Elsewhere throughout the sprawling, subterranean labyrinth of the BSA Headquarters—
Red emergency lights pulsed rhythmically across the heavily reinforced corridors, casting long, bleeding shadows over the concrete walls.
Officers of the Bureau's main forces moved through the haze with practiced, mathematical precision. There was no shouting, no frantic sprinting, and no panic.
"Sector Three secured."
"Escort the civilians to the primary bunker."
"Contain every hostile alive for extraction."
Long rows of restrained attackers now lined the reinforced corridors.
The visible battle was ending.
One by one, Bureau officers forced them down into the dirt. Heavily modified weapons clattered onto the concrete floor.
"Line them up against the wall!"
"Send every survivor straight to Section Fifty-Three for processing."
One captured attacker, his face bruised and bloody, spat a glob of crimson onto the polished floor.
"You'll regret this... our cause cannot be stopped by government dogs..."
A veteran Bureau officer merely tightened the heavy steel restraints around the man's wrists until the bone popped.
"Keep dreaming, kid."
The impossible question was only beginning.
How had more than a hundred armed infiltrators entered the most heavily monitored supernatural facility on the continent without triggering a single major security alarm?
No one asked it aloud.
Not yet.
Deep inside the heavily fortified command room, Intelligence officers projected glowing tactical maps across the central glass displays.
Commander Helden Mirch, acting head of the First Order, stood before the tactical display.
"One hundred and twelve confirmed infiltrators."
"One hundred and seven secured."
"Five remain active."
Helden's gaze shifted toward the five remaining hostile signatures scattered across the underground fortress.
Then toward a separate security display.
One name remained fixed at the top of the inactive surveillance feed.
EYEMAC
No status. No report.
No response.
The officer frowned.
"...Still nothing from him?"
Helden didn't even look toward the dead channel.
"If Eyemac were dead, we'd know."
A pause.
"Unfortunately."
No one in the command room laughed.
Helden finally turned away from the dead channel.
"Find the remaining four."
His voice remained completely level.
"I'll deal with the fifth myself if Chamber Twelve is still standing when I'm done."
Commander Clara Venor, Operations Commander of the BSA Headquarters, calmly tapped the terminal, closing the flashing tactical display.
"Dispatch the remaining Everlight units to clean up the rest."
Helden was already walking away.
"Don't."
Clara glanced toward him.
Helden adjusted the gloves around his wrists.
"Use them to secure the wounded."
A pause.
"My Order doesn't need help cleaning up four people."
Helden turned from the tactical display.
Deep within the subterranean heart of the facility—
The Operations Command Center.
Rows of towering, glowing monitors covered the walls from floor to ceiling, each displaying a different live feed of the massive underground fortress. Green status indicators filled ninety-nine percent of the screens.
Until one single node suddenly turned a violent, flashing red.
BEEP.
Every operator nearest the central display looked up.
A warning banner expanded across the Operations Center.
[ WARNING — SECTION TWELVE HAS LOST CONTACT. ]
An operator leaned closer to his console.
"...Interrogation Chamber Twelve just went completely offline."
Clara turned toward him immediately.
"Captain Sebastian's internal communication signal?"
The technician waited. "...No response."
Another operator looked up immediately, his fingers flying across his keyboard.
A few agonizing seconds passed. "Officer Iris?"
The technician checked the vital signs monitor again. "...No response."
Another alarm cut through the air.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
A new, high-priority warning banner splashed across the central display:
[ CHAMBER 12 ]
Captain Sebastian — Signal Lost
Officer Iris — Signal Lost
Primary Suspect (Zekai Krystan) — Status Unknown
Threat Classification: Escalating
No one spoke.
Chamber Twelve had not lost two ordinary signals.
It had lost a Captain and the officer standing beside him.
Clara stepped closer to the central display.
"Internal surveillance lost."
"Audio feed terminated."
"Grave Resonance monitoring completely unavailable."
"Structural sensors indicate severe internal damage to the chamber's foundations."
Clara stared at the dead feed for one second.
"...then this is no longer an interrogation."
A pause.
"Someone went in there to kill."
Clara slammed her palm against the guarded red control.
The room immediately became a hive of synchronized activity.
"Seal the entire interrogation sector. Drop the blast doors."
"Barrier Division, lock down every single corridor connected to Chamber Twelve."
"Containment Division, deploy Response Units Alpha and Delta immediately."
"Moving out now."
Clara turned toward another station.
"Everlight status?"
"Most field teams are still deployed across Valenreach. Remaining headquarters personnel are already engaged in the eastern and lower sectors."
Clara's jaw tightened.
"Then contact Moonlight."
An operator immediately opened the encrypted emergency channel.
"Operations Command to Moonlight. Headquarters breach confirmed. Immediate reinforcement requested."
Static.
The operator adjusted the frequency.
"Moonlight, acknowledge."
Nothing.
He tried again.
"Moonlight, respond."
Still nothing.
Clara stepped toward the console.
"Force it through."
"I am trying."
Then—
Click.
A completely different communication channel forced itself across the active frequency.
Every monitor in the Operations Center flickered once.
The operator froze.
"That isn't Moonlight."
A calm voice entered the room.
"...Don't worry."
Clara slowly raised her head.
Across the tactical floor, Helden stopped moving.
Both recognized the voice immediately.
"I'm already here."
Click.
The transmission ended.
For several seconds, no one moved.
The operator looked toward Clara.
"Commander... was that—?"
"Cancel the reinforcement request."
Clara turned away from the console.
The tension across the room eased by a fraction.
"Investigation Head Aldric Marune has already reached Chamber Twelve."
A beat of silence.
"...Then it's already over."
Clara immediately returned her attention to the tactical display.
"Medical Division, prepare emergency trauma teams at the sector perimeter."
"Ready and waiting."
Clara turned toward the spatial-analysis team.
"Any dimensional fluctuations detected?"
A technician checked the spatial records.
"Negative, sir. No external breach. No unauthorized gate activation. No spatial displacement."
Clara's expression hardened.
"Then how did more than a hundred hostiles get inside?"
No one answered.
For a moment, the only sound in the Operations Center was the steady pulse of the alarms.
Then one operator glanced—very briefly—toward the silent surveillance channel.
Toward the single name still displayed there.
EYEMAC
"Someone let them in."
The entire command room fell deathly silent at that realization.
Helden's eyes remained fixed on the dead surveillance channel. Then he reached for the emergency communicator at his belt.
"Seal every exit."
"Sir?"
"Until we know how they entered, everyone inside this facility is a suspect."
His voice turned cold.
"No one leaves Headquarters."
✦ End of Chapter 35 — No One Leaves Headquarters - I ✦