Chapter 4: The Summons

The final thirty days on the System’s timer seemed to crawl by with agonizing slowness. For nearly seven years, Alex had lived with the countdown as a silent, ever-present companion. It had been an abstract concept, a distant deadline. Now, it was a tangible reality, a pressure building behind his eyes.

On a crisp autumn morning, with exactly one month to spare, Alex sat opposite Arthur Abernathy in the lawyer’s cluttered, book-lined office. The old man looked even more rumpled than he had seven years ago, but the glint in his eye was sharper than ever. He had followed Innovatech’s rise with the keen interest of a predator watching its prey fatten up.

“It’s time,” Alex said, his voice a low, steady hum of anticipation.

Abernathy let out a theatrical sigh, leaning back in his creaking leather chair. “I have to admit, son, I never thought you’d have the patience. I’ve had clients who couldn’t wait seven minutes, let alone seven years.” He picked up a calculator from his desk, his fingers, gnarled with age, dancing across the keys with surprising speed. “Let’s see what the final tally for Mr. Vance’s little lesson in economics comes to.”

Alex watched, his own mental calculation already complete. The System’s interface glowed in his vision, the numbers stark and beautiful.

[TIMER: 0 YEARS, 1 MONTH, 0 DAYS REMAINING] [PRINCIPAL DEBT: $49,875.00] [COMPOUNDED PENALTIES & INTEREST: $85,893.42] [TOTAL DEMAND: $135,768.42]

Abernathy let out a long, slow whistle, turning the calculator’s display towards Alex. The number was identical. “One hundred and thirty-five thousand, seven hundred sixty-eight dollars, and forty-two cents,” the lawyer read aloud, savoring each word. “From a fifty-thousand-dollar debt. That, my boy, is the eighth wonder of the world: compounding interest. It’s what separates the rich from the gods.”

“He won’t pay it without a fight,” Alex stated, a simple fact.

“Oh, I certainly hope not,” Abernathy grinned, his teeth looking feral. “The fight is where we collect my fees. And I have a feeling Mr. Vance is going to make this very, very expensive for himself.”

Within the hour, the lawsuit was officially filed. A process server, a grim-faced man who clearly enjoyed his job, was dispatched to the gleaming Innovatech tower. The opening salvo of a seven-year war had just been fired.

The impact was immediate and volcanic.

According to the legal filings that would later become public, the thick manila envelope containing the summons arrived at Julian Vance’s office just as he was concluding a conference call with potential investors. He’d accepted it with casual annoyance, assuming it was a minor regulatory matter.

He slit it open, his eyes scanning the first page. The blood drained from his face, then returned in a furious, crimson tide. The room-temperature calm of his office was shattered by a bellow of pure, unadulterated rage. He swept a collection of crystal awards off his desk, sending them crashing to the floor. His personal assistant, hearing the commotion, found him standing amidst the wreckage, the legal papers shaking in his white-knuckled grip, his face a mask of disbelief and fury.

He couldn't comprehend it. Alex Thorne. Just a coder. A footnote he had crushed and forgotten nearly seven years ago had returned from the dead as a six-figure specter. The sum was insulting, impossible. It was a direct challenge to his authority, to his empire. To his mind, this wasn't a legal dispute; it was an act of profound insolence from a subordinate who had forgotten his place.

That evening, Alex was in his apartment, calmly running diagnostics on a side project. The tension of the day had settled into a quiet hum of anticipation. He knew Julian’s ego. He knew the man couldn’t delegate this. The wound was too personal. He was waiting.

His phone buzzed on the table beside him. The screen lit up: UNKNOWN NUMBER.

A slow, cold smile touched Alex’s lips. Right on schedule.

He took a deep breath, and a familiar azure box flared into existence in his vision.

[INCOMING THREAT DETECTED: JULIAN VANCE] [SYSTEM ABILITY RECOMMENDED: 'ECHO OF TRUTH'.] [ACTIVATE? Y/N]

Alex focused on ‘Y’.

[ABILITY ACTIVATED. FUNCTION: CAPTURE AND STORE ALL INCOMING AUDITORY DATA WITH PERFECT FIDELITY. LEGALLY ADMISSIBLE TIMESTAMP AND VOCAL SIGNATURE EMBEDDED.]

He tapped the screen to answer, putting the phone on speaker. “Hello?”

A torrent of venom erupted from the other end. “You little parasite!” Julian’s voice was unmistakable, a guttural snarl of fury, stripped of all its polished, corporate charm. “Do you have any idea who you’re messing with? You think you can crawl out from under whatever rock you’ve been hiding and shake me down?”

Alex remained silent, letting the rage wash over him. His heart was beating a steady, calm rhythm. He was no longer the intimidated employee. He was the architect of this moment.

“Who is this?” Alex asked, his voice deliberately neutral.

“Don’t play dumb with me, you ungrateful little prick! It’s Julian! Julian Vance! Your creator! I gave you a career, and this is how you repay me? With this… this extortion?”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Alex said calmly, baiting the trap.

“The lawsuit, you moron! The hundred and thirty-five grand! You really think you were owed that fifty grand in overtime all those years ago? I gave you a gift, a stake in the future, and you spat in my face! I should have destroyed you then!”

And there it is, Alex thought. A direct admission.

[SYSTEM LOG: Target acknowledged the original debt and the punitive nature of the equity offer.]

“You’re calling me on my personal phone to discuss a legal matter, Julian,” Alex said, his tone still level. “I don’t think your lawyers would advise this.”

“My lawyers!” Julian laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. “My lawyers are going to bury you! I’m going to counter-sue you for everything you have. I’ll ruin your reputation, I’ll get you fired, I’ll bleed you dry until you’re begging me for a job cleaning the toilets at Innovatech! You are nothing but a line of code I chose to delete from my life!”

Every word was a priceless gem, a perfectly preserved artifact of Julian’s own hubris. The threats, the abuse, the admission—it was all being perfectly recorded, time-stamped, and saved.

“I think this conversation is over,” Alex said.

“This is over when I say it’s over!” Julian roared, his voice cracking with rage. “You made a fatal mistake, Thorne. You woke the dragon. I will burn you to the absolute ground!”

The line went dead.

Alex stared at his phone in the silent apartment. The rage-filled echoes of the call seemed to linger in the air. A profound sense of peace settled over him. For seven years, he had waited for a single domino to fall. Julian, in his boundless arrogance, had just pushed it over himself.

The System’s interface flashed one last time.

[OBJECTIVE COMPLETE: EVIDENCE SECURED.] [AUDIO FILE 'JULIAN'S HUBRIS.WAV' SAVED AND ARCHIVED.] [PROBABILITY OF LEGAL VICTORY: 99.8%]

He picked up his phone and dialed Arthur Abernathy’s number. The old lawyer answered on the second ring, his voice weary.

“Arthur?” Alex said, a note of finality in his tone. “I have the nail for the coffin.”