The lights were harsh. The mic, flawless. The backdrop—revolution in motion.
Korex's studio had the kind of tech VDM hadn't touched since university.
Everything about the setup screamed power.
VDM stood at the center, wearing a black hoodie with "Justice For The People" printed across his chest.
Behind him, a projected video looped: footage of police brutality, burning homes, mothers crying over their sons' bodies.
"Rolling in 3… 2… 1—"
Korex signaled silently behind the camera.
VDM took a breath—and began.
"My name is not important. My pain is not unique. What I carry on my back are the wounds of millions…
…the hunger, the fear, the betrayal by leaders who swore to protect us."
He paused, the room silent but for the low hum of electricity.
"They tell you we are violent. That we are criminals. But they steal your tomorrow and call it politics. They shoot your brothers and call it defense."
"I'm not here to lead you."
"I'm here to remind you—you already know the truth."
📲 Twenty Minutes Later…
The internet exploded.
Clips of the speech flooded TikTok and Instagram.
YouTubers reacted. News channels debated. Celebrities reposted.
#VoiceOfThePeople
#VDMLive
#EndCorruptionNow
In one day, the speech had 7.2 million views.
In three days, it reached the United Nations.
Back at the Safehouse…
Tayo slammed his fist into the desk.
"Why'd you give Korex access to our internal footage drive?"
VDM looked up from his phone, calm.
"He needed it for the edit. The movement has to look strong. We've been in hiding too long."
"You've known him for two weeks," Tayo snapped. "He's not one of us."
"Maybe not," VDM replied. "But he's useful."
Tayo turned away, jaw clenched.
He knew what useful people could become in this country.
That Night…
Halima returned.
She stood in the doorway, bruised, thinner, but standing tall.
Tayo stared in shock. VDM froze mid-sentence.
"I heard the broadcast," Halima said. Her voice was low, raspy. "You shook the world."
VDM crossed the room and pulled her into a tight hug.
She didn't hug back immediately. Her eyes scanned the room like she was still in a prison cell.
"They let me go," she said. "But not before they told me something."
Tayo stepped closer.
"What?"
She looked at both of them, her voice suddenly sharp.
"They don't want to kill you anymore, VDM."
"What do they want?" he asked.
"To make the people kill you themselves."
Silence.
Only the soft ping of a phone notification echoed through the room.
Korex had just posted the speech again, this time with a new title:
"🇳🇬 The Future President? Or a Dangerous Voice?"
🔚 Final Scene
Elsewhere, in a high-rise office, a shadowy intelligence officer watched the video with a grim smile.
"He's rising too fast. Let's give them a reason to doubt."
He opened a file titled:
PROJECT FALLOUT: DESTROYING VDM
Attached:
A doctored video mockup.
A blueprint of the next protest.
Korex's name at the top of the contact list.
The streets were calm—but Tayo never trusted calm in this country.
Calm was just the space between betrayals.
Inside the safehouse, the fan creaked, and VDM was deep in another call with organizers from the South-East.
Halima was asleep in the corner, curled in a blanket like a soldier resting between battles.
Tayo sat alone, eyes fixed on Korex's Instagram feed. Every post was a show. Lights. Edits. Carefully crafted captions.
"What kind of revolutionary adds filters to pain?" he muttered.
🔙 FLASHBACK — 2 Years Ago
Tayo was in his final year studying Computer Engineering when the strike hit.
Then the protests.
Then the army rolled in.
He still remembered the blood on the street outside his hostel.
He remembered his friend, Samson, trying to record a soldier beating a student—then getting shot on Facebook Live.
The phone kept recording as Samson bled out.
The video trended for 48 hours.
No one was arrested.
Tayo had to carry Samson's body to the campus gate, alone.
From that day, he stopped trusting "justice."
🔙 FLASHBACK ENDS
Back in the present, Tayo checked the USB Korex handed him earlier—supposedly filled with promotional clips.
Instead, he found something odd:
A folder labeled "DRAFTS_FOR_PRESS". Inside were several mock headlines:
"Protest Leader's Links to Foreign Funding Questioned"
"Anonymous Source: VDM Plans Armed Uprising"
"Youth Icon or Hidden Tyrant?"
None of these had been posted yet.
They were prepared, waiting for a trigger.
Tayo's blood went cold.
"He's not here to help," he whispered. "He's here to bury us."
📍 Tayo's Hidden Depths:
Tayo isn't just a tech guy.
He's a survivor of state betrayal.
He lost:
His best friend to police brutality
His scholarship to strike and shutdown
His family's peace when soldiers raided his home, claiming he was "an online agitator"
But Tayo kept fighting—with code, with truth, with loyalty.
"I don't want fame. I don't want followers. I just want the people who killed my friend to rot."
VDM is the voice, but Tayo is the firewall.
🧠 Tayo's Next Move:
He begins copying Korex's files silently, building a case.
Reaches out to an underground journalist named Ivie, known for exposing political psy-ops.
Sets up a dead man's switch: if anything happens to him, the world sees what Korex is really doing.
But he keeps it quiet—for now.
Because if VDM doesn't see the threat coming…
Tayo will have to choose:
Save his friend's life… or save the revolution.