Jerrick's eyes narrowed slightly. "What was that?"
"After the auction concluded, the cloaked figure didn't leave with the other buyers," Agent Knight said, his words rushing out. "Instead, he circled toward the Asset Transit Hub and tried to get close to Specimen Fourteen. Our men intercepted him."
Director Kaelen, who had been staring down at the transit manifest, froze.
They were still coming for Specimen Fourteen?
The auction was completely over, yet the complications never seemed to end.
Jerrick's
gaze
remained perfectly calm. "Did you verify his identity?"
Agent Knight immediately handed over a dossier. "We dug it up. He's on the international wanted list, affiliated with..."
He paused for half a second, his pace slowing. "Obsidian Sun."
At the mention of those words, Director Kaelen's face drained of color. "Are you certain?"
Agent Knight glanced at his captain, then back to the director, giving a firm nod. "The biometric data perfectly matches the existing warrants."
A muscle ticked in Director Kaelen's jaw.
He never expected Obsidian Sun to be so deeply embedded in this mess.
Agent Knight turned his attention back to Jerrick. "Captain, this is the device we confiscated from Malachi Vance. It was secured with multiple layers of encryption, but we've already cracked the outer shell."
Jerrick accepted the documents and the terminal device, his eyes scanning the data.
"The Med-Tech Infiltrator that The Panacea took down earlier," Agent Knight continued. "Before he made his move, he received a set of direct orders from this exact terminal."
"What orders?" Director Kaelen looked like he wanted to rip his own hair out. How was this suddenly connected to the mole in the medical team?
"To wipe Specimen Fourteen's recent baseline maintenance data," Agent Knight stated flatly. "To tamper with the rejection monitoring feeds, manufacture a medical crisis, and initiate the Red Medical Evacuation Protocol."
"Those commands align flawlessly with the saboteur medic's actions on the floor."
He paused. "There was one final directive. If the evacuation protocol failed, he was supposed to trigger the backup termination sequence."
A heavy silence fell over the group.
Director Kaelen looked sick.
"Based on what we've uncovered," Agent Knight pressed on, "we have every reason
to believe A.W.S-14 is directly connected to Obsidian Sun."
His voice wasn't loud. It was just a standard operational briefing.
But the problem was, they were still standing inside the main auction hall.
Specimen Fourteen had just been sealed away. While some buyers had begun to
file out, a significant portion of the crowd still lingered.
Some were waiting for their security details, while others were busy networking with familiar factions.
Coupled with the fact that Specimen Fourteen had just sold for a
né
staggering hundred and thirty billion dollars, the atmosphere was highly charged.
Plenty of people were still deeply fascinated by the astronomical price tag attached to the living weapon, frequently casting glances in their direction:
So, when a few scattered words drifted into the ears of the nearest buyers...
The conversations in the immediate vicinity sputtered to a halt.
Heads turned. Footsteps paused.
Even a representative from a
massive biotech conglomerate, who had been halfway out the door,
-slowly Dive back around after
catching the words 'Red Medical Evacuation'.
The blaring sirens triggered by the med-tech mole were still ringing fresh in everyone's memories.
The man The Panacea had publicly dragged out... was secretly taking orders from Obsidian Sun?!
The low hum of the bustling auction hall began to die down.
One by one, the people who had been heading for the exits slowed their pace.
A sea of assessing gazes subtly converged on the group.
Noticing the shift in the room, Director Kaelen's expression grew even grimmer.