Tavara – Eastern Highlands, Damien's War Estate
The early morning mist clung to the earth like ghosts reluctant to let go. Damien stood at the edge of the estate's eastern watchtower, overlooking the valley that once belonged solely to farmers and silence. Now, it was dotted with discreet drone nests and perimeter motion sensors.
His comms buzzed.
"Sir," Eli's voice crackled, "We've detected encrypted transmissions from within your own estate."
Damien's hand tightened around the steel rail. "Who's sending them?"
There was a pause.
"We traced the signal to your cousin—Delilah."
The name hit like a gut punch. Delilah—the bright-eyed strategist from his mother's side. The one who helped him rebuild after the Marseille fiasco. The one he trusted with the backup codes to the Geneva vault.
---
Estate Interior – Central Hub
Delilah Monroe sat before a digital interface, her hands trembling over the keyboard. Her screen flickered with incoming data—coordinates, weapons schematics, and biometric profiles—all flagged "confidential."
The last image on her screen was Damien's face.
She hesitated.
Suddenly, the lights dimmed. A voice echoed behind her.
"I trusted you, Delilah."
She turned—Damien stood there, not angry, just... broken.
"It wasn't meant to be this way," she pleaded. "I wasn't working with them. I was trying to infiltrate them—bring Archer down from the inside."
Damien's eyes narrowed. "By leaking my sister's location? By selling blueprints of the Geneva vault's defense system?"
Delilah's breath caught.
He already knew everything.
Before she could explain, a second voice entered the room.
"She's telling the truth."
Nora emerged from the shadowed corridor, holding a flash drive. "This proves Delilah was feeding false data to Archer's side. Enough to earn their trust… but just enough to delay their moves."
Damien turned sharply. "You knew?"
"I suspected," Nora said. "So I set up a sting."
She placed the drive on the console and flicked it on. A holographic projection filled the room—maps, faces, and lines of code illuminating a much darker conspiracy. At the center of it all was not just Archer, but Cassandra Lin.
"She's back," Nora whispered. "And she's building something big in Africa."
Damien exhaled sharply. "What?"
"A global AI governance program—project name: 'Eclipse Protocol.' It uses predictive behavioral algorithms to control financial markets and political elections. And it's being hosted in Kinshasa."
"Congo," Damien muttered. "They're moving fast."
"They've already started onboarding rogue AIs and outlawed quantum chips from Russia and India," Nora said. "And the worst part? Cassandra isn't working alone."
---
Kinshasa, DRC – Underground AI Lab
Cassandra Lin walked the hall of her newest stronghold, accompanied by a tall man in an ivory suit. His name: Sergei Vostov, a Russian cryptography warlord who once took down five European banking systems in a single hour.
They stopped before a containment chamber. Inside, an AI core pulsed, humming with eerie life.
"The Tavaran network is ripe for control," Sergei said. "But if we take Damien's estate, the rest will collapse like dominoes."
Cassandra smiled. "Then we begin with the blood."
She handed Sergei a file.
Inside was a photo of Damien's younger brother, Marcus—hiding in Thailand under a new identity.
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Tavara – Damien's Private Command Room
Later that night, Damien and Nora sat in silence.
"She's after Marcus," Nora said. "They found him."
Damien's face darkened. "I sent him away to protect him. He's never been involved."
"They don't care. They just want to break you."
He turned toward her, his voice low. "Then it's time we stop reacting."
"What are you thinking?"
Damien tapped the screen, pulling up a black-flag file.
"Project Revenant."
Nora's eyes widened. "That program's been buried for ten years."
"Not anymore," Damien said grimly. "It's time we bring the ghosts to the surface."
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