Elena's fingers flew over the holo‑keys as the download bar crept forward: 12%… 23%… 37%. Each increment felt like a pulse in Arkhan's veins, marking the fragile heartbeat of their mission. Behind him, the vault's massive steel doors strained against Lyra's temporal hold screaming in sparks of resisted force.
Distant alarms blared through the thick walls, echoing like thunder in a temple of steel. The liaison cell crouched behind crystalline data banks, rifles poised, eyes locked on the narrowing gap of the vault doors.
"Two minutes until full lockdown," the cell leader hissed. Her visor-glow reflected the pulsing urgency. "Elena, accelerate!"
Elena bit her lip. "I'm pushing, but quantum encryption takes time. I need another thirty seconds."
Arkhan's jaw set. He raised a hand. "Give her cover." Then to Lyra: "Hold it as long as you can."
Lyra nodded, palms pressed flat against the door. Her brow furrowed in concentration; temporal energy crackled at her fingertips in sparse arcs. Each arc sputtered as the door's mechanisms fought back.
Arkhan turned to the cell. "Prepare for breach." He crouched behind a data pillar, leveling his sidearm at the incoming door.
A sudden pulse rattled the chamber an override signal. The doors shuddered violently, edging forward despite Lyra's strain.
"Door's giving!" Lyra gasped, stepping back. Sparks rained as metal scraped metal. She backed into Arkhan's path.
He caught her arm. "Move!" He ushered her toward Elena.
Elena's console flashed: 78%… 86%… 94%… The last fragments of the vault's data matrix were transferring encrypted override logs, timestamped command chains, proof of Chancellor Voss's sabotage.
A grinding roar filled the vault as the doors reached sixty percent closed. Arkhan glanced at Lyra, fear in his eyes. She swallowed, summoned a final surge, and thrust both hands forward. The door paused, wobbling.
"Now!" Arkhan shouted.
Elena slammed a reflex key. 100% instantaneously filled the progress bar. The console beeped a triumphant chime. A data rod ejected from the slot complete with Voss's private logs and override protocols.
Kaito dashed forward, snatching the rod. "Got it!"
At that moment, the doors gave a final heave and slammed shut less than a finger's width from sealing Lyra and Arkhan inside.
Lyra's shoulders sagged; the temporal hold collapsed. Arkhan stepped forward, placing his back against the steel. Sparks bounced off his coat as the doors decelerated against his body.
He drew in a breath, activated Chrono Pulse at its lowest setting. Time around the doors slowed to a crawl seconds stretched into minutes. He pivoted, sliding free as the steel hissed past him, missing by millimeters.
He landed on the opposite side, chest heaving. Lyra and Kaito followed, slipping through the narrow gap before the doors sealed completely with a final clang.
Outside the vault, the corridor was chaos incarnate. Flashing red lights bathed the walls, and security drones buzzed overhead, scanning every shadow. The liaison cell opened fire compact rounds of electromagnetic pulses disabling the nearest drones in arcs of blue light.
Arkhan sprinted alongside them, the data rod burning a hole in Kaito's palm. "This way!" he shouted, ducking into a side passage.
They wove through the Academy's subterranean arteries corridors that had once echoed with scholarly footsteps now roared with the clang of boots and the whine of surveillance. Arkhan's pulse hammered in his ears; every turn risked a dead end or an ambush.
Lyra fell into step beside him, breathing hard but unbroken. "We need the drain tunnel!" she said. "It's our quickest route out."
Arkhan nodded, following her lead. Elena and Kaito covered their flanks Elena tucking the data rod safely in her coat, Kaito scanning behind them for pursuers.
They reached a grated door marked "Service Access: Level Ω‑3" the same route they had used before. Lyra pressed her hand on the panel; it yielded instantly this time, recognizing her signature.
Inside the tunnel, they moved in near‑silence, the hiss of the grate sliding closed behind them muffling the alarms' echoes. Arkhan paused, catching his breath in the dim glow of Lyra's pendant now lit with a steady sapphire glow after her liberation.
Elena held up a holo‑viewer. "I decrypted the logs on the fly," she said. "This data confirms Voss issued the initial override two days before the Collapse secret orders to destabilize the chronofield and provoke an event that would justify absolute control over temporal research."
Kaito's eyes widened. "He planned it all along to seize power under the pretense of saving the world."
Lyra's jaw tightened. "We have to get this to the Grey Zone. They'll leak it to every academy network and to the public." Her gaze flicked to Arkhan. "Then no one can claim ignorance."
He nodded, determination hardening. "But first, we warn the Academy's remaining allies those who still believe in true scientific integrity." He glanced at Elena. "Do you have a contact blueprint?"
Elena tapped at her console. "Yes. Coordinates programmed. We can broadcast directly to allied terminals in the next safehouse."
Arkhan planted a hand on the tunnel wall. "This is only the beginning. We've stolen the truth from the lion's den but now we must face the backlash." His voice was low, fierce. "Chancellor Voss will come after us with everything he has."
Lyra squeezed his arm. "Let him come." Her voice was steady as steel blades. "Time is on our side."
They moved deeper into the tunnel their footsteps a chorus of resolve. Behind them, the sealed grate shimmered with residual chrono‑energy. Ahead lay darkness laced with possibility.
And between the vault's cold betrayal and the world's looming fate, they carried the spark of rebellion a small, shining fracture in time that could set everything right.