Ares

The alert at the perimeter wasn’t a drill. Not this time. Every system Leon had built screamed danger, every feed lit up with anomalies. Someone was moving in—silent, calculated, and dangerous.

I grabbed my jacket, feeling the weight of responsibility settle like steel across my shoulders. Seven months of peace, and yet here we were. Threats returning like ghosts from a fire we thought had burned them away.

Atlas met me at the war room door. “They’re organized,” he said ...