“Ayo’s Reckoning”58Please respect copyright.PENANADnT8cSYltG
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANA4RCXxNYdyw
Ayo entered alone.58Please respect copyright.PENANAvBOk7G4afC
The silence was volcanic.58Please respect copyright.PENANAFgqwo1YSXJ
“You know why I called you,” Jabari said, voice flat.58Please respect copyright.PENANA9SHTrqqSih
Ayo offered a faint shrug. “Because the girls found the card?”58Please respect copyright.PENANAcJXXHzepui
Jabari snapped a dossier onto the desk — a copy of Naomi’s Tribunal summary, ink still drying.58Please respect copyright.PENANAW0iAJnqUdR
“Because you sabotaged a crate we sent in good faith. Because you exposed all of us.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAtG7wQg6GEs
Ayo stepped closer.58Please respect copyright.PENANAc1hQ4mDqWs
“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.”58Please respect copyright.PENANA6UFfEmKQI7
Jabari frowned. “What does that even mean?”58Please respect copyright.PENANAbMiAsc64AU
Ayo picked up a coil of magnetic wire from the desk, let it dangle.58Please respect copyright.PENANAu4kQ5X4gUT
“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?”58Please respect copyright.PENANAqRvfgxD86h
Jabari’s voice grew sharp.58Please respect copyright.PENANAEJXMS9rusu
“You broke formation. You put everyone at risk.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAkJPQhO2my3
“No,” Ayo said calmly. “I reminded everyone that you’re not clean either.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAOwZ9m7zCTQ
He stepped toward Jabari.58Please respect copyright.PENANAIXT6zeqmls
“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.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAJemyTJZzmD
Jabari didn’t speak for several moments.58Please respect copyright.PENANAnUrhAyNLN9
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.”58Please respect copyright.PENANA6ShC3huQfb
Ayo nodded. No fight. No protest.58Please respect copyright.PENANAsx2QpM3diK
“As long as you understand... silencing me just proves my point.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAs0r5PNeQkC
He turned.58Please respect copyright.PENANArsHQDSSAdJ
Before walking out, he paused.58Please respect copyright.PENANAEskXDJCFe3
“Check the old boiler room under the lab tower.” You’ll find what Mercy left us. Or what we left buried first.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAFta5b8lwAo
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:58Please respect copyright.PENANAOi2ZpgJhYr
“Control isn’t memory. It’s delay.” Below it, he circles one phrase: Boiler Room – Legacy Remnants.
**********58Please respect copyright.PENANAGBHOgQi7Wf
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAyRdYLAPVyw
Ayo arrives to find Kwame and Otieno waiting.58Please respect copyright.PENANAXSCsTBWRBG
Kwame’s expression is razor-sharp. Otieno leans against the pipe wall, arms folded, quieter but far more dangerous.58Please respect copyright.PENANAT8VBmjBTJj
“You went off-script,” Kwame said.58Please respect copyright.PENANASHpxDygi9S
“There’s no script,” Ayo replied. “That’s why we exist.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAoPSeMX61pe
Otieno’s voice was cold: “There’s also no chaos clause. You don’t act alone.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAcF3EaPSVtx
Ayo stepped forward.58Please respect copyright.PENANAVKCVn2kyhm
“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.”58Please respect copyright.PENANApRgvmByYes
Kwame’s lip curled.58Please respect copyright.PENANApgD108Th8Y
“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.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAvHdXXFUdd7
Ayo met his eyes — not defiant, but clear.58Please respect copyright.PENANAqPA0eqikH6
“Then I’m not among you anymore.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAKQtbywGbzd
He turned to Otieno.58Please respect copyright.PENANAr91m1RRzq8
“I thought you understood. You used to say walls exist to be rewired, not just crossed.”58Please respect copyright.PENANA0P3mObxG5r
Otieno’s jaw tightened — but he said nothing.58Please respect copyright.PENANA0rLWnOKp1Y
“So go ahead,” Ayo said. “Protect your myths. But I won’t be a shadow in someone else’s war.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAr0rt2COq78
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANALGgk9Q2AQ0
The thread burned silently, curling into smoke.58Please respect copyright.PENANAM1EsxUJ6Vx
“I'm done pretending we were ever united.”58Please respect copyright.PENANASDXWXiDaJN
He walked out.58Please respect copyright.PENANAhaLJczwP4L
The blue thread continued to smoke.58Please respect copyright.PENANACWzn5BRnjR
Kwame didn’t stop him.58Please respect copyright.PENANAyKeaP878xN
Otieno did not speak.58Please respect copyright.PENANADh0ZmTJzAc
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANA0miq5P3JDl
Musa entered without knocking.58Please respect copyright.PENANAz1g7Jhi42Z
He held no files. No coded messages. Just his voice.58Please respect copyright.PENANANnE6dmCQTX
“Don’t exile him.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAvuOmFJAJHi
Jabari didn’t turn. “He almost detonated the alliance.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAGeOViz4yi2
“Because he saw the game Mercy was really playing,” Musa said.58Please respect copyright.PENANAa7HEZcZqat
“Not the ledgers. Not the ciphers. The distraction. The division.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAIFnqUf9Ukl
Jabari finally turned. “He burned our seal. Broke ranks. Lied with his hands.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAGgt5QJP3X4
Musa didn’t flinch.58Please respect copyright.PENANADGnr1IoDtl
“But he never lied with his heart.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAMkSzMQe9TY
A long silence.58Please respect copyright.PENANAHGZaaI5xde
“He’s not Mercy,” Musa said. “And if we treat him like he is… we become her next chapter.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAJEV8YjUJrC
Jabari exhaled slowly; hands clasped behind his back.58Please respect copyright.PENANAvTVaC5SN8Y
“He’s out. No operations. No keys. No tunnels.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAwHFxAkmPfY
Musa nodded.58Please respect copyright.PENANALe8PzZ92cp
“But?”58Please respect copyright.PENANATBBvexvt7u
Jabari met his eyes.58Please respect copyright.PENANAeWreDV16KZ
“He lives. Under watch and probation. If he so much as breathes another signature, he’s done.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAM64A5euGQL
Musa nodded once.58Please respect copyright.PENANAEtWG53876g
“Fair.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAHa1yTK3qba
As he turned to leave, Jabari added, quieter:58Please respect copyright.PENANAjOEr5xaBhD
“He gave you something, didn’t he?”58Please respect copyright.PENANAOZYVntoKLx
Musa paused.58Please respect copyright.PENANAHH0U6XpPsF
“Only this.”58Please respect copyright.PENANA07awM3Sjsm
He handed over a slip of paper — a boiler schematic with one corner circled.58Please respect copyright.PENANA5m2D91KNr6
“Where the heat doesn’t rise.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAjRTnph1AmV
Jabari places the note into his pocket looking out at the storm again.58Please respect copyright.PENANAfg9iGMqtI3
“Then that’s where we look next.”
*****58Please respect copyright.PENANAm1xUL26YnP
The hallway behind the science block was nearly empty.58Please respect copyright.PENANAOOTWjTRJo8
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAORa4RL979B
The others avoided him.58Please respect copyright.PENANAwrJ8eq0sdD
But Juma didn’t.58Please respect copyright.PENANADOFyIoerjj
He approached in silence, his boots wet from the storm.58Please respect copyright.PENANAnukhGmTlTf
Ayo didn’t look up.58Please respect copyright.PENANAjNoOhfjqCF
Juma paused, then — slowly — he knelt.58Please respect copyright.PENANAzxrHCwi0eZ
“You were reckless,” Juma said. “But you weren’t wrong.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAbmIYfTmJCw
Ayo blinked. “You hate me.”58Please respect copyright.PENANARVU04MBB1E
“I did,” Juma replied. “But I hate lies more.”58Please respect copyright.PENANA2OSHEdFEvQ
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAeZN96KDeTj
He placed it beside Ayo.58Please respect copyright.PENANA4dZ1In1TPc
“Blood isn’t thicker than truth,” Juma said. “And truth deserves a second voice.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAA8xbBtITEr
Ayo picks up the thread slowly. No words — just a nod.58Please respect copyright.PENANA30RktrMpuW
From the rooftops, unseen, Musa watches — saying nothing.58Please respect copyright.PENANAWuonqPhFZP
The storm passes over the lake, but its echo remains in the air.58Please respect copyright.PENANAQacOAfOZvP
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAUywwe0YKRA
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.58Please respect copyright.PENANAQ3wMqBNUOF
“Mercy recorded everything,” he says. “Not to preserve truth. But to rewrite it. This is her first confession.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAfqugvkTqQS
He plugs it into the projector system.58Please respect copyright.PENANAeBqHPwQKi0
The screen flickers.58Please respect copyright.PENANAxGozCPTG0K
Mercy appears — younger, sharper, in a classroom-turned-studio. Her voice is calm.58Please respect copyright.PENANAs4rhWW1QPh
“I didn’t want to lie. But the wall made it easy. They asked me to archive. I edited.58Please respect copyright.PENANARVQPEVlvx5
They asked me to expel. I accused.58Please respect copyright.PENANAeB3wTDCGnj
The girl from Form 3 never returned. And I never corrected it.58Please respect copyright.PENANAvBPY7A1QoH
The ledger isn’t a record.58Please respect copyright.PENANAnuf4ervsjn
It’s a grave.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAwN50Y18dmV
And if anyone finds this, I only ask one thing—58Please respect copyright.PENANAPFStJmXbvf
Don’t preserve me. Replace me.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAkpV9aGsH1X
Silence.58Please respect copyright.PENANA0dQZDvu86r
Otieno is stone-faced. Musa breathes out slowly. One Order head lowers his eyes.58Please respect copyright.PENANAGQTTbfjFcy
Juma steps forward. “That was the truth behind the ledger?”58Please respect copyright.PENANAbJYYlUgSK9
Jabari nods. “The one we nearly died to protect. We archived a lie.”58Please respect copyright.PENANA8fgV1CHMP6
He turns to the room.58Please respect copyright.PENANAF0dFtPLosf
“You don’t get to carry Mercy’s fire and call it light.”58Please respect copyright.PENANA3Ux4lflAZD
Jabari draws a circle in chalk on the floor.58Please respect copyright.PENANAAieIkIGgWJ
“Step in if you still serve the old Order. Step out if you choose to build what comes next.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAiH8KCz4OOj
The pause is long. Weighty.58Please respect copyright.PENANAvoGF6sGCqy
Three members step in. Five steps out.58Please respect copyright.PENANAUrg8JlTCoF
Otieno steps to the edge, then deliberately wipes part of the chalk away.58Please respect copyright.PENANAvZUG1rkpdB
“There shouldn’t be a circle anymore. Only a path.”58Please respect copyright.PENANA0HXHqheFHc
Jabari watches the recording fade to static. He unplugs the drive, places it in a red envelope, and hands it to Musa.58Please respect copyright.PENANAmtQ82dU6GX
“Send it across the wall. No encryption.”58Please respect copyright.PENANArrL4CIlR93
Musa’s eyes widen. “You want Naomi to see it?”58Please respect copyright.PENANA6xxNDf3vhL
Jabari’s voice is firm.58Please respect copyright.PENANApqjRqb4j9S
“No. I want everyone to.”58Please respect copyright.PENANAL2PwONTu9Y
58Please respect copyright.PENANAyl1fhCN5D5