The footage was everywhere. The news channels, initially confused, struggled to explain the impossible. They showed a gaping wound in the sky above the clock tower, a swirling vortex of strange, impossible colors that sent jagged lightning streaking across the sky. They showed the chaos in the streets, the police and fire departments helpless against the bizarre phenomena: objects flickering, cars spontaneously combusting, entire blocks of the city silenced by a terrifying, unnatural stillness.
Behind the scenes, in a secured bunker, Dr. Koval watched the same footage. Her face was a mask of cold fury. "The tear is unstable," she hissed, her voice cutting through the frightened chatter of her subordinates. "He's too powerful. The raw emotional feedback... it was too much." She slammed her hand down on the control panel. "I need him. Now. I need the Eclipse Codex to stabilize the ritual." She looked at the screens, a plan forming in her mind. "Send out the new units. The Beta team. They are designed for this kind of urban chaos. Let's see how well Code X can run from them."
At that moment, the first of the Beta units was deployed. They weren't like the Alphas. The Beta units wore bulkier, more armored suits, designed for sustained urban combat. Their armor was reinforced with something that glowed faintly, a material that could withstand the low-level reality distortion caused by the Veil's tear. Their crimson B symbols were a grim promise of a more brutal, destructive hunt. They were the next, more dangerous phase of Koval's plan, a storm of power released into an already collapsing city.