The sirens howled.
Lights died one by one, the Citadel's steel arteries shuddering under the weight of its own collapse.
Adrian lifted Selene's limp body as Elena cleared the corridor ahead, her breath ragged, her pulse hammering in her ears.
Every step echoed with the sound of destruction. The once-sterile halls that had whispered control now screamed chaos.
A tremor ran through the floor, a roar followed.
The world tilted.
The ceiling tore open above them, revealing a night sky lit by fire. The city below was burning, a reflection of the chaos they'd unleashed within.
"Adrian, this way!" Elena shouted, pulling him toward a descending ramp half-consumed by flame.
He adjusted his grip on Selene, her arm dangling weakly over his shoulder.
"She's fading fast," he muttered.
Elena turned, eyes sharp even through the haze. "Then we don't stop."
A pressure wave tore through the corridor, boom!
The floor cracked open, hurling them against a wall.
Dust and sparks rained around them.
Adrian blinked through the haze, the smell of burnt circuitry thick in the air.
Elena crawled to her feet first, clutching a fallen support beam to steady herself.
The room flickered red, then white.
Through the smoke, she saw shadows moving. Syndicate drones still operational despite the meltdown.
Their visors glowed, silent and unrelenting.
"They're still online?!" she hissed.
"The system's fragmented," Adrian replied, lifting his sidearm. "They're acting on instinct."
Instinct, the kind born of programming and fear.
The kind that couldn't be reasoned with.
The first drone opened fire.
The hallway erupted in gunfire, sharp, rhythmic, deafening.
Elena dove behind a half-collapsed pillar, returning fire in short, precise bursts. Adrian shielded Selene with his body, propping her against the wall before pivoting, weapon drawn.
He fired, one shot, two, three.
Each echo blended with the sound of the Citadel dying.
"We're cut off!" Elena shouted, eyes darting to the collapsing floor ahead.
Adrian scanned quickly, finding the emergency hatch above. "We go up."
He holstered his weapon, grabbed a fallen cable, and started climbing, muscles straining, dust filling his lungs.
Elena followed, the heat from below searing their skin.
Beneath them, the Citadel's core finally gave way, a thunderous explosion that shook the world.
They burst into the upper level, the observation deck.
Glass walls shattered, exposing the black horizon beyond.
Fire licked the sky.
Adrian laid Selene gently on the floor, her breathing shallow but steady.
Elena knelt beside her, wiping blood from her temple.
For a brief moment, amid the destruction, there was silence.
The kind of silence that comes before either salvation, or death.
Selene stirred. "You… made it?"
Adrian leaned closer. "We're not done yet."
Her gaze drifted to the shattered view, the city beyond, in chaos.
"Then it worked," she murmured. "The Citadel's fall will break their control."
Elena nodded faintly, but her eyes caught something in the reflection, movement in the distance.
A silhouette emerging from the smoke.
Marael.
Her armor scorched, her eyes burning with cold fury.
"You really think you can destroy me with your feelings?" she spat, voice calm, terrifyingly steady.
Adrian rose, blood streaking his face. "We destroyed your control."
"Control?" Marael tilted her head, the lights behind her flickering like dying embers.
"You were never free. You just chose your cage."
The ground split beneath them as another explosion rocked the deck.
Marael lunged, her blade gleaming like lightning.
Elena blocked the strike, sparks spraying in a blinding arc. The sound was primal, steel against survival.
Adrian joined in, charging forward with the broken haft of a rifle.
Each movement was chaos and instinct, the three of them framed against the collapsing glass wall, the fire below painting their faces in orange light.
Selene, barely conscious, reached toward the console beside her.
Her fingers brushed the control pad, systems flickering alive for one last override.
Her voice cracked through the noise: "Adrian, now!"
He turned, saw the glint of the emergency chute access.
He nodded once. "Elena, move!"
Elena ducked beneath Marael's swing, rolling toward Selene. Together, they grabbed her, just as Adrian slammed his palm against the release.
The floor beneath them gave way.
A rush of air tore through the chamber as the emergency chute engaged, flinging them downward through the burning tower.
Flames spiraled around them, debris falling in fiery streaks, the Citadel collapsing like a dying star above.
They landed hard, into darkness, into dust.
For a moment, all that existed was silence.
Then a sound, distant, hollow.
The tower above them folding in on itself, one final groan before the night swallowed it.
Elena coughed, crawling toward Selene. "She's breathing…"
Adrian sat back, chest heaving, watching the glow fade from the horizon.
Above them, the Syndicate's fortress, once the symbol of control, crumbled into ruin.
And for the first time, the city below breathed.
Adrian exhaled slowly. The heat of battle gave way to something colder, disbelief, exhaustion, relief.
Elena sat beside him, her hand trembling slightly as it brushed his arm.
For a moment, no words passed between them.
Just the sound of falling ash.
Selene stirred weakly. "Did… we win?"
Adrian looked up, at the burning sky, at the city lights flickering to life beneath the smoke.
Then, quietly: "We're still here. That's enough for now."