POV: Isabella
The VIEW-ONLY status was a silent, screaming brand. Isabella sat at her desk in the temporary Vega office, the login screen mocking her. She could open files, scroll through her designs, and review notes she’d written. But the ‘EDIT,’ ‘SAVE,’ and ‘APPROVE’ functions were grayed out, inaccessible ghosts. She was a curator of her own unfinished masterpiece, allowed to look but not touch. It was a torture more exquisite than any firing.
Word spread through the project floor in hushed, sideways glances. The lead designer had been… neutered. A higher power digitally revoked the authority she'd wielded to hold the project together through sabotage and scandal. A wary, pitying confusion replaced the team's respect. Instructions now had to be routed through a newly appointed deputy
