The night had settled thick over the city, wrapping the streets in shadows. Inside Alex's cramped apartment, the air buzzed with unspoken questions and sharp urgency.
Lyra sat across from them, fingers tapping a rapid code on her laptop. The hard drive she brought was open—lines of encrypted data scrolling endlessly.
Alex leaned forward, eyes fixed on the screen. "If what you're saying is true... the Syndicate's been hiding the real numbers. They want us to believe we've got months. But it's days. Maybe weeks."
Brad let out a low whistle. "And here I thought my semester was tough."
Gaurav shook his head. "This is bigger than finals or parties. If that thing hits us at full speed... no one's walking away."
Lyra's fingers paused, then resumed. "I managed to extract some satellite feeds and intercept files from OMNI's secure cloud. But the Syndicate's mainframe? That's the fortress."
Alex's jaw clenched. "Then we break the fortress."
The room went silent, each weighing the impossible task ahead.
Brad finally broke the silence. "You got a plan?"
Lyra's eyes flashed with a mix of challenge and certainty. "I've been mapping the Syndicate's internal network. They're paranoid—firewalls, biometric scans, encrypted doors. But I know a backdoor. A hidden access point inside an abandoned communications bunker under the city."
Gaurav's eyebrows rose. "You want us to break into a secret bunker? That's insane."
Lyra smiled thinly. "Insane is what we're dealing with anyway. This isn't just a data heist. It's the last chance to pull a warning signal out to the world."
Alex exhaled slowly. "Alright. We move fast. No mistakes."
Meanwhile, in a small apartment across town, Gaurav sat alone at his desk, staring at a blinking message on his screen.
FROM: Ashok.Verma@gov-secure.inSUBJECT: Stay away from the Mars Project.MESSAGE: You've been warned once.
His fist clenched tightly. Outside, the night howled through cracked windows, as if echoing the tension inside.
Gaurav's mind raced. Ashok Verma—the powerful minister rumored to be entwined with the Syndicate—was watching him closely. His involvement in the so-called Mars Project wasn't a coincidence. It was a warning. A threat.
But Gaurav wasn't about to back down.
Back at Alex's place, the three friends exchanged glances—uncertainty, fear, but also a hardened resolve.
Lyra closed her laptop. "We leave at midnight."
And as the clock edged closer, the gravity of their mission pulled tight—the fragile hope of humanity balanced on the edge of a razor.