Jake barely slept. By the time the sun crawled over the skyline, he was already on his feet, pacing the length of the safe house living room with controlled impatience.The data from the second node lay open on three screens, each displaying a different cluster of information: personnel logs, transport routes, encrypted messages, and something else—something that made Lyra’s expression tighten every time she scrolled deeper.Kael handed Jake a cup of black coffee, which Jake accepted absently. “You’re burning through energy like you’re trying to outrun your own shadow,” Kael said.“I don’t have time to slow down,” Jake replied. “Not with what we found.”Lyra finally spoke. “I’ve been cross-referencing the encrypted strings. Jake… this confirms it. The organization isn’t just running surveillance systems. They’re tracking specific individuals—key figures across the city. Judges, activists, military contractors, journalists… Anyone who can shift public direction or expose them.”Jake’s

Jake didn’t sleep. None of them did. The night stretched long and heavy, layered with the echo of the masked operative’s defeat and the hum of the core now silently resting on the metal table. The safe house, once dim and quiet, now felt strained—filled with a tension that refused to settle.Lyra tapped across three monitors at once, rerouting signals, sealing backdoors, and wiping traces of their presence. Kael paced between the door and the window, stopping every few minutes to peer outside as if expecting a fleet of drones to descend on them.Jake sat alone at the far corner of the room, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped tight. He wasn’t staring at the core anymore; he was staring through it, sinking into that strange connection he had felt—trying to understand it.Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the network. Not just as lines of code, but as threads—veins—running beneath the city. Connecting everything. Watching everything. Feeding something vast, something hidden.

Jake Sullivan’s pulse hammered in his ears as the cloaked figure advanced, the hub’s energy bending around it like water around a stone. The chamber’s lattice of glowing conduits flickered in response to its presence, the floating interfaces quivering as though alive. Every instinct Jake had screamed that this wasn’t just a machine—it was something far more cunning, a predator within the hub itself.Kael raised his weapon, but Jake stopped him with a sharp gesture. “Not yet. Watch its movements. The hub is reacting to it, not us. That’s our key.”Lyra’s fingers danced across her console, stabilizing the network pathways that flared erratically with each step the figure took. “It’s… adapting,” she whispered, eyes wide. “It knows we’re here and it’s… learning.”Jake nodded, letting the core’s pulse guide him. The energy thrummed beneath his skin, pushing him toward clarity. He felt the figure’s motions before they happened, sensed the subtle shifts in the lattice, and began directing Ka

Jake Sullivan moved with deliberate caution, his every sense heightened as the team followed him deeper into the alien hub. The air had grown heavier, a tangible pressure that seemed to press against their very minds, testing focus and endurance. The glowing conduits on the walls pulsed in a rhythm that was almost musical, yet alien in tone, sending vibrations through the floor that resonated directly with Jake’s core. He could feel the intelligence of the hub probing, observing, assessing. It had recognized him, gauged his resolve, and now it was gauging his next moves.Kael maintained a tight formation beside him, eyes sharp, muscles coiled for any sudden threat. Lyra, slightly behind, worked silently on her portable console, her fingers flying over the controls as she monitored energy fluctuations and stability in the containment grids. Jake stole a glance at her and noted the tension in her jaw, the way her eyes darted constantly from readings to their surroundings. He had seen he

The air in the alien corridors felt heavier now, charged with the memory of the hub’s trial. Jake Sullivan walked at the forefront, every step deliberate, his mind still buzzing from the cognitive surge he had experienced. The knowledge gleaned from the hub was a powerful gift, but it was also a burden—a constant hum at the edges of his consciousness that demanded focus, discipline, and careful integration.Kael followed closely behind, his eyes sharp, scanning for any residual defenses the hub might have left behind. “I don’t like it,” Kael muttered, voice low, almost a growl. “The place feels… alive. Too quiet now.”Jake nodded, understanding exactly what Kael meant. The hub’s trials had been overt, aggressive even, but now there was a subtle, almost imperceptible vigilance in the walls, in the shadows, in the faint glow of energy conduits. It was as if the facility was now observing them—not as threats, but as entities worthy of continued scrutiny.Lyra kept pace, her portable cons