The Nexus coordinates led us to the last place I ever wanted to see—our old university.
Once a proud campus filled with students and science fairs, it was now half‑abandoned, fenced with security tape, its main hall dark and silent. The government had shut it down years ago after a "data leak," but I knew better. That leak was no accident—it was a cover written by someone who wanted to bury the professor's trail.
We reached it at dusk. Neon lights flickered weakly across cracked pillars branded with the university's crest.
Sera pressed her fingers to the metal gate. "Looks normal enough," she said. "Except for the radiation scanners buried under the soil."
Nyra walked past her, reading faint signals on a small wrist‑device. "Noct energy traces… here. Someone's been running machines underground, and it's not the city."
I nodded. "Then the professor's work didn't vanish—it went underground, literally."
The seven of them moved with perfect instinct, each taking a direction that fit their strengths. Lei Mira analyzed the campus grid, bending weak electric doors to open; Yue Xiang hummed softly, her resonance cancelling motion sensors; and Vira scouted ahead with a combat knife that seemed too elegant for war.
I followed the faint red beacon on my tablet—the path drawn from the coordinates in the Nexus agent's chip. Every few steps, the tablet pulsed with stronger light.
Then it stopped. We were standing right above the engineering block.
"The professor held his secret classes here," I said quietly. "If there's an entrance, it's under the main hall."
Lei Mira crouched, pressing a palm to the floor. A low hum answered her touch. "Magnetic elevators. The floor itself is a disguised lift."
"Arina," I said, glancing toward the holographic screen hovering near my wrist. "Override sequence?"
"Affirmative," she replied. "But manual energy is required. Prepare for physical breach."
I smiled slightly. "Figures."
With a deep breath, I stepped to the centre of the marble hall and drew a glowing line with my index finger. The mark on my chest burned faintly in sync with my pulse. A pattern unfolded across the tiles—an ancient digital key repeating through light.
Then the ground groaned and sank.
A section of the floor descended with a smooth hiss, revealing an elevator cage of black glass and iron, still functional after all those years.
Nyra's eyes widened. "He hid an entire lab beneath his own lecture hall."
"Typical Professor Thornwood," I murmured. "Always three steps ahead of those trying to hide the truth."
As we went down, silence pressed heavier. Each floor we passed, flickered with holographic walls still projecting old data—the professor's research scattered like floating constellations.
When the lift stopped, the air smelled of ozone and dust.
We stepped into a vast metallic corridor. Alongside the walls, dozens of pods glowed faintly, holding unfinished experiments: devices, circuits, and bulbs of energy suspended in glass.
In the distance stood a large sealed door, stamped with a familiar mark—a phoenix, surrounded by six curved lines.
My blood chilled. It was the same emblem that marked my chest when I was found as a child.
"Lei Mira," whispered, "Your symbol."
I shook my head. "No. The professor found it before me. This is where he studied its meaning."
We approached the door. Arina's voice softened in my earpiece. "Warning: residual quantum surge. Do not engage unless you wish to initiate system recognition."
"I'll risk it," I said.
I placed my palm on the metal—and a light burst outward, flooding the hall. The phoenix glowed crimson, spinning slowly as the locks disengaged.
When the door slid open, we saw the lab beyond it.
Half-destroyed, half-active. Computers still hummed, powered by generators deeper underground. But the screens displayed corrupted lines:
PROJECT: PHOENIX GENE CHIEF RESEARCHER: PROF. A. THORNWOOD LAST ACCESS: 5 DAYS AGO…
"Five days," Nyra whispered. "He's alive."
My chest tightened in relief. "And still working."
On one of the surviving consoles, I found a half‑loaded message file.
"If you're reading this, you've followed the wrong trail for the right reasons."
The professor's voice. Calm, analytical, but rushed.
"Nexus is not a government; it's the shadow behind every innovation. They took Project Phoenix from us, and now they're using it for hybrid experiments. I escaped with the key fragment — but I'm being hunted. You must not trust anyone on the surface until you find the second gate under the city. It will open only for you. The mark knows the way."
The recording ended with static.
Sera looked at me. "He left you instructions."
"And trouble," I added quietly. "They know we're close now."
Right on cue, Arina's tone sharpened. "Energy readings rising from the upper floors. Multiple life signs. Nexus agents—minimum twenty."
Lei Mira's eyes narrowed. "They must have tracked your signal."
I exhaled slowly, feeling the Veil of Will respond to my calm. "Then let's welcome them properly."
We formed a line as footsteps echoed from the elevator shaft. The dim blue light of the underground lab reflected against their armor as the Nexus agents advanced—faceless, efficient, unaware that they had walked into a storm.
Nyra brushed my shoulder lightly. "Find the professor. We'll handle this."
I shook my head. "We handle it together—always."
The first flash grenade exploded, and the lab turned white with smoke and sparks. I summoned the Veil around us—silent, shimmering, protective.
As the wind howled through broken circuits and the first clash rang out, I felt one truth more strongly than ever.
The professor wasn't just lost. He had planned this.
And finding him now meant stepping fully into the war he had started years ago.