The emergency alarm cut through the Geneva headquarters like a blade. Sarah Chen's coffee mug shattered against the marble floor as she lunged for the red phone.
"Ma'am, we have a situation." Marcus's voice crackled through the secure line, tight with controlled panic. "You need to see this. Now."
Sarah sprinted down the corridor, her heels clicking against polished stone. The main operations center buzzed with controlled chaos—technicians hunched over monitors, voices sharp with urgency. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the Alps stretched toward a sky that had gone wrong.
"There." Marcus pointed toward Mont Blanc's snow-covered peak.
Sarah's breath caught. A shadow moved across the mountainside, too large and too deliberate to be a cloud. Wings that spanned half the valley beat with slow, thunderous rhythm. Scales caught the morning light like burnished copper.
"How long?" she whispered.
