9:00 AM. The morning after the Blood Files dropped.
Nexus hadn't slept. And those who had woke up to a different city.
At Shadow Empire headquarters, Thornix was no longer thinking about defense.
He was thinking about offense.
He sat behind his desk, face cold as stone. The rage that had been burning through him yesterday had transformed into something more dangerous. Something quiet. Calculated.
"Crasher."
"Sir."
"I want a list. Every person in this city who could have any connection to Mafia.exe. Hackers, programmers, computer science students, anyone who worked in cybersecurity in the last ten years."
Crasher hesitated. "Sir, that list will be enormous. Hundreds of people."
"Then start arresting them."
"All of them?"
"All of them." Thornix's voice was completely calm. "Anyone who talks, we release. Anyone who stays quiet, we keep. And anyone who knows something about this person... will talk eventually."
Crasher understood. This wasn't an investigation. It was a dragnet. And he knew that many innocent people would get caught in it.
He said nothing. He just nodded and left.
The arrests began at 11:00 AM.
They weren't discreet. They weren't surgical. They were a message.
In the university district, black cars stormed the student dormitories. Men in civilian clothes carrying weapons. Names read from lists. Students dragged from their rooms.
In the tech district, small companies were shut down. Employees loaded into vehicles. No arrest warrants. No lawyers. No stated reasons.
In the poorer neighborhoods, anyone known to know anything about computers became a target.
The city watched. And the city raged.
At Nexus Technical University, Tiki was sitting in the computer lab when she heard the noise.
Voices in the hallway. Running footsteps. Screaming.
She looked out the window. Two black cars in front of the building. Men going in.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from Zephyros: "Get out now. Back door. Don't take your laptop."
She didn't hesitate. She left everything on the table and walked out.
In the hallway, she saw two of her classmates being led away between two men. One was shouting. The other was crying.
She turned her face away and walked with steady steps toward the back door.
In the small apartment, Zephyros was watching everything on his screens.
Surveillance cameras at the university. Reports from multiple sources. News flooding in fast.
"God." He whispered.
He hadn't expected this. It wasn't in the plan. Thornix was supposed to retreat, to hide, to try to repair the damage. But instead...
He opened a new window on the screen. Started typing fast.
There were innocent people in danger. And this was because of him.
Within an hour, strange things began to happen.
At the detention center where the students had been taken, the recording systems suddenly went dark. Cameras went blind. Electronic doors opened on their own.
Three students escaped before the guards understood what was happening.
At a lawyer's office, an anonymous email arrived. Inside — evidence that the arrests had been made without legal warrants. The names of the detained. The phone numbers of their families.
The lawyer called journalists before he called the police.
At Shadow Empire headquarters, the report reached Crasher.
"Sir, someone is interfering. The systems at the detention center went down. Some of the detainees escaped."
Thornix didn't move. "How many?"
"Three so far."
"Rebuild the systems. Double the human guards. Don't rely on electronics."
"And if he interferes again?"
"He will." Thornix said it calmly. "That's what he wants. He wants us to look brutal. He wants to show people we're arresting innocents." He paused. "Let him show that. Because people who are afraid obey. And fear is stronger than love."
On the streets, the news spread fast.
Random arrests. University students. Programmers. People with no connection to anything.
The protests that had been dying down ignited again — angrier this time. More violent.
In the university district, young men set fire to a car belonging to Shadow Empire. Police tried to intervene. Rocks started flying.
In the city center, thousands gathered outside the parliament building. Demanding the arrests stop. Demanding Thornix be arrested. Demanding things they had never dared say out loud before.
At police headquarters, Trackquest watched all of it with tired eyes.
"This is going to spiral." He said to Ironheart.
"It already has."
"Thornix is making a catastrophic mistake. Random arrests will turn even more people against him."
"Or that's what he wants." Ironheart said. "Maybe he wants the chaos. Chaos gives him justification to use more force."
Trackquest looked at her. "Or maybe he's genuinely afraid. And a man like Thornix being afraid is more dangerous than him being angry."
His phone rang. He looked at the screen. Unknown number.
He hesitated. Then answered.
"Trackquest."
A brief silence. Then a voice — slightly distorted, but clear.
"You're looking for me."
Trackquest stood slowly. He signaled to Ironheart. She understood immediately and started tracing the call.
"Yes," Trackquest said calmly. "And you know why."
"I know." The voice paused. "The arrests. Innocent people."
"You caused this."
"Thornix caused this." The voice was firm. "I exposed the truth. He chose how to respond."
"That's a convenient excuse."
"Maybe." Another pause. "But I stopped some of them. The three who escaped. That was me."
Trackquest hadn't expected that. "Why are you calling me?"
"Because the Chief offered a deal. And I'm thinking about it."
"What do you want from me?"
"I want to know if it's real. You're an honest man in a corrupt system. You know the difference."
Trackquest looked at Ironheart. She shook her head. The call couldn't be traced. The person was using an encrypted network.
"The deal is real," Trackquest said. "But I can't guarantee your safety if what's happening continues."
"I know." The voice softened slightly. "But I can't stop now. Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because Thornix hasn't fallen yet. He's only stumbled."
The call cut off.
In the small apartment, Zephyros set the phone down.
He knew the call had been a mistake. But he had wanted to hear the voice of someone honest. Someone he could trust, even just a little.
He looked at the burned photograph.
"I know," he whispered. "I know this wasn't in the plan. But the innocents..."
He closed his eyes for a moment. Then opened them.
This wasn't the time for doubt. It was the time for action.
He opened a new file. Started writing. He was preparing something that hadn't been in the original plan. An early strike. One that would show Thornix that the arrests wouldn't stop him. They would only accelerate his fall.
At 3:00 PM, a new post appeared online.
Not from Mafia.exe directly. From an anonymous account that published new documents.
Documents showing that three of the people arrested that day were first-year students. No connection to anything. Arrested because their names appeared on a computer science department enrollment list.
And with them — photographs. Photos of them inside the detention center. Frightened faces. Bound hands.
The post spread in minutes.
At Shadow Empire headquarters, Thornix screamed for the first time in two days.
"How did those photos get out?!"
Crasher didn't answer. Because he didn't know.
"Release the students." Thornix said finally, his voice low. "The students only. The rest stay."
"Sir, this will look like we backed down."
"We did back down." Thornix said it with bitterness. "But no one needs to know that he's the reason."
On the streets, when the three students were released, the cameras were waiting for them.
One of them — a nineteen-year-old — broke down crying in front of the cameras.
"I didn't do anything. I don't know who Mafia.exe is. I don't know anything. I'm just a student."
The footage spread everywhere.
And on the streets, the anger transformed into something else. Something more dangerous. It became certainty.
Certainty that Thornix had to fall.
In the small apartment, Zephyros watched the young man cry on the screen.
He closed the screen.
He sat in the dark for a long time.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. He wasn't talking to anyone. Or maybe he was talking to the burned photograph. "This wasn't supposed to happen."
But he knew one thing. Thornix had shown his true face today. Not just to the city. To his own men as well.
And men who begin to doubt their leader... start looking for someone else.
At police headquarters, Trackquest wrote in his file:
"Call: 3 minutes, 17 seconds. Distorted voice. Encrypted network. Untraceable. But..."
He stopped. Then wrote: "But he called. And that means something."
He looked at the photo of Zephyros Nightblade on the board.
"You're tired," he whispered. "Or you're starting to doubt. Or both."
He closed the file. And started thinking about how to respond to a call that hadn't come yet.
As night fell, Nexus was burning slowly.
Not with fire. With accumulated rage. With fear that had turned into courage. With people who had decided that silence was now more dangerous than speaking.
Thornix was cornered from every direction. The people against him. The media against him. The Attorney General opening an investigation. And his own men beginning to question.
And somewhere in the city, Zephyros was preparing his next strike.
But this time, he was carrying something new with him.
Doubt.
"Fear creates tyrants. But tyrants create revolutionaries."