Alex felt the strange, clean burn of the Endurance +10 upgrade. He had sprinted across rooftops, scaled buildings, and was now moving through the early morning streets of Queens with the effortless, tireless stride of a long-distance runner. His body, once the weak link in his revenge plan, was now just another perfectly optimized tool.
He reached the Astoria Ferry Terminal exactly at 0800 hours. The air smelled of salt and diesel, a sharp contrast to the stale opulence of Ethan's penthouse. He found Elena Vasquez standing near the water's edge, pretending to check the ferry schedule. She wore a simple, professional trench coat and carried a messenger bag that looked suspiciously heavy.
She didn't look up immediately. When she finally did, her sharp eyes scanned Alex's face. She didn't ask about the penthouse, the breaking and entering, or the screaming. She simply read the change in him.
"You look like you haven't slept in a week, but you move like a sprinter," she observed, her voice low and guarded. "That's the System, I take it?"
Alex nodded, his gaze sweeping the sparse crowd, looking for shadows that moved like Lena, the operative. "I acquired the Charisma I needed, and the Endurance to deliver my story. But I didn't just find Serena Blake's cleanup crew; I found the entire map."
They found a quiet bench overlooking the East River. Alex wasted no time, laying out the frantic discoveries of the last twenty-four hours: the journal entry, Henry Carter's goal to build a moral fail-safe, the true name of the enemy (Serena Blake, H-CORE Co-Architect), and the terrifying discovery of the second coin, the duplicate H-CORE anchor.
Elena absorbed the torrent of information without a single interruption, her expression becoming colder, more concentrated with every detail.
"It's not one program," Alex finished, pulling the warm coin from his pocket and placing it on the bench between them. "It's a distributed network. My grandfather didn't build a private key; he built a master key and anchors. Serena doesn't need to steal my coin; she needs to control the network through her own anchors."
Elena picked up a stone and skipped it across the water. "That explains a lot. I've been digging into Serena Blake's shadow fund, Aether-Bio Analytics—your Mission 005 target. It's not a money laundering front. It's a data collection hub. It specializes in 'predictive modeling of human capital flow.' Translation: It monitors the network."
She pulled her laptop from her messenger bag and quickly tapped the keyboard.
"Two months before Henry Carter vanished, a second, identical patent was filed in Switzerland under a different pseudonym, claiming joint custody of the cognitive imprinting algorithm. The secondary owner was only listed by initials: S.B." Elena's gaze met Alex's. "Serena is not just the co-architect; she is the co-owner of the System's backbone. She wants dominance; Henry wanted destruction."
"So the System isn't forcing me into revenge; it's forcing me into a resource acquisition war to gain control of the keys needed to dismantle the network," Alex realized, connecting the dots.
"Exactly," Elena confirmed. "Your System is telling you to acquire Aether-Bio because Aether-Bio is the control node Serena uses to monitor all the H-CORE anchors. If you take it, you blind her and gain visibility on the rest of the network."
The System, sensing the strategic discussion, suddenly flashed a new mission parameter in Alex's vision.
[MISSION 005: COUNTER-PROGRAM]Objective: Acquire 100% of 'Aether-Bio Analytics'.Requirement: $1,200,000 in capital (STATUS: PENDING).**New Requirement: Eliminate External Interference.****Eliminate Target: Elena Vasquez (Investigative Journalist).**
Alex flinched, the red text a violent slash against his field of vision. The System was demanding he eliminate Elena.
"What is it?" Elena asked immediately, recognizing the sudden, cold stillness in his eyes.
Alex quickly suppressed the interface. He couldn't tell her the System had just put a hit on her. He had to trust his Intuition over the code.
"The System updated the mission," Alex lied smoothly, using his Charisma to sell the half-truth. "It said that now that I have the Charisma, I need the capital fast. It's pushing me to cash out my entire portfolio in one huge, risky move. It wants me to go all-in."
Elena studied him, her sharp gaze probing his composure. She didn't look entirely convinced, but she accepted the lie for now.
"Good. That works with my plan," she said, pulling a massive, encrypted physical folder from her bag. "While you were on your risky climb, I compiled everything. Aether-Bio is publicly owned, but the majority stake is held by three shell corporations. Two of them are highly vulnerable to a debt takeover—specifically the $10 million line of credit you already control."
She pushed the folder toward him. "I found the original paperwork for that loan. Henry Carter didn't sign it; he created a digital contingency that would sign it if he vanished. This whole thing was his insurance policy."
Elena looked him straight in the eye, her expression now intensely serious. "I am giving you the blueprints to legally bankrupt two-thirds of Serena's control node. You will have the capital and the leverage you need for Mission 005. But if you take this, Alex, you are all-in. There is no turning back, and there is no more room for revenge against Ethan. This is about Henry's legacy now."
Alex picked up the heavy folder. It felt weighty, dense with consequence. He had the power, the logic, and the plan. He had everything he needed to start the real war.
He only had one question left.
"Why are you doing this, Elena? You're risking your life for a corporate war that's spiraled into a science fiction novel."
Elena stood up, walking toward the ferry rail. "Serena Blake's shadow fund has ruined dozens of people, Alex. People who weren't given a second chance by a magic coin. If your grandfather's creation can stop her, then you're not a monster; you're the lever. I'm here to hold the moral ground, even if your machine won't."
She turned back, her final instruction cutting through the noise of the approaching ferry.
"You have 48 hours to execute this acquisition. After that, Serena will have found the second coin's user, and we'll be out of time. Don't call me until Aether-Bio is yours."
As the ferry docked, disgorging a stream of morning commuters, Elena disappeared into the crowd. Alex clutched the folder, his heart pounding not from exhaustion, but from the enormity of the task. He had a target, a plan, and the complete backing of Elena Vasquez.
He also had a chilling, secret directive from the machine that had created him, demanding he eliminate the only ally he had left.
Alex stared at the folder, the weight of the moral line he was about to cross heavy in his hands.
The mission begins now. And the first casualty might be his own conscience.