00:01
The neon red numbers on the cylinder didn't merely flash; they burned into Nora’s retinas. The sulfur-choked air inside the tunnel grew deathly quiet for a single microsecond.
"Nora!"
Ethan’s voice didn't come from the dark; it materialized right beside her. He had torn himself away from the three mercenaries pinning him, leaving strips of his own flesh behind in their jaws. He didn't look at the canister. He grabbed Nora by the waist and threw his entire weight upward, launching both of them toward the rusty rungs of the maintenance ladder just as the timer hit zero.
The explosion wasn't a standard blast of fire and shrapnel. It was a harsh, incandescent wave of pure liquid silver.
The concussive force tore through the narrow brick corridor like a physical tidal wave, vaporizin
