“Ayo’s Reckoning”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlE0zsUfMqo
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2OMzGIcmJ
Ayo entered alone.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqR354FTLXy
The silence was volcanic.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBPfqplVt6A
“You know why I called you,” Jabari said, voice flat.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFU8WV4MAp
Ayo offered a faint shrug. “Because the girls found the card?”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRE3JCD3Xm
Jabari snapped a dossier onto the desk — a copy of Naomi’s Tribunal summary, ink still drying.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGVOHcbdWz
“Because you sabotaged a crate we sent in good faith. Because you exposed all of us.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4oBjCPj95
Ayo stepped closer.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxHnyXJ2zg
“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.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDd8HEAFV35
Jabari frowned. “What does that even mean?”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7x7oZyDuWp
Ayo picked up a coil of magnetic wire from the desk, let it dangle.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9xmp25XME
“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?”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb90Otdd3nW
Jabari’s voice grew sharp.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvr6PbWeDKW
“You broke formation. You put everyone at risk.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcA0svh4otO
“No,” Ayo said calmly. “I reminded everyone that you’re not clean either.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqwpuSLQBH
He stepped toward Jabari.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5N6U5O3Pr
“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.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIseDDnjHU9
Jabari didn’t speak for several moments.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiV8oMu9kW7
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.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10BNTTZzBJ
Ayo nodded. No fight. No protest.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnaemdi8GI
“As long as you understand... silencing me just proves my point.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7450RV4QVx
He turned.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRx20lUvp2s
Before walking out, he paused.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFV54pGEkm0
“Check the old boiler room under the lab tower.” You’ll find what Mercy left us. Or what we left buried first.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKw62HHZjDd
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:40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMGoa7NbgX
“Control isn’t memory. It’s delay.” Below it, he circles one phrase: Boiler Room – Legacy Remnants.
**********40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUhOQp9W1aR
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5JEZRQdFfg
Ayo arrives to find Kwame and Otieno waiting.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMIZjdIE2hk
Kwame’s expression is razor-sharp. Otieno leans against the pipe wall, arms folded, quieter but far more dangerous.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJQhpdfWq56
“You went off-script,” Kwame said.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTt3NsHkcP
“There’s no script,” Ayo replied. “That’s why we exist.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvrw7bvBye
Otieno’s voice was cold: “There’s also no chaos clause. You don’t act alone.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsX6699800
Ayo stepped forward.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWjL6tZdbd
“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.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Sa0ZRTQOv
Kwame’s lip curled.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvSvBSZwT8
“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.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzT72jo0Cd
Ayo met his eyes — not defiant, but clear.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Eq525RWj2
“Then I’m not among you anymore.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3q78L4S6QF
He turned to Otieno.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRHVyxAX48
“I thought you understood. You used to say walls exist to be rewired, not just crossed.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNCSBOe3CMO
Otieno’s jaw tightened — but he said nothing.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotGDMdOaUW
“So go ahead,” Ayo said. “Protect your myths. But I won’t be a shadow in someone else’s war.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWKjASl7OQ
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh6054XRJ6x
The thread burned silently, curling into smoke.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLeVLSin16T
“I'm done pretending we were ever united.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QNIeSWGMT
He walked out.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAblaPM6owk
The blue thread continued to smoke.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSq58m2ZDwS
Kwame didn’t stop him.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6d1EhocAmd
Otieno did not speak.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKUzBtexbn
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4EexcYVo1
Musa entered without knocking.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7J6wHIL46R
He held no files. No coded messages. Just his voice.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3FDAVyoAkF
“Don’t exile him.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUUdrpNp7dn
Jabari didn’t turn. “He almost detonated the alliance.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LStehh5I9
“Because he saw the game Mercy was really playing,” Musa said.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfC00HeqNcK
“Not the ledgers. Not the ciphers. The distraction. The division.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjgNUndmFN
Jabari finally turned. “He burned our seal. Broke ranks. Lied with his hands.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIN7Ol1t71X
Musa didn’t flinch.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEesO44BXhF
“But he never lied with his heart.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVUYLgBA1m
A long silence.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtVfDlzQgLV
“He’s not Mercy,” Musa said. “And if we treat him like he is… we become her next chapter.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDhA8rWUchs
Jabari exhaled slowly; hands clasped behind his back.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMEZG9fyU8Z
“He’s out. No operations. No keys. No tunnels.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnieCwvr7im
Musa nodded.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6sREVNCDSg
“But?”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjm2JCYP93T
Jabari met his eyes.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJVA1thuTt
“He lives. Under watch and probation. If he so much as breathes another signature, he’s done.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9PJAea31z
Musa nodded once.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTbqYMDsgx
“Fair.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Icm31ZSfE
As he turned to leave, Jabari added, quieter:40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmOUmFaxAm
“He gave you something, didn’t he?”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZCGHuuMJx
Musa paused.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RjCYNh3ws
“Only this.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxK6nnPU70g
He handed over a slip of paper — a boiler schematic with one corner circled.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgS1so9hg3E
“Where the heat doesn’t rise.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgTiZHen8a
Jabari places the note into his pocket looking out at the storm again.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQQnb62svg
“Then that’s where we look next.”
*****40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPdNSA0I3Hg
The hallway behind the science block was nearly empty.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjln06Wk7pb
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuThk800tUs
The others avoided him.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBRld7Lczs
But Juma didn’t.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbiruwoaXWg
He approached in silence, his boots wet from the storm.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrGyyyR8nZ
Ayo didn’t look up.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzD1D8FR1bG
Juma paused, then — slowly — he knelt.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87cCeXJujq
“You were reckless,” Juma said. “But you weren’t wrong.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf4M5Y9HC0n
Ayo blinked. “You hate me.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXYRUCrevc
“I did,” Juma replied. “But I hate lies more.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyq1n9NEkBI
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkfDnfwwLsU
He placed it beside Ayo.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHHPeCpHT6
“Blood isn’t thicker than truth,” Juma said. “And truth deserves a second voice.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVprqJXyqW
Ayo picks up the thread slowly. No words — just a nod.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Hm2S3opY8
From the rooftops, unseen, Musa watches — saying nothing.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MWMpANwW4
The storm passes over the lake, but its echo remains in the air.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaBEFg6qgIY
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpl4bPHS1Wn
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.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelPC4isuvX
“Mercy recorded everything,” he says. “Not to preserve truth. But to rewrite it. This is her first confession.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXmOmB0GoUQ
He plugs it into the projector system.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4wUNYkTpg0
The screen flickers.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVR7ryjnrrm
Mercy appears — younger, sharper, in a classroom-turned-studio. Her voice is calm.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1zo7NRAwR
“I didn’t want to lie. But the wall made it easy. They asked me to archive. I edited.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgXT9fqq6qI
They asked me to expel. I accused.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡputhU6i5L1
The girl from Form 3 never returned. And I never corrected it.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2LP2CC5Li
The ledger isn’t a record.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4CMp3MX12
It’s a grave.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCuCUMwS6T
And if anyone finds this, I only ask one thing—40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6vFMJKJhFx
Don’t preserve me. Replace me.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9YLMeAMnV
Silence.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyWtBBkqXVK
Otieno is stone-faced. Musa breathes out slowly. One Order head lowers his eyes.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIjaBI3cz4
Juma steps forward. “That was the truth behind the ledger?”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TX7o63LmC
Jabari nods. “The one we nearly died to protect. We archived a lie.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlCSwhcZzX
He turns to the room.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4bLUQb2KIJ
“You don’t get to carry Mercy’s fire and call it light.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6MOtJVk9p
Jabari draws a circle in chalk on the floor.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLvjL1emq5N
“Step in if you still serve the old Order. Step out if you choose to build what comes next.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjG7Gwp0zn
The pause is long. Weighty.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF219KPfWEp
Three members step in. Five steps out.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhMKWIRmg8
Otieno steps to the edge, then deliberately wipes part of the chalk away.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJwQreoXLC
“There shouldn’t be a circle anymore. Only a path.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtUQwVRX9mn
Jabari watches the recording fade to static. He unplugs the drive, places it in a red envelope, and hands it to Musa.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYWSZITmFS
“Send it across the wall. No encryption.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsdCMvDMiCk
Musa’s eyes widen. “You want Naomi to see it?”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkY3mPk7LYv
Jabari’s voice is firm.40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQken5G61Ey
“No. I want everyone to.”40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSl3aJ9cSl
40Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMA5leWcTtX
