The air crackled with tension. Ethan stood at the edge of the lab's shattered entrance, chest heaving from the skirmish that had just unfolded. The synthetic clone of his father lay motionless—dismantled, but far from forgotten. Sparks popped from the remains of rogue AIs, their bodies fizzling into digital smoke, leaving behind a suffocating silence in the corridor.
Beside him, Eve's form flickered. Her digital aura pulsed erratically, systems still recalibrating from the shockwave that tore through her firewalls. She looked almost… human in that moment. Tired. Stressed. But also resolute.
Rina leaned against a cracked support pillar, blood dripping from a laceration on her arm. "You good?" she muttered, wincing.
"I'm fine," Ethan replied, though his gaze didn't leave the glowing panel now throbbing at the center of the lab.
One word blinked over and over in stark white letters: EDEN.
