The broadcast suite was quiet, with the soft hum of servers and the occasional flash of blinking server lights across the equipment racks. Laila stood in the center, her gaze on the live feed monitor. Her mirrored image on the black screen stared back at her, calm, but not peaceful. Cassian appeared, holding a flash drive. "Final files ready. Triple-checked the papers and cleaned up our source trails." Yemisi followed behind him, carrying an extra unit. "Distribution nodes are set. The moment we push it, it goes to forty-two platforms and reflection accounts in eight countries." Laila exhaled a slow breath. "Once we do this, there's no going back." Cassian nodded. "We've passed the point of no return. Now we see it through." Tobi spoke over the intercom. "Clear outside. No one is moving." Laila plugged the drive into the console. The screen flickered to life. File names streamed in a long list: government bribery, exploitation reports, surveillance reports, blueprints of places, and redacted lists of whistleblowers assumed dead decades ago. Cassian looked at her. "Do you want me to do it?" "No," she replied. "I will." She stepped to stand in front of the camera. Kaima shot her a silent thumbs-up from behind the glass wall. The red light flickered on. And Laila spoke. "To the people watching this: My name is Laila Okoye. I speak not for myself, but for the silenced." Her voice was flat, but behind it lay every bruise, every buried memory, every stolen truth. "Years, you've been fed the line that justice is working. That crimes are punished and secrets buried because they don't matter. That is a lie. We have evidence that an undercover system has operated behind this country's back, victimizing the vulnerable, crushing dissent, and fabricating memory." The feed stumbled once and then steadied. Yemisi nodded reassuringly to her. "These are real documents. They do not show simply names, but structures; not simply crimes, but strategies. What you will find may scare you. It may make you rethink everything you believed. But it's the truth. And once the truth is seen, it cannot be unseen." She paused. "This isn't revenge. This is visibility." In the background, the logo appeared on the green screen: Veilbreakers in white letters on a black background. "The era of whispers is done. Now we talk." She stepped back. Cassian ended the feed. The files are posted automatically. In a minute, the entire drop was live. And the world began to shift. Across the city, phones vibrated. Screens illuminated. News anchors interrupted normal programming to deliver breaking news. Hashtags swamped timelines. Forum threads exploded with translations, rumors, and outrage. Before Laila left the studio, their message had hit over two million. Kemi was waiting for her outside. "You just lit up the silence." Laila looked up at the gray sky. "Then we need to get ready for the smoke." Obasi sat in a dimly lit lounge, the flicker of the TV casting shadows on his face. His glass was untouched. An aide opened the door and stood motionless. "They released everything, sir." Obasi did not blink. "Of course they did." "Do what?" He finally turned, cold and aloof. "We erase." They were hit back at the compound. Yemisi noticed first. "We're being hit." Cassian glanced over her shoulder. "Malware?" "No brute force. They're trying to take us down." Tobi's voice called from the rear. "They're trying to trace the origin points. Shut down all secondaries. Keep the primaries hidden." Kaima stepped towards the power controls. "Enabling backup routing." Laila stood at the center of it all, calm but churning inside. "They will not silence us." "Not today," Cassian replied. The storm outside grew stronger with each hour. But the fire had already consumed all. Within a day, Veilbreakers was trending worldwide. Celebrities, journalists, and human rights groups uploaded the files. The survivors began coming forward, inspired by the leak. But with the flood came fear. One of the sources was kidnapped in Kano. Another was found dead in Bayelsa. Laila scowled at the broadcasts, her fists clenched. "We have to protect them." Kemi nodded. "I will move the vulnerable sources to the safe houses." Cassian looked at Laila. "You're now the public face of this. Are you ready for what's coming?" She didn't answer immediately. Then she spoke, "Let them come. I will not hide." Later that evening, the team gathered in the main room. The bare walls now boasted printed images of individuals who had signed on to the cause. Names of the dead. Black-inked witness statements. Yemisi served tea. Kaima added another name to the growing mural. There was a silence in the air. Cassian broke it. "This is just the beginning.". Laila nodded. "Yes. But now the world sees us." Tobi raised a cup in a toast. "To the veilbreakers." They all toasted. The fire was no longer a spark. It was now a storm.
