Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Cassian’s words hung heavily in the collapsing warehouse.

“If you’re going to save us… then stop wasting time.”

Luca stared at him silently.

Blood streaked across Cassian’s face while his breathing became more unstable by the second.

The second division operatives around them were deteriorating fast now.

Some unconscious.

Some twitching violently.

Some already dead.

And overhead

The automated voice continued counting down their lives without emotion.

“Protocol synchronization at eighty-seven percent.”

Damon swore under his breath.

“We move now.”

Seraphine immediately headed toward the lower corridor entrance, firing two quick shots at collapsing debris to clear the path.

“This way!”

The floor trembled beneath them again.

The entire facility was beginning to fail structurally.

Vale watched from the upper walkway with eerie calm.

Like she was observing the ending of an experiment she’d already documented.

“You won’t make it in time,” she said softly.

Luca ignored her.

He crouched beside Cassian one final time.

“You’re coming with us.”

Cassian laughed weakly.

A broken sound.

“No.”

“Yes.”

Cassian slowly shook his head.

“I can barely stand.”

Luca’s jaw tightened.

“Then I’ll carry you.”

For the first time since Damon met him

Cassian looked genuinely shocked.

Because no one carried division operatives.

No one came back for them.

No one chose them.

Damon stepped beside Luca immediately.

“We’re not leaving him.”

Cassian stared at them both in silence.

Like he genuinely could not understand what he was seeing.

Then quietly

Almost suspiciously

He asked:

“Why?”

Damon frowned slightly.

“Because you’re hurt.”

The answer hit Cassian harder than expected.

Because to Damon

That was reason enough.

Not usefulness.

Not strategy.

Not leverage.

Pain alone justified being saved.

Cassian looked away immediately.

Something dangerously emotional flickering behind his cold exterior.

Hale noticed.

And his expression darkened subtly.

Emotion spreading through conditioned operatives.

Again.

The flaw returning.

Vale noticed too.

“How fascinating,” she murmured.

“Empathy remains contagious despite trauma conditioning.”

Seraphine looked disgusted.

“You talk about people like laboratory rats.”

Vale’s eyes shifted toward her lazily.

“That is essentially what they were.”

Before anyone could react

Gunfire erupted again from the upper level.

Government tactical forces advancing deeper into the warehouse.

“MOVE!” Seraphine shouted.

Everything exploded into motion.

Damon helped Luca pull Cassian upright while Hale rapidly accessed a security panel near the lower corridor entrance.

The steel doors refused to open.

Hale’s expression sharpened instantly.

“She locked us out.”

Vale smiled faintly from above.

“Correct.”

Damon raised his gun toward her immediately.

“How do we open it?”

Vale folded her hands calmly behind her back.

“You don’t.”

Another explosion rocked the facility violently.

Concrete crashed from above.

Sparks burst from exposed wiring.

The synchronization voice echoed again:

“Protocol synchronization at ninety percent.”

Cassian nearly collapsed again.

Luca caught him instantly.

“We’re out of time,” Seraphine warned.

Damon looked toward the sealed doors.

Then toward Hale.

“You designed the system.”

Hale’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Yes.”

“Then break it.”

For one tense second

Hale simply stared at the steel doors.

Calculating.

Then suddenly

He drew his gun and fired directly into the control panel.

Electric sparks exploded outward violently.

The entire corridor shook.

Emergency overrides activated instantly.

The steel doors groaned open halfway.

Barely enough space to squeeze through.

Seraphine blinked.

“You could’ve done that the whole time?”

Hale’s expression remained cold.

“The damage may destabilize the lower levels.”

Damon grabbed Luca’s arm.

“Go.”

They pushed through the opening quickly.

Cassian stumbling between them.

The lower corridor beyond was dark.

Cold.

Narrow.

Old fluorescent lights flickered weakly overhead while rusted pipes lined the walls.

And suddenly

Luca stopped walking.

The memories hit him all at once.

This corridor.

These walls.

The smell of antiseptic and metal.

He knew this place.

No

He feared this place.

Damon noticed immediately.

“Luca.”

Luca’s breathing became uneven.

“They brought us here after procedures.”

Cassian went quiet beside him.

Because he remembered too.

Children dragged through these hallways half-conscious after neurological conditioning.

Screaming until sedatives silenced them.

Damon’s chest tightened painfully.

“How old were you?”

Luca answered automatically.

Without thinking.

“Eight.”

Silence.

Damon physically stopped moving for a second.

Eight.

Jesus Christ.

He looked at Hale with pure hatred.

“You destroyed children.”

Hale’s expression didn’t change.

But something colder entered his eyes.

“You think I don’t know that?”

That answer stunned everyone briefly.

Even Seraphine.

Because for the first time

Hale sounded tired.

Not defensive.

Not proud.

Tired.

Vale’s voice suddenly echoed through hidden speakers again.

“Interesting.”

Luca’s pulse jumped sharply.

“I wondered how long guilt would finally surface.”

Hale’s expression instantly hardened again.

“Be careful, Evelyn.”

Vale laughed softly.

“Or what?”

The lights flickered violently overhead.

“You lost control of your empire years ago.”

Damon exchanged a sharp glance with Seraphine.

Something deeper existed between Hale and Vale.

Not romance.

Not partnership.

War.

The corridor suddenly split ahead into two directions.

One descending deeper underground.

The other leading toward an old medical wing.

Cassian immediately pointed downward.

“Neural core is below.”

But Luca froze again.

Because faintly

Very faintly

He heard something from the medical wing.

Crying.

A child crying.

No.

Not real.

Memory.

But the sound felt so vivid Luca physically staggered.

Damon caught him immediately.

“What is it?”

Luca stared toward the dark medical corridor.

Face pale.

“They kept us there.”

Cassian looked away sharply.

Like even seeing the hallway hurt.

And suddenly

Luca remembered something else.

Something terrible.

A little girl.

Small.

Dark curls.

Terrified eyes.

Screaming during one of Vale’s procedures.

Luca’s breathing stopped cold.

Because he remembered her name.

“…Mira.”