*******
The corridor swallowed John and Celine the moment they burst through the sealed door. The lights along the ceiling flickered like nervous heartbeats, each pulse faster than the last. The entire floor trembled beneath their feet, warning of something deep and dangerous waking within the walls.
Celine sprinted ahead, her voice sharp and urgent. "If Rita forces that final lock, the system will purge everything inside this level. It was Harold's failsafe. No survivors. No evidence."
John followed close behind, his steps pounding against the steel tiles. His lungs burned, but adrenaline pushed him forward like a storm given legs.
"She thinks she is saving me," he said. "She has no idea what she is triggering."
Another tremor roared through the corridor. A harsh groan echoed from the structure overhead, as if the building itself braced for impact.
Celine threw him a quick look. "She loves you too fiercely. That is both her strength and her mistake."
John did not respond. He could not. His mind was racing too fast, darting through possibilities, outcomes, dangers. Rita's loyalty was iron-strong, but sometimes iron bent in the wrong direction.
They turned a corner sharply.
A wall of red lights flashed along the far door.
Celine cursed under her breath. "She already cut through two lock phases."
"How many are there?"
"Four."
Another vibration cracked through the floor.
"How much time?"
Celine pressed her hand to a scanner and forced the next security door open. "Less than three minutes."
John felt his chest tighten. Not from fear. From urgency. From fury. He had spent the entire day wrestling shadows and enemies, but this was different. This was his people tearing through the wrong wall with the right intentions.
They ran through another hall, this one darker, colder. Pipes rattled above them. Electric sparks flickered along the walls as the purge system prepared to activate. The temperature dropped sharply.
Celine spoke without turning. "Harold built this floor as a place where truths could be stored without the Circle's reach. But that meant burying it in weapons and traps the Circle could never break."
"And now Rita is inside its jaws," John said.
"Yes."
The final corridor stretched ahead, long and narrow. At the end, a heavy reinforced door glowed bright red. Warning symbols raced across its surface.
And standing in front of it, with a tool pack scattered across the floor and her hands inside an exposed panel, was Rita.
She moved with frantic precision, sweat streaming down her neck. Sparks burst from the console as she cut into the wiring.
"Rita," John called out.
She whipped around, shock flooding her features. Her chest rose and fell sharply.
"John. Thank God." She stepped toward him. "We thought you were trapped. We thought the Benefactor got loose. Morgan said we could not wait. The alarms went off, and I thought something terrible had happened."
"Something terrible is about to happen," John said. "You must stop the breach. Now."
Rita shook her head. "I am almost there. I can get you out."
"You are not getting me out," John replied. "You are about to kill all of us."
Rita froze.
Celine stepped forward. "Harold engineered this floor to erase everything inside if someone forced it open. Rita, you need to close that panel immediately."
Rita's eyes darted between them. "But I heard the alarms. The Benefactor escaped. We saw the lockdown. We saw the sealed channels. John, how was I supposed to know this was a controlled operation?"
"You call me," John said firmly. "You wait. You trust my steps."
Rita looked as if she had been struck across the face. Guilt crawled through her expression.
"I thought you were in danger," she whispered.
John softened just slightly. "I was. But not from this floor."
Another violent rumble shook the corridor. The lights above them burst into white flashes. A warning siren began to rise, deep and thunderous.
Celine cursed. "Too late. She cut into the purge line. The system thinks the floor has been compromised."
"What does that mean?" John asked.
"It means the purge sequence is primed," Celine said. "We have less than ninety seconds to reach the core and shut it down."
Rita stepped back. "Tell me what to do."
Celine moved to the panel and inspected the wiring. "You cannot reverse it from here. The core is the only place where the purge can be overridden. But someone must keep the panel from sealing."
"I will do it," Rita said without a moment of hesitation.
John stared at her. "Rita. If that panel seals while your hands are inside, the door will crush you in half."
She did not blink. "Then you had better shut down the purge quickly."
John felt something twist inside his chest. He opened his mouth to object, but she cut him off.
"You need me to do this," Rita said softly. "Let me."
The siren grew louder.
Celine grabbed John's arm. "We must move."
John met Rita's eyes. "Do not die."
She gave him a weak smile. "I will hold on. Go."
John turned and sprinted with Celine down the corridor toward the core. The ground vibrated beneath them with increasing violence. The air grew harsher, colder, heavier.
They reached another sealed door.
Celine slammed her palm onto the panel. "Come on."
The door took precious seconds to respond.
Thirty.
Twenty-five.
The alarm's pitch rose.
The door finally slid open.
They entered the core chamber, a vast circular room filled with humming towers of data units and pulsing cables running like veins across the walls.
At the centre stood the purge reactor.
A vertical pillar of red light.
Celine rushed forward. "I need you to stabilise the left conduit."
John grabbed the exposed cable and held it steady despite the electric vibrations running through it. Celine worked rapidly, her fingers moving across multiple panels, rewriting commands, inputting codes that barely stayed alive in the system.
"Forty seconds until the purge," the reactor announced.
John's jaw tightened. "Move faster."
"I am moving as fast as physics allows," Celine snapped.
"Thirty-five seconds."
The floor trembled.
The lights dimmed.
Rita's scream echoed faintly from the corridor.
John's heart slammed in his chest. He held the conduit tighter.
"Celine."
"I know."
"Thirty seconds."
Celine tore open the final panel. "I need your hand here."
John pressed his palm against the cold metal. A scanner activated, reading him. Accepting him. The system responded to his bloodline.
"Twenty seconds."
Celine entered the override command.
"Fifteen seconds."
John shouted. "Rita, hold on."
Her voice came back faintly. "Just focus."
"Ten seconds."
Celine slammed her final input.
"Override command accepted," the core announced.
John exhaled.
But the reactor continued.
"Manual confirmation required. Nine. Eight."
"Where," John demanded.
Celine pointed at a raised platform. "There."
He did not hesitate. He ran, leapt onto the platform, slammed his palm into the scanner.
"Six."
The system hesitated.
"Five."
"Confirm identity," the reactor demanded.
John shouted. "John Raymond."
The reactor vibrated.
"Four."
"Confirm bloodline."
John gritted his teeth. "Raymond."
A long pause.
"Three."
The reactor glowed.
"Two."
The system exhaled.
"Identity confirmed. Purge cancelled."
The sirens died instantly.
The lights steadied.
The floor stopped shaking.
John breathed hard, sweat sliding down his back. He turned sharply and sprinted back through the corridor with Celine.
They reached Rita.
She was on the ground, her hands scraped and bleeding, her shoulders rising and falling with shallow breaths. The panel had shut inches from her fingers.
But she was alive.
John dropped beside her and pulled her close. "You did not listen to me," he said, his voice low and rough.
She gave a tired smile. "I never do."
Celine stood behind them, leaning on the wall, exhausted. "We must leave this floor. Now. The Circle will investigate the purge attempt."
John lifted Rita gently.
His voice was cold steel.
"Let them come."
He turned toward the lift.
"From now on, I am done reacting. I am ready to hunt."