The space beyond the door was smaller than the chamber they'd left behind.
It wasn't a vault as Klatos expected, nor was it impressive as Arlen assumed. It was a control room built for people who expected to work alone, narrow and utilitarian, with old mining consoles embedded directly into the walls. Most of the surfaces were scratched and worn smooth from use. This place had been active once, busy in a way that didn't leave room for decoration.
The moment all three of them stepped inside, the door slid shut behind them.
There was no impact or alarm. It shut the way a system shut itself down after finishing its job.
The room powered up.
Panels along the walls flickered to life one after another, casting a dull, industrial glow across the space. Text scrolled across one of the central displays in a system language older than the prison's infrastructure. Xavier recognized the structure immediately.
"This isn't security," he said. "It's a verification sequence."
