Chapter 25: When the World Notices
The first headline didn't name Emberlight.
It couldn't.
The report spoke in careful language—data irregularities, unauthorized surveillance failures, a series of unexplained detentions. But Cyan knew better. He watched the feed scroll across a cracked public terminal while Mira treated the injured Subject beside him.
"They're circling it," he said. "The truth, I mean. They can feel it."
Mira didn't look up. "Truth doesn't stay quiet once it's wounded."
The network had changed. Where once there had been whispers, now there were patterns. Independent journalists asking the same questions. Anonymous tips surfacing with familiar terminology. Old Emberlight facilities appearing in leaked archives.
Someone else was pulling threads.
A new message came through—not a Subject this time.
We don't know who you are.
But Emberlight is hiding something.
If you have proof, we're listening.
Cyan stared at the screen. "This is dangerous."
"So was speaking the first time," Mira said.
He hesitated. "Once this crosses into the public… there's no control."
Mira met his gaze. "We were never meant to control it."
Outside, the city buzzed louder than before. Screens flickered with speculation. Forums lit up with theories. People began to notice the same name appearing where it shouldn't—on budgets, on security contracts, on sealed research grants.
Emberlight.
Vale noticed too.
In a room far above the city, he watched the news feeds silently, fingers steepled. "They've learned how to aim," he said.
An assistant shifted nervously. "Sir… public exposure may force—"
"—adaptation," Vale finished calmly. "Prepare Phase Two."
Back in the shadows, Mira watched the sunrise edge across the ruins. "They see us now," she said.
Cyan nodded. "And they're going to choose sides."
Mira looked at the network—Subjects, journalists, unnamed allies—fragile, imperfect, real.
"Let them," she said.
The story was no longer buried in erased files or whispered through encrypted signals.
It had reached the headlines.
And once the world starts asking questions, the truth doesn't stop moving.