Arlington, Virginia — Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, and three men and two women stepped out, all wearing clearance badges marked BLACK PRIORITY — a level above Top Secret, reserved only for existential-level events.
They said nothing as they walked through the sterile corridors of DARPA headquarters. Even here, in the most advanced research institution on Earth, the air felt heavier than usual.
At the end of the hall, the door to the Strategic Anomalies Division opened automatically.
Inside, dozens of screens displayed synchronized feeds of Lucid delivery drones descending silently across dozens of cities around the world. Each frame was annotated with telemetry data, infrared overlays, and field analysis.
