The alarm went off just after midnight.
Victor was awake instantly, the harsh klaxon cutting through the facility's usual quiet with an urgency that left no room for confusion about what it meant. He was dressed and in the corridor within seconds, finding Caleb, Nyx, and Seraphina already emerging from their own rooms, alert and tense.
"What's happening?" Caleb asked, voice raised over the alarm.
"Don't know," Victor said. "Stay together."
Samuel appeared from around the corner, already moving with the kind of controlled urgency that suggested he'd assessed the situation faster than any of them. "Containment breach. Lower levels."
"Containment of what?" Nyx asked.
"I don't know yet. But given where we are, I doubt it's anything ordinary."
They found Ashworth in the main corridor, directing facility staff with sharp, efficient commands, her earlier composure replaced by something harder, more focused. She spotted them immediately.
