Chapter 255: Strength
By the time he reached the lower sector, the streets had emptied completely. The rows of old shops and cafés that lined the avenue were dark, save for one, a diner still open, a faint orange glow spilling through its fogged-up windows.
Merlin hesitated outside. Then, after a moment, he pushed the door open.
A bell jingled softly.
The place was nearly empty. One older man sat near the window with a paper, a waitress cleaning glasses behind the counter. The smell of coffee and warm bread filled the air, almost nostalgic, grounding in a way he hadn’t expected.
Merlin slid into a booth near the back, the seat cold against his back.
He ordered tea. No food. Just something to hold while he thought.
His reflection wavered faintly in the window beside him. Tired. Focused. A ghost in a world that had never been his to begin with.
He took a sip, the warmth spreading through his chest.
Then, quietly—
"You look like hell."
The voice came from the seat across from him.
Merlin didn’t flinch. But his fingers stopped on the cup’s handle.
Regina Hale sat opposite him, her jacket unbuttoned, glasses tucked into her pocket. Without the severe boardroom posture, she looked... different. Human. But her eyes were still sharp as ever.
He sighed. "Do you people have a schedule for ambushing me, or does it just happen when I least expect it?"
"Damien spoke to you." It wasn’t a question.
Merlin’s jaw twitched. "He talks a lot."
Regina folded her arms on the table. "He shouldn’t have. If he’s taking interest, that’s bad."
"You sound worried," Merlin said quietly.
"I am." She leaned closer, voice low. "You shouldn’t have voted against the Directive. Kael doesn’t tolerate defiance. But Damien—" she stopped, choosing her words carefully. "Damien plays a longer game. He’s not loyal to anyone but whatever he’s hiding."
Merlin studied her face. "And you?"
Her gaze didn’t waver. "I’m loyal to results. And to the company staying in one piece."
He leaned back. "Then help me prove the Core’s being tampered with."
Regina’s lips pressed thin. "That’s what I came to say. But if we’re going to find proof, we’ll need access to the restricted server cluster. It’s underground. I can get us in, but not without Kael noticing."
Merlin’s voice dropped. "How long?"
"Two days," she said. "Maybe less, before the next trial starts."
He nodded slowly, mind already weaving through possibilities. "Then we move before that."
Regina looked at him for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then she reached into her coat and slid something across the table, a small data crystal, faintly glowing.
"Blueprints. Partial schematics. Someone edited the logs before the last meeting. Find out who, and we might both live long enough to see next quarter."
Merlin took it, closing his hand around the cool surface. "You trust me with this?"
"I trust that you care enough to survive," she said.
Then she stood, pulling her jacket closed.
"Stay away from Damien. And don’t go home tonight."
Merlin frowned. "You sound like you know something’s coming."
Regina’s eyes met his, the reflection of the diner light flickering in them like a flame about to go out. "Not coming," she said softly. "Already here."
And with that, she left.
The bell over the door chimed once more. The sound lingered longer than it should have.
Merlin sat there, unmoving. The tea had gone cold.
Outside, thunder rolled in the distance, faint, but steady.
He slipped the data crystal into his pocket, stood, and walked out into the night.
The wind smelled of rain.
And of war.
—
The night pressed heavy against the city.
Rain came in slow, whispering sheets, slicking the stone and glass alike until the streets looked like rivers of light.
The wind carried the low hum of the monorail lines, and somewhere in the distance, a clock struck eleven.
Merlin moved through the narrow side streets behind Invoke Tower, his coat drawn close against the rain.
The tower loomed ahead, a dark monolith stabbing into the clouds. Its upper floors still glowed faintly, but the lower wings were silent, sealed behind corporate locks and security drones.
He moved without hesitation.
The data crystal Regina had given him pulsed faintly in his pocket, a rhythm he could almost feel through the fabric. He’d already decrypted its first layer on his way here; what he found wasn’t comforting. Floor schematics, internal routes, and a warning.
[Sector D – Core Containment Level]
Unauthorized access flagged. Surveillance rerouted. File owner: D.C.
Damien Cross.
Merlin exhaled softly through his nose. "Of course."
He turned the corner, boots splashing shallow puddles.
A faint hiss of hydraulics greeted him as a side door slid open ahead, narrow, metal, industrial. A silhouette stepped out, rain glinting off glasses.
"Right on time," Regina said quietly, pulling up her hood.
"You said two days."
"I didn’t say I’d wait that long." She handed him a small, dark device. "Scrambler. Jams local sensors for five minutes. After that, we’re visible to every drone within fifty meters."
Merlin clipped it to his belt. "Then we won’t need more than four."
She gave him a sidelong glance, unimpressed. "Confidence doesn’t stop bullets."
"Neither does hesitation."
That earned the faintest curl of her lip, not quite a smile, but close.
"Follow me."
They slipped through the side access and into a maintenance corridor. The air here was different, cleaner, colder. Every surface gleamed under sterile light. Pipes ran along the ceiling, thick with mana conduits and security runes.
Regina moved quickly, swiping her badge over the first panel. The door hissed open, revealing a narrow elevator with no floor buttons, only a single biometric pad.
She pressed her palm against it. The panel flashed red.
"...Locked?" Merlin asked.
Her brows furrowed. "It shouldn’t be. I coded access under my department’s level."
He stepped forward. "Move."
Before she could respond, he placed his own hand on the panel. A faint spark flickered beneath his fingers, not visible light, just the subtle pull of space and pressure bending for a heartbeat.
The panel blinked green. The door slid open.
Regina blinked. "...How—"
"Sometimes," Merlin said quietly, stepping inside, "machines listen better when you don’t ask nicely."