Chapter 7 - The Final StandAdrien didn't hesitate. He fired three rounds straight through the opening gap of the tilted vault door. A muffled yell and the sound of a heavy body crashing against the concrete outside told him he’d connected.
"One minute, Adrien!" Elena’s voice was strained, sweat beading on her forehead as the progress bar hit 98%.
The tactical team outside slammed a breaching charge onto the remaining lower hinge.
"Get away from the door!" Elena screamed, hitting the enter key with the palm of her hand just as the charge detonated.
The entire vault door blew inward, showering the room in flying shrapnel and blinding white smoke. Adrien was thrown backward by the shockwave, slamming hard against a filing cabinet and dropping his pistol.
Through the smoke, two heavily armored operatives stepped into the bunker, their weapons raised, red laser sights painting the darkness.
Before they could squeeze the trigger, a series of high-pitched automated turrets mounted along the ceiling of the bunker—legacy defense systems Elena had secretly reactivated using the terminal—whirred to life and unleashed a sweeping volley of non-lethal, high-voltage taser darts. Both operatives locked up instantly, screaming as fifty thousand volts coursed through their tactical rigs, crashing heavily to the floor.
Elena slumped against the computer console, gasping for air. The monitor flashed a brilliant green checkmark: UPLOAD COMPLETE. DATA TRANSMITTED TO GLOBAL MEDIA AND DOJ SECRETS DIVISION.
Adrien groaned, picking himself up off the floor and wiping blood from his forehead. He looked at Elena, then at the smoking doorway.
"It's out," Adrien whispered, a strange, liberating weight lifting from his shoulders. "The whole world knows."
May you like
"Not the whole world yet," a cold, smooth voice echoed from the shattered doorway.
Adrien and Elena whipped their heads around. Marcus Vance stepped through the smoke, a sleek pistol held casually in his right hand, aimed squarely at Adrien’s heart.
