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Chapter 16 – Into the Chamber

last update Huling Na-update: 2025-07-12 19:09:40

The evidence archive beneath the Manhattan courthouse was sterile. Dead white walls. Fluorescent hum. Locked cabinets labeled with case numbers no one outside a sealed courtroom would ever see.

Isolde walked the aisle in silence.

No guards.

No cameras.

Just the hush of bureaucracy turned mausoleum.

She paused at Vault B-9.

It didn’t stand out. No biometric pad. No nameplate. Just a handle with a single brass bolt.

She unscrewed it with Astra’s torque key. The bolt fell with a muted clang.

A click.

A hiss.

And the back wall shifted.

Not open.

Rotated.

Behind it: a curved stone stairwell descending into complete dark.

No emergency rail.

No lighting.

No oxygen sensors.

She stepped through.

And pulled the wall shut behind her.

No going back.

The air changed instantly. Cooler. Older.

Dust lifted from the steps as her boots moved. Seventy-nine spirals down, each echoing tighter.

She passed through the first security phase a retinal plate buried in stone.

Then the second a pressure plate mea
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