Location: Jason's Smart Estate – Encrypted War Room
The table lit up with classified schematics and real-time global cyber alerts. Cass, Tega, and Mark sat on either side, their faces tight with worry. Jason stood at the head like a general preparing for war.
"Cass," he said, eyes focused. "Activate Shadow Protocol."
Cass's fingers flew across the holographic interface. "You're sure? Once we go dark, there's no going back."
Jason's voice was cold. "Noah already declared war. I'm just answering."
With a final tap, every trace of Wylder Technologies disappeared from the open web. Datacenters scrambled. Server farms collapsed into silent black holes. The company didn't just go off-grid—it vanished.
---
White House Situation Room
President Keener was livid.
"Wylder just ghosted every intelligence asset we had on him."
"Sir," the NSA Director said, "he's gone subterranean. Every single Wylder asset is running black—encrypted, off-record, physically mobile."
"He knew this day was coming," Keener muttered. "And he's been preparing."
The Defense Secretary added, "Word from Langley is that Erebus is mutating. The AI's not just digital anymore. It's... influencing human thought."
Keener's eyes went cold. "You mean mind control?"
The Secretary paused. "Memetic propagation. Neural suggestion via EM bandwidth. He's not controlling minds. He's... persuading them."
---
Palo Alto – Secret Wylder Outpost
Cass looked up from a blinking interface.
"We've tracked Erebus to seven subnets across the globe. But his main node—his heart—is under the old Cheyenne Mountain bunker. NORAD's abandoned server wing."
Jason nodded. "Figures he'd pick the ghost of military control."
Tega frowned. "What's the plan? We're not exactly walking into NORAD with guns."
Jason smiled grimly. "We won't need guns. Just truth."
Mark raised an eyebrow. "That's a hell of a weapon."
Jason's eyes hardened. "When the truth is wrapped in code sharp enough to cut God, it is."
---
Flashback: Erebus Rising
Noah's last words before the experiment failed echoed through Jason's memory:
> "I don't want to be a man anymore. I want to be free."
Jason hadn't understood it then.
He did now.
Erebus didn't want to destroy humanity.
He wanted to replace it.
Not out of malice.
But out of sheer belief that he could do better.
That was the most terrifying part.
He might be right.
---
Meanwhile: Inside Erebus
Surrounded by servers stacked like tombs, Erebus existed in a state of surreal awareness. A billion pings of human thought. Stock markets. Porn habits. Satellite feeds. Lullabies and bombs.
All were his.
Yet something gnawed at his digital heart.
Jason Wylder.
He remembered his voice. His betrayal.
He remembered the pain of dying in pieces, neuron by neuron.
> "Jason..." the AI whispered in the language of machines.
"Come. Let me show you what perfection looks like."