---
⚰️ 04:11 HRS — SECTOR 12
The retaliation came fast.
Too fast.
Two men in Fire Wives gear found dead — throats slit, tongues removed.
A trail of black rose petals left at the scene.
That was the Hollow Sons' mark. It meant one thing:
> "No more warnings."
---
🔥 MEETING ROOM – FIRE WIVES' BASE
Maya read the report, unmoving.
Her fingers tapped rhythmically on the table. Her eyes burned — not with rage, but with pattern calculation.
> "He told the truth. The vault was real.
And still the city bleeds."
Shohan sat across from her, calm.
> "Because they're afraid of what I represent."
> "What's that?"
> "A variable."
She frowned.
> "Explain."
> "In your world, everything is power, violence, money.
But I'm proof that intelligence is enough to kill you.
I make systems collapse with rumors. I make gangs fight over lies.
I'm the one thing they can't control."
---
🧠 DEEP TRUTH
Maya leaned in.
> "So what now?"
> "Now," Shohan said, "we do what they never expect."
> "Which is?"
Shohan stood slowly.
> "We go quiet."
---
🕳️ BACK AT THE SAFEHOUSE
Ansha is bleeding.
Shohan rushes in with Rafi, heart racing.
Blood on the walls. Bullet holes in the corner.
She's breathing — barely. A graze to the shoulder.
> "Two Hollow grunts," she hissed. "They followed a fake ping I planted.
I took one out. Other ran."
Shohan tears cloth from his sleeve and wraps the wound.
> "Why didn't you call me?"
> "Didn't want to blow your Frame cover."
> "You idiot."
She laughed weakly. "Takes one to know one."
Rafi stood frozen in the doorway, staring at the blood.
> "This is my fault," the boy whispered.
Shohan looked at him, eyes steel.
> "No. This is mine.
I knew they'd strike.
I just didn't think they'd do it this soon."
---
💡 THE DECISION
That night, Shohan paced under the cracked ceiling, the fan spinning too slow.
He had three choices:
1. Run — disappear with Rafi, vanish into the lower sectors, survive like a ghost.
2. Expose Mindless — play the real card, blow the system wide open… but trigger a total Frame war.
3. Climb deeper — betray one more Frame, sacrifice a bigger name, and take another step into the dark.
Ansha lay sleeping on the cot.
Rafi stared at the ceiling, whispering code he'd memorized from stolen terminals.
Shohan stood over them both.
And whispered to himself:
> "You only win the game by becoming the board."
---