Chapter 22: The Coreframe Protocol
Darkness.
Then pain.
Charles woke up gagged, wrists zip-tied behind a cold steel chair, his vision blurring under white fluorescent lights. The air smelled like bleach and metal—antiseptic death. He blinked, trying to focus through the haze of whatever drug they’d pumped into his system.
A camera lens stared directly at him from the corner, its red recording light pulsing like a mechanical heartbeat.
His head throbbed. How long had he been unconscious? The last thing he remembered was walking into his office after the Nexium Core incident, then... nothing. Just a pinprick in his neck and the world going black.
A man’s voice, artificial and distorted through electronic filters, echoed from overhead speakers.
> "Charles Kane. System controller. Founder. Domination architect. We’ve been watching you for three years, seven months, and fourteen days."
The specificity sent ice through his veins. Three years—that’s when WDS first went public. When Specter had approached him with the Soul Module prototype.
His throat was dry, tongue thick with residual sedatives. He tried to speak, but only muffled sounds came out through the industrial-grade gag.
> "You made a system designed to empower the masses. Revolutionary social networking. Democratic participation. But the truth? You built a throne on behavioral algorithms and loyalty manipulation. How does it feel knowing your empire was a lie from the very beginning?"
Charles’s eyes darted around the room. Concrete walls. No windows. The smell of ozone suggested they were underground, possibly in some kind of bunker or military installation. Security cameras in every corner, all trained on him.