SSS-Rank Corporate Predator System

The walk back to his apartment was a blur.

Miles said goodnight to Clara, the lie about being tired still felt he has done something wrong.

She had given him a long, searching look, her eyes full of a million unspoken questions.

She knew he was lying.

She just didn't know how big the lie was.

He unlocked the door to his apartment.

He stepped inside and leaned against the door, the cool wood a comfort against his aching back.

The clone was gone, but the echo of its existence remained.

A faint, buzzing exhaustion.

He was alone again.

But he had the prize.

He walked over to his desk and sat down, his movements slow and deliberate.

He pulled out the encrypted drive, the one that now held the entire contents of Julian Cross's digital soul.

A grim smile touched his lips.

"Alright, Julian," he whispered to the empty room.

"Let's see what secrets you've been keeping."

He plugged the drive into his laptop.

[ENCRYPTED DATA DETECTED,] the system announced, its text scrolling across his vision.

[INITIATING DECRYPTION PROTOCOL.]

Lines of code flew across the screen.

Julian's security was better than ScrapHead's, but it was still laughably inadequate against a system born from his parents' genius.

It was like trying to stop a tank with a picket fence.

[DECRYPTION COMPLETE,] the system stated a few seconds later.

A single folder appeared on his desktop.

It was labeled "JULIAN'S STUFF."

Miles almost laughed.

The kid had the digital security habits of a twelve-year-old.

He clicked it open.

The contents of Julian's life spilled out.

It was exactly as pathetic as he had imagined.

There were folders filled with ridiculously overpriced clothes he'd bought online.

There were playlists with names like "ALPHA WORKOUT MIX" and "CLOSING THE DEAL."

There was a folder of carefully curated selfies, each one with the same smug, arrogant expression.

"This is a goldmine," Miles thought, his internal monologue dripping with sarcasm.

"A goldmine of secondhand embarrassment."

"I could destroy him with this."

"I could project these photos onto the side of the school."

"He'd have to transfer to another continent."

But he wasn't here for petty revenge.

Not this time.

He was here for information.

He gave the system a new command.

*Scan all files for keywords.*

*Cross Corp.*

*Shipment.*

*And my parents' names.*

[SCANNING…]

The system began to sift through the data with inhuman speed, its algorithms searching for the needles in a haystack of digital garbage.

While it worked, Miles opened the message logs.

He wanted to see for himself.

He found the group chat with the bounty hunters.

He saw the angry messages that had started pouring in after the clone had left the club.

[VoidRipper: He broke his watch! The little coward broke his watch and ran!]

[ScrapHead: It was the ghost! I swear! He did something!]

[Julian Cross: SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU! He didn't do anything! It was just a clumsy waiter!]

The desperation was palpable.

The denial was pathetic.

Then, Miles's blood ran cold.

He opened the private message thread between Julian and his father.

[Julian: Father, the plan to lure the ghost failed. He didn't show.]

[Silas Cross: I am aware. Your little party was a waste of resources and time.]

[Julian: But I have a new plan. A better one. It involves the girl.]

[Silas Cross: The girl is irrelevant. She is a distraction. Your obsession is a liability, Julian.]

[Julian: She's not a liability! She's the key! The ghost is protective of her. I've seen it. If I can control her, I can control him.]

[Silas Cross: Do not do anything foolish. The primary objective is the asset. The boy. His system. Everything else is secondary.]

Miles stared at the screen, a cold, sickening dread coiling in his stomach.

*If I can control her, I can control him.*

He felt a surge of rage so intense it made his vision swim.

Julian wasn't just obsessed.

He was planning to use Clara.

As bait.

As a pawn in his sick, twisted game.

The thought of Julian laying a hand on her, of him even looking at her with that cold, possessive glare…

It was unacceptable.

Just then, the system's scan finished.

A single notification popped up, blinking in a stark, blood-red font.

[ENCRYPTED FILE FOUND.]

[FILE NAME: 'PROJECT R'.]

Miles's breath hitched in his throat.

Project R.

Project Revenant.

He clicked on the file.

The system bypassed the encryption in less than a second.

It was a list.

A list of names.

Scientists.

Researchers.

Dr. Aris Thorne.

Dr. Lena Petrova.

And at the very bottom of the list, two names that made his heart stop.

Dr. Alaric Vane.

Dr. Mira Vane.

His parents.

This was it.

The first real, tangible link between Silas Cross and the night his life had been destroyed.

This was the proof.

His hands were shaking.

He felt a strange, dizzying mixture of triumph and grief.

He was closer than he had ever been to the truth.

But the joy of the discovery was soured by the cold poison of Julian's messages.

The path to his revenge was becoming clearer.

But the danger to the one person he cared about was growing with every step he took.

He was so close to getting justice for his parents.

But what if the price of that justice was Clara's safety?

And then, as if to confirm his deepest fears, the system flashed a new, urgent warning.

It wasn't a simple text scroll.

It was a full-screen, blaring red alert, a klaxon of pure, digital panic.

[CRITICAL WARNING: THREAT ANALYSIS OF 'JULIAN CROSS' COMPLETE.]

[PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: EXTREME NARCISSISM, PATHOLOGICAL OBSESSION, LOW IMPULSE CONTROL.]

[PROBABILITY OF SUBJECT UNDERTAKING ERRATIC, UNPREDICTABLE, AND DANGEROUS ACTION AGAINST TARGET 'CLARA' IN THE NEXT 48 HOURS: 97.4%.]

Miles stared at the screen, the words burning into his brain.

The threat wasn't a vague possibility anymore.

It was a statistical certainty.

Julian was a bomb, and the fuse had just been lit.

The bounty hunters, the corporate assassins, the secret shipments… all of it faded into the background.

There was only one mission now.

One priority.

Protect her.

At any cost.

He had to get to her.

He had to warn her.

He grabbed his phone, his fingers fumbling with the screen as he pulled up her contact.

But before he could hit 'call,' a new message popped up on his screen.

It was from Clara.

And his world stopped.

[Clara: Hey, this is random, but I just got the most amazing news! I've been invited for an exclusive interview for the Cross Corp academic scholarship! It's at one of their corporate buildings downtown. Tonight! Isn't that crazy?]