The storm was coming.
Jason could feel it—not in the wind, but in the movement of people, money, and power. Every call from an old ally came cloaked in urgency. Too many players were in motion, and none of them understood the game they were entering.
But one man did.
Maxwell Drake.
---
The Hidden Briefing
In a bunker beneath Prague, Maxwell stood before a screen as data flowed across it in real-time.
"WyldeNet nodes are lighting up faster than we anticipated," the AI researcher muttered.
Maxwell remained calm. "Let them. This is the test."
"Of what?"
He turned to them. "Of who deserves to control the next century."
He handed a dossier to the Saudi mogul. Inside: names, locations, influence maps.
"Jason's not the enemy," Maxwell continued. "He's the standard. If we can beat him… we own the future."
---
Jason's Precaution
Back in the States, Jason began assembling his response network—not of tech experts or soldiers, but of people who had nothing to lose and everything to prove:
A brilliant MIT dropout who rebuilt satellites in her garage.
A Navajo coder who ran quantum simulations on a solar-powered farm.
A Nigerian hacker who once broke the IMF's firewall for fun—and returned the money.
Jason didn't just want minds.
He wanted misfits.
People like he had once been.
---
Cass Takes the Stage
In Geneva, Cassandra stood at the World Tech Summit as the world watched.
"WyldeChain was just the beginning," she said. "Today, we're launching CivicKey—a global citizen identity system that protects privacy while enabling access to every modern service."
Applause echoed.
Behind her, the screen showed biometric-free IDs linked to open blockchain verification. Health, finance, education—all accessible without government surveillance.
It was a direct blow to the surveillance capitalists.
And Cass had just become too powerful to ignore.
---
Maxwell Watches
From a darkened room, Maxwell sipped wine and smiled at the screen.
"She's even better than he is," the European capitalist muttered.
Maxwell nodded. "I know."
---
Jason and Cass Reconnect
That night, a private satellite call linked the mountaintop and Geneva.
"I saw the launch," Jason said. "You're incredible."
Cass gave a small smile. "You should've been here."
"I'm not done building."
"Neither am I."
There was a long silence.
Finally, Jason said, "Something's coming. Maxwell's not just playing games. He's seeding a network behind ours."
Cass's eyes hardened. "Then we cut off the roots before it blooms."
Jason smirked. "That's why I married you."