Chapter 95 - Bloodline of Steel
Jonathan Vance’s smile vanished. For a split second, the facade of aristocratic composure fractured, revealing the predatory, desperate monster lurking beneath.
"Kill the door," Jonathan commanded flatly over his shoulder.
Instantly, two of the black-clad exoskeleton operatives stepped forward with heavy rectangular thermal lances. They slammed the devices against the seam of the four-ton vault door and activated them. Brilliant, violet-white flames hissed to life, burning at over five thousand degrees Fahrenheit, beginning to liquefy the outer hinges.
"They'll be through in ninety seconds," Emma whispered, watching the metal glow dull red, then cherry red, then white-hot.
"They won't get thirty," Vincent replied. He grabbed Emma’s wrist, guiding her hand toward the polished black granite console. "The Core isn't just a database, Emma. It's an active offensive node. When your grandfather locked it down, he left a counter-measure protocol. It’s called the Iron Aegis."
"What does it do?"
"It routes seventy thousand volts from the lakefront hydro-generators directly through the outer casing of the vault," Vincent said, pulling a serrated combat knife from his boot. He reversed the hilt and offered the flat of the handle to her. "It requires an authenticated genetic signature mixed with an administrative Moretti key. Marcus knew that if this day came, a Ward and a Moretti would have to stand in this room together."
Emma didn't hesitate. She took the blade, pressed the sharp edge against the palm of her left hand, and drew a clean, shallow line. Crimson welled up immediately.
Vincent took the knife from her, cut his own right palm with the same deliberate stroke, and then reached out, clasping his bleeding hand tightly against hers. The warm blood mingled between their fingers, dripping down onto the circular copper sensor in the center of the granite desk.
*GENETIC RECOGNITION: WARD, MARCUS (F2 DESCENDANT) CONFIRMED.*
*EXECUTIVE AUTHORIZATION: MORETTI, VINCENT (PRIMARY ARCHITECT) CONFIRMED.*
*INITIATING DEFENSIVE GRID CHARGE.*
The amber lights in the vault shifted violently to blinding, electric blue. Deep within the foundations of the facility, the massive turbines that had swallowed Thomas Sterling roared with a sudden, deafening surge of rotational power. A high-pitched, ozone-laden hum filled the chamber.
Outside, Jonathan Vance’s eyes widened in realization. "Back!" he screamed into his tactical headset. "Evacuate the platform!"
It was too late.
A colossal discharge of blue lightning erupted from the circular rim of the vault door. The current raced through the steel frames of the thermal lances, instantly detonating their high-pressure oxygen canisters. The two operators holding the lances were blasted backward into the abyss, engulfed in fireballs, their exoskeleton electronics exploding in showers of sparks.
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The shockwave tore through the remaining operatives, sweeping three more over the catwalk edge into the roaring waters below. The electrical arc reached out toward Jonathan Vance, but the patriarch leaped backward with shocking, unnatural agility for his age, tumbling behind a reinforced concrete pillar as the cataclysmic energy shattered the catwalk where he had stood an instant prior.
Inside the vault, the lights flickered violently and died, leaving Vincent and Emma in complete, pitch-black silence, save for the heavy sound of their own ragged breathing.
