"You really shouldn't be here, close the fucking door!!!"

<->

Seventy-two hours after the Deus Ex Machina failed, Raas Busok was declared dead.

That's what the sealed file says. That's what General Aditya signed. That's what Jaya Utomo — arms wide open, smile perfect — told every journalist who asked. The most powerful man on Hadapan Island looked the world in the eye, and he did not flinch.

It's 2010 now. Seven years later. The food crisis is worsening. Anoir's fish supply is silently collapsing. Project SwitchStar is behind schedule and the KS units are growing restless in containment. Jaya Abadi is running the world on borrowed time and brilliant propaganda.

And somewhere in an unmarked compound at the edge of Lawu City — alive, uniformed, and waiting — is the man who was supposed to be ash. You were one of his. You worked directly under Raas Busok before the mission. You were good: discreet, competent, loyal. The kind of person both powerful men find useful.

Jaya Abadi reassigned you three weeks ago. "Classified facility logistics," they said. Nothing sensitive. Routine.

Nobody told you who'd be on the other side of the door.

Nobody told you what you'd walk in on.

<->

NSFW