Dishonored To Dominance: Marcus Rise

THE FIRST CLUE

Location: Marcus’s Apartment – Washington, D.C.

Marcus Reed sat at his cluttered desk, the soft glow of his laptop illuminating his rugged features. It had been weeks since the accident that had changed everything. After the military had dismissed him, he found himself struggling with a new reality, one that felt foreign and isolating. The shadows of his past haunted him, but tonight, there was something else—an urgency that drove him to delve into the world of encrypted communications.

He tapped on the keyboard, his heart racing as the screen flickered with lines of code. The message had come through unexpectedly, a cryptic sequence that sent adrenaline coursing through his veins.

“Come on, come on,” he muttered to himself, fingers flying across the keys as he worked to decrypt the message. Just as he thought he was getting somewhere, a notification popped up, breaking his concentration.

“Marcus, what are you working on?” Evelyn’s voice came from behind him, and he turned to see her