Washington, D.C.
The jet landed just after 3:00 PM. Titan didn't fly commercial anymore—not because he was afraid of crowds, but because time was currency, and private jets didn't make you wait in line.
The System had booked the entire flight, including a co-pilot trained in discretion and a jet that couldn't be traced to TitanCore Holdings or Titan Grant. On paper, it was a shell firm in Switzerland. In practice, it was the beginning of an empire's air fleet.
D.C. looked quieter than New York, but Titan could feel the weight in the air—a different kind of power. Not fast money. Not flashy status. But silent, coded, ancestral power. The kind that printed laws and buried scandals.
He was here for a closed-door roundtable, the kind never covered by news outlets and never mentioned in official calendars. No press. No cameras. Just decision-makers, their advisors—and now, him.
System Ping: High-Risk Zone – 9 Unknown Variables Detected
Deploying: Passive Defensive Protocols (Info Shield, Voice Modulation Alert, Behavioral Scan)
Titan adjusted the cuff of his dark tailored suit. His heartbeat was steady. His breathing calm. His voice, if it needed to speak, would be reinforced with the Voice of Authority perk, now permanently active.
A black SUV waited at the edge of the airstrip.
He stepped in.
Forty Minutes Later – Federal Building, Secure Level B2
He was led down two staircases, past multiple biometric checkpoints, into a hexagonal meeting room filled with sound-cancelling panels and a central glass table.
Seated already were nine people.
Only one name had been shared beforehand: Senator Harold Lytton, a key figure in the Senate Financial Oversight Committee, and rumored liaison to tech billionaires behind closed doors.
The rest were powerful but hidden—heads of agencies, advisors, think tank strategists, and one woman who didn't speak the entire meeting but whose name tag simply read "Observing—Clearance Zeta."
Titan took his seat at the far end, facing Lytton.
A voice opened the session.
"This meeting is off-record. Mr. Grant, you've been invited because certain models you discussed publicly align with predictions we're seeing internally. We want your input."
Titan folded his hands on the table. "You're afraid of what's coming."
"Not afraid," Lytton said. "Cautious. The financial system is under pressure. Old models are breaking. Wealth is consolidating at unnatural speed. AI is creating feedback loops we barely understand. And then you—"
He gestured to Titan. "—show up."
Another voice chimed in, older and raspier. "You built a seven-figure fund from scratch in less than two weeks. No outside capital. No press. Yet your name echoes across investor circles. That's either luck—or something more."
Titan didn't blink. "It's a system."
"Proprietary AI?"
"Not exactly." His tone was calm, calculated. "It's predictive. Adaptive. It doesn't just read markets. It reads people. Institutions. Timing. Policy shifts before they happen."
One of the advisors frowned. "You're describing what we've spent ten years trying to build."
Titan's reply was instant. "That's because you built your models on assumptions. I built mine on pressure. Survival. Precision without error wasn't optional. It was required."
The room went silent.
The System's internal scanner highlighted rising bio-signals—elevated heart rates, pupils contracting, one subject tightening their grip on a pen.
System Alert: Individual #4 is planning an intelligence inquiry. Response: Increase ambiguity. Maintain mystique.
Titan leaned back slightly. "You don't need to understand how my system works. You need to understand what it's capable of."
Senator Lytton nodded slowly. "And what's that?"
Titan looked around the room, made eye contact with each person, then said:
"I can predict which sectors will rise and fall five days before the market moves. I can influence market narratives through strategic exposure. I can collapse a hedge fund or raise a company's value overnight. And in the near future—I will do more than invest. I will shape infrastructure."
A woman near the corner leaned forward. "What do you want in return?"
Titan didn't hesitate.
"Two things," he said.
"First, access. I want a direct channel to federal regulatory shifts before they hit public dockets. I don't need favors. I just need time to adapt before others."
Several heads nodded. Reasonable.
"And the second?"
Titan's voice dropped an octave. "I want protection. From political sabotage. From deep state profiling. From lawsuits I haven't even been hit with yet."
The room was quiet again. Not stunned—calculating.
Lytton spoke last.
"We can't guarantee silence. But we can offer insulation. A buffer zone. We call it 'Green Tier Clearance'—for economic operators who contribute more than they threaten."
A folder slid across the table toward Titan.
In it:
A private legal hotline
Emergency SEC contacts
A digital pass to skip certain flagged transactions
And a single-use NSA bypass for any one encrypted data search
Titan opened the folder, then looked up. "You're betting I'll grow too big to fail."
"No," Lytton said. "We're betting that you already have."
System Notification: New Tier Unlocked – Deep Influence
Special Perk: Shadow Recognition – Government and institutional actors will provide silent assistance in exchange for future influence
Bonus Unlocked: Intelligence Filter – Ability to detect planted misinformation in any major media outlet
Titan exited the building just before dusk. D.C. traffic was dense, the city buzzing like an overcharged hive. But he didn't hear any of it. His mind was already beyond it—seeing connections, lines of power, networks that stretched across the globe.
He wasn't just a player anymore.
He was a variable the world now had to account for.
And this was just the first room.
More doors would open.
And behind them?
Legacy.
Empire.
And eventually… family.
Because the System hadn't forgotten.
Next Chapter Objective: Bloodline Protocol – Initiating
Begin search for compatible partner. System will assist with match optimization and fertility acceleration protocols.
Goal: Firstborn within 18 months. Projected Intelligence Quotient: 185+
Family Tree Module: Unlocked
Titan's eyes narrowed.
The next phase had begun.