The first testimony went live at dawn.There was no dramatic introduction,no swelling music,no banner declaring importance,it was just a woman sitting at a plain table, hands folded so tightly her knuckles were white.“My name is Mara Elsen,” she said. “I was born in District Nine,and i am alive today because someone broke the rules.”Across Braxton City, screens flickered,people stopped walking,transit cars slowed as passengers leaned forward. In hospitals, clinics, factories, and homes, the same stillness spread.Ethan stood in the command room, arms folded, jaw set. Leanna was beside him, her expression unreadable.Mara spoke calmly, but her voice trembled at the edges.“When I was twenty-six, I was flagged by the health system as low probability,i had a chronic condition,and a lot of complications were expected,i was told that i would receive ‘maintenance care.’”Her lips tightened.“That meant waiting.”She described the waiting rooms,the polite smiles,the subtle delays,appointme

The city did not sleep that night.Braxton City pulsed with quiet unrest,lights flickering just a fraction longer than usual, transit lines slowing without explanation, security drones hovering as if uncertain of their purpose. Most citizens could not explain the tension they felt, only that something old had stirred beneath the polished surface.Ethan stood at the center of the operations floor, staring at the live city grid suspended in the air,lines of light crossed and re-crossed, showing energy flow, transport routes, communication nodes. He had designed versions of this map decades ago,now it felt like it was watching him back.Leanna entered silently, carrying a tablet. “We traced the signal from Korrin’s last transmission.”Ethan didn’t turn. “Let me guess. It doesn’t exist on any official layer.”Leanna shook her head. “It’s buried three systems deep,old architecture,tech before Braxton.”That made his chest tighten,jonah.Victor joined them, arms folded. “You were right, Eth

Morning did not arrive all at once in Braxton City.It seeped in slowly, like water finding cracks in stone,lights across the skyline softened from sharp white to warm gold,transit lines resumed their familiar rhythm,people woke with the strange sense that something heavy had lifted, though no headlines yet explained why.From the balcony of Braxton Tower, Ethan watched the city breathe.Leanna stood beside him, arms folded against the cool air,neither spoke for a long time. After everything beneath the city, words felt fragile,too small for what had shifted.Finally, Leanna said, “The council is in an emergency session.”Ethan nodded. “I expected that.”“They’re calling it a ‘temporary stabilization anomaly,’” she added, a hint of dry humor in her voice. “They don’t want to admit how close we came to losing control.”Ethan exhaled. “Control was never the point.”Leanna turned to look at him. “They don’t see it that way.”“No,” he agreed. “And that’s the problem.”Inside the tower, sc

Leanna did not panic when the lights went out.She noticed the pattern first,the way the corridor dimmed in sections, not all at once,emergency strips failed to activate. The hum of the tower softened, as if the building itself had taken a careful breath.That was wrong.She slowed her steps, hand slipping into her coat pocket where a compact signal beacon rested. The east corridor was usually busy at this hour,staff moving between departments, aides rushing with tablets, security posted at both ends.Now it was empty.“Victor,” she said quietly into her comm,and she got no response.She stopped walking.That was the moment the doors sealed.Metal slid into place behind her with a dull, final sound. Ahead, the corridor stretched on, lights flickering weakly,the glass walls to her right,overlooking the city had polarized to black.Leanna exhaled once, steadying herself.“So,” she said aloud, “this is how you do it.”A voice answered,not from the corridor, but from everywhere.“You were

The lift did not have a destination label.Ethan noticed that first as the doors sealed behind him,there were no floor numbers,no schematic,just a dull panel of metal and a faint vibration under his boots as the platform began to move not straight down, but at a slanted angle, cutting through layers of the city that no longer existed on any official record.Jonah’s presence hovered at the edge of his awareness, restrained but alert.This route was decommissioned thirty-two years ago.“You helped design it,” Ethan replied.I helped hide it came Jonah's reply.The air grew colder as they descended,old power lines flickered past the narrow viewing slit, sparking occasionally like dying stars. Ethan flexed his fingers, steadying himself,fear was there,he didn’t deny it,but it was sharpened into purpose.“Tell me what I’m walking into,” Ethan said.A pause.A place where accountability was buried,where problems were sent when they were too inconvenient to solve.Ethan’s jaw tightened. “A b