#### **Chapter 45: The Director's Perspective**
The Director stood in her mobile command center, a cup of tea held delicately in her gloved hands. She was the picture of calm, a stark contrast to the violent, earth-shaking work being done on her orders. An engineer approached, his face streaked with grime.
"Director, we've encountered a layer of Soviet-era composite shielding around the core. It's slowing the drill's progress significantly. We may have to fall back and reassess."
"No," The Director said simply, not taking her eyes off the holographic display of the mountain. "Increase the drill's power to one hundred and fifty percent. Burn it out if you have to. I want that core breached by sunrise."
"Ma'am, that risks a thermal overload, a complete structural collapse—"
"I am aware of the risks, Captain," she cut him off, her voice dropping to a glacial whisper. "You seem to believe that your job is to preserve this mountain. Your job is to follow my orders. Erase this facility and everyone in it from existence. Is that clear?"
The captain swallowed hard and nodded, retreating from the palpable aura of cold fury that surrounded her. The Director took a slow sip of her tea. She had lost her prototypes. She had lost years of research. She would not lose her prize. She would turn the entire mountain into a glass-lined crater if that's what it took to recover the fragments of her legacy. Her patience was infinite, and her methods were absolute.