Chapter 7 - The Final Confrontation
"Evelyn!" Arthur barked, raising his rifle in a lightning-fast motion.
TAK-TAK-TAK!
Evelyn dove behind a heavy steel server rack as Arthur’s bullets chewed through the metal casing, sending sparks flying through the air!
"You thought I was just a lowly nanny, didn't you, Arthur?!" Evelyn shouted over the deafening blare of the self-destruct sirens! "I was placed in that house by the Syndicate eight years ago! My job was to ensure Maya stayed crippled until the project was completed!"
Maya crawled over to her father, pulling Richard behind a heavy concrete pillar. "Dad! Stay with me!"
"Maya... I'm so sorry..." Richard gasped, clutching his bleeding shoulder. "I was a coward... I let them hurt you to protect my own skin..."
"We can fix this, Dad! Just stop the countdown!"
[CRITICAL WARNING: FACILITY SELF-DESTRUCT IN 3 MINUTES]
"I can't override it from here!" Richard groaned, pointing toward the main core in the center of the room. "The master server needs two biometric keys inserted simultaneously—mine and Arthur's!"
Arthur was pinned down behind a control terminal, trading heavy gunfire with Evelyn and two remaining Syndicate mercenaries who had emerged from the side passages.
"Arthur!" Richard yelled across the room. "The secondary override station! We have to turn the keys together!"
"I'll cover you!" Arthur shouted back. He pulled a flashbang grenade from his belt, pulled the pin, and tossed it over the console.
BANG!
A blinding white light and a concussive boom filled the server room!
Arthur leaped over the terminal, firing three precise shots that eliminated the two mercenaries. Evelyn, disoriented and half-blinded by the flashbang, stumbled out into the open, firing her rifle wildly!
Maya, seeing her chance, picked up a heavy steel wrench from a nearby tool cart and threw it with all her strength at Evelyn’s knees!
The wrench hit Evelyn's kneecap with a sickening crack! She screamed in agony and collapsed onto the grate floor, dropping her weapon!
Arthur instantly tackled her, pinning her to the ground and securing her hands with tactical zip-ties.
"Now, Richard! Go!" Arthur yelled.
Richard, supported by Maya, dragged himself to the central console. The digital clock on the wall read:
[00:42 SECONDS REMAINING]
Richard pressed his hand onto the left biometric scanner. Arthur sprinted over and slammed his hand onto the right scanner.
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"Authorization code: Vance-Alpha-Zero!" they both yelled in unison!
HOOK / CLIFFHANGER: The scanner beeped green. The red sirens stopped blaring, but the digital clock didn't reset—it changed to a bright blue message: "SELF-DESTRUCT ABORTED. INITIATING GLOBAL DATA LEAK TO ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES." But suddenly, Evelyn cackled from the floor: "You idiots... you just triggered the remote purge sequence!"
