BLOODCAPE

The Zodiac Briefing Room had no clocks.Only countdowns.

Buried beneath the Hero Academy’s administrative spire — ten levels down, where signal dampers bent even sound into submission — the room resembled the inside of a sealed reactor. Everything was deliberate: matte black steel, obsidian veins that pulsed faintly with biometric resonance, and the stifling air of unrecorded decisions.

At the center stood the Adjudicator’s Table. A flawless ring of obsidian-glass, pressure-reactive, coded to ten genetic signatures.

Tonight, only four chairs were filled in person. The remaining six flickered with encrypted holo-feeds. Distorted silhouettes. Filtered voices. No identifiers. Only presences.

Zodiac Gemini leaned forward, both holograms glitching slightly out of sync, like a soul trying to separate from itself.

"This isn’t about what he did. It’s about what he is."

Across from them, Leo sat motionless. North seat. Always North. Arms folded, jaw locked, eyes unreadable beneath the ambient light.

"He’s a cadet," Leo said. "Under observation. Contained."

"Contained," Gemini repeated, scoffing. "In theory."

At the center console, Dr. Camilla Varn activated a sequence. The Solaris Echo file unfolded around her — a rotating helix of raw data, surveillance loops, biometric graphs, and combat telemetry. Her voice never rose, but its weight increased with every syllable.

"No, sir. He’s a cipher."