The heavy steel door of the maintenance corridor shuddered as a secondary explosion, muffled and deep, reverberated from the server room behind them. Then, absolute silence descended, heavy and suffocating.
Kai Ravens leaned against the cold bulkhead, his breathing ragged, his hand pressed tightly against his bleeding shoulder. In the pitch black, the only sound was the frantic, erratic pulse of Livia’s breathing beside him.
"Is it over?" Livia whispered, her voice trembling in the dark. "Did the EMP destroy it all? Is Julian..."
"Julian was a proxy," Kai replied, his voice a harsh rasp. "A narcissistic middle-manager who thought he was a king. The EMP destroyed the siphon array and the quantum drives holding the Vanguard Fund. We severed their hands. But we haven't killed the brain."
