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Evelyn Hart had always been brilliant at doing nothing.
She could dismantle a complex algorithm in her head while sipping lukewarm coffee and ignoring a dozen unread emails. Her apartment was a quiet rebellion against urgency—half-written code on glowing monitors, unopened letters stacked like tombstones, and a calendar that hadn't been updated in months.
She called it strategic laziness. Her way of filtering the noise. Doing only what mattered.
But lately, nothing seemed to matter.
Not since Nova started acting strange.
Nova Quinn—her best friend, business partner, and the only person Evelyn trusted with her creation: the Sloth Protocol. A system designed to reward minimal effort with maximum results. It was supposed to change the world. And it had—just not in the way Evelyn imagined.
Nova had taken over the rollout. Claimed Evelyn was "burnt out." Smiled through interviews while Evelyn stayed home, watching her legacy slip through her fingers.
And Jace… he'd grown distant. Her lover, her anchor. The one who used to pull her out of her spirals. Now he barely texted. Always "busy." Always "just one more meeting."
Evelyn didn't ask questions. She didn't want answers.
Until the night she got one.
---
It was raining. The kind of rain that made the city feel like a memory.
Evelyn had forgotten her umbrella. She didn't care. Each drop clung to her hair, her coat, her skin, until she felt heavy, like she was carrying the storm itself.
She was walking to ValeTech's headquarters, unannounced. Something in her chest had snapped—an urgency she hadn't felt in years.
She needed to see Jace. To talk. To ask why everything felt like it was slipping.
The building was quiet. Late hours. Security knew her face.
She took the elevator to the executive floor. Her keycard still worked.
The hallway was dim. Her footsteps echoed.
She reached Jace's office.
The door was slightly open.
She pushed it.
And the world stopped.
---
Nova was there.
So was Jace.
They weren't talking.
They weren't working.
They were kissing.
---
Evelyn didn't scream.
She didn't cry.
She just stood there, her heartbeat pounding against her ribs like it wanted out. Her chest tightened, shallow breaths refusing to steady. Strategic laziness, she thought bitterly. Ignore it. Pretend it doesn't matter.
But it did.
Nova turned first. Her eyes widened. "Evelyn—"
Jace pulled away, stunned. "It's not what—"
Evelyn turned and walked.
She didn't hear their footsteps.
She didn't hear their apologies.
She heard her own heartbeat.
Too loud.
Too fast.
Too final.
---
The lobby lights fractured into halos. Voices blurred. Someone shouted her name, but it was already slipping away.
Her knees buckled.
Her chest seized.
And then nothing.
---
The headlines came next.
Tech Prodigy Dies Suddenly.
The autopsy said stress-induced arrhythmia.
Nova cried on camera.
Jace disappeared from public view.
ValeTech moved on.
The Sloth Protocol launched globally.
And Evelyn Hart was buried quietly.
---
But death wasn't the end.
---
She woke up in silence.
No pain. No light. Just white.
A screen blinked in front of her.
> "Welcome, Evelyn Hart. You have been selected."
She tried to speak. Nothing came out.
The screen flickered.
> "System initializing…"
She looked around. No walls. No ceiling. Just endless white.
Her voice, sarcastic even in the void: Selected for what? Another meeting I'll ignore?
Then a voice.
> "Strategic laziness detected. Emotional trauma logged. Rebooting consciousness."
She blinked.
> "You are now Agent Zero."
And then she fell.
---