Location: Somewhere Over the Pacific Ocean – 7:42 AM
The ONYX CORE jet roared gently above the clouds, disguised as a cargo transport but upgraded with enough stealth tech to make Batman jealous.
Inside, Ryan Bruce was lying face-down on the carpeted floor of the cabin.
"I swear," he mumbled, "if anyone asks me to save the world before breakfast, I'm punching the planet."
"Technically," Emily replied from the kitchenette, "you haven't had dinner yet either. So you're just hangry."
Holly, cross-legged and furiously scribbling in a journal, looked up. "Dad, what rhymes with 'psychological collapse caused by exo-suited mafia trauma'?"
Ryan raised a finger without looking up. "Thursday."
Faith was dragging a half-disassembled drone across the cabin by its wing. "Is this our new pet? I named him Zappy."
Emily turned to Ryan. "Tell me again how this was supposed to be a relaxing vacation."
Ryan finally sat up, hair a mess, tactical belt still on, and the faint smell of scorched spaghetti sauce in the air. "Hey. I booked us an Airbnb with a view. It just turned into a fireball."
7:44 AM – Cockpit, ONYX Jet
Agent Curtis appeared in the doorway, holding a datapad with an expression that screamed bad news sandwich, extra mustard.
"Sir, ma'am. We have a situation."
Ryan groaned. "No. We had a situation. That was the thing with Bella, the exploding lab, and the glitchy stalker-dad. Now we're in the cooldown montage."
Curtis handed over the datapad.
LIVE SECURITY FEED: ONYX BLACKSITE – SITE 09 — STATUS: BREACHED
FILE ACCESSED: PHOENIX.PROTOCOL
THREAT LEVEL: RED
IDENTITY MATCH: UNKNOWN USER — CODENAME: DUSKWIDOW
Ryan blinked. "I'm sorry. Duskwidow? Is that a real name or a Hot Topic password?"
Emily took the pad, eyes narrowing. "I thought Phoenix Protocol was scrubbed after the Larsen disaster."
Curtis hesitated. "Apparently… not completely. And whoever Duskwidow is—they just activated a retrieval command."
"Retrieval of what?" Ryan asked.
Curtis looked grim. "You."
7:47 AM – Cabin Chaos
Holly slammed her journal shut. "Wait. Are we being hunted again?"
Ryan stood, brushing off cookie crumbs. "No. Not again. This is a proactive defensive surprise family mission. Completely different."
Faith gasped. "Can we bring Zappy?"
"No!" said Ryan and Emily in unison.
7:50 AM – Elsewhere…
Somewhere deep beneath Marrakesh, a cloaked figure stared at a massive underground monitor lit with ONYX schematics and flickering symbols.
The Phoenix Protocol spiral rotated across the screen. A robotic voice confirmed:
"ASSET: RYAN BRUCE – ACTIVE"
"OBJECTIVE: REACQUIRE. NEUTRALIZE THREATS."
"AWAKENING: SECTOR 7 – INITIATE 'RED ECLIPSE.'"
The figure smiled beneath a digital veil of static.
A familiar symbol pulsed at the corner of the screen: the Glitch Wolf mask… but corrupted.
Glitch Wolf was gone.
But something worse had just been rebooted.
(TO BE CONTINUED…)