The silence in the CrossTech laboratory was absolute, save for the rhythmic, ominous ticking of the Prometheus Engine’s cooling core. Ten-year-old Lily Bennett didn’t flinch as she kept her small finger pressed precisely against the micro-welded titanium bypass valve.

Access Denied. Root privileges revoked by Master Administrator.

"Come on, work," Lily gritted her teeth, sweat beading on her forehead as she rapidly typed a terminal command line inherited from her father's legacy scripts.

Bypass Root: Override_Auth_09

The screen flickered. A progress bar began to crawl forward: 10%, 25%, 42%...

Suddenly, the door to the office flew open with a loud crash.

Jax and two heavily armed private security guards rushed into the room, their weapons drawn, followed closely by a frantic Maria Bennett.

"Lily!" Maria cried out, running across the room and dropping to her knees beside her daughter, pulling her away from the console. "What are you doing? Are you crazy? You could have been killed!"

"Mom, listen to me!" Lily shouted, pointing frantically at the screen. "We don't have much time! Arthur Sterling isn't an ally—he’s the one who sabotaged the engine in the first place, and he’s about to blow up the entire building during Dad's broadcast!"

Jax froze, lowering his weapon slightly as he stared at the scrolling code on the monitor. "Sterling? That's impossible. He retired ten years ago."

"He didn't retire, he went underground!" Lily insisted, her voice cracking with emotion. "Look at the routing table! The override command is coming from the sub-vault right beneath us!"

Just as Jax moved toward the console to check the logs, the office lights flickered violently and died. The emergency backup generators kicked in, bathing the room in an eerie, pulsing red glow.