The night was far from over. In the cool, unsettled aftermath of their daring infiltration, Emily, Lena, and Jared emerged from the darkened corridors of the communications hub into an alley lit by fractured neon and the distant glimmer of a broken city.
Their hearts pounded with both relief and dread. They had struck a blow against the Architects' network—but the echoes of Hale's warning still reverberated in every step.
As they regrouped under the skeletal shadow of an abandoned overpass, Jared's fingers trembled slightly while he reviewed the rapidly incoming data on his portable terminal.
"I'm getting more transmissions," he murmured, eyes scanning lines of cryptic code. "They're re-routing... and something's coming online in the east sector."
Lena's eyes darted from Jared to Emily. "Re-routing how?" she asked sharply, her tone edged with both suspicion and exhaustion. "Are we certain this isn't just another decoy?"