Gabriel pressed the detonator.
Click.
Nothing happened.
For a split second…
Confusion crossed his face.
Then Adrian smiled.
“Looking for this?”
He held up a small black circuit board.
“I swapped it while you were busy congratulating yourself.”
Gabriel’s expression darkened.
“You—”
“I’ve been your prisoner for three weeks.”
Adrian cut him off.
“You really thought I spent all that time doing nothing?”
⸻
Gabriel fired.
Bang!
The bullet shattered a monitor beside Lucien’s head.
Lucien dove behind a server rack.
Adrian rolled in the opposite direction.
The control room erupted into chaos.
Sparks rained from damaged equipment.
Alarms screamed.
“Structural failure in one minute.”
⸻
The Architect didn’t move.
He simply watched.
Almost… curious.
“As always…”
he murmured
