The Public Record is Wrong
RYKER
"Structure is not a suggestion."
Fig 1. The Architect
Negative Space
They call it a "criminal empire." I call it urban planning with initiative. While the city sleeps, waiting for permission slips and council meetings, I pour the concrete. While they debate the morality of the foundation, I have already topped out the spire.
Dr. Cole’s "Psych Report" called me instrumental. He meant it as a diagnosis. I accepted it as a compliment. Instruments are useful. Instruments build. Empathy is just friction in the machinery of progress.
The Noise Below
Addressing the "Resistance"
Subject: ETHEL
STATUS: STAGNANT
My daughter builds archives. Logs. Databases. She collects the past like it's currency.
She thinks uncovering the "truth" of my methods deconstructs them.
But Ethel forgets: You can stare at the blueprints of a prison all day.
It does not unlock the door. You built a website, Ethel. I built the skyline you're looking
at
while you code.
"I don't wear grief like soft designs." — You wear it like a shackle.
Subject: ISLA
STATUS: VOLATILE
My stepdaughter builds chaos. Fluid simulations. Glitch art. Screaming.
She calls it "reclaiming." She believes noise is power.
Isla, you are merely the entropy I hold back. You are the weather; I am the shelter.
Without walls to scream against, your voice has no echo. You needed a villain to make you
interesting. You're welcome.
"I'll turn their rooms into guitars." — I own the venue, Isla.
The Same Breath
Italy, 2019.
They tell the story of the convoy. How I saved a man from the wreckage, dragged him to the treeline. They call that heroism.
Then they tell the story of how I ended him an hour later because he hesitated. They call that murder.
It was the same action.
I removed a liability from a burning truck. Then I removed a liability from my organization. The moral difference exists only in your hesitation. I do not hesitate. That is why I am out here, and the system is back there, looking for a man who walked out the front door.
Fig 2. The Mask (Effective)
You want to know where I am?
Look at the skyline. Look at the contracts. Look at the silence in the room when a decision needs to be made. I am not a fugitive. I am the infrastructure.