Jason sat alone in the PulseCast executive lounge, staring out at the skyline. The city was alive—but it felt like the calm before a storm.
Naomi entered quietly, two mugs in hand. "Black, no sugar."
He took it with a nod. "Thanks."
She sat beside him, eyes on the horizon. "You've started a fire, you know. ClearFrame's going viral outside of PulseCast."
"Yeah," Jason said, voice distant. "But that fire comes with enemies."
She hesitated. "You saw the Wall Street Journal piece?"
"'The Cult of Authenticity,'" he recited. "They think we're idealists. Dangerous ones."
Naomi glanced at him. "Are we?"
Jason looked down at his reflection in the black coffee.
"Maybe. But it's the right kind of danger."
---
The Senate Committee on Synthetic Manipulation convened a week later.
Jason was the key witness.
Cameras flashed. Reporters shouted. Vivian Keats watched silently from a private gallery.
"Mr. Conner," one senator began, "can you confirm that your company intentionally shut down over 600,000 accounts during your platform's purge?"
"Yes."
"And you admit to releasing ClearFrame's source code publicly, knowing it could affect not just entertainment, but elections, commerce, and foreign media?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Jason leaned forward.
"Because if we don't build tools for truth, someone else will build better tools for lies."
The room went quiet.
Vivian's eyes narrowed.
---
That night, Jason returned home to find Jessica waiting for him on the balcony, wrapped in one of his hoodies.
"You're becoming a little too famous," she teased.
He smiled, pulling her into a hug.
"Guess I'm not just the tech guy anymore."
She stepped back, serious now. "Are you okay?"
Jason looked at her, truly looked.
"I'm tired," he admitted. "Not from work—from fighting ghosts. Fighting people who want to rewrite reality."
Jessica kissed him, soft and slow.
"You don't have to fight alone."
---
Elsewhere, in an underground lab in Zurich, a Valkyrie terminal came alive.
A cold, synthetic voice spoke:
> "Phase Three: Initiate Neural Resonance Protocols."
Vivian appeared on the screen.
"Begin testing," she ordered.
This wasn't just social engineering anymore.
This was cognitive warfare.
---
Back in California, Jason sat with Naomi, Rohan, and Cass in a private session.
He dropped a stack of files on the table. "We've traced Valkyrie's influence into biotech, neuroscience, and wearable AR."
Cass blinked. "Wait… you're saying they're building neurolinks?"
Jason nodded grimly. "They're not just feeding people fake content. They're trying to modulate cognition itself."
Naomi exhaled. "They're going to rewrite what people think is real."
Jason stood.
"Then we build the firewall for the human brain."