Chapter 16 - The Trap ClosesBefore anyone could react, the heavy oak doors of the executive office slammed shut automatically, followed by a heavy metallic clank as the exterior deadbolts engaged.
Lockdown engaged by Override Protocol Sigma.
"What's happening?" Maria panicked, shaking the doorknob with all her strength. "It won't budge! The door is jammed!"
Jax raised his assault rifle, aiming directly at the electronic keypad beside the door, and fired three rapid rounds. Sparks showered across the floor, but the reinforced titanium housing didn't even dent.
"It's a localized EMP-hardened bulkhead," Jax muttered, his face turning grim. "We're completely sealed in."
Lily spun back toward the console. The progress bar had frozen at eighty-nine percent—the exact same number that had haunted her for six weeks.
"He's locking us out of the main grid," Lily whispered, her fingers flying across the keys in a desperate blur. "If he hits one hundred percent, the cooling valves will melt down instantly."
Suddenly, the office's wall-mounted television screen turned on by itself. The global news channel was broadcasting live from the CrossTech ground-floor auditorium, where Ethan Cross was standing at the podium, smiling brightly in front of hundreds of journalists and investors.
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"Ladies and gentlemen," Ethan's voice echoed through the office speakers. "Tonight, humanity enters a new era of clean, limitless energy..."
On the television screen, behind Ethan, the massive glass-encased Prometheus Engine began to hum, its internal turbines spinning faster and faster, glowing an unnatural, blinding shade of violet.
