The Alpha's Forbidden Heir
"The architecture... it’s too complex. It’s designed to self-destruct if it detects an override. The moment I touch the core, it triggers a cascade failure."
Arthur hauled himself up, leaning his full weight on the console, his brow beaded with sweat and cold blood. "Then let it cascade. We’ve spent months in the mud, living in the shadows of these machines, eating dirt and drinking runoff. If the system wants to burn, let’s give it an inferno to remember."
"And if the cascade takes the valley with it?" Kael whispered, his eyes wide and vacant, staring into a digital abyss only he could perceive.
"Then we go out fighting the system, not serving it," Arthur spat, his eyes burning with a dark,