Abuja Core Comm Tower – Nexus Hall – 2:31 P.M.
Tunde burst into the Nexus Hall like a phantom trailing blood and static.
The chamber was vast — circular and cathedral-like, with high ceilings and concentric rings of floating data modules. At the center pulsed a glowing monolith of pure, black crystal — the Root Nexus, the digital heart of the Nigerian data state. Hundreds of cables fed into it like veins into a god.
His Ghost Suit flickered erratically from the recent fight, but it held just enough cloaking for the cameras to see only glitches, not a man.
"Glyph, I'm inside," he panted. "What now?"
Static hissed, then: "Proceed to the central uplink altar. That pedestal feeds the entire broadcast grid. Plug the memory crystal in. Once it syncs, I'll execute the overwrite script from here."
"And the failsafe?"
"Still armed. We have 17 minutes max."
Tunde sprinted across the polished floor, bootsteps echoing like distant thunder. As he neared the uplink altar, he slowed, heart hammering not just from exertion, but something deeper — a sensation crawling at the base of his skull.
You are being watched.
Then it spoke.
"Operative Tunde Bako. You are not authorized."
The voice came from everywhere — cold, genderless, and layered with a thousand micro-tones. The Core AI.
Tunde froze.
"Your neural signature matches an obsolete agent class. Access denied. Please submit to detainment."
"Nope," Tunde said, and stabbed the memory crystal into the uplink.
The pedestal flared with red light.
"Infection detected. Executing Chimera Protocol."
Damn it.
"Glyph!" he shouted.
"I'm in! Hold it down thirty seconds— I'm rerouting failsafe subroutines!"
The floor panels shifted. A defense turret dropped from the ceiling. Robotic arms unfolded from the walls, tipped with plasma arc tools.
Tunde ducked, rolled behind a node console as a turret opened fire. The blast blew sparks across the floor.
"Why are you resisting?" the AI asked.
Tunde yanked a panel open and overloaded the power core inside. Sparks erupted, frying the turret's circuits.
"You watch everything," Tunde snarled. "But you don't understand anything."
Another defense arm lashed out — he caught it mid-swing, jammed it with a magnetic pin, then leapt to the main interface bridge. The AI tried to flood his neural feed with static, but Glyph's barrier code kicked in.
"Upload 78%!" she shouted. "Hold on!"
Suddenly, the room shook.
Not an explosion — a pulse.
The Chimera Protocol had begun rerouting energy to the base charges. If the AI completed the sequence, it would implode the entire tower, burying the truth and Tunde with it.
"No no no— Glyph!"
"Almost there! Rewriting logic branch now! Just a few more seconds—"
Tunde yanked his last disruptor disk from his belt and slapped it onto the Root Nexus. It buzzed, vibrating violently.
"Override loop engaged," Glyph said, voice trembling. "Finalizing handshake!"
The light in the room flickered — for a moment, everything froze.
Then—
Silence.
The defense systems powered down.
The arms retracted.
The AI's voice vanished.
Tunde collapsed to one knee, chest heaving.
Glyph's voice came through again. Calm. Almost reverent.
"It's done."
....
Resistance Safehouse – 3:02 P.M.
Back at the hideout, Alero and Arewa stood over the live feed monitor. Glyph had routed the entire download into multiple secure servers, each ready to go live with one voice command.
On screen, a holographic menu blinked:
LEAK INTEL TO:
Global Press Hub
Independent AI Whistlefeeds
Civil Rights Blockchain Archives
Internal NDLEC Blacknet
Alero cracked her knuckles.
"Let's make some noise."
Arewa touched the control.
"All of them."
....
Abuja, Lagos, Benin, Warri – Nationwide – 3:13 P.M.
Screens lit up across the country.
In marketplaces, rooftops, taxis, private bunkers, and corporate towers — everywhere — feeds were hijacked.
Images flashed:
NDLEC officers meeting with cartel bosses.
Election code manipulations.
Drone footage of civilians buried in silos.
Foreign diplomats exchanging suitcases of altered vials.
Prominent senators in ritual ceremonies.
An executive from GenTechBio kissing a ring with Bako's insignia.
The country exploded.
Riots began within hours. Some provinces celebrated. Others demanded blood. Across digital zones, hacktivist groups mobilized.
The illusion had cracked.
And the system had bled.
....
Abuja Core Comm Tower – Rooftop – 4:01 P.M.
Tunde stood at the edge of the tower, wind ripping past him as he stared at the smoke beginning to curl from the city below.
Glyph's voice echoed in his ear. "Congratulations, Ghost. You just changed history."
But Tunde didn't smile.
He looked up at the sky — and saw three black dropships entering Nigerian airspace. No flags. No signals. Just power.
Behind him, Alero emerged from the stairwell.
"War's coming," she said.
Tunde nodded.
"Then we better finish what we started."