Location: Valenridge Blacksite – Inner Perimeter
The air was thick with tension as Nora and her team rappelled silently through the exposed turbine shaft. The scorching air whirred around them, the cooling fans momentarily offline as predicted. Every movement was timed to the second. Every breath could be their last.
Nora touched down last, landing in a crouch like a panther. Her visor flickered as it scanned the shaft, confirming no biometric alarms were tripped. She tapped twice on her comms.
"Phase One complete. Reiss, status on overwatch?"
"Sniper posts neutralized. No thermal alerts triggered. You're ghosts to them, Commander."
"Keep it that way," she replied. "We move."
Valen signaled the team. They spread out in two pairs, armed with electro-static silencers and neuro-stunners. Nora took point, a small tablet strapped to her forearm displaying Maverick's internal schematics. His intel was precise—suspiciously so. But there was no time to question loyalty now.
They descended into the sublevel corridors, bypassing the biometric locks using cloned officer credentials—courtesy of a flash drive Nora had pickpocketed from one of Leonidas' generals weeks ago during a charity gala.
Everything had been building toward this.
---
Location: Sublevel 9 – Detainment Chamber D-17
Damien lay motionless on the floor, his ears ringing from the sudden explosion that shook the walls.
Then, he heard it.
Gunfire. Muffled, but deliberate. Followed by rapid footsteps. Not chaotic like an ambush—calculated, lethal.
"D-17 secured," a female voice echoed from beyond the steel door.
His heart stuttered. That voice.
The door hissed open, and light poured in. His vision blurred momentarily… then sharpened to reveal the silhouette he'd dreamed of in every fevered moment.
Nora.
Wearing full tactical armor, eyes burning like a goddess of war, she stepped through the doorway without hesitation. For a moment, they just stared at each other.
Then she moved.
She was at his side in seconds, removing his restraints, checking his vitals with swift, trembling fingers.
"You came," he rasped, voice cracked from dehydration.
"I told you once," she whispered, lifting his face gently, "I don't let the people I love disappear."
The others gave them space as Nora helped Damien sit up. Despite his weakened state, his mind still worked. "They moved something. There's… there's a level below this one. Unregistered. I heard them talk—code name: 'Ashfall.'"
Nora's eyes narrowed.
That wasn't in Maverick's file.
"Reiss," she said sharply into her comms, "scan for heat signatures below Sublevel 9."
Silence.
Then Reiss came back. "Confirmed. Hidden elevator. High energy readings. Whatever's down there, it's not human."
Nora turned to Damien. "Can you walk?"
"With you here?" he smirked weakly. "I can fly."
---
Location: Sublevel 10 – Unknown Bio-Containment Vault
Maverick watched from a monitor room, chewing the edge of a pen nervously. His fingers hovered over the command switch.
"They weren't supposed to reach this far," he muttered.
Behind him, a cryogenic tank hissed open.
Inside it… something blinked.
Alive.
And engineered to kill.