The Seraphs stood ready.
Armed, focused and battle ready.
They were positioned near the ten foot reinforced blast doors, some watching the sealed entrance, others monitoring the wall of screens that tracked every inch of the facility. The air was tense, heavy with anticipation. Everyone was waiting for the same thing—the first alarm, the first sign that the Sanctum had made its move.
But nothing came.
No breach. No signal. No warning.
Just silence.
Aziel's gaze shifted slowly across the room, his focus narrowing.
"Something's not right," he said.
Seraphina glanced at him. "What do you mean?"
Aziel didn't look at her. He was thinking.
"If she had a tracker… then she was never lost to begin with," he said. "They knew where she was the entire time."
A pause.
Rafael frowned slightly. "Then why let us take her?"
Aziel's expression hardened.
"They didn't lose her," he said quietly. "They let us captur…."
The realization spread instantly.
Zahara's eyes widened slightly. "You're saying… her mission wasn't the port?"
"No," Aziel replied. "That was just the setup."
Malak exhaled sharply. "Then her real mission was—"
"To get inside," Seraphina finished.
Silence.
Elara spoke next, her voice low. "But why?"
Aziel's jaw tightened. "Information. Technology. Infrastructure… or just our location."
Rafael added, "Whatever it is… they let her walk right in here to get it."
No one needed to say it.
They all understood.
"Observation deck," Seraphina said.
They moved immediately.
Boots pounded against the floor as they rushed through the corridors, tension rising with every step. Something had gone wrong.
The doors to the observation room slid open.
And they stopped.
Andrew was in the chair.
Fully restrained. Obviously not where he's meant to be.
Philip stepped forward first.
"Untie him."
They moved quickly, cutting through the bindings, pulling Andrew free. He gasped slightly as circulation returned, but his focus wasn't on himself.
It was in an empty room beyond the glass.
Philip's voice was sharp now. "What happened?"
Andrew steadied himself, breathing once before answering.
"She… controlled me."
Silence.
Seraphina frowned. "Controlled you how?"
Andrew shook his head slightly, still processing.
"I don't know. I couldn't move. Not properly. It felt like… pressure. Like my body wasn't mine anymore."
He looked at his hands briefly, as if expecting them not to respond.
"She told me to release her."
A pause.
"I did."
The weight of that settled hard.
"She restrained me after," Andrew continued. "Then she left."
No one spoke for a moment.
Zahara broke the silence. "We've never seen that before."
Rafael added quietly, "Mind control?"
Andrew shook his head. "I don't know what it was. But it wasn't normal."
Aziel's expression darkened. "Could she do it again?"
That question lingered but they knew she probably could.
Seraphina exhaled slowly. "Then we assume the worst."
Philip stepped forward, his voice cutting through the uncertainty.
"Search the base."
They turned immediately. Whatever Hana had come for— She was already inside.
And now— They were the ones trying to catch up.
___
Seraphina moved quickly through the corridor, her steps controlled, her senses sharp. The base felt different now—too quiet, like something had already passed through and left no trace behind.
She reached the evidence room door and pushed it open.
Inside—
Hana stood in the center of the room.
In her hand was a large black box, matte and unmarked, yet clearly important. Not something placed there by accident.
Seraphina's posture tightened.
"Found you," she said.
Hana turned her head slightly, her eyes settling on Seraphina.
She didn't react if move.
Seraphina didn't wait.
She stepped forward and launched a punch—fast, precise, aimed to disable before Hana could react.
Her fist stopped mid-air.
No impact.
No resistance she could see.
It just… stopped.
Seraphina's eyes widened slightly. She tried to push forward, to complete the motion—but her arm refused to move.
It wasn't frozen, rather held by a mysterious unseen force.
She pulled back immediately, creating distance, her mind already recalculating.
This fight isn't going to be an easy one.
Hana hadn't moved.
She simply stood there, watching.
Seraphina shifted her stance, preparing for a different approach, her breathing steady despite the tension rising in her chest. She began to think—angles, speed, distraction—
Anything that could break whatever control Hana was exerting.
Then—
Her vision blurred, her eyelids felt heavy.
She tried to fight it, tried to stay focused. But the darkness closed in.
The last thing she heard—
A dull thud.
Something struck her from behind.
Then nothing.
Seraphina's body hit the ground.
Unconscious.
Hana didn't look back.
She stepped past her, the black box still in her hand, her movements quiet, deliberate.
And just like that— She was gone.
___
Malak was the first to reach the corridor outside the evidence room.
The door was half open. Something felt wrong. He pushed it in.
"Seraphina—"
His voice cut off.
She was on the ground lying still.
A thin line of blood traced down from the side of her head, staining the floor beneath her.
Malak was beside her in an instant. "Seraphina!"
He checked her pulse. A second passed.
Then he exhaled.
"She's alive."
Footsteps rushed in behind him.
Aziel, Rafael, Zahara, Elara—each of them stopping just long enough to take in the scene before moving closer.
"What happened?" Rafael asked.
Malak shook his head. "I just got here."
Aziel crouched, examining the surroundings quickly, his eyes sharp, searching for signs of struggle.
"She engaged her," he said quietly. "And lost."
Zahara clenched her jaw. "Where is she?"
Before anyone could respond—
BOOM.
The sound tore through the base.
The ground trembled beneath them.
Dust shook loose from the ceiling.
Aziel was already moving. " The entrance!"
They ran.
Boots pounded against metal as they pushed through corridors, past personnel scrambling to respond, alarms now finally beginning to scream through the base.
They reached the main hall—
And stopped.
The reinforced blast doors were gone.
Blown inward.
Twisted metal and shattered locking mechanisms lay scattered across the floor, smoke still rising from the impact point. The force of the explosion had carved a clear path straight into the facility.
Zahara looked up first.
"Above!"
A jet cut through the sky, already pulling away from the base at high speed.
On the open ramp—
A figure stood.
Hana.
The wind tore at her hair as she stood steady, unaffected, one hand gripping the frame of the jet, the other still holding the black box
.
For a brief moment— as the ramp door closed, her eyes met theirs.
Then—
The jet accelerated, vanishing into the endless night.
Vanishing into the distance, swallowed by the horizon and fading into a point of light.
Silence followed.
Broken only by the distant echo of alarms and the crackle of damaged systems.
Malak exhaled sharply. "They set a trap and we walked right in. It makes me feel like a puppet on a string."
No one argued. Because they all saw it.
The sanctum has decided the outcome before they even captured her.