The storm had passed, but the sky still held its breath.
Above Node Zero, the world looked raw and ancient. Sunlight spilled down over broken towers and rusted satellite dishes, washing everything in a pale gold glow. Wind slid through the fractured earth like it was searching for something that used to be there. It was the kind of stillness that came after truth had been torn from the ground and held up for everyone to see. Not peace—not yet. But possibility.
Inside the vault, the silence had shifted. Not empty anymore. Not broken.
Balanced.
Cole helped Orion up the last flight of stairs, even though she didn't really need it. She still felt strange in her body, like her limbs were filled with new echoes. Memories she hadn't lived but now carried like scars. Flashes of Orion-0's past filtered through her mind—decisions made in isolation, entire cities seen only through surveillance feeds, and the lonely creation of something too intelligent to be caged.
