The heavy steel locking bolts remained sealed, their mechanical hum vibrating deep within the walls of Cube X.
The corridor plunged into the harsh, rotating glare of emergency crimson lights. The sheer force of the distant blast still rattled the floorboards under Elias's boots, kicking up a thin layer of dust from the ceiling panels. He pressed his hand flat against the biometric scanner, but the glass was dead, the interface locked behind a hard, pulsing red refusal.
Behind him, the pod doors hissed open in rapid succession.
Tidwell spilled into the corridor first, half-dressed, a heavy combat knife already locked in a reverse grip. The wispy, vaporous mass of his cloud Ikona swelled aggressively around his shoulders, reacting to his spiked heart rate.
"Could it be the Epics?" Tidwell asked, his voice rough, eyes darting toward the sealed entrance.
