The first breach didn't come through the door; it came through the ceiling.
A magnesium flare hissed through the ventilation grate, blinding the basement with a white-hot intensity that turned the crimson server light into a sickening blur. Seraphina dove behind a rusted dental chair, her fingers white-knuckled around the crystalline Parent Drive. The sound was the worst part—not the explosion, but the rhythmic, synchronized thud of boots hitting the floor from above.
"Shields up!" Alessandro roared over the cacophony.
He didn't wait for them to find cover. He lunged forward, his tactical light cutting a lethal arc through the smoke. Three figures in matte-black polymer armor drifted through the haze like specters. They didn't move like men; there was no hesitation, no wasted breath. Th
