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Voska took a deep breath, steadying his trembling fingers as he slid a plasma pistol into his belt. He was no fighter—never had been—but there was no room for fear now. The security monitors flickered, displaying the DreamCorp soldiers methodically clearing room after room, their formation tight, weapons raised, helmets gleaming under the flickering lights of the ruined lab. There was no hesitation in their movements, no wasted energy. They moved like machines—precise, disciplined, efficient.He swallowed. There was no way out of this for him. He had made peace with that long before today. The only thing left was ensuring that Sol had a future. That the ACE System, his life's work, would not fall into the hands of people who would use it for control, for profit, for war.His fingers hesitated over the lab's control panel, then pressed down. A small red display lit up.**Self-Destruct Sequence Initiated.****Three minutes until detonation.**The cold, mechanical voice of the AI filled the room. The teacher exhaled slowly. Three minutes. That was all he had left in this world.Footsteps. Heavy boots pounding against the floor. Close now.He turned just as the first wave of DreamCorp soldiers breached the lab. Their movements were flawless—one group fanning out to secure the perimeter, another rushing to check cover points. The lead soldier, his armor marked with a lieutenant's insignia, raised his rifle. "Freeze!"The teacher didn't move. He only smiled, that same quiet, knowing smile."Clear the area!" the lieutenant barked. "Search everything—hard drives, storage units, prototypes. We take everything."The soldiers moved with seamless coordination, spreading out like a tide of black-clad figures. One pried open a reinforced crate, scanning its contents before calling it in. Another soldier hovered over a console, downloading whatever data was left. Two others checked under the lab tables, sweeping for hidden compartments. Their voices came in sharp, controlled bursts."Sector clear. No hostiles.""Storage bay is empty. Looks like they wiped most of the data.""We need the prototype. Keep searching."The teacher remained silent, standing amidst the wreckage of his life's work. He could hear them, feel their presence closing in like a vice. But his mind was elsewhere. He thought of Sol. Of the day he found the boy bleeding out in the alley, clutching a stolen piece of technology with defiant eyes. Of the long nights spent teaching him, watching him learn, seeing the spark of brilliance that reminded him so much of himself—of what he used to be before the Federation deemed him a failure."Where is the ACE System?" The lieutenant's voice cut through his thoughts, sharp and impatient.The teacher didn't answer.The lieutenant's jaw tightened. "We know you were working on something here. You think we don't have spies in the slums? We know about your little apprentice. We know you installed something in him. Where is he?"Still, the teacher remained silent, his smile never wavering.A soldier's voice suddenly rang out. "Sir—something's off."The lieutenant turned just as the soldier pointed at a nearby screen. A timer.**00:10.**The soldier's breath hitched, his voice cracking as panic surged through him. "P-Place is going to self-destruct! We need to move, now!"For a moment, a cold silence gripped the room. Even the elite soldiers of DreamCorp—trained for every scenario—felt their stomachs tighten.The lieutenant's eyes went wide. "Fall back! Now—"**00:03.**A chuckle. Low, tired, but triumphant. The teacher's final gift to the corporation that had stolen everything from him.**00:02.**He closed his eyes.**00:01.**And then, light.The explosion ripped through the underground base like a dying star, a force so violent it turned walls to shrapnel, floors to craters, bodies to ash. The shockwave surged upward, splitting through the streets above in a hellish bloom of fire and debris. The slums trembled. Buildings groaned and cracked under the force of the detonation. A thick plume of black smoke curled into the neon-lit sky.\---From a distant rooftop, Jex felt his heartbeat stop for half a second.The fireball swallowed the underground base, its brilliance turning the night into day. Even from where he stood, he could feel the heat prickling his skin. He barely registered the sharp intake of breath from Valka beside him, nor the way the other scouts instinctively took a step back, as if the inferno might consume them too.Jex's fingers clenched around the railing. There was no way anyone had survived that.His mind raced. If Sol had been in there… no, that didn't make sense. They had tracked every possible escape route. He wasn't seeing movement. The realization sent an uneasy chill down his spine.Valka exhaled, her voice quiet. "That wasn't just a detonation. That was a message."Jex tore his gaze from the inferno, his mind whirring. "Yeah," he muttered. "And I don't like what it's saying."