The cannery was filled with a quiet that felt both well-deserved and easily broken. The crazy, high-energy feeling from their digital attack had faded, leaving them feeling completely drained and empty. The computer screens were still on, showing the proof of what they'd done: codes confirming they'd moved millions of dollars, and a fake online path leading right to their enemy, Vincenzo.

They had done it. They had started something huge and were now waiting for the reaction.

But for the first few hours, nothing happened. The silence was making them nervous.

Evelyn was the first to speak up. "We can't just sit here waiting for him to find out," she said, her voice rough. "We need to find out what's happening out there."

Kaito, his eyes red and tired from staring at screens, agreed. "Let's check the business news reports. Local news sites. Police radio channels. If Ramos's business is starting to fall apart, we might hear about it." His fingers started moving quickly across the keyboard again, but this time he was looking for information from the outside world, not hacking into something.

Ace and Silva watched, feeling too anxious to sit down but too tired to do anything useful. The excited high from their successful fight back was fading, replaced by a cold, sick feeling of dread as they waited. What had they just done?

"It's too quiet," Silva muttered, saying what everyone was thinking for the tenth time. He walked back and forth near the door like a trapped animal. "Shouldn't we be hearing... I don't know, explosions? People shouting?"

"Ramos isn't the shouting type," Ace said quietly, his bandaged hands hurting with a steady pain. "He's a planner. He's probably just finding out about this now. First, he'll check his bank accounts. Then he'll get very, very quiet. And then he'll start making his plan."

A message appeared in Ace's mind from the System, laying out a cold, step by step prediction of how Ramos would react, ending with his planned retaliation. It was like a timer counting down in their heads.

"Got something," Kaito said suddenly, his voice cutting through the tension. He pointed to a local business news website. The headline was small but clear: "Unexplained 'Glitches' Cause Trouble for Local Import Businesses, Payroll Delayed."

The article was vague, talking about unnamed sources at several companies reporting "sudden, terrible accounting mistakes" and "frozen money." It blamed a possible wider bank computer problem. But they knew the real reason.

"It's starting," Evelyn whispered.

Next, Kaito found a live police radio feed, listening for any talk about the docklands or places Ramos owned. The chatter was normal for a few minutes—a noise complaint, a small car crash. Then, a new message came through, the dispatcher's voice fuzzy with static.

*"All units, we have a report of a problem at the business units next to The Sapphire Lounge. Reports of a possible break-in. Units 7-Baker-5 and 7-Baker-12, please go check it out."*

A slow, grim smile appeared on Kaito's face. "He took the bait. Ramos must have sent his own men to attack Vincenzo's place to get back at him. The police are only just arriving."

The plan was working. Ramos's anger was being pointed away from them. They had successfully started a war between two powerful enemies, and for now, they were hidden onlookers.

A feeling of grim satisfaction settled over the group. They had been like mice running between the feet of giants. Now, they had tied the giants' shoelaces together and were watching them trip over each other.

But Ace didn't feel like celebrating. He watched the news reports and listened to the police scanner, and all he could think about was the innocent people who were getting hurt. The regular workers who wouldn't get their paychecks because of the money they had moved. The truck drivers, the warehouse staff, the office workers—people who were just trying to earn a living, now caught in the middle of a war they knew nothing about.

"We hurt a lot of innocent people today," he said, his voice low and heavy.

The room fell silent. The feeling of satisfaction disappeared, replaced by a sobering reality.

"We did what we had to do to survive," Evelyn said, but her voice didn't have the same strong belief it had before.

"Did we?" Ace asked, not to blame anyone, but with real pain. "Or did we just become a different kind of monster? We didn't just defend ourselves. We attacked. We ruined other people's lives to save our own."

This was the awful question they had been trying to avoid. The moral price of their survival was getting higher and higher, and soon they would have to face it.

A message appeared in Ace's mind from the System, analyzing the situation without any emotion. It saw that their action had protected their friends but had also caused financial problems for many innocent workers. Its conclusion was that the group's survival was more important than the unintended harm to others, and it rated their strategy as 94% efficient. The System only saw numbers and success rates, not real people.

Before anyone could respond to Ace's painful question, Kaito suddenly straightened up. "Whoa. Hold on." He was staring at a different screen, one that showed the city's overall internet activity.

"What is it?" Silva asked, immediately on guard.

"The digital activity around Ramos's businesses... it's shooting up," Kaito said, his forehead wrinkled in confusion. "But it's not coming from Ramos's people. And it's not the police. This is something else. It's... really advanced. It's like a second wave of attacks is happening, right after ours."

He typed quickly, trying to follow the new data. "They're targeting different things. Not just money. Shipping schedules. Employee records. They're not stealing anything. They're... deleting everything. Wiping out whole computer systems."

A cold feeling ran down Ace's spine. "Silica," he said.

The name hung in the air like a poison. They had been so focused on Ramos, they had forgotten about the other dangerous hacker haunting them.

"It's her," Kaito confirmed, his face pale. "She's using the chaos we created as a cover. She's launching her own attack on Ramos's digital systems right now, while his defenses are down and he's distracted by Vincenzo."

The realization was shocking. They hadn't just started a war; they had created the perfect distraction for a third, even more dangerous enemy to move in.

"She's not helping us," Evelyn said, as the understanding hit her. "She's using us. We weakened him, and now she's moving in to finish him off."

Another message flashed in Ace's mind from the System, trying to make sense of this new threat. It noted that Silica was attacking Ramos's networks while he was vulnerable, but it didn't know why. Was she getting rid of competition? Did she have a personal grudge? The immediate result was more chaos, which helped their plan to frame Vincenzo, but the long-term risk was unknown. The System couldn't predict what Silica's ultimate goal was. She was an unpredictable and dangerous storm.

For a moment, they were all frozen, watching the digital destruction happening on Kaito's screens. Silica was doing to Ramos exactly what she had done to them, but on a much larger, more terrifying scale. She was like a force of pure, chaotic destruction.

Then, the burner phone buzzed.

The sound cut through the tense silence like an electric shock. Everyone's eyes immediately turned to it. This was the phone only one person ever called.

Ramos.

After everything that had happened, after they had stolen from him, framed his rival, and rebelled against him—he was calling.

"What does he want?" Silva whispered, stepping back from the phone as if it were dangerous.

"He knows," Evelyn said, her hand covering her mouth. "He knows it was us."

"Or he still thinks it was Vincenzo and he's calling to give me another job," Ace said, his mind working quickly. "Probably something even more violent. To make the war worse."

The phone kept buzzing, shaking against the metal workbench with a persistent, angry vibration.

"Don't answer it," Kaito urged. "It has to be a trap."

But Ace knew he had to answer. Not answering would be as good as admitting guilt. If there was any chance Ramos still believed their lie, he had to take it. He had to keep up the act for a little while longer.

He picked up the phone. His bandaged hands made it difficult. He took a deep breath and answered.

"Yes?" he said, trying to make his voice sound normal.

There was a long silence on the other end. Ace could hear breathing, It was calm, controlled, and completely terrifying. When Ramos finally spoke, his voice wasn't cold and businesslike like before. It was different. Quiet. Almost thoughtful. And it carried a threat so heavy it made the air in the cannery feel cold.

"Ace," Ramos said. That one word was filled with meaning. "It seems we have a problem. A very big one."

Ace's blood ran cold. He knew. Somehow, Ramos knew.

"Something has happened to the accounts," Ramos continued, his voice strangely soft. "Money has disappeared. Information has been... changed. It seems someone has been very, very bad."

Ace said nothing. He couldn't speak.

"The interesting thing," Ramos said, thinking out loud, "is how it was done. The skill needed... it's unusual. This doesn't feel like Vincenzo's work. His people are thugs. This was clever. This was personal."

Another long, painful silence.

"I want you to think very carefully, Ace. I want you to think about our conversation today. About loyalty. About what happens when people are disloyal. And then I want you to ask yourself one question."

Ace could barely breathe. "What question?" he whispered.

"Where," Ramos said, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper, "are your friends?"

The call ended.

Ace slowly lowered the phone from his ear. His hand was shaking. He looked at the frightened faces of his friends.

"He knows," Ace said, his voice empty. "Maybe not everything, but he knows it was us. And he's coming. Not for the cannery. He's coming for everything we care about. He's going to destroy it all."

The quiet time was over. The storm they had created was now turning toward them, and it was filled with a cold, murderous anger. They had fired the first shot, and now the attack was coming back at them.

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