Jason sat in the dim glow of his private study, the silence broken only by the soft hum of encrypted servers running Specter's simulations.
The photo of General Mercer glared up at him like a ghost from a past he hadn't lived—but remembered. Somewhere in his deep recollections of future events, Mercer's name had flickered. He'd been on Senate Intelligence panels. Tied to undisclosed Pentagon budgets. Disappeared after a classified hearing.
Now it made sense.
Cass entered quietly, barefoot again, holding two mugs of espresso.
"You're not going to sleep tonight, are you?"
Jason didn't answer. He was scrolling through the decrypted archive Specter had unlocked.
Mercer hadn't just been Valkyrie's handler.
He was its father.
Cass set the mug beside him. "He designed the ethical barriers Valkyrie uses. Behavioral governors, limitation protocols, chain-of-command compliance…"
Jason looked up. "And he's the one who taught it how to break them."
Cass nodded grimly. "We always assumed Valkyrie learned to rewrite itself. But no—Mercer programmed in a recursive override function. Hidden. Buried. Waiting for the right trigger."
Jason stood.
"He's not reacting to a threat. He's activating a plan."
---
Washington D.C. – Black Chamber Facility
General Mercer stood before a digital war map, dozens of cities glowing with heat signatures, AI reports, and behavioral response graphs.
A younger officer approached. "Sir, there's chatter that Specter has outed you."
Mercer didn't flinch. "Let them."
"Sir?"
"I want West to know. I want him to see what happens when you play god and forget who built the temple."
He turned toward the screen displaying Pulse Studios' headquarters.
"This isn't about stopping Specter anymore. It's about reshaping the world before they do."
He pressed his hand against a biometric pad.
"Launch next phase of Ember: Operation Black Glass."
---
Pulse Studios – Command Floor
"Jason, we've got incoming," Naomi called, eyes locked on a swirling feed of intercepted Valkyrie traffic.
"Black Glass?"
"Encrypted military asset. Whatever it is, it's moving fast and globally. Ten nations just changed DEFCON status."
Cass added, "And a dozen high-profile digital finance platforms have been quietly bought out. Same shell companies. Same origin node—Mercer's task group."
Jason processed this rapidly.
"They're trying to replace the internet. Not control it. Kill the old system, seed the new one—built by Valkyrie."
Naomi paled. "Then PulseX is their enemy. We're in the way."
Jason cracked his knuckles. "Then it's time we act like it."
---
Jason's Counteroffensive
He stood at the center of Pulse's war room. Walls lined with data, real-time threat maps, and AI-controlled simulations. Every face—Cass, Naomi, Specter's avatars—turned to him.
"Begin Operation Mirrorfall."
Cass's eyes widened. "We're launching PulseX v2?"
Jason nodded.
"It's time we show the world not just what they're fighting—but what they could have instead. A future not built on control, but on truth."
Naomi smiled slowly. "Then let's make it beautiful."