His triumphant grin froze before slowly dissolving into nothingness.
"Th-that's impossible..."
He stared at the cascading lines of code in utter disbelief.
The administrative privileges for the entire pod had just... reverted back to The Panacea!
How in God's name did she do that?
She actually wrestled control of Specimen Fourteen right out of The Raven's hands?!
That was the Omega Purge Protocol! A kill-switch personally activated by The Raven, their highest level of security!
Even their organization's most brilliant tech experts couldn't override the purge once it was live!
How the hell did she manage this?!
His heart plummeted.
Watching The Panacea hammer away at the keyboard, methodically stripping down layer after layer of their ultimate firewalls, a suffocating wave of panic crested over him.
No, he had to stop her!
"Stop her!"
Snapping out of his shock, Commander Richter screamed at the surviving Obsidian Sentinels. "Stop her right now! Whatever it takes-even if you have to kill her! Don't let her touch that console!"
The few sentinels still capable of standing gritted their teeth and forced their broken bodies up, throwing themselves recklessly toward Serena.
But they barely managed two steps.
Thwack!
Julian's leg snapped out, burying his shoe squarely into the chest of the leading sentinel!
The man flew backward, crashing violently into the operative behind him.
They hit the floor in a tangled heap.
Julian fluidly pivoted, snatching the wrist of another attacker and twisting it sharply. The sickening crack of bone echoed through the corridor.
In mere seconds.
The last remaining threats were laid out flat on the ground.
And this time, they weren't getting back up.
Commander Richter's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
Before he could even flinch, Julian grabbed him by the shoulder and slammed him downward.
With a brutal shove, he forced the commander to his knees.
Before he could struggle, a polished black
direces shoe planted itself onto the hand that wal
Skewered b
still
Seferia's silver needle.
"Ahhh! AHHHH!"
Commander Richter let out a bloodcurdling scream, his entire body convulsing in agony.
Julian looked down, gazing impassively at the man writhing beneath his shoe.
He still looked every inch the refined aristocrat. His light grey suit was completely immaculate, not a single wrinkle out of place.
The polite, gentle smile never left his handsome face. "Keep it down."
"It's incredibly rude to interrupt someone while they're working."
His tone was as warm and cultured as ever, carrying a hint of a smile.
But as he spoke, he methodically ground the heel of his shoe into the commander's impaled hand.
"AHHH!!" Veins bulged against the
man's forehead as a waterfall oft
cold sweat drenched his face. "You psychopaths... You're both absolute lunatics!"
He thrashed frantically.
But the foot pinning him down felt like an anvil.
He couldn't move an inch!
With bloodshot eyes and a twisted, feral expression, he glared viciously at Serena and Julian.
Over a dozen elite Obsidian Sentinels were scattered across the floor.
Dead or crippled.
Not a single one of them could stand.
And as their commander... he was
pinned like an insect beneath Joker's boot, forced to watch as The
Panacea single handedly dismantled the ultimate security protocols!