Location: Mind Hollow – Extraction Path Alpha
The walls trembled as the reactor core deep within Lucien's compound began its destabilization countdown. Red emergency lights flashed like a heartbeat from hell, and the air was thick with the scent of burnt wires and blood.
Nora limped toward the exit chamber, her shoulder scorched and bleeding, but her grip on the detonator tight. Specter was gone. Lucien's twisted puppet had been silenced—forever. Yet the victory felt hollow, like breathing after a long scream.
Damien burst into view, sweat and soot streaking his face, eyes wide as they locked with hers.
"Nora!"
Before she could respond, his arms wrapped around her, holding her tight against him as if trying to merge their broken pieces back into one. She didn't resist. She melted into him, her body trembling.
"I thought I lost you," he said against her hair.
"You didn't," she whispered. "But we need to go."
Behind them, Vesper leaned against the doorway, blood leaking through her side. "Extraction point's a hundred meters down the corridor. And Kane says we have four minutes."
Nora nodded grimly. "Let's end this."
They helped Vesper walk, moving as fast as the collapsing facility would allow. Every second was a countdown to obliteration.
Halfway down, a steel support gave out—crashing across the hallway, blocking the path.
"We'll never lift that," Vesper groaned, sinking to her knees.
Damien glanced behind them. The walls were cracking. Fires danced closer.
Then Nora spotted the secondary maintenance shaft on the blueprint embedded in her memory.
"There's another way."
She pointed to a narrow tunnel just above the ventilation grid.
"It's tight. One at a time. But it leads straight to the extraction pad."
Damien helped Vesper up first. "You go. Then Nora. I'll be right behind."
Vesper paused, then gave a small nod and disappeared into the shaft.
Nora hesitated. "You sure?"
"Go," Damien said. "I'm not letting this place take you from me."
She climbed in, crawling fast, heart hammering.
She barely made it out before the first explosion shook the ground.
Nora rolled onto the extraction pad, gasping for air. Vesper reached out to help her. Behind them, the shaft quaked.
Nora turned. "Damien?!"
Silence.
Then—his voice through her earpiece, broken but alive.
"Go."
"No!" she screamed, getting up.
"You have to," he said, calm. "I'll catch up. But if I don't... protect what we fought for."
"No—Damien!"
He didn't answer.
Seconds later, a silhouette emerged through the smoke—bruised, limping—but alive.
Nora's breath hitched.
She ran, catching him as he stumbled into her arms.
"You idiot," she cried into his chest.
"I told you. I'd never leave you again."
---
Location: Extraction Jet – En Route to Haven
The world burned beneath them.
Lucien's fortress became nothing but rubble. His empire of illusions crumbled under the weight of truth and defiance.
Inside the jet, Nora sat beside Damien, their hands clasped.
Vesper lay across from them, medic drones tending to her injuries.
Silence filled the cabin, but not the uncomfortable kind.
This silence spoke of survival. Of things unsaid. Of everything still ahead.
Damien turned to Nora. "You okay?"
She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I will be. We all will."