The walk back to the Starlight Inn felt like walking through a city of ghosts. The usual sounds of life were gone, replaced by an eerie silence broken only by his own careful footsteps. Each time a siren wailed in the distance, his muscles tightened instinctively. Every car that drove past felt like a threat, its headlights sweeping the streets like searchlights trying to find him. He was painfully aware of the small, flat computer drive hidden in his pocket. It felt like he was carrying a piece of a sleeping giant's mind, and the weight of it was immense. He kept his hand pressed over his hoodie pocket, half-expecting the drive to feel hot to the touch, as if it might burn through the fabric at any moment.

He didn't take a direct path. To throw off anyone who might be following, he walked in loops, went down one street only to turn back and take another, and cut through an abandoned park where broken playground equipment stood like skeletons in the moonlight. His nerves were stretched as tight as guitar strings, and every one of his senses was on high alert. The mysterious power inside him—the System—was silent. The blinding headache he got from overusing his microscopic machines, his nanites, had faded to a dull ache. He could feel the System was busy in the background, working to understand a new set of skills it called the "Corporate Espionage" module. It felt like a new part of him had been installed, something quiet and powerful that he hadn't learned to use yet.

When he finally, quietly, opened the motel room door and slipped inside, the air was thick with nervous energy. Evelyn was standing by the window, nervously peeking through the slats of the blinds out at the parking lot. Kaito was hunched over the laptop, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he desperately tried to erase any digital trail that could lead back to them. The blue light from the screen made his anxious face look pale and ghostly. Silva, they could see, hadn't made it back yet.

The moment Evelyn heard the door, she spun around. "Ace! Thank god you're safe." She rushed over to him, her eyes quickly checking him for any cuts, bruises, or signs that he'd been hurt. "Are you okay? What happened out there?"

"We did it," Ace said, his voice scratchy from exhaustion and the leftover rush of adrenaline. He pulled down the zipper of his hoodie and carefully took out the drive. He held it up for them to see—a sleek, black rectangle that looked both modern and sinister, its only marking a single, shiny silver letter 'O'. It was proof of their dangerous victory.

Right at that moment, the door opened again and Silva quickly stepped inside. His large frame seemed to fill the entire doorway. He was breathing heavily, and his clothes carried the sharp smells of truck exhaust and the cold night. He turned and locked the door behind him, then leaned against it, a slow, wide grin breaking across his face. "That," he said, still catching his breath, "was the most fun I've had in weeks. You should have seen the looks on their faces. They were completely confused. They had no idea what was happening."

The anxious mood in the room instantly shattered, replaced by a wave of giddy and disbelieving relief. They had actually done it. Against impossible odds, they had succeeded.

"Okay, okay, we can celebrate later," Kaito said, though he couldn't stop a small smile from appearing on his own face. He reached out his hand. "Let's see what we just risked our lives for."

Ace passed him the drive. Kaito plugged it into a special, secure port on the laptop that he had set up to prevent any viruses or tracking software from activating. Immediately, a box popped up on the screen demanding a password.

"Of course it's locked," Kaito muttered. "But Silica promised she'd get us the key." He opened a separate, super-encrypted messaging window. A moment later, a line of random letters and numbers appeared. He copied and pasted it into the password box.

The computer accepted it. The drive unlocked, showing them a list of folders with boring, official-sounding names like "Demographic_Shift_Model_v4," "Economic_Impact_Assessment," and "Community_Integration_Protocols."

"It all sounds so... boring and technical," Evelyn said, leaning closer to the screen to get a better look.

"Evil often is," Ace replied, his voice low and serious. He knew that the most terrible plans were often hidden inside dry, boring documents that nobody would want to read.

Kaito clicked on the first folder. It opened to reveal a cold collection of information: spreadsheets full of numbers, maps of the city with areas color-coded in red and green, and complex mathematical formulas designed to predict the future. They scrolled through charts that coolly calculated how property values would fall and where families would be forced to move. It was impersonal and clinical, but it didn't yet have the "smoking gun"—the direct, undeniable proof of evil—they were looking for.

"Try opening the one called 'Integration_Protocols,'" Silva suggested, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. The name sounded harmless, but his tone was dark. "That sounds like a fancy way of saying 'how we crush people.'"

Kaito double-clicked. Inside this folder were two more. The names on these were far more sinister. One was labeled "Pillar_Neutralization." The other was called "Social_Fabric_Re-weaving."

A knot of cold fear began to twist in Ace's stomach. The corporate language was trying to hide something terrible. "Open 'Pillar_Neutralization,'" he said, almost afraid of what they would find.

What appeared were not files on land or buildings, but detailed personal dossiers—thick packets of information—on people. There was a file for Mrs. Gable, the elderly woman who ran the community garden and was known for organizing petitions to improve the neighborhood. There was another for Mr. Chen, the kind-hearted owner of the local hardware store who was always willing to help a neighbor in need, even if they couldn't pay him right away. There was even one for Reverend Miller, the pastor whose church opened its doors every weekend to feed the hungry.

For each person, the file was a terrifying invasion of privacy. It listed their personal details, their financial records, and information about their families. But the most horrifying part was the final section: a "Liability Assessment" that judged them as problems, and a "Recommended Neutralization Strategy"—a cold, step-by-step plan to destroy their lives.

For Mrs. Gable, the strategy was to bankrupt and discredit her. The plan said to make anonymous complaints to the city about her garden, saddling her with fines she couldn't pay. It even suggested planting false evidence to make it look like she had stolen grant money.

For Mr. Chen, the plan was to ruin his business. OmniCorp would secretly pay a big-box hardware chain to open a store right next to his, putting him out of business. At the same time, they would start a whisper campaign, spreading lies that his products were unsafe.

For Reverend Miller, the strategy was to destroy his reputation. The file outlined a plan to fabricate a scandal, making it look like he had stolen money from the church collection plate. It also noted they could use his son's old, minor legal trouble to blackmail him.

"They're not just tearing down buildings," Evelyn whispered, her hand flying to her mouth in shock. Her face had lost all its color. "They're tearing down people. They're specifically targeting the ones who keep this community strong. The ones everyone relies on."

Silva's triumphant grin was completely gone, wiped away and replaced by a look of pure, cold rage. "They're going to frame a man of God?" he growled, his hands clenching into fists. "They want to destroy an old woman for planting vegetables? These aren't just criminals... they're monsters."

Ace felt physically sick. This was a different kind of evil than what they had faced before. Ramos was a brutal thug, and Vincenzo was a chaotic bully. But this? This was calculated, patient, and completely heartless. It was cruelty planned out in advance, typed up neatly, and saved on a spreadsheet.

"Open the other one," Ace said, his voice strained. "'Social_Fabric_Re-weaving.'"

Kaito clicked on it. This folder contained the plans for what would happen after the good people of the neighborhood were "neutralized." It described a strategy to bus in wealthier, new residents. It outlined how to replace beloved local businesses, like Mr. Chen's hardware store, with identical corporate chain stores. It was a plan to completely erase the neighborhood's history, culture, and soul, and then rebrand it as a trendy, upscale place. It was a blueprint for destroying a community, written in the boring, sterile language of a business report.

As they scrolled through this horrifying information, Ace felt the new Corporate Espionage module inside him wake up. It was like a pair of special glasses had just clicked over his eyes, allowing him to see the hidden truth behind the numbers and words. The dry data on the screen suddenly transformed into a clear picture of the corporation's motives and weaknesses.

In his mind, it wasn't like reading a computer screen. It was a sudden, deep understanding, as if the System was whispering the secrets directly into his thoughts:

<<<>>>

The Real Motive: This isn't just about money. The CEO, Emerson Vance, is doing this to create his "legacy." He's near retirement and wants to be remembered as the great builder who transformed the city.

The Key Weakness: Because this project is his personal pride and joy, its failure would be a personal, humiliating defeat for him. His ego is his weakest point.

How to Hurt Them: The company's stockholders are very sensitive to bad news. If the company's reputation is damaged, its stock price will fall, and the shareholders will panic.

The Best Strategy: We have to expose this publicly in a way that directly links this evil plan to Vance's dream of a personal legacy. We have to make sure his name is forever associated with this cruelty.

<<<>>>

This new understanding flowed into Ace's mind, not as a jumble of confusing facts, but as a clear, strategic battle plan. He now saw OmniCorp not as a faceless wall, but as a structure with a vulnerable heart, and he knew exactly where to strike.

"He's doing this for his legacy," Ace said out loud, cutting through the stunned silence in the room.

The others turned to look at him, confused. "What? Who?" Kaito asked.

"The CEO. Emerson Vance," Ace said, pointing at the screen. He quickly corrected himself, hiding the System's role. "I mean... I can see the pattern. This Riverbend project isn't just another business deal to him. It's his masterpiece. He's an old man about to retire. He wants to be remembered as the man who rebuilt a part of the city. That's his weakness. His pride."

Ace looked at the faces of his friends. He saw the horror in their eyes from what they had read, and the simmering rage at the injustice of it all. He knew this moment was a crossroads. "We can't just send this to a small news blog and hope for the best," he stated, his voice firm. "A story like that could easily be buried or ignored. We have to make this personal. We have to take this information and permanently attach Emerson Vance's name to it. We have to make sure the whole world understands that his so-called 'legacy' is built on a foundation of ruined lives—on destroying good people like Mrs. Gable and Reverend Miller."

The immense scale of what Ace was suggesting settled over the room, heavy and silent. This wasn't just another risky move in the shadows. They were no longer simply hiding or making small, secret strikes. Ace was proposing they step into the spotlight and pick a public fight with one of the most wealthy and powerful men in the entire country.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Silva asked, his voice a low, skeptical rumble. "Let's be real. We're nobodies. He's a billionaire with an army of lawyers, public relations experts, and probably people who make problems disappear. We can't just knock on his door."

"We have the one thing he can't easily explain away," Evelyn said, her initial shock hardening into something steely and determined. She glanced from the damning files on the laptop screen to Ace's resolute face. "We have the proof. And we have Silica—a digital ghost who can put that proof anywhere she wants. We make this impossible to ignore. We don't send it to one place; we send it to everywhere, all at the same time. Every major television network, every important financial newspaper, every one of OmniCorp's business rivals, and every single person who owns stock in the company."

Kaito nodded, a grim but focused look in his eyes. "A synchronized data dump," he confirmed. "Like a digital D-Day. We can absolutely do that. But we have to be clear about the consequence." He looked around at all of them, his expression serious. "The second we push that button, OmniCorp will know it was us. They'll know we're the ones who stole the drive. And they will come for us with everything they have. Not just thugs with guns, but with the full, terrifying power of a global corporation."

Ace met the gaze of each of his friends in turn—Silva, the strong and loyal fighter; Evelyn, the sharp and pragmatic strategist; Kaito, the brilliant and cautious hacker. They were his family. They were all he had. The stolen data on the screen was no longer just information; it was a line drawn in the sand. Releasing it would be a formal declaration of war.

"Then we'd better be ready," Ace said, his voice quiet, but filled with an absolute certainty that left no room for doubt. "We wanted to uncover the truth. Now we have it. And we're not going to hide it. We're going to use it."

The stolen data glowed on the laptop screen, no longer just a collection of files, but a captured dragon, powerful and dangerous, waiting for them to unleash it upon the world. The daring heist was over. But the real, much larger battle was just beginning. They had managed to harvest the poisonous seeds of a corporation's darkest secrets, and now they faced the monumental task of planting them in the full light of day, knowing that a devastating storm of retaliation was destined to follow.

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