The morning hum of Aurion Dynamics was already in full swing by the time Mei stepped through the revolving doors. The marble lobby gleamed under soft lighting, and the air carried that faint blend of polished wood, expensive cologne, and control.
She swiped her ID at the security gate, the scanner chirping once before the glass barriers slid open. The uniformed guard gave her the usual polite nod.
The entire building was awake analysts crossing the lobby with tablets, executives on phone calls, security personnel stationed at their posts. There was no such thing as "getting here before anyone else" in a place like this.
Her phone buzzed in her palm as she stepped toward the elevator.
BLACK SWAN:
Maintenance window on Lucent's primary lock: 10 minutes. Access will open at 10:15. You'll enter during the window. You have five minutes before it resets.
Mei glanced around, eyes darting over the controlled chaos of the lobby. Timing would be everything.
She typed: Security here is too tight. I can't just walk in.
BLACK SWAN:
You can. You will. The clearance glitch will last exactly 300 seconds. That's your chance. Make it look like you belong there.
The elevator chimed, and she stepped inside with three other employees. Floor numbers lit up above the doors. She needed to reach the Lucent wing without drawing attention. That meant timing her move when eyes weren't on her.
The opportunity came faster than expected — at the twentieth floor, the others stepped out for a departmental meeting. The doors slid shut, and she hit the control panel for the restricted wing. The button didn't light up.
Of course. Access needed a separate scan.
At the thirty-second floor, she exited instead, following a corridor past the glass conference rooms. She didn't go straight to Lucent. Instead, she stopped at the security desk manned by two guards and a receptionist.
"Morning," she said casually. "I think I left my tablet in one of the finance rooms on this floor yesterday. Is the wing open?"
One of the guards checked the log. "Finance? Yes, but only on escort."
She feigned disappointment. "Ah, alright. No rush, I'll swing by later." She turned to leave exactly when the receptionist answered a ringing phone and the guard stepped away to handle a delivery check.
Her phone buzzed again.
BLACK SWAN:
The window is open. Go.
She pivoted down the adjacent hall instead, where a second checkpoint waited empty for the moment. The security panel beside the door glowed green.
One swipe of her card. A chime. The lock released.
She was in.
The Lucent chamber was more beautiful than she remembered from the schematics. Curved glass, soft blue light, servers lined like silent sentinels. The temperature dropped as she stepped in, the air thick with the hum of power.
She slid on her gloves, drew the flash drive from her pocket, and moved to the nearest terminal.
BLACK SWAN:
Four minutes.
Her fingers flew over the keys, bypassing the first layer of security. The code resisted like a living thing, pushing back, but she'd been trained for this for years.
Each keystroke tightened the knot in her chest. Not because of the risk, but because of the thought she couldn't shake Lucas could be here, somewhere in this same digital space.
The second layer began to give way when the soft hum of the room shifted. Footsteps.
Her heart stuttered.
The steel door slid open.
Kieran.
He stepped inside, eyes scanning like they always did every angle, every shadow. Even in the dim blue light, his suit was perfect, his presence cutting through the cold air.
"What are you doing here?" His voice wasn't raised, but there was an edge to it the kind that could harden into accusation in seconds.
Mei turned slowly, forcing her face into something between surprise and nonchalance. "Couldn't resist seeing Lucent up close. People talk about it like it's untouchable."
"It is untouchable," he said, walking toward her. "That's the point."
She let a faint smile tug her lips. "Dangerous things are… interesting."
For a moment, their eyes held. Then his shifted past her to the console she'd been using.
"You decided to come into a restricted chamber without clearance?"
"The door was open." She gave a small shrug, tilting her head so a loose strand of hair fell just so. "Thought maybe it was alright."
"It's never open."
He took another step closer, and she caught the faint scent of his cologne clean, sharp. The heat of him in this cold room was unexpectedly distracting.
"Maybe someone wanted me to see it," she said softly, letting the words hover between them.
He studied her face, like he was trying to read a line of code. "You think this is a game?"
"No," she said, her voice dropping. "But I'm starting to think you do."
Something in his expression flickered interest, maybe, or suspicion. He stepped past her to the console, his sleeve brushing her arm.
The touch was brief, but her pulse betrayed her.
"What were you doing on this?" he asked.
"Looking," she said simply.
His gaze dipped just a fraction to her lips before locking back on her eyes. "You shouldn't be here."
"Then tell me to leave," she whispered.
He didn't. Instead, he began typing, pulling up the chamber's access log. His proximity was suffocating in the best and worst ways. She could feel his breath when he leaned slightly forward.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
BLACK SWAN:
One minute. Finish it.
She stepped back, the moment breaking. "Guess I'll let you guard your dangerous god," she said with a faint smirk, and slipped out the door.
At her desk, her hands moved across the keyboard like nothing had happened. But her chest was tight. She'd been seconds away from finishing the breach. Seconds. And now, she wasn't sure if Kieran believed her or was waiting to see what she'd do next.
Her phone buzzed again.
BLACK SWAN:
He's suspicious. Work faster. Next window will be your last.
In his office, Kieran watched the access log scroll down his monitor. His jaw clenched.
Unauthorized Lucent chamber entry: 10:15 – 10:20. Logged from inside the building.
Beneath it, a note appeared in red:
External breach detected. Matching signature to yesterday's hack.
And somewhere in the mess of data, one tiny fragment of code that made his breath catch a style he'd seen once before, years ago.