Smoke rolled over the industrial zone like a living thing. It crawled between steel towers and broken loading docks. Sirens cried in the distance and then went silent. The air smelled of oil, hot metal, and fear.The industrial complex once made machine parts for farms and trains.Now it made war.Landon Hale stood on the edge of a rooftop and looked down. Below him, floodlights cut through the dark like sharp knives.Aether Dominion tanks moved in slow lines across cracked concrete. Their engines growled low and steady, like patient beasts. Drones hovered above them in perfect grids, blinking white and blue.Navarro crouched beside Landon and checked his rifle. His jaw was tight. His hands were steady. “This place is a fortress,” Navarro said. “Walls. Towers. Kill lanes everywhere.”Claire’s voice came through the earpiece. She was calm, but it took effort. “Not a fortress,” Claire said. “A machine. And machines have weak parts.”Jin sat three blocks away in a dark van. Screens fill