Athena and Xavier barely made it out of the chamber before the entire facility rumbled.
A series of mechanical clicks echoed through the halls, and the red emergency lights flickered as if something had been activated deep underground.
They rushed down the corridor, weaving through debris and scattered documents, but Athena's mind was racing.
Protocol Z-13. It was clearly something dangerous, and if the facility was initiating it, they needed to know what it meant.
They entered the control room again, and Athena immediately hooked up the data drive to the remaining functional console.
The screen buzzed to life with garbled text and corrupted files. Xavier stood watch at the door, gun drawn, while Athena worked her fingers over the keyboard, typing commands to bypass the security lock.
"How long?" Xavier asked, glancing back at her.
"Give me a minute." Athena narrowed her eyes as a line of encrypted code scrolled across the screen.
