Location: Tavara – Blackstone Estate, Emergency Vault Access Corridor
The wail of alarms echoed through the ancient stone corridors as Victor slammed his palm against a control panel, triggering the auto-lock sequence behind Nora. Thick steel doors hissed shut just as gunfire shattered the air behind them.
"I'll get to you once it's clear!" he shouted through the reinforced wall.
Inside the vault, Nora's fists pounded against the glass, her voice muffled but urgent. "Victor—don't you dare die on me!"
Victor allowed himself one final glance before turning, eyes sharp and cold. The corridor leading back to the central lab was already in chaos—Kael ducked behind an overturned table, exchanging fire with masked operatives in sleek black armor.
"Two teams down," Damien reported over comms. "But there's a breach in the East Wing. They're using pulse grenades. Archer's not playing games."
Victor darted forward, slid behind Kael, and fired two rounds—clean headshots. Blood sprayed against the walls.
Kael glanced at him. "Still a good shot."
Victor didn't answer. His mind was calculating: Archer had sent elite squads, not grunts. That meant one thing—he knew Project Ember had been partially unlocked.
From above, a sharp blast rattled the ceiling tiles. Sparks rained down as more gunmen descended through a breach in the ceiling shaft.
Kael's voice was calm. "You ready for this?"
Victor clenched his jaw. "Always."
Then they moved—like synchronized wolves. Victor covered the front; Kael flanked from the side. Every movement was precise. Each shot calculated. Blood and fire stained the marble floor.
Meanwhile, inside the vault, Nora accessed the estate's internal systems. She pulled up biometric alerts, tracing intruder movement. Her fingers flew across the holographic keyboard.
"They're heading toward the generator room!" she said through her comms. "They want to cut power to the Ember servers!"
Victor barked into his mic. "Damien, reroute your team to the generator. We hold the core."
Damien's voice came with the sound of heavy breathing and distant screams. "Copy that. But you'll want to know this—your cousin, Estelle Kane? She's leading the attack."
Victor froze. "What?"
Damien confirmed it. "Facial recognition doesn't lie. She's with Archer."
Kael cursed. "Estelle's the one who sabotaged the Geneva summit, isn't she?"
Victor's eyes darkened. "And the one who poisoned our mother's research grants. She's been working with Archer for years."
Anger ignited in Victor's veins. "She'll answer for it."
The gunfire intensified. Nora redirected all estate defense systems to intercept the intruders, but it wouldn't hold long.
Inside the generator room, Damien's team engaged with Estelle's elite guard. Smoke, blades, gunfire—it was a war zone.
Back in the lab corridor, Victor reached the main console and initiated the Ember data transfer to a secure cloud bunker. The process would take six minutes.
Kael handed him a weapon. "We just have to survive six minutes."
Victor looked toward the sealed vault where Nora watched them from behind the transparent wall, her eyes filled with worry and fire.
"Then let's give them hell."
Explosions thundered again, but Victor, Kael, and Damien's squad dug in, determined. For family. For truth. For Nora.