Location: Underground Command Grid, Tavara – 5:02 AM
The city still slept under a blanket of silence, but Damien's world was roaring to life beneath its surface.
In the depth of Tavara's forgotten infrastructure, hidden far beneath layers of misdirection, encryption, and reinforced steel, Damien stood before the master console of Midnight Net—an off-the-books contingency system built years ago for one purpose: to reawaken Tavara's most secret network of field agents and informants.
Elijah stood beside him, entering the final access codes.
"This will ping every dormant operative on the Net, including those in hiding," Elijah said. "Once we do this, there's no turning back. Every favor, every ghost we thought buried—comes back."
Damien nodded. "Do it."
The console hissed to life as biometric confirmation completed. Signals shot across the globe. Satellites blinked, signals jumped off abandoned comms towers, and encrypted pings reached mobile devices in the most unlikely of places—from war zones in the Middle East to corporations in London, from black markets in Marrakesh to private estates in the Alps.
In less than three minutes, thirteen dormant operatives had responded.
Each with a single word: Awake.
Juno entered, holding a folder marked with Cassian Wolfe's file. "We have movement. Cassian was spotted three weeks ago in a remote province in northern Tavara, meeting with executives from Arkon Biotech. And there's chatter—he's recruiting."
"For what?" Kaito asked, entering from the other side.
Juno hesitated. "Something called The Thirteenth Protocol. We don't know what it means yet, but sources say it's a resurrection of Requiem's original agenda… only more aggressive."
Damien stared at the map now marked with pulsing red alerts. "He wants a clean sweep of the old world. Eliminate the old dynasties, rewrite the board. He's not just after TavTech—he's coming for the legacy families."
Kaito frowned. "The Ashcrofts. The Minervas. The Lancaster syndicate."
"Us," Damien added.
Juno looked down at the name etched across the file's final page: Damien Blackwood – Primary Target.
"I thought Cassian admired you," she whispered.
"He did," Damien replied grimly. "Right before I destroyed the project he created. Now, he wants to return the favor."
Kaito broke the tension with a question: "Do we go public?"
Damien shook his head. "Not yet. The city's not ready for another war between shadows. This time, we end it before it reaches the surface."
Juno straightened. "What's the plan?"
Damien stared into the screen. "We gather our allies, secure our assets, and track every whisper from Cassian's camp. He wants to play gods and ghosts—fine. I'll show him what happens when he forgets who trained the devil."
He turned to Ava, standing by the door with Nora. She was holding her camera again, silent but alert.
"This time," Damien added, "we fight for more than power. We fight for every innocent caught between our shadows."