The ride back to the city was silent, save for the hum of the SUV's engine and the muffled sobs of Ci-N's brother, who was now fast asleep against Felix's shoulder. Jay-jay stared out the window at the blurred city lights, her hand still ghosting over her cheek where Toby had touched her.
Inside the safe house—a high-tech bunker hidden beneath one of Keifer's "abandoned" warehouses—the air was heavy with grief.
"He was right there," Ci-N whispered, his voice cracking. "I could have reached out. I could have hugged him."
"He did what he had to do, Ci-N," Edrix said, though his own eyes were red. "He died a hero. Again."
Seraphina stood by the central console, her face illuminated by the blue glow of her tablet. She looked unusually somber, her usual sharp tongue stilled by the weight of the sacrifice she had witnessed. She cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention.
"He knew," Seraphina said softly.
Keifer looked up from the map he was brooding over. "Knew what?"
"Toby knew he wasn't coming back," Seraphina explained. She turned the tablet toward Jay-jay. "While I was 'hacking' the door, Toby wasn't just standing there. He was uploading. He used his visor's direct neural link to bypass the facility's firewall. He left a Digital Ghost."
Jay-jay stood up, her legs feeling like lead as she walked toward the console. On the screen was a pulsating black-and-gold icon—the original Section E emblem.
"I tried to open it," Seraphina admitted, a flicker of her old ego appearing. "I used every decryption algorithm in my arsenal. But the file is biometric. It's locked to a specific heartbeat and voice frequency. It's locked to you, Jay-jay."
Keifer moved to Jay-jay's side, his hand resting on the small of her back. "Do it, Jay. If he left something, it's the key to everything."
Jay-jay took a deep breath and placed her palm on the glass.
"Voice authorization required," the computer chimed.
"It's me, Toby," Jay-jay whispered, her voice trembling. "It's the Mutya."
The screen flickered, and suddenly, a grainy, holographic projection of Toby appeared in the center of the room. It wasn't the scarred, cold "Executioner" they had just seen. This was a recording he must have made in secret—he looked younger, his face clean, wearing a tired but genuine smile.
"Hey, Jay," the holographic Toby started. "If you're seeing this, it means I've finally stopped running. Don't cry. Seriously, Ci-N, stop crying. I can practically hear you from the future."
A small, watery laugh escaped Ci-N's lips.
"I didn't have much time," Toby's ghost continued, his image flickering. "The Elders... they didn't just rebuild my body. They turned me into a living hard drive. Everything they've done for the last five years—the bribes, the murders, the names of the families on the Black Ledger—it's all buried in the metadata of this file."
Toby's expression turned dead serious. "Keifer, listen to me. The Elders aren't just businessmen. They are the founding fathers of the city's underworld. And their leader... the one pulling all the strings... is someone you know. Someone you trust."
The projection started to break up as the data became more complex.
The Ledger is a trap, Keifer. It's not just names. It's a trigger for a financial collapse that will wipe out the Watson Group in a single day. To stop them, you have to go to the only place they can't reach. Go to The Old Classroom. Under the floorboard where we used to hide our 'confiscated' phones... there's a physical key."
Toby's image began to fade, his light dimming.
"Jay-jay... thank you. For being the Mutya. For not forgetting me. Tell the boys... Section E... forever."
With a final flicker, the hologram vanished, leaving the room in total darkness.
The silence that followed was absolute.
"Someone we trust?" Keifer repeated, his voice like grinding stones. He looked at Yuri and Seraphina. "Either he means one of us, or the circle of enemies is much closer than we thought."
"He mentioned the old classroom," Jay-jay said, wiping her tears and standing tall. The grief was still there, but it was being replaced by a cold, sharp purpose. "We're going back to Section E. Tonight."
"It'll be crawling with Elders' scouts," Edrix warned.
"Then we don't go as the Watson Group," Jay-jay said, looking at her friends—the misfits, the hackers, the fighters, and the former enemies. "We go as a gang. We go back to the roots."
Keifer looked at Jay-jay, seeing the fire in her eyes. He realized then that the "Normal Marriage" he had dreamed of was over, but the Watson Legacy was just beginning.
"Felix, get the old uniforms," Keifer commanded. "Seraphina, jam the city's CCTV. Yuri... you're with us. If there's a traitor among the people I trust, I'm going to find them. And I'm going to make them wish they had died in that facility with Toby