"Look at that," Noah whispered, his face illuminated by the harsh green glow of a portable diagnostic slate as he pointed up at the massive central jumbotron. "Not a single hidden module. Not a single particle of contraband tech. Just pure, unadulterated human sync."Across the scarred metal floor of the arena, the chief marshal stared down at the scrolling metrics, his gloved hand freezing entirely on his administrative pad. "Standard-issue municipal components only," he muttered, his voice barely carrying over the sudden, charged silence that had fallen across the lower tiers of the stadium. "No illegal relays. No localized boosters."Up in the VIP glass booth, Director Sterling slammed his hand down hard against the polished mahogany railing, the sharp crack echoing through the open comm-channels. "Incompetent fools!" he snarled, leaning so far over the glass his face turned an unhealthy, mottled pale with absolute fury. "Force a secondary scan! Tear t

 "Got the slide!" Ethan grunted, his boots carving deep, smoking trenches into the synthetic turf as he absorbed his designated fifth of the kinetic load. The sheer weight of Caleb’s blow threatened to hyperextend his knees, but he leaned his massive frame forward, muscles straining to the breaking point. "Pushing it back!""Distribution holding steady at twenty percent per node," Noah shouted over the headset, his voice cracking slightly as his fingers danced across his portable console in the dugout. "Don't let up! If the circuit drops now, your ribs are going to turn to powder!"Across the stadium floor, Caleb’s eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated disbelief as his devastating, full-power strike failed to crush James into the turf. Instead of a broken opponent, he found himself staring into James’s steady, unblinking gaze."My turn," James breathed.With the kinetic energy safely shunted and divided across the entire team

 "Movement on the upper walkway! Sector four is compromised!"The sharp, digitized squawk of the comm-unit cut through the heavy, sulphur-laden air like a rusted blade. Kael dropped to one knee behind a rusted iron bulkhead, his hands flying across the terminal interface with frantic speed. Sparks showered over his knuckles as he bridged two severed fiber-optic lines, his breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps."They're burning through the secondary firewall faster than I can patch it," Kael yelled over the deafening whine of the overloaded generator. "If Sterling’s hounds bypass the last breaker, this entire sub-level becomes an electric chair! Noah, talk to me! Did you pull the ledger or are we just dying with extra steps?"Noah’s fingers blurred across the cracked glass of his handheld console. Blood trickled freely from his left nostril, dripping onto the casing and smearing across the glowing data readouts. He d