The sudden quiet after the cars sped away felt even more intense than the blaring alarm had been. It was the kind of silence that comes after a close call, leaving everyone shaken and knowing the danger could return at any moment, even worse than before.

For a whole minute, nobody in the cannery moved or said a word. They were all listening carefully, trying to hear if the bad guys were tricking them and might come back. The only sounds were the quiet hum of the computer servers and their own nervous, uneven breathing.

Silva was the first to react. He made a strange, choked sound that was both a laugh and a sob and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. "It worked," he whispered, looking at his hands, which were still shaking. "We actually did it. We gave an order to Marcus, and he obeyed it without question."

Evelyn bent over, putting her hands on her knees, breathing deeply. "That was too close. I've never been that scared before."

Kaito slowly took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. On his screen, he could see the message he'd sent to Marcus. The secret digital weapon he'd built had just saved all their lives. He looked pale, but his expression was now determined.

Ace stood by the door, his bandaged hands clenched tightly. He felt relief so strong it was almost painful, but it was quickly followed by overwhelming guilt. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice rough with emotion. "This is my fault. The choice I made... my refusal to do what Ramos wanted..."

"Was the only choice you could have made," Evelyn interrupted, standing up straight and looking him directly in the eye. Her fear was gone, replaced by strength. "If you had killed that man, Ace, you would have destroyed a part of yourself that we need. That's not who we are. Ramos wanted to turn you into a copy of himself. You said no. That's a win for us."

"It's a win that will get us all killed if we don't do something now," Kaito said, his voice all business as he put his glasses back on. His fingers were already moving quickly across the keyboard. "They'll be back. Ramos will realize the message was fake as soon as Marcus meets him and finds out there's no emergency at the docks. We have a short amount of time. We have to use it."

He brought up the plans of Ramos's money network on his screen. "The plan stays the same. We target his money. We create so much confusion for him that he won't be able to come after us."

"But how?" Silva asked, standing up. His initial panic was fading, replaced by a urgent need to take action. "We're not fighters. What can we do, send him an angry email?"

"An angry email that takes millions of his dollars," Kaito said with a grim smile. He pointed at the screen. "I'm inside his main money records. This is where he moves cash between his fake companies, bribes officials, and cleans his illegal money. I can see everything."

Ace walked over to the desk and looked at the complicated charts and account numbers. "What's the goal?"

"Two goals," Kaito explained, keeping his eyes on the screen. "First, we weaken him. I move large amounts of his liquid assets—the cash he uses for daily business—into secret accounts we control. It won't make him go broke, but it will seriously damage his operations. His employees won't get their paychecks. His suppliers won't get paid. It will cause chaos within his organization."

"And second?" Evelyn asked, moving closer.

"Second, we blame his biggest enemy," Ace said, the idea coming to him as he spoke. "Vincenzo. We make it look like Vincenzo launched a financial attack against him. We leave a digital trail that leads directly back to The Sapphire Lounge. We redirect Ramos's anger away from us and onto Vincenzo."

The cleverness of their plan became clear to everyone. It was a brilliant move. They weren't just protecting themselves anymore; they were going on the attack, using the existing hatred between the two crime bosses as their weapon.

"Let's do it," Silva said, his voice now filled with serious determination. "What should I do?"

"Keep watch," Ace said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You're our lookout. If you see or hear anything at all, you tell us right away."

Silva nodded, grabbed a pair of binoculars, and went to watch through the cracked loading bay door.

"Evelyn," Kaito said, "I need you to help me check everything. I'll be working fast. I need you to double-check every account number and amount I enter. One mistake could send the money to the wrong place or get us caught."

Evelyn pulled up a chair next to him, ready with a new notebook and pen. "I'm on it."

Ace stood behind them, feeling the unusual energy in the room. He had started all this, but now he was watching a battle he couldn't directly fight. His skills were more physical, while this was a war fought with numbers and computer code.

<<STRATEGY ANALYSIS: PLAN STARTED.>>

<<GOAL 1: MONEY ATTACK (TRANSFER FUNDS). CHANCE OF SUCCESS: 78%.>>

<<GOAL 2: TRICKERY (BLAME RIVAL). CHANCE OF SUCCESS: 65%.>>

<<ADVICE: CONTINUE.>>

The system's calm analysis contrasted sharply with the tense, human energy filling the room.

"Okay," Kaito whispered, mainly to himself. "First transfer. Starting now." His fingers flew across the keyboard. A transaction window appeared on the screen. He typed in a series of numbers from his notepad—an account number in the Bahamas—and an amount so large it made Evelyn gasp.

"That's... that's an enormous amount of money," she whispered.

"It's the fund he uses to pay for his dock operations," Kaito said, his voice tense. "He won't notice it's missing until he tries to pay a work crew tomorrow." He pressed enter.

They all stopped breathing. A loading bar appeared on the screen, moving painfully slowly.

"Anything happening outside, Silva?" Ace asked quietly.

"Nothing," Silva's voice replied, tense. "It's completely quiet out there. Too quiet."

The loading bar finally reached 100%. A message flashed: TRANSACTION COMPLETE.

A huge wave of relief swept through them. They had just taken a massive amount of money from one of the city's most dangerous criminals.

"Next transfer," Kaito said, growing more confident. "This is a secret fund Ramos uses to bribe city inspectors." He entered another set of numbers. Another loading bar appeared. Another anxious wait. Another successful transfer.

For the next hour, they worked with intense focus. The only sounds were keyboard tapping, Evelyn's pen writing, and Silva's occasional reports that all was clear outside. With each transfer, they were slowly draining the financial life out of Ramos's criminal empire.

"Now for part two," Kaito said, stretching his fingers. "Time to plant false evidence." He moved to a different part of Ramos's computer system—the communication records. "I'm going to create fake records of failed attempts to access Ramos's accounts, but I'll make it look like they came from a building next to The Sapphire Lounge—a place Vincenzo uses."

He worked with clever deception, creating a false digital trail that would point to Vincenzo's crew. He left bits of computer code that would make it seem like Vincenzo's people were behind the attack. He even created a fake secret email from one of Vincenzo's made-up lieutenants, talking about their plan to financially attack Ramos, and deliberately "leaked" it to a server he knew Ramos's tech team would check.

"It's done," Kaito finally said, leaning back in his chair. He looked tired but successful. "The money is moved. And all the evidence points directly to Vincenzo. Ramos will be furious. He'll think Vincenzo is trying to weaken him financially before attacking him physically."

The huge importance of what they had just done settled over the cannery. They hadn't just defended themselves—they had started a war. They weren't fighting from a position of power, but from hiding. They had taken one small action that would cause massive consequences.

The initial rush of energy began to fade, replaced by deep tiredness. The danger wasn't over—they had just pointed it in a different direction. Ramos would eventually come for them, but for now, they had bought themselves some time.

Evelyn looked at her team—at Kaito, the quiet hacker who had become their digital commander; at Silva, their watchman who had confronted his fear; and at Ace, their leader who had chosen his morals over their immediate safety and in doing so had given them a real chance to fight back.

"We're not just hiding anymore," she said, her voice full of quiet wonder.

"No," Ace agreed, looking around their dusty, hidden base. "We're not."

Silva turned from his watch post with a strange look on his face. It wasn't fear or excitement. It was determination. "So what do we call ourselves now? Because we're definitely not just Aegis Solutions anymore."

Ace looked at him, then at Evelyn and Kaito. They were a coffee shop worker, a bartender, a hacker, and a thrown-out son. They had no soldiers, no turf, no obvious power. All they had was each other, their intelligence, and a fierce determination to protect what was theirs.

"We call ourselves survivors," Ace said. "And we just fired the first shot."

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