“Ayo’s Reckoning”24Please respect copyright.PENANAH663jtY5rJ
The east records room was dark — only a single desk lamp glowed over a pile of dried ledger tape and blueprint sketches. Jabari stood beside the table; hands clasped behind his back.24Please respect copyright.PENANA5WDbwt1PdG
Ayo entered alone.24Please respect copyright.PENANAyFka5HrV6j
The silence was volcanic.24Please respect copyright.PENANAlAFdq8Af8U
“You know why I called you,” Jabari said, voice flat.24Please respect copyright.PENANAlNW4t5sTtg
Ayo offered a faint shrug. “Because the girls found the card?”24Please respect copyright.PENANAVFfbzZcEWM
Jabari snapped a dossier onto the desk — a copy of Naomi’s Tribunal summary, ink still drying.24Please respect copyright.PENANA13bxlYplHb
“Because you sabotaged a crate we sent in good faith. Because you exposed all of us.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAj7D1noPUfb
Ayo stepped closer.24Please respect copyright.PENANAvRKKiFAbyM
“I didn’t poison anything. Not in the way you think. That card wasn’t to destroy Naomi. It was to prove Mercy’s poison… has no borders.”24Please respect copyright.PENANA8VIpqwkNLr
Jabari frowned. “What does that even mean?”24Please respect copyright.PENANASMahrFEx8T
Ayo picked up a coil of magnetic wire from the desk, let it dangle.24Please respect copyright.PENANAj5EpILuf5x
“You think this is about Mercy or Naomi or some crypt. But it’s not. It’s about how everyone keeps rewriting history just enough to feel like the hero. Mercy used truth as a weapon. Naomi used silence. And now we’re pretending you’re any different?”24Please respect copyright.PENANA3uaDVpUWGe
Jabari’s voice grew sharp.24Please respect copyright.PENANApeAa5DKW0W
“You broke formation. You put everyone at risk.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAsgYFdtncVE
“No,” Ayo said calmly. “I reminded everyone that you’re not clean either.”24Please respect copyright.PENANATHmzxITYrk
He stepped toward Jabari.24Please respect copyright.PENANAWpZ0PTw58V
“We buried names too, Jabari. You kept the order clean by editing memory. I just didn’t want her to beat us at our own trick. So, I sent a message.”24Please respect copyright.PENANASMqTbOu1pQ
Jabari didn’t speak for several moments.24Please respect copyright.PENANAxhHnqjDkIy
Then, slowly: “You’re suspended from all wall operations. Your archive access is revoked. Musa will clear your codes from the relay. You move only with watchers present.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAnniedlliim
Ayo nodded. No fight. No protest.24Please respect copyright.PENANA4dD3kQf0ik
“As long as you understand... silencing me just proves my point.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAsNVmw8hGh8
He turned.24Please respect copyright.PENANAZHTL85bQVY
Before walking out, he paused.24Please respect copyright.PENANAEKhDLlZHwi
“Check the old boiler room under the lab tower.” You’ll find what Mercy left us. Or what we left buried first.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAsgFo56REWR
Jabari sits alone in the lamp light, staring at Ayo’s vacated shadow. He slowly sits, opens a fresh notebook, and writes at the top:24Please respect copyright.PENANAwFkvznp64s
“Control isn’t memory. It’s delay.” Below it, he circles one phrase: Boiler Room – Legacy Remnants.
**********24Please respect copyright.PENANAFAdjsoNLlh
The old broadcast tunnel behind the boys’ science wing — was once a secret passage used for pranks, now a Shadow Walker base of sorts. Blue chalk symbols line the walls. Three lanterns cast narrow light.24Please respect copyright.PENANA6KaPgLtO1n
Ayo arrives to find Kwame and Otieno waiting.24Please respect copyright.PENANApeeZtPoJLd
Kwame’s expression is razor-sharp. Otieno leans against the pipe wall, arms folded, quieter but far more dangerous.24Please respect copyright.PENANAUJeey8McVv
“You went off-script,” Kwame said.24Please respect copyright.PENANADMDRkYQu6l
“There’s no script,” Ayo replied. “That’s why we exist.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAcqGXSNbKDL
Otieno’s voice was cold: “There’s also no chaos clause. You don’t act alone.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAkrDAJKh1Qx
Ayo stepped forward.24Please respect copyright.PENANABoeReth5de
“You two talk about ‘freedom’ and ‘secrecy’ like a code. But you forgot — secrecy without purpose is just silence. Mercy cracked the Order because they were predictable. Now you’re doing the same thing.”24Please respect copyright.PENANA68OeBCYiGP
Kwame’s lip curled.24Please respect copyright.PENANAx6hjnKtf65
“You almost got us blacklisted by the girls. You sabotaged the alliance. You played your little card trick for what — a lesson? There are no traitors among us, Ayo. Not anymore.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAGtgOXmy2Eg
Ayo met his eyes — not defiant, but clear.24Please respect copyright.PENANANxwArKgDWq
“Then I’m not among you anymore.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAUiC9bsjXuO
He turned to Otieno.24Please respect copyright.PENANAtaUXEGPqVC
“I thought you understood. You used to say walls exist to be rewired, not just crossed.”24Please respect copyright.PENANADeZ5TJhf0W
Otieno’s jaw tightened — but he said nothing.24Please respect copyright.PENANArUO0xIkerA
“So go ahead,” Ayo said. “Protect your myths. But I won’t be a shadow in someone else’s war.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAwaj5vOdKMh
From his jacket, Ayo pulled his blue-thread badge — a signal band used to mark Shadow Walker channels. He dropped it in the lantern flame.24Please respect copyright.PENANAU9wbrKVDH1
The thread burned silently, curling into smoke.24Please respect copyright.PENANAxm9slqAENS
“I'm done pretending we were ever united.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAqpBoe9sH8S
He walked out.24Please respect copyright.PENANAU2m16ig5Vk
The blue thread continued to smoke.24Please respect copyright.PENANAmD5GlXsx5B
Kwame didn’t stop him.24Please respect copyright.PENANAiql9N1kEQF
Otieno did not speak.24Please respect copyright.PENANAN6SKSpqscp
But something in both of them fractured.
The lamplight in Jabari’s quarters flickered as storm winds from the lake whistled through the shutter vents. Jabari stood at the window, silent, watching distant lightning reflect off the rusting chapel dome.24Please respect copyright.PENANA68jfsvSwCM
Musa entered without knocking.24Please respect copyright.PENANAoUl8Z2qFHw
He held no files. No coded messages. Just his voice.24Please respect copyright.PENANAjdUhDB7u6d
“Don’t exile him.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAv2wUP3GPFP
Jabari didn’t turn. “He almost detonated the alliance.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAQzId1kVYoY
“Because he saw the game Mercy was really playing,” Musa said.24Please respect copyright.PENANArldYac95ox
“Not the ledgers. Not the ciphers. The distraction. The division.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAuwbTlejaaw
Jabari finally turned. “He burned our seal. Broke ranks. Lied with his hands.”24Please respect copyright.PENANA4xvZpsYZsw
Musa didn’t flinch.24Please respect copyright.PENANArhScMLq5HR
“But he never lied with his heart.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAlhC25Tpf5s
A long silence.24Please respect copyright.PENANAieBm7k7gcn
“He’s not Mercy,” Musa said. “And if we treat him like he is… we become her next chapter.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAbflOaXlgmw
Jabari exhaled slowly; hands clasped behind his back.24Please respect copyright.PENANApl6VAKGIVA
“He’s out. No operations. No keys. No tunnels.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAcM6GDm1OFV
Musa nodded.24Please respect copyright.PENANAJJEZrWYZ3C
“But?”24Please respect copyright.PENANAIjZNJgrXbb
Jabari met his eyes.24Please respect copyright.PENANAUFpbdNozrO
“He lives. Under watch and probation. If he so much as breathes another signature, he’s done.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAItvPOvx71p
Musa nodded once.24Please respect copyright.PENANAPmdqLSsoNW
“Fair.”24Please respect copyright.PENANABCqKEZs5pm
As he turned to leave, Jabari added, quieter:24Please respect copyright.PENANAiu5A7UK1qv
“He gave you something, didn’t he?”24Please respect copyright.PENANA8ftLwWIzwB
Musa paused.24Please respect copyright.PENANACTVh8W31eX
“Only this.”24Please respect copyright.PENANABIRyvBwlgS
He handed over a slip of paper — a boiler schematic with one corner circled.24Please respect copyright.PENANA1jNG7cjPst
“Where the heat doesn’t rise.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAxkobb5BxNB
Jabari places the note into his pocket looking out at the storm again.24Please respect copyright.PENANAZyPiMsmgJ9
“Then that’s where we look next.”
*****24Please respect copyright.PENANATyxxD1Y2FS
The hallway behind the science block was nearly empty.24Please respect copyright.PENANAa3brKBGfLs
Ayo sat on the edge of the broken stone planter, stripped of codes, no longer marked by Shadow Walker ink. His signal thread was gone. His rank — erased.24Please respect copyright.PENANAO8f4cgsMaR
The others avoided him.24Please respect copyright.PENANAjTifH3drmc
But Juma didn’t.24Please respect copyright.PENANA6N2hSZbhTF
He approached in silence, his boots wet from the storm.24Please respect copyright.PENANAjIq4KtGrDT
Ayo didn’t look up.24Please respect copyright.PENANA4BC225UqO6
Juma paused, then — slowly — he knelt.24Please respect copyright.PENANAUE1j6X50zx
“You were reckless,” Juma said. “But you weren’t wrong.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAf0rRx6QNcS
Ayo blinked. “You hate me.”24Please respect copyright.PENANA4OJOQyHSBc
“I did,” Juma replied. “But I hate lies more.”24Please respect copyright.PENANALZJ6hwMOGV
He reached into his pocket and held up an old thread of white string, the kind used to tie prefect scrolls. A sign of truth in original Order traditions — a forgotten symbol.24Please respect copyright.PENANAl2yj69BgZ5
He placed it beside Ayo.24Please respect copyright.PENANApxDsaaJRZy
“Blood isn’t thicker than truth,” Juma said. “And truth deserves a second voice.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAsYn50fCl3W
Ayo picks up the thread slowly. No words — just a nod.24Please respect copyright.PENANA3HPefdNMkK
From the rooftops, unseen, Musa watches — saying nothing.24Please respect copyright.PENANAzx8Wlnd0PP
The storm passes over the lake, but its echo remains in the air.24Please respect copyright.PENANAgJAEq7KkRT
The old boiler room — recently cleaned, repurposed by Jabari into a clandestine projection hall for high-clearance Order discussions. Just past midnight. The lights are dim. The walls still echo with soot history.24Please respect copyright.PENANAMk0h5pTuIy
Jabari stands alone at the center, surrounded by Musa, Juma, Otieno, and six remaining upper-tier Order heads. He holds up a flash drive, engraved with a winged sandal — the Order’s first cipher mark.24Please respect copyright.PENANAnUyUHpLXwi
“Mercy recorded everything,” he says. “Not to preserve truth. But to rewrite it. This is her first confession.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAJ5iWDJQljy
He plugs it into the projector system.24Please respect copyright.PENANA3VkdoPlWLw
The screen flickers.24Please respect copyright.PENANAB9AffomcIW
Mercy appears — younger, sharper, in a classroom-turned-studio. Her voice is calm.24Please respect copyright.PENANAO2SR17cj1h
“I didn’t want to lie. But the wall made it easy. They asked me to archive. I edited.24Please respect copyright.PENANApX58Y0Op1Y
They asked me to expel. I accused.24Please respect copyright.PENANAVBqyJLdoop
The girl from Form 3 never returned. And I never corrected it.24Please respect copyright.PENANA8UE7IblqRv
The ledger isn’t a record.24Please respect copyright.PENANAFNWwywolXR
It’s a grave.”24Please respect copyright.PENANA7FWrtuOYCk
And if anyone finds this, I only ask one thing—24Please respect copyright.PENANAROICK1tdqX
Don’t preserve me. Replace me.”24Please respect copyright.PENANA5L33dA38Ug
Silence.24Please respect copyright.PENANATbI5VJ4KmG
Otieno is stone-faced. Musa breathes out slowly. One Order head lowers his eyes.24Please respect copyright.PENANADkhPFuQQfQ
Juma steps forward. “That was the truth behind the ledger?”24Please respect copyright.PENANAcKInqz9J5d
Jabari nods. “The one we nearly died to protect. We archived a lie.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAlQPdfUA8Ds
He turns to the room.24Please respect copyright.PENANAiPsJTXrSq3
“You don’t get to carry Mercy’s fire and call it light.”24Please respect copyright.PENANA09XWX3c7oH
Jabari draws a circle in chalk on the floor.24Please respect copyright.PENANAWkdtX5XIiA
“Step in if you still serve the old Order. Step out if you choose to build what comes next.”24Please respect copyright.PENANA0ExwYbVrLK
The pause is long. Weighty.24Please respect copyright.PENANADHmOJdkSjb
Three members step in. Five steps out.24Please respect copyright.PENANACp9IVYwXM9
Otieno steps to the edge, then deliberately wipes part of the chalk away.24Please respect copyright.PENANAQJ5mESLAjj
“There shouldn’t be a circle anymore. Only a path.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAcf9QuZ55cM
Jabari watches the recording fade to static. He unplugs the drive, places it in a red envelope, and hands it to Musa.24Please respect copyright.PENANARvCWgynb45
“Send it across the wall. No encryption.”24Please respect copyright.PENANAVhDhEMKrVo
Musa’s eyes widen. “You want Naomi to see it?”24Please respect copyright.PENANAPwbrIZUNSa
Jabari’s voice is firm.24Please respect copyright.PENANACJFMiHt2YZ
“No. I want everyone to.”24Please respect copyright.PENANApRHhI4z0Dh
24Please respect copyright.PENANAiNJAWPdDtQ