Duke reached the corridor leading to the hall, only to be met with chaos—ashes scattered across the floor, cracks running through the marble, and signs of heavy damage everywhere. His heart pounded harder with each step. When he reached the hall's entrance, two guards lay unconscious by the door.
"What the hell happened here?" Duke muttered, clenching his fists before kicking the door open.
The sight inside froze him. Jack Truedream lay motionless on the ground—unconscious, but breathing. Rage surged through Duke's veins as he shouted, "Jack!" and sprinted toward him.
He knelt beside Jack, shaking him gently. "Come on, wake up!" Then he raised his wrist to his mouth. "Medical backup, now. Dr. Haley, to Hall BH121—fast!"
With a sharp hand gesture, Duke signaled his men. The guards moved swiftly, rounding up the dazed students slumped against the wall. They pulled black hoods over their heads, blinding them from the scene.
Duke lifted Jack carefully and glanced toward Quinn, who still lay on the floor—pretending to be unconscious.
Dr. Haley burst through the door moments later, gasping at the sight before her. She dropped to her knees beside Jack, checking his vitals before channeling her healing ability. A faint glow flickered beneath her palms.
Duke leaned toward one of his officers, voice low and cold. "I want a full report on what happened here—and I want it in two hours."
The guards nodded and rushed out.
Somewhere in the VIP dorms, a small group of students watched the chaos unfolding inside the hall through Logan's computer feed.
They were Logan, Vorden, Vicky, Fex, and Layla.
Logan's fingers clattered rapidly over the keyboard, the glow of multiple screens flickering across his focused eyes. Layla finally broke the silence.
"Guys… what do we do now? Do you think they'll let them go?"
Her voice hung in the air like smoke. No one answered. The room was thick with tension—and unfamiliarity. None of them really knew each other. Vorden was the only one who had met Logan before, during the testing phase. The rest were strangers bound by circumstance.
Layla didn't know much about any of them. She had only agreed to this spontaneous mission because Erin—her roommate and teammate—was involved. And then there was Quinn. She wanted to help him too. But more than that, she had known this moment would come. Pure had already sent her a warning about Truedream's arrival, and she wanted to see what happened to those caught in his wake.
Vorden and Vicky were here for Quinn. As for Fex, he was simply chasing excitement. He found Quinn oddly likable—the only one who'd ever dared to talk to him while everyone else kept their distance.
Logan, on the other hand, was driven purely by curiosity. Quinn fascinated him—the system inside him, the irregularities. When Quinn had sent that desperate call for help, Logan had kept his promise: the military wouldn't get to Quinn before he finished his experiments.
"Funny, isn't it?"
The reason they had all gathered here, in Logan's room, was simple—Quinn had told them to trust this man. And somehow, that was enough.
As for Peter, he was in the dark about everything. Vorden had told him to stay put and left without another word. Now Peter sat alone in the quiet dorm room, lost in his thoughts, unaware of the storm brewing outside.
-----
"What do you mean you don't remember, sir?" Duke snapped, his voice edged with frustration.
He ran a hand through his hair, trying to piece together the chaos that had unfolded. None of it made sense. To him, this had Pure's fingerprints all over it. Somehow, they had infiltrated the military base and pulled off a calculated strike right under their noses.
Jack's last order had been even more strange—he'd specifically requested that the students not be sent to the dungeon. Duke frowned at the memory. That wasn't like Jack at all.
"Ugh… thinking about this is giving me a headache," he muttered under his breath. "That damn Quinn kid… he's tied to Pure. I'm sure of it."
He clenched his fists, pacing the room. "Whatever happened to Truedream, I can't accept this. This incident will raise too many questions—too much heat from inside the military and outside it."
Without another thought, Duke turned to his guards. "Prepare the Red Portal. We're sending the students off—immediately."
The guards nodded and hurried to obey, leaving Duke standing in his private chamber, jaw tight and his thoughts burning.