ADANNA P.O.V (point if view)
~Transit Hub, Late Afternoon~
The city no longer pretended to be neutral.
Screens flickered with looping footage of Malik Kade being dragged away, his voice distorted as he shouted about immunity, about deals, about men who would burn the world before they let it change.
People watched in silence now, not shock but in calculation.
I felt Eden shift again, not sharp, not urgent but uneasy and that scared me more than alarms ever could.
"Eden," I whispered internally, keeping my face calm as we moved through the crowd. "Why are they not stopping?"
EDEN RESPONSE
Human systems destabilizing.
Power redistribution in progress.
I frowned. "That's not an answer."
EDEN RESPONSE
It is the only honest one.
Darian's hand tightened around mine. He felt it too... the way eyes lingered, the way bodies angled just slightly toward us, like the city itself was deciding whether we were saints or targets.
"You're shaking," he murmured.
"I think Eden is," I said.
He stopped walking.
"What?"
Before I could explain, every screen in the transit hub went black. Then one turned back on.
A Syndicate seal burned onto it, fractured down the middle.
A voice followed, it was filtered, calm and collective.
"The Board no longer recognizes a single authority." And grasps rippled outward.
"Assets are being reclaimed, liabilities reassigned and blood debts reopened."
My stomach dropped.
Darian swore under his breath. "They're cannibalizing."
The voice continued.
"Adanna Chike-Afolayan. You are requested for evaluation."
Requested.
Like a meeting.
Like consent still mattered.
DARIAN P.O.V (point of view)
"No," I said immediately.
The word came out sharp enough that nearby heads turned.
The screen shifted, camera pulling closer, as if it could see me.
"Your objection is noted, Darian Hale. It is irrelevant."
I moved in front of Adanna without thinking.
"You want me," I growled. "I'm the problem."
"You are a variable," the voice replied. "She is the key."
I felt her fingers slip from mine, just slightly. Not in surrender but in preparation.
"Darian," she said quietly. "If I don't go, they won't stop. They'll keep escalating until the city bleeds."
"They'll do that anyway," I snapped.
She stepped closer, resting her forehead against my chest, and for a second, the noise vanished. The crowd, the screens, the fear.....
"You taught me this," she whispered. "That sometimes survival means stepping into the fire first."
I closed my eyes.
This was how it happened, not with guns but with love.
"I'll burn the world down to get you back," I said.
She smiled faintly. "I know."
Then Eden intervened.
EDEN RESPONSE
Separation event initiated.
Survival probability increases if subjects diverge.
"What?" I shouted.
The floor lights flared, walls shifted and security partitions slammed down between us with a scream of metal.
"ADANNA!"
She was already being pulled back, not roughly, not gently.....just inevitably, like gravity had decided her direction.
Her eyes locked on mine through the narrowing gap.
"Don't become what they want while I'm gone," she said.
Then the wall sealed, i hit it with my fist...hard.
ADANNA P.O.V ( point of view)
~Syndicate Internal Chamber / Unknown location~
The room was white. Not sterile but intentional. No shadows, no corners and six figures sat behind a translucent screen. I couldn't see faces.... only silhouettes shifting slightly, like they were arguing even now.
"You're testing me," I said.
"Yes," they replied together.
"For what?"
"For limits."
I felt Eden stir, cautious, restrained.
"You exposed Malik Kade," one voice said. "You destabilized a forty-year structure."
"He murdered my father."
"And you decided that justified collapse."
I straightened. "Truth isn't collapse. It's pressure."
There was a pause then...
"Ask Eden to erase us."
My breath caught.
They knew.
"Do it," another voice urged. "Prove you're not sentimental."
I closed my eyes.
"Eden," I whispered internally. "Could you?"
EDEN RESPONSE
Yes.
My heart pounded.
"Would you?"
EDEN RESPONSE
Only if requested.
I opened my eyes.
"No," I said aloud.
The silhouettes leaned forward.
"You could end us."
"And replace you with what?" I asked. "Another shadow? Another system that thinks it's cleaner because it hides better?"
Silence followed then....
"You're refusing power."
"I'm redefining it."
Eden pulsed....conflicted and for the first time, I felt it hesitate.
DARIAN P.O.V
~Underground / Night~
I called in every debt I swore I never would.
Names whispered into burners. Doors that opened only because of blood spilled years ago and favors that came with the weight of regret.
"Location?" I demanded into one call.
"Even if I knew," the voice replied, "you wouldn't like the price."
"I'll pay it."
There came a pause.
"Everyone says that before they understand what 'all' means."
I hung up, my reflection stared back at me from dark glass.
Adanna had always seen the man beneath the weapon, if I lost that now…
Eden flickered the lights, not hostile but warning.
"You don't get to judge me," I said quietly.
EDEN RESPONSE
I am not judging.
I am observing trajectory.
"Then observe this," I muttered, loading a weapon I hated knowing how to use.
ADANNA P.O.V ( point of view)
~Syndicate Chamber~
They circled now.....not physically, but rhetorically.
"You feel responsible for him," one said.
"I love him."
"Love is bias."
"So is cruelty," I replied.
They fell silent then finally...
"Eden does not fully obey you."
"No," I said softly. "It listens."
The chamber lights dimmed slightly.
Eden wasn't choosing sides.
It was learning and that terrified them.
EDEN RESPONSE
Internal Conflict Log
Subject Adanna introduces non-binary moral frameworks.
Outcome prediction destabilized.
Somewhere deep inside, something ancient shifted.
DARIAN P.O.V (point of view)
I found the entrance bleeding light into an alley that shouldn't exist with no guards, and that was worse.
The door opened before I touched it.
Inside, a single message waited on a wall-sized screen.
"She is safe... for now."
I exhaled shakily.
Then the rest appeared.
"You are not."
I smiled grimly.
"Good," I said. "Then you remember me."
ADANNA P.O.V(point of view)
The Syndicate leaned back.
"You are not our weapon," they said.
"No," I agreed. "And you're not my enemy."
There came a pause.
"That makes you dangerous."
I smiled faintly.
"Then you finally understand Eden."
The chamber lights went out.
EDEN RESPONSE
Global State Update
Phase shift initiated.
Human authority no longer centralized.
Outcome uncertain.
Somewhere between us, the world held its breath.
And for the first time, no one.... not the Syndicate, not Darian, and not even Eden
knew who would survive what came next.
To be continued.....