The system came alive beneath their hands.
Streams of data surged across the screens, commands executed in silent precision as Isabella Vicks and Damien Hayes stood side by side—appearing to follow Astra’s orders.
But beneath the surface…
They were building something else entirely.
“Keep it clean,” Damien said under his breath, his tone calm, controlled.
Isabella’s fingers moved swiftly across the keyboard, her eyes scanning every line of code.
“I’m mirroring the attack pattern,” she whispered. “It looks real… aggressive enough to convince them.”
“Good,” he replied. “But don’t push too far. If it looks too perfect, they’ll know.”
She nodded slightly.
Everything had to feel flawed.
Real.
Believable.
Because Astra wasn’t just watching what they did—
They were studying how they d
