ADANNA P.O.V (point of view)
The first leak went live at 04:17 a.m.
I watched it happen on a cracked tablet in a safehouse that smelled like dust and old electricity. The screen glowed blue against the dark, lines of data moving faster than breath.
Names, accounts, orders, and deaths.
Eden didn't scream the truth but whispered it into places that mattered.
Financial boards froze, newsrooms stalled. Private servers lit up like dying stars. The Syndicate had always hidden behind layers... shell companies, charities, proxy governments
Eden peeled them all back.
"Once this finishes propagating," I said quietly, "they can't bury it again."
Darian stood behind me, arms crossed, jaw tight. He hadn't slept and neither had I. Blood still marked the cuff of his sleeve where he hadn't bothered to clean it.
"They'll burn cities before they let this stand," he said.
"I know."
Eden pulsed, warm under my palm, it didn't feel like a machine anymore, it felt like memory.
"This is what my father built it for," I murmured. "Not revenge but exposure."
The final packet released and across the screen, a simple line appeared:
PROJECT EDEN: ARCHIVE COMPLETE
Somewhere far away, powerful men were realizing they were naked. I should've felt relief but instead, my chest tightened, because truth doesn't end wars,it starts them.
DARIAN P.O.V (point of view)
The first retaliation hit less than six minutes later. A warehouse in Marseille....gone.
A judge in Berlin..... dead and an investigative journalist in São Paulo... disappeared mid-call.
The Syndicate didn't deny, they punished.
My burner rang once and I answered without speaking.
"They're executing assets," Azaan said. No humor left in his voice. "Anyone even adjacent to the leak."
"Civilians?"
"Yes."
I closed my eyes.
"Then they've chosen terror."
"They've chosen you," he corrected. "And her."
I looked at Adanna, still seated by Eden, face calm in that terrifying way she got when she understood too much.
"They'll come here," I said.
"They already are," Azaan replied. "Three teams, one official. Two not."
I hung up.
"Pack nothing," I told her. "We move in ninety seconds."
She stood and didn't argue, and didn't ask where and that scared me more than panic ever could.
Outside, the city was waking. Sirens layered over each other, Helicopters cut low through fog.
The Syndicate wasn't hiding anymore, they were declaring war.
ADANNA P.O.V ( point of view)
We didn't make it ten block, the explosion wasn't meant to kill us.
It was meant to scatter.
Glass burst outward, the street folded in on itself. Darian tackled me behind a concrete barrier as heat rolled overhead.
I tasted smoke and blood.
"Move," he ordered, gripping my wrist.
Gunfire followed, not random but precise.
They wanted me alive, that truth settled cold in my stomach.
We ran through an alley, vaulted a fence, slipped into an underground tram access. Darian sealed the door behind us, chest heaving.
"They're escalating," he said.
"No," I replied. "They're narrowing."
He looked at me sharply.
"They can't stop Eden," I continued. "So they'll isolate me from it."
From him.
The thought hurt more than the shrapnel.
We reached the maintenance tunnel where a single light flickered overhead..... water dripped, the air felt close.
Darian stopped walking.
"Say it," he said quietly.
I swallowed. "They'll offer you a deal."
He didn't deny it.
"They always do," I went on. "You for me, or me for Eden."
Silence stretched.
"Or both," I finished.
His hand came up, cradling my face like something precious. "They don't get to choose."
"But you do," I whispered.
That was the dangerous truth.
DARIAN P.O.V (point of view)
The message came exactly when I expected it. Encrypted and old frequency.
MEET. ONE HOUR. COME ALONE.
Adanna saw it anyway. Her eyes searched my face, not for fear but for honesty.
"They'll kill you," she said.
"They won't," I replied. "They need me."
"For now."
I exhaled slowly. "This is the choice."
She nodded once, like someone stepping onto thin ice.
"If you go," she said, "they'll try to turn you."
"They've been trying for years."
"And if you don't?"
"They'll keep burning the world until I do."
Her fingers tightened in my jacket.
"Then listen to me," she said. "Eden doesn't answer to power or force and neither fear."
I leaned my forehead against hers.
"What does it answer to?" I asked.
She met my eyes. "Consent."
The word landed heavy.
"If I disconnect myself," she continued, "Eden goes dormant.... no more leaks, no more escalation."
"No," I snapped. "Absolutely not."
"They'll stop killing civilians," she said. "And you'll stop being hunted."
"And you'll become their prisoner," I said.
Her voice didn't shake. "Temporarily."
I laughed once, sharp. "You don't believe that."
"No," she admitted. "But I believe you'll come for me."
That broke something open in my chest.
I pulled her into me, holding her like this might be the last honest moment we had.
"I love you," I said.
"I know," she replied softly. "That's why this works."
ADANNA P.O.V ( point of view)
We argued in whispers.
Logic against love..... strategy against instinct.
In the end, Eden decided for us, the system chimed.
EXTERNAL OVERRIDE REQUEST DETECTED
"They're trying to brute-force," Darian said.
I shook my head. "They can't."
"But they'll keep trying."
"Yes," I said. "Until something gives."
I stepped back.
"I can make Eden sleep," I said. "Not shut down. Just… waiting."
"No," he said again, rough now.
I touched his chest. "You taught me that sometimes survival isn't escape."
He stared at me like he was memorizing every line of my face.
"What if I'm wrong?" I asked.
"Then we burn the world again," he said.
I smiled through tears.
I placed my hand on the interface.
Eden pulsed... reluctant, alive.
"I'm not abandoning you," I whispered. "I'm repositioning."
The light dimmed and across the globe, systems stilled.
The killing slowed but just for now.
DARIAN P.O.V ( point of view)
They felt it immediately, the pressure eased. Sirens dulled and gunfire stopped.
My phone buzzed.
TERMS ACCEPTED.
I crushed the device in my hand.
Adanna swayed but i caught her before she fell.
"She's still responding to you," I murmured. "Just… quietly."
She looked up at me, exhausted, brave, terrifying.
"This isn't over," she said.
"No," I agreed. "It's just visible now."
Above us, the city held its breath.
The Syndicate had shown its teeth and we had shown them truth.
And somewhere between exposure and retaliation, we had crossed the point of no return.
The war wasn't coming, it had already begun.
ADANNA P.O.V (point of view)
... Syndicate Facility, the room was white.
Not hospital-white, not sterile-white.
It was curated white and intentional. The kind that erased shadows so nothing could hide, especially not fear.
They took my clothes, but not my dignity. Gave me soft fabric, neutral colors, no restraints. A kindness designed to confuse.
"Sit," the woman said.
She wasn't armed, didn't need to be. Authority clung to her like perfume.
I sat.
The glass wall in front of me flickered to life, revealing five silhouettes with no faces, no names.
The Syndicate didn't like faces.
"Adanna Okorie," one voice said, distorted but calm. "Daughter of the architect."
I didn't correct them.
They continued. "You activated Eden."
"I finished what my father started."
"Your father destabilized markets and threatened sovereign control."
"My father exposed murder," I replied evenly. "You just monetized it."
There was a pause then..... laughter. It was soft... almost impressed.
"You're calmer than expected."
"I was raised by a dead man," I said. "Fear had no place to grow."
Silence thickened.
The woman beside me slid a tablet onto the table.
On the screen..... Darian.
Live feed. He was walking into a building I recognized instantly.
Old money... Old blood.
A Syndicate negotiating house.
My heart stuttered, but my face stayed still.
"You care for him," a voice observed.
"Yes."
"Enough to cripple Eden?"
"Yes."
"Enough to let us keep you?"
I lifted my chin. "You don't keep me."
There was another pause.
Then "You underestimate your leverage."
I leaned forward, palms flat on the table. "No!. You underestimate Eden."
The lights flickered.
Not violently, not dramatically.
Just… responsively.
The tablet glitched and the silhouettes shifted.
One voice sharpened. "Explain."
I smiled... small, tired, honest.
"Eden isn't offline," I said. "It's listening."
DARIAN P.O.V ( point of view)
Old Quarter, Negotiation Site
The building smelled like old paper and regrets and they let me in without weapons. A mistake or a show of confidence.
I counted exits..... Seven of them
Men watched me from shadows, professionals, not thugs. People I used to work with, people I'd bled with.
One of them spoke first.
"You look tired, Darian."
"So do you," I replied. "Must be hard killing journalists and pretending you're still patriots."
He smirked. "You forced our hand."
"No," I said. "You showed it."
We sat and a bottle of whiskey appeared between us untouched.
"Let's speak plainly," the man said. "You've been a problem for years."
"And yet," I replied, "you keep calling me."
"Because you understand cost."
I leaned back. "Try me."
They laid it out without ceremony.
Adanna would remain "protected."
Eden would remain dormant.
I would return, not as an operative, but as a cleaner. Damage control, quiet work. Erasing fractures before they spread.
"And if I refuse?" I asked.
He slid a folder across the table.
Inside was photos of Bodies of people I knew, people I owed.
"Then we remind you how many lives your absence costs," he said calmly.
I closed the folder slowly.
"I want proof she's alive," I said.
The tablet lit up and Adanna sat in a white room, unbroken.
Her eyes met the camera and somehow, through glass and distance, met mine.
She didn't plead but she trusted and that was worse.
ADANNA P.O.V
InTesting Chamber
They brought me somewhere deeper after that with no windows, no glass walls.
Just a chair and a console.
"We're going to test your bond," the woman said gently. "You don't have to resist."
"I don't plan to," I replied.
They connected the interface to my temple and pain bloomed, not sharp, but intimate. Like memory being touched without permission.
I gasped as Data flowed, eden stirred, not loudly, not aggressively.
It didn't fight, it… questioned.
I felt it... a presence brushing my thoughts, not consuming them.
They increased the pressure as the lights dimmed again.
Alarms chirped once, then stopped.
"What's happening?" one technician snapped.
I breathed through the ache. "Eden doesn't respond to command structures," I said. "It mirrors intent."
Another surge, images flooded me... my father, younger, tired, brilliant. Darian, bleeding, stubborn. Me, watching truth rot quietly for years.
Eden didn't show me code, It showed me choice. The console flashed:
PRIMARY INTERFACE CONFIRMED
CONSENT-BASED ACCESS ONLY
They disconnected me abruptly.
The woman stared, shaken now. "You designed it wrong."
I shook my head. "You tried to own it wrong."
DARIAN P.O.V (point of veiw)
In Negotiation Table
The man across from me leaned forward. "You'll accept."
"I'll comply," I said. "Not belong."
He smiled thinly. "Same thing."
"No," I corrected. "Belonging requires loyalty."
"And what does compliance require?"
I met his gaze. "Survival." And Silence stretched.
Finally, he nodded. "You'll start tonight."
I stood.
"One more thing," I added.
"Yes?"
"If you harm her, if you test her past consent and Eden won't just wake up."
He raised an eyebrow. "It's dormant."
I smiled without humor. "It's patient."
For the first time, doubt flickered.
ADANNA P.O.V (point of view)
Holding Suite
They returned me to a room softer this time.... A concession.
I sat on the bed, exhaustion settling into my bones.
The door slid open quietly and Darian stepped inside.
For a second, neither of us moved.... then I was in his arms, gripping him like gravity had finally remembered us.
"You idiot," I whispered. "You walked straight into them."
"You handed yourself over," he replied hoarsely. "Don't start."
We laughed..... broken, quiet.
He cupped my face. "They think Eden is asleep."
"It's not," I said.
"I know."
I hesitated. "Darian… Eden is changing."
His brow furrowed.
"It's not just responding to me anymore," I continued. "It's learning intent. Patterning ethics. It's… choosing."
He exhaled slowly. "That's dangerous."
"Yes," I agreed. "For them."
He rested his forehead against mine.
"We don't have much time," he said. "I'm inside again."
"I know."
"And you're not as contained as they think."
I smiled faintly. "I never am."
Outside, somewhere deep within the Syndicate's systems, Eden pulsed once quietl, like a heart remembering how to beat.
Not awake, not asleep but waiting and when it moved again, it wouldn't ask permission...
To be continued...