Page 25 of Third

Cold calculation disguised as science. Selyr wasn’t simply observing anymore. He was preparing the next trial.

He didn’t look at Anya. Didn’t haveto.

Because the bracelet flared again—and this time, it was not from hisrage.

It was something else. Ashift. Not in him—but in her. The bond realigned in a way he did not initiate. It stabilized with intent.

Anya’s intent.

She wasn’t panicking. She wasn’t falling apart. Through the bond, her focus sharpened like a blade—not cold, but cutting. It wrapped around him, steady and unyielding in a way no algorithm or protocol ever had. Her presence didn’t calm the storm. It simply refused to be drowned byit.

She was focusing.

He felt it radiate through the link like a beacon—calm, determined, terrifying in its clarity. And it forced him to feel ittoo.

She would not let Maya be taken.

And neither wouldhe.

Not because he shared her motive. He did not. She wanted to save her sister. He wanted to end the one who had threatened her. They would not always agree on how the path should unfold. For now, the only thing clear was the threat. And the promise: this was notover.

A sharp chirp echoed through the chamber.

Then another. Louder. Urgent.

Tor’Vek’s gaze snapped to the far console. The lights above them flickered once, then again—slower, darker. Systems he hadn’t accessed powered up on their own. Energy rechanneled through backup cores. The console let out a low whine as power surged through its frame. Aburied subroutine, long-dormant, had come online, its code auto-executing without prompt. This wasn’t passive defense. It was the final layer of control—an ending written into the walls.

He bypassed a firewall. Another. Deeper access.

Then the words appeared:

AUTODESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED.

04:32 REMAINING.

The air itself seemed to contract.

He turned to Anya without a word, reached for her wrist, and pulled her sharply to hisside.

“We are leaving,” he said, snatching up the handheld device that contained the data he’d downloaded.

They sprinted.

From speakers above and around them, Selyr’s voice followed, still amused, still maddeningly calm—his tone dispassionate, as though delivering the final entry in a lab report. The air itself seemed to contract, as if the base itself resented their survival.

“You’ve taken your data. I’ve extracted my results. This facility has outlived its usefulness—and your presence here is no longer required. Elimination is efficient. Clean. Statistically preferable to further contamination of the test group. Iwill continue the trials elsewhere—with a new Intergalactic Warrior and the sibling specimen from the same genetic line. Early simulations suggest the next model of bracelets will yield even more adaptive results.”

The hallway outside the vault was already dimming as they raced along it. Overhead, the light panels cracked one by one, sparks raining down in brief, angry showers. Alarms blared in rhythmic bursts that seemed to chase their footsteps.

The floor shuddered beneaththem.

Anya stumbled—once, twice—but Tor’Vek’s grip was iron around her wrist, never letting her fall. The bond between them burned hot, not with rage or fear, but with a singular, unrelenting directive: escape.

They tore through the compound, winding through half-collapsed corridors and fractured bulkheads. The floor vibrated with the pulse of deep, destabilizing detonations. Flames licked through open vents above them, and the stench of melting circuitry filled the air. Panels sparked and burst as they rushed past, casting wild shadows across the walls. One hallway behind them erupted into fire with a roar that shook the base, driving them forward faster. It was not a chase. It was a race against disintegration.

Tor’Vek didn’t look back. The explosion that rocked the corridor behind them struck like a thunderclap, blasting them sideways into the wall. He slammed into the metal hard enough to jar his teeth, twisting mid-fall to shield Anya with his body as they hit the floor. Her shoulder struck first, asharp cry escaping herlips.

He yanked her up with a force that bordered on brutality, not trusting the structure to hold another second. Flames erupted again as a ceiling panel buckled, raining sparks that scorched the air as they sprinted on, battered and breathless. Smoke poured in waves, burning their lungs. Each racing step was a gamble between traction and collapse. The base wasn’t failing. It was devouring itself, determined to take them withit.

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