"They didn't just steal data," Henry stated, his voice a low, grim whisper, "they want to create their own reality."
The words hung in the sterile air of the Foundation's primary analysis center, a chilling echo of the Ouroboros symbol that pulsed on the stolen quantum server prototype. Days had blurred since the Aurora attack, a relentless cycle of debriefs, damage assessments, and the gnawing dread of the unknown. The physical breaches at the cable conduits had been repaired, the internal Arkan infection from Delta-Seven contained, but not purged. Yet, the true victory for Chimera hadn't been disruption; it had been the subtle, silent theft of that small, black box, a piece of Vance Corp's most advanced technology, now a weapon in the hands of an invisible enemy.
Selena stood beside hi
