Johnny didn't just find a way to jam the signal; he engineered a digital mirage. Using the Oversight servers, he isolated the specific RF frequency of the "Viper's Coil" and created a Biometric Loop. To Vance's monitors upstate, Donny's vitals appeared as a steady, rhythmic "Deep Sleep" signature—a perfect, artificial heartbeat pulsing across the satellite link.
"You have five minutes, Donny," Johnny whispered into the encrypted line as he flipped the switch. "Go."
The 0300 Meeting
Donny moved with the ghost-like silence of a man who had spent years navigating cell blocks in the dark. He slipped out of the house, his head feeling strangely light without the constant "thrum" of the Warden's active surveillance. He reached the 4th Street gym in under three minutes, his breath hitching as he saw the "Dark" signal: a single blue LED in the window.
Inside, Lou was a shadow among the heavy bags. Johnny was hunched over a portable terminal, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Donny," Lou breathed, stepping forward to catch his friend. He didn't ask questions. He didn't wait for the lie. He reached out and felt the back of Donny's head, his thick fingers finding the microscopic surgical ridge. "What did they do to you?"
Donny didn't speak. He grabbed Johnny's tablet and typed with trembling fingers: IMPLANT. THALAMUS. KILL SWITCH. VANCE IS WATCHING.
"We know," Johnny hissed, his eyes glued to the countdown on his screen. "I'm looping your vitals, but the encryption is shifting. Vance is going to see the 'glitch' any second."
The Discovery
Upstate, in the darkened control room of the Maximum Security wing, a red light began to strobe on Warden Vance's console. He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the heartbeat monitor. It was too perfect. Too steady.
"Digital interference," Vance hissed, realizing he'd been played. He didn't reach for a radio. He reached for the override. "You think you can hide behind a loop, 4492? Let's see how your heart likes the truth."
He slammed the slider on his touchscreen to 50% Intensity.
The 50% Strike
In the gym, the five-minute window slammed shut with the force of a falling guillotine.
The jammer didn't fail; the Warden simply overpowered it with a raw, high-voltage burst. Donny didn't even have time to gasp. The 50% discharge hit his brain like a freight train of molten lead.
His body didn't just fall; it launched backward. His muscles contracted with such violent force that the tendons in his shoulders audibly groaned. His jaw locked with a sickening crack, and he hit the gym floor in a full-body tetanic seizure.
"DONNY!" Lou screamed, diving to catch him, but as he touched Donny's skin, he felt the secondary electrical discharge—the "leakage" from the overclocked device—vibrating through his own arms.
Donny's eyes were rolled back, nothing but white showing, as his lungs refused to draw air. The "Viper" was squeezing his heart.
"The signal!" Lou roared at Johnny, his massive hands trying to hold Donny steady as the King's body fought itself. "CUT THE SIGNAL!"
"I can't!" Johnny yelled back, his fingers frantic on the keys. "He's bypassed the Oversight filters! He's broadcasting on a raw emergency band! Lou, he's going to kill him right here on the floor!"
Through the speakers of Johnny's laptop, a distorted, metallic laugh erupted. Vance had breached their audio.
"I told you, Donny," the Warden's voice echoed through the gym, cold and triumphant. "No secrets in my neighborhood. Lou, Johnny... watch closely. This is what happens when a King tries to abdicate."
The gym, once a sanctuary of reform and sweat, became a high-tech torture chamber. The air smelled of ozone and burning copper as the 50% surge cooked the air around Donny's seizing body.
The Lockdown
Lou's massive hands were clamped onto Donny's shoulders, not to comfort him, but to keep him from shattering his own collarbones. The raw power of the "Viper's Coil" was forcing Donny's muscles to contract with nearly 800 pounds of force.
"He's going to snap!" Lou roared, his own muscles bulging as he fought to pin Donny's thrashing limbs against the mats. "Johnny, do something!"
The EMP Gambit
The door to the gym slammed open, the heavy steel frame echoing like a gunshot. Sarah stood there, her face a mask of cold, tactical fury. She wasn't holding a weapon; she was holding a Tactical High-Power Microwave (HPM) Disruptor—a prototype EMP device she'd pulled from the High-Security Evidence Locker.
"GET BACK!" Sarah screamed.
She knew the risks. An EMP at this range wouldn't just fry the Warden's link; it risked causing a Cardiac Dysrhythmia or permanent Neuro-Ablation in Donny's already damaged brain.
The Industrial Grounding
Johnny didn't pull Sarah away. Instead, he grabbed a set of heavy-duty jumper cables from the gym's emergency generator. "Lou! Move his feet to the rack!"
As Lou shifted Donny's convulsing legs toward the bolted-down steel weight rack, Johnny clamped the cables to the metal. He was creating a Faraday Path. If Sarah fired the EMP, the steel rack would act as a lightning rod, drawing the excess electrical "bleed" away from Donny's heart and into the building's grounding system.
The Pulse
"NOW!" Johnny yelled.
Sarah squeezed the trigger. There was no sound, only a localized ripple in the air and a blinding flash of blue static that smelled like a dying star.
The Warden's voice on the laptop vanished into a screech of white noise. The lights in the gym flickered and died. For a heartbeat, the only sound was the heavy, wet thud of Donny's body falling limp as the electrical tether was severed.
The Aftermath
Donny lay motionless, his breathing shallow, his skin a terrifying shade of gray. The EMP had fried the receiver, but the electrodes were still deep in his Thalamus.
"Is he...?" Lou reached out, his hand shaking.
Donny's chest rose in a jagged, painful gasp. His eyes flickered open—half-conscious, blood trickling from his nose—but for the first time in 48 hours, the "thrum" in his head was silent.
Sarah dropped the disruptor and collapsed at his side, her hands moving with the precision of the Sergeant she used to be, checking his pupils. "The device is dead. For now. But Vance knows where we are. He's going to send the 'Sanitizers' to finish the job."
Donny's hand moved, feebly grasping Sarah's sleeve. He looked at Lou and Johnny, his voice a ghost of a whisper. "The... ledger... isn't... gone."