“Satellite hijack successful. But we've got a problem."
Mara's voice sliced through the lab's silence. She tapped into the comms terminal, bringing up a grainy live feed.
Dominic, Aria, and Viktor gathered around.
Helix board members stared back at them—some anxious, others furious. But the voice that echoed through the stolen bandwidth wasn't theirs.
It was Celeste Renn.
> “Return the LAMIA formula and Xi-Ω data now, or face global indictment for biological terrorism. You have twelve hours."
The feed cut.
Aria stared at the blank screen, then touched her belly reflexively.
Dominic looked at Mara. “Can you counter-hack?"
“I already did," she said, slipping a drive into Aria's palm. “The world just saw the PENUMBRA footage. Every child. Every scream."
Viktor swore under his bre
