Lab 25 was housed in a quiet suburban Virginia office park. Hidden in nondescript institutional anonymity, the analysts there probed the vulnerable psyches of political power. Their screens painted portraits not of military power or world economies, but of something far more valuable: the exploitable psychology of those who controlled the assets that controlled society.

Traditional intelligence services had focused on stealing secrets or on compromising systems or individuals. This Behavioral Dynamics Lab operated at a deeper less visible level. It was meta, exploiting human flaws at the center of power. The Lab didn’t need to steal information when it could manipulate the mind that controlled informational content and flow. They didn’t need to hack computers when they could hack the psychology of those who directed the spread of information (whether true or not).

The Lab’s AI analyzed endless streams of behavioral data, searching for every human frailty. They charted the delicate web of triggers and responses that make up each leader's psychological infrastructure. Each weakness, each need for validation, each reflexive rage at perceived disrespect became a point to exploit.

Business was brisk. “Clients” from all over the world were knocking down the doors. Mornings began with the latest assessments. The analysts studied how each provocation entered and affected the target subject’s brain. A wounded ego led to purged advisers. Purged advisers led to deteriorating decision quality. Deteriorating decisions led to institutional decay. AI predicted these patterns with cold precision, learning from each successful manipulation.

The goal of some Lab 25 clients was to break the mirror - to remake a society that longer recognized itself. Where truth splintered into a thousand competing truths.

Others saw opportunity other than breaking. They didn’t want to shatter the mirror - they want to replace it. To install their own version as the true image. To reshape not just laws and institutions, but the soul of society itself.

Lab 25 calibrated its services precisely, making and marketing the different versions of America's dissolution the clients sought.

In all, how America saw itself had changed. Each shard reflected a different broken dream.