Chapter 86: The Siege of a Titan, II
The surveillance feeds cut to static one by one.
Lucien stood in silence before the central screen, arms folded, emerald eyes fixed as each screen sputtered out—glimpses of cities, outposts, towers—all vanishing into bursts of digital snow. The quiet hum of the panic room felt suffocating beneath the weight of those final images. One tower—overrun by a surge of militia fire. Another—collapsing under a rain of drone strikes. Chronos’ aid vehicles were being set ablaze by mobs. All drowning in silence.
Cold light spilled from the overhead fluorescents, painting their shadows long and still.
Across the room, Max drove his fist into the side of a steel console. The sharp crack of bone against metal rang out, raw and unfiltered.
"They’re killing innocent people! People that risked their goddamn lives to protect them!" he hissed, voice shaking, unable to steady his rage. Blood smeared down the panel.
Kieran stood beside him, expression hard, unreadable. His gloved hands tapped rapidly through the remaining channels—each blinking red, then black. "We’re being hit from every front. The whole world thinks we caused this. The ones we saved, they’re leading the charge..."
Isabelle paced along the far wall—barefoot, her feet echoing faintly across the cold steel floor. She clutched a folded report to her chest, unread. Her eyes moved from one failed feed to the next, lips pressed in a line so thin it looked like they might disappear entirely.
Julian sat on the lowest step beside emergency gear, hands clasped, head low. He hadn’t spoken since Lucien blinked them out of the press room.
Lucien’s figure was still, cast in a green glow. Thread-light danced across his fingertips faintly, coiling and releasing like a ragged breath.
"What do we have left?" Max asked finally, turning toward him. His voice was low. Bracing.
LLucien didn’t look away from the center screen.