The city was burning from the inside out.
Skyscrapers bled flame into the night, sirens screamed through the streets, and the rain that had once softened the edges of Havencrest now carried the ash of everything falling apart.
Kael and Sera moved through the chaos like ghosts — one wounded, the other furious, both driven by something they didn't have a name for anymore.
Every explosion drew them closer to the source: the Apex Tower, Dante Rios's stronghold.
"That's where he's controlling the detonations," Kael said, voice ragged. "If we don't shut it down, the entire grid collapses."
Sera kept her eyes forward, jaw tight. "Then we make sure it ends there."
They reached the edge of the tower just as another blast lit the skyline. The entrance was guarded — armored men, rifles drawn, faces hidden behind mirrored masks.
Kael motioned for Sera to stay back. "Follow my lead."
"Don't tell me what to do," she muttered, but she stayed low.
He moved like a shadow — fast, precise. Two guards down before they even registered his presence. The third turned, Sera's hand darted out, cracking a metal rod across his jaw.
Kael glanced at her, a flicker of surprise breaking his composure.
She shrugged. "Journalism teaches you resourcefulness."
For the first time that night, he almost smiled.
Inside the tower, the air hummed with electricity. Every screen pulsed with cascading code — countdown timers, red warnings, data feeds from across the city.
"Fifteen minutes," Sera said, reading one display. "Then what?"
"Then Havencrest implodes," Kael said. "Every system tied to Division Nine's servers will detonate."
"So we cut the servers."
Kael shook his head. "They're encrypted into the tower's core. Only one person can override it — Dante."
"Then we find him."
They took the stairs — twenty, thirty, forty floors up through smoke and flickering lights. Each step was agony; Kael's wound reopened, blood staining his shirt, but he kept moving.
"Kael," Sera said between breaths, "why didn't you tell me sooner? About Dante. About all of it."
"Because you'd have walked away."
She laughed bitterly. "You're right. I would've."
He nodded once. "And I couldn't afford to lose you."
The words hung between them — fragile, raw, almost lost in the roar of collapsing concrete.
They reached the 60th floor — the control hub.
Dante was waiting.
He stood in the center of the room, surrounded by glass walls overlooking the inferno below. Screens flashed red behind him. Lena Brooks knelt nearby, hands bound, tears streaking her face.
"Welcome home, brother," Dante said.
Kael raised his gun. "End it."
Dante smiled. "Always so predictable."
Sera stepped forward. "You're killing thousands of innocent people!"
"Innocent?" Dante's eyes blazed. "The same city built on the corpses Division Nine buried? You think innocence still exists here?"
Sera's voice broke. "You don't fix corruption with more blood."
He looked at her and for a moment, his expression softened. "You sound like our mother."
Kael's grip tightened. "Leave her out of this."
Dante tilted his head. "I can't. She built us both — one loyal to order, the other loyal to truth. Pity she died believing either mattered."
Kael's voice dropped, dangerous. "Where's the kill switch?"
Dante gestured to the console. "Right there. But you'll never reach it in time."
The air trembled — the sound of engines spinning, explosives syncing across the grid.
Ten minutes left.
Kael moved first.
Dante fired.
The room exploded in motion — glass shattering, bullets sparking off steel, echoes of rage and memory colliding all at once.
Sera dove behind a pillar, dragging Lena with her. "Stay down!"
Kael rolled behind the server rack, firing back. "You always were a lousy shot!"
Dante laughed through the chaos. "And you always played by the rules!"
A shot clipped Kael's shoulder, spinning him sideways. Pain blurred his vision, but he steadied his aim — one clean pull of the trigger.
The bullet grazed Dante's arm, drawing blood.
Dante's smile faded. "You really mean to kill me, don't you?"
Kael's voice was quiet. "You already did."
Sera crawled toward the main console. The countdown read 00:07:34.
Her hands shook. "I can't stop it without a code."
Lena looked up weakly. "I can. But he'll kill us both."
Sera grabbed her shoulders. "Then we make sure he doesn't get the chance."
Lena nodded — tears mixing with sweat and soot — and began typing.
Kael saw Dante shift, gun raised toward them. He didn't think — he ran.
The shot rang out.
And Kael took the bullet meant for Sera.
He hit the floor hard, blood blooming across his chest.
"Kael!" Sera screamed, dropping beside him.
He gasped, eyes clouding, hand reaching for hers. "Stay… focused…"
Dante froze for a second, guilt flickering across his face — brief, human. Then he hardened again. "You chose her over me."
Kael coughed, blood at his lips. "I chose what was right."
The console beeped — Lena's voice shaking. "Code's in. But I need one last confirmation. Manual override."
Sera looked at Kael. "Tell me what to do."
He forced a breath. "Power core. Under the panel. Pull the red fuse when the timer hits ten."
She hesitated. "That'll kill the sequence?"
"It'll kill everything."
Her eyes widened. "Including—"
He nodded weakly. "Including this tower."
Tears filled her eyes. "You'll die."
He smiled faintly. "Wasn't planning on retiring anyway."
"Don't joke," she whispered.
His hand found her's — trembling, warm. "You were right, Sera. Truth's worth bleeding for."
Then he let go.
Sera turned, rage and grief igniting in equal measure. "Dante!"
He looked at her, defiant, but there was something hollow behind his eyes now.
She raised Kael's gun, hands steady. "You took everything from him."
He smirked sadly. "He took it first."
Sera didn't pull the trigger. She couldn't. Instead, she turned to the console and slammed the red fuse out.
The countdown froze.
Then reversed.
00:00:10… 09… 08…
Kael's eyes opened just enough to see her running toward him.
"Sera!"
She dropped beside him, shaking. "We have to go!"
He smiled faintly. "Too late."
The building groaned — steel twisting, glass raining down.
Dante's expression cracked. "You fool!"
Kael's last words were barely a whisper. "Tell the world… the truth."
And then the tower exploded.
The blast tore through the skyline, swallowing Apex Tower in a bloom of fire and light. The shockwave shattered windows for miles. For one terrible, beautiful moment, the city was pure flame — the old world burning away.
When the smoke cleared, Havencrest was broken — but alive. The failsafe had been destroyed before the final detonation could spread.
In the aftermath, rescue teams combed the ruins.
They found no trace of Kael Arden's body.
Only a burned ID tag, marked with the Division Nine insignia.
Sera Donovan watched the sunrise over the wreckage, wrapped in a blanket, blood still on her hands. The city was quiet now — eerily so.
Lena sat beside her, eyes red. "He saved us."
Sera nodded, voice trembling. "He saved everyone."
"Do we… tell the world?" Lena asked.
Sera stared at the rising sun, her reflection pale in the light. "No," she said softly. "We show them."
She opened her laptop — Kael's encrypted drive blinking alive — and began typing.
Her first line was simple.
"This is the story of a man who burned for redemption — and the city that rose from his ashes."
Far below, in the smoke and ruin, a figure moved — limping, bleeding, but alive.
Kael Arden opened his eyes beneath the rubble, staring at the faint glow of dawn above.
He smiled, barely. "Guess I'm not done yet."