Location: Safehouse Command Base – Outskirts of Tavara, 2:14 AM
The silence in the command center was deafening.
Nora stood frozen in front of the blank monitors, her hand still hovering over the control panel. Her face, usually composed and brilliant, was now a battlefield of emotion—rage, fear, and an unsettling calm that had begun to settle in her bones.
"Talk to me," she snapped at Reiss, who was frantically scanning frequencies.
"We lost visuals. They're jamming us. All signals in or out of Valenridge are dead," he muttered, sweat clinging to his brow. "It's not just a blackout. This was planned."
Nora's breath hitched. Damien… was inside.
"They've taken him," Ava said quietly, voice trembling. "They set a trap for him, for all of us."
"No," Nora whispered. Her eyes were still locked on the monitors, as though sheer will would bring them back to life.
"No," she said again, louder this time.
Then she turned.
"Bring up every blueprint, every leak, every contraband schematic of Valenridge ever made. I want every crack in that place exposed."
"Nora, we don't even know if he's still—"
"Don't say it," she cut Ava off, her voice ice. "Damien is alive. I'd know if he wasn't."
The team fell into silence, watching her.
There was something unearthly about Nora when she moved—like a force unleashed. Her fingers danced across the digital interface, drawing up tactical overlays faster than any trained analyst. She paused only once, pulling a pendant from beneath her blouse—a thin silver locket with a hidden microchip inside.
It wasn't just a keepsake. It was a Kane contingency tool—one Damien had given her months ago, secretly linked to his vitals and nanotech interface.
She opened it and watched the pulsing dot.
Still alive.
Nora exhaled, a single tear escaping her eye.
"Patch me into the Outrider Battalion. I want ten of our best. Stealth, recovery, and aerial support. And get Maverick out of exile—I don't care what it costs."
Reiss blinked. "You're pulling in Maverick? He's been off-grid for two years."
"He owes Damien his life. Time to repay it."
Ava moved beside her, quietly. "You're really going in there, aren't you?"
Nora didn't answer right away.
Then she looked up. "They thought they took Damien Kane. What they did was unleash me."
In that moment, every person in the room realized something more terrifying than Leonidas' war machine was now in play.
The doctor.
The strategist.
The enigma.
Nora, Damien's heart and equal.
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