staring at the "FAILURE" message on the console.
Project Fold had collapsed.
Tessa had broken programming.
"Of course," he muttered.
"The ghost taught the machine how to dream."
He turned to his guards.
"Prepare the bunker. Plan B is live."
"If I can't kill the myth—"
"I'll burn the world around him."