1:42 PM – Bee's Bedroom (War Room Revival)
Bee paced in a tight circle, her phone in one hand, a marker in the other. The whiteboard behind her was chaos—scribbles of codenames, maps, login times.
Zuri leaned over her laptop. "I traced the metadata in the redacted files. There's a hidden subdomain—only accessible through Ridgewood's internal server. Username? E.VOSS_ADMIN."
"Voss has her own digital lair?" Kai said, arms folded, his dark brows narrowing. "Of course she does."
"We go in," Bee declared. "We copy everything. We take down REM-C, Voss, and anyone else still playing puppetmaster."
Serena nodded. "I'll write a spoof protocol. It'll fake our identities for five minutes."
"Five minutes is all I need," Bee said, her voice razor-sharp.
---
3:15 PM – Ridgewood High, Server Room (Phase Zero: Breach)
Logan, dressed in a Ridgewood Athletics hoodie, strolled into the front office. "Principal Harrow wanted me to fix the gym projector."
While the secretary called IT, Serena's laptop (outside in Zuri's car) sent a looping security signal, freezing the hallway cams. Bee and Kai, both in janitor jumpsuits and caps, slipped past the fire door and ducked into the cold, humming heart of Ridgewood's network.
Kai handed Bee the drive. "This gives us root access. Once it's in, you have two minutes before it flags anyone monitoring."
Bee slid it into the server port. "Let's steal some secrets."
The screen lit up. Code scrolled. Hidden files emerged.
A folder titled: "REM-C: Candidate Protocols / Experiment Logs / Emergency Asset 9."
Bee's pulse stuttered.
---
3:19 PM – System Breach Detected (Game On)
Alarms didn't blare. Lights didn't flicker. But the screen turned black—and flashed with a single line of glowing red code:
> USER BREACH: B.RIVERA – TRACE INITIATED
MESSAGE INCOMING...
The cursor blinked. Then a text box opened.
"You're clever. But not clever enough." –E.Voss
Bee's breath hitched. "She's watching us."
Zuri's voice crackled through the walkie. "Abort now. She's rerouting. We've got 30 seconds!"
Kai yanked the drive. Bee hesitated, eyes locked on one last subfolder:
"Incident #H.M_209 – CONFIDENTIAL VIDEO."
She downloaded it in a flash. Then they ran.
---
4:00 PM – Bee's Safehouse (Aftermath)
Rain fell in sheets outside. The team sat silent, eyes glued to the screen. The stolen files included test reports, emails—evidence of a pharmaceutical company funding memory suppression in "emotionally volatile teen subjects."
At the center of it all: Ridgewood.
And the name "Hailey Monroe" appeared over fifty times.
Bee swallowed hard. "Play the video."
The file opened. Hailey appeared onscreen—pale, tear-streaked, sitting in Bee's old bedroom.
"If you're watching this, it means I couldn't stop it," Hailey whispered.
"They said they'd erase my record if I helped them test REM-C on others. I didn't know it would hurt you."
She pulled something from her hoodie—a locket. Bee's locket.
"Bri... I'm so sorry. I didn't know they'd choose you next."
"You were never supposed to remember. But I hope you do."
The screen cut to black.
Bee stared, frozen.
Kai's hand found hers. No words.
The war had just gotten personal.