–Lore–
It's been twenty hours. Twenty fucking hours.
And somehow, we're still standing.
They managed to breach the property—clean insertion, minimal noise. Our outer guards pulled back exactly as Livana instructed. Textbook tactical retreat. Outside the mansion, at least fifty hostiles are roaming the perimeter like wolves sniffing blood. The dogs? Locked in their cages, going ballistic—barking, snarling, claws scraping metal. They feel it. They know intruders are on our ground.
Smartest creatures in this whole damn operation, honestly.
The guards are holed up in their own panic room beneath the barracks, monitoring perimeter controls. Watching. Waiting. My chest tightens—like wires twisting too hard inside me.
"Mom," I call through the speakers, trying to keep my voice steady.
From the system logs, I can tell—they're moving the drives. Securing data. Priorities straight: records first, survival second.
"Hey, baby," Mom replies.
I grimace. "I'm not a baby, okay?"
