Chapter twenty:《The climax of the Battle》
The Peak of the Fierce Confrontation
The air reeked of scorched metal and desperation.
Violet's pulse thundered in her ears as the villainess lunged toward the pulsating core of the quantum destabilizer, her manic laughter slicing through the chaos.
The machine's crystalline surface flickered crimson, its holographic interface counting down in jagged numerals: *00:01:23*.
"Stop her!
" Ethan's command tore through the crumbling warehouse, his silhouette already cutting through the haze of debris.
Years of combat training propelled him forward, muscles coiled like steel springs.
Violet matched his urgency, her fingers flying across the tablet she'd snatched from a shattered console.
Algorithms scrolled faster than mortal eyes could track—her mind a blade honed by a lifetime of concealing her genius behind domestic perfection.
The villainess whirled, eyes wild.
"You think you've *won*?
" She slammed her palm against the core's emergency override.
The machine screamed.
Ethan didn't waste words.
A spinning kick shattered the villainess's stance, his elbow snapping her collarbone with surgical precision.
She crumpled against sparking cables, bloodied nails still scrabbling for the detonator at her belt.
Violet was already there, heel crushing the woman's wrist with a crack that echoed through the chamber.
"Forty-five seconds," Violet announced, voice steady despite the sweat soaking her blouse.
Her tablet connected to the core with a dissonant chime.
"I need direct access.
"
Ethan wrenched open the machine's maintenance panel.
Wires slithered like vipers, their bioluminescent glow casting jagged shadows across his face.
"Make it twenty.
"
The villainess spat a broken laugh through bloodied teeth.
"Fools… Phase Three's already—"
A gunshot rang out.
Violet didn't flinch as the bullet sparked off the destabilizer inches from her temple.
Across the room, the silhouette of the fleeing organization leader gleamed in the emergency exits' scarlet glow.
"Go," she ordered Ethan without looking up.
Her fingers danced across holographic keys, rewriting encryption protocols mid-collapse.
"I'll finish here.
"
Ethan's hand brushed her shoulder—a silent promise—before he vanished into the smoke.
The core's countdown blurred.
*00:00:19*.
Violet's breath hitched as error messages flooded her screen.
*Genius has limits*, the villainess croaked from the floor.
"Even for you… *Mrs.
Holloway*.
"
Violet's gaze hardened.
With deliberate slowness, she removed her diamond-studded wedding band and pressed it into a biometric slot no engineer could've anticipated.
"My real name," she said softly, "is Dr.
Elara Voss.
"
The machine froze.
Then died.
Smoke choked the underground hangar where the organization's leader fled.
Ethan's dress shoes crunched over shattered glass, his tie fluttering like a battle standard.
Three black-suited bodyguards materialized from shadowed pillars—his personal squad, faces grim beneath tactical visors.
"Surrender," Ethan growled, "or lose the privilege of breathing.
"
The silver-haired executive smiled, a serpent's grin.
"You mistake pawns for kings, Mr.
Holloway.
" His hand dipped toward a briefcase stamped with biohazard sigils.
They moved as one.
Ethan's fist shattered the briefcase lock.
A guard intercepted a syringe of neon-blue toxin.
Another twisted the man's arm until bones popped.
Yet the leader kept laughing, even as steel cuffs bit into his wrists.
"This changes nothing," he hissed.
"The Board has eyes everywhere.
Even in your—"
A shrill beep cut through his threats.
Ethan stiffened.
From the leader's torn sleeve clattered a device no larger than a thumb drive—its surface etched with the same fractal patterns as the destroyed destabilizer.
Violet arrived as shadows deepened into twilight.
Her husband stood motionless before their captured foe, the strange device glinting in his palm.
Around them, guards shifted uneasily.
"Analysis?
" Ethan's voice held a tension she'd never heard.
She took the object.
Its surface burned colder than Arctic ice.
"It's… active.
But the energy signature doesn't match anything from the core.
"
The prisoner chose that moment to convulse.
Foam bubbled from lips turning cyanotic.
"You'll… see…" he gurgled before going still.
Violet barely registered the body hitting concrete.
Her entire world narrowed to the device now humming in her grasp—a sound like spiders crawling over piano wires.
Ethan's hand closed over hers.
Together, they watched the fractal patterns begin to *rotate*.
Somewhere in the city's neon-drenched heart, a hundred dormant screens flickered to life.
*Phase Four: Revelation*
The words lingered for precisely 3.
7 seconds before dissolving into static.
No one noticed.
Yet.