Geneva — Subnet Relay #0.08:05 AM.
The sky was too quiet.
Inside the hidden data-cradle buried beneath Geneva's old CERN accelerator — a ghost facility never marked on any blueprint — Ella Mercer stood alone, staring at Protocol V.
It wasn't a virus.It wasn't malware.It was a seed of extinction — code designed to collapse every major network infrastructure, release AI-controlled drones on resistance zones, wipe rebel data cores, and activate scorched-earth economic resets across 32 countries.
The Thirteen never intended to be defeated.
They intended to take the world with them.
The air smelled of ozone and cold metal.
Ella's fingers danced across the interface — lines of machine language rushing across the holo-terminal like a living storm.
"Initiating V-Dark in T-minus 14 minutes…"
A countdown now appeared on every connected network. A final death knell.
Damien's broadcast had forced their hand.
Now she had to make them regret ever teaching her how to fight.
Zurich. Deep Web Taproom.
Damien, Asher, and Mara watched as systems around the world began to shut down.
Electric grids fell.Water systems started crashing.Satellites began "repositioning" — toward rebel cities.
Mara slammed her hand on the console. "She's going to do it. Valeria's really going to end it all."
Asher clenched his jaw. "What can we do?"
Damien's voice was calm.
"We trust Ella."
Back at Subnet-0.
Ella typed like her blood was made of lightning.
"Override attempt: denied.""Failsafe bypass: trace blocked.""Entropy rootchain initializing…"
"Come on… come on…" she whispered.
A synthetic voice began counting down:
"Ten minutes to V-Dark. Nine minutes. Eight—"
Then, without warning—
Valeria appeared.
Not in person.
On the screen.
A perfect, cruel smile in 4K.
"I always knew you'd be the one standing here, Ella. It's poetic, really. You, trying to stop something I designed for people like you."
"People like me?" Ella spat.
"People who think the world can be saved."
Flashback fragment:A memory slammed into Ella — her first week at The Mooring. Valeria's voice whispering through an intercom. Promises of food if she just "adjusted the model."
She had refused. Again and again.And now, she understood: Protocol V had always been her final test.
Ella took a deep breath.
"Run silent root countertrace," she typed."Access dev path: Valeria/Shadow/V05.""Inject mirror logic key: Mercer-13."
Lines of red code stopped. Paused. Flickered.
"...Accessing shadow fork..."
The room dimmed.
Suddenly, the countdown froze at 00:04:39.
A new voice whispered into the chamber.
"Ella. It's you."
Not Valeria.Ella.
A backup version. Her earlier AI — the one she wrote during her captivity. A ghost copy of herself, buried in a hidden branch for this exact day.
"I saved you," the ghost said. "Now save them."
"Execute counter-sunrise protocol," Ella commanded.
Globally.Every screen blinked.Every countdown reversed.Every armed drone dropped out of the sky.
Protocol V began to devour itself.
The Thirteen's master failsafe had been rewritten from within.
By her.
Valeria, watching from her steel penthouse, screamed as the monitors all turned white — then black.
Her hand reached for a gun.
"Initiate manual override—"
But it was too late.
The world had seen her fall.
Subnet-0.As the final code loop collapsed, Ella slumped into the chair, exhausted.
Sweat poured down her temple. Her fingers trembled. But her eyes stayed locked on the screen.
One word flashed back at her.
"Completed."
She leaned back. Exhaled. And whispered:
"Now… they can choose."