The silence in the library felt heavy and deep after Silica spoke. Her words seemed to echo in the quiet space, charged with a meaning Ace was still struggling to grasp. The one with a logo.
He stared at the face on the monitor—the girl named Silica. She was pale and serious, with eyes that held a storm of intelligence. This was the person who had been his unseen enemy, a digital ghost haunting his every move, and then an unlikely source of hope. Now, here she was, real and direct. The only sound was the soft, whirring hum of the computer fan, a constant reminder of the digital world she ruled.
"A logo?" Ace repeated, his voice barely a whisper. The idea of a vast, shadowy "system" as their enemy was a scary, but vague, concept. But a corporation? That was different. A corporation was a real thing. It had office buildings you could point to, employees who wore ID badges, and a friendly public image used in advertisements. That made the threat feel frighteningly real and close.
