Chapter 4 Family Ties2015-33 RemainingThe surveillance feed flickered across MIMO’s tablet,showing a young girl in a navy blueschool uniform walking home.Quince’s breath caught as she recognized her daughter’s backpack,covered in hand-drawnbutterflies.Their following Emily,MIMO whispered,his fingers flying over the keyboard.The camera view shifted effortlessly between street angles,tracking her movements.A dark figurelingered three cars behind,maintaining a perfect surveillance distance.Quince’s hand tightenedaround her weapon.How long?Feeds been live for 20 minutes.MIMO screens suddenly eruptedwith error messages.They’re hitting me hard.My brothers accounts, everything’s beingwiped, school records,digital identity,family trust funds,it’s all going dark.PIX watched her team’s composer,fracture,reflected in the control room’s glass wall.Behind them,the bedding odds updated in real time.Team emotional breakdown,three to one.Their weaponizing our personal lives,the six said through Clenched Teeth,were part of their spectacle now.The main broadcast screen crackled on,revealing a masked figure standing before a cascade of code.Congratulations on making it this far,the distorted voice purred.Your efforts have been profitable.But now, let’s raise the stakes.Your families have been integrated into our entertainment package.Premium viewers are especially interestedin Quince’s little butterfly collector.Quince lunged toward the screen,but PIX grabbed her arm.That’s what they want.Every reaction increases their ratings.And your brother’s digital extinction isonly beginning MIMO. The figure continued.Unless you make the next stabilization attempt more entertaining,our viewers are growing restless.The feed shifted to NDX’s readings.Now relocated,suspended inside a glass cube stretched between twin skyscrapers.In a distance,the indexes volatility pulsed like a failing heartbeat.But something in the code’s posture caught PIX’s eye.MIMO enhanced NDX’s core code.The image zoomed.The NDX avatars variables flick sharply left.Her fingers tapped an uneven rhythm against the transparent barrier.PIX leaned in.She’s signaling.That gesture I’ve seen it before.In transaction logs from Carlton Way.The tech oligarch MIMO asked,still fighting to salvage fragments of his brother’s identity.More than that, PIX said.He’s one of the biggest whales in the betting pool.NDX knows him.This isn’t random.It was targeted.A new alert flashed across the screens.Emily’s GPS had deviated from her usual route.Quince’s face paled.I have to go.Quince said already moving toward the door.Wait.PIX snapped.They’re forcing us to split.That’s exactly what they want.She’s my daughter.And my brother is being erased.MIMO shouted.Voice breaking.The betting odds shifted again.Team fracture.Two to one.PIX slammed her fist onto the console.Listen.They’re not just attacking our families.They’re attacking our unity.The second we split up,we hand them the advantage.The mast figure reappeared.Tick tock.Quince’s daughter has entered the red zone.MIMO’s brother has lost his medical records.And NDX’s index.Carlton Way’s private betting pool has very specific interests.The feed divided into multiple windows.Emily entering a dangerous neighborhood.MIMO’s brother being denied access to his own apartment.And NDX’s cube filling with a dark volatile code liquid.Choosethe figure commanded.The protection or mission success.The viewers are waiting.Quince’s hand trembled on her weapon.MIMO’s typing grew erratic.PIX saw her team fracturing under the pressure.We stay together.PIX said her voice slicing through the panic.But we changed the rules.She looked at them.Fear,fury and trust swirling together.They want to turn our families into leverage.Fine.Let’s show them what happens when they target the wrong thing.The betting odds flickered once more.Unexpected strategy shift.10-1.1945. 17 remaining.The game had become personal.Two personal.Family ties were now their greatest vulnerability.But also their sharpest weapon.The question was whether they could use that strengthbefore their loved ones paid the ultimate price.
