The night the tower came crashing down, the sky was ablaze with silver light.
At the WrenTech construction site, the air buzzed with the sounds of machinery — drones weaving through the smoke, sensors flashing red across the unfinished beams. This building was supposed to be the crown jewel of the empire, a stunning monument of glass and light that would reach for the clouds. Instead, it quaked under the burden of human mistakes — or perhaps something far more sinister.
"Structural breach on Level Nineteen!" a voice blared over the comms.
The alarms screamed.
Eugene Verdan dropped his safety tablet and bolted. Sparks cascaded from an upper platform as the west wall split apart, molten glass spilling like liquid fire. The tower was crumbling from within, and somewhere above him, people were still trapped — engineers, technicians, and one woman crying out for help.
He recognized that voice.
"Ashley!"
He found her pinned beneath a steel beam, smoke filling the air. The CEO's wife — the shining face of WrenTech's future. Her eyes, wide with fear, locked onto his.
"Go!" she gasped. "Get out!"
But Eugene wasn't the type to flee from danger. He clenched his jaw, squared his shoulders, and lifted the beam with all his might. Flames danced along his sleeves. The ground trembled beneath them — explosions from the generator core reverberating through the steel.
Ashley stumbled to her feet. "Damien's still inside—"
He took her hand firmly. "Not anymore. Let's move!"
They made it halfway to the exit before the ceiling collapsed.
A blinding flash.
Then — darkness.
By dawn, the tower stood as a mere skeleton.
News outlets labeled it an accident. The company issued a polished statement about "unforeseen complications."
Two names were listed among the deceased: Ashley Wren and Eugene Verdan.
But buried deep within the project's data logs — in a file that would never see the light of day — was a single corrupted line of code.
A signature.
V.H.//Override_Sequence: ACTIVE
In a corner office at WrenTech headquarters, a man stood gazing out through a wall of glass, watching the sun rise over the remnants of his empire. The light danced across his reflection, breaking his face into a mosaic of shards.