The flames of rebellion had been lit.
And for the first time in decades, Novacore was about to burn.
The tunnels spat them out onto the outskirts of the lower districts, the air thick with smoke and neon haze. Sirens screamed in the distance. Patrol drones buzzed through the air like mechanical vultures, scanning the ruins for sign of life.
But crew walked with purpose, a ghostly silence hanging over them.
Nikk led the way, eyes forward, shoulders stiff, his mind already far ahead - inside the heart of the city, where all this would end.
Ray adjusted his weapon. "So what's the plan?"
"We hit then where it hurts," Nikk said.
Bria shot him a vary look. "You mean the core?"
"The Core," he confirmed.
Silence.
The Core was suicide.
It was the central hub of Novacore's entire infrastructure - the brain of Project Zero. Data Servers, military control, surveillance networks - it all stemmed from there. If they could take it down, they wouldn't just cripple the government.
They would erase Project Zero.
But getting inside?
Impossible.
"We don't have the firepower," Ray pointed out.
"We don't have the numbers," Kaya added.
Bria's voice distressed, "And we sure as hell don't have a way in."
Nikk just stared at them, his gaze cold, unblinking, unnerving.
"We'll find one."
And for some reason - despite the odds, despite everything - they believed in him.
They weren't the only ones who had lost everything.
The city was on edge.
Something had shifted in the air - a crack in the foundation. People were looking over shoulders, their hands twitching at their sides, as if something deep inside them had awakened after years of numb obedience.
The news of Project Zero's truth had started to leak.
The emotions were coming back.
The government was losing control.
And for the first time since the experiment began, fear had returned to Novacore. Not to the citizens.
But to the ones who had built the system in the first place.
Word spread fast.
The Lowers Districts had been fractured - monotonous lifestyles, programmed actions, machine-like behavior, all now seemingly slowly fading. They weren't acting like they were supposed to.
They listened.
To Nikk.
To the crew.
To the story of Tia.
A girl who was never been meant to exist. A girl who had been locked away for feeling. A girl who had died for something greater.
Her name became a spark.
And when Nikk stood before them, fire in his veins, steel in his voice, and said the words "The is the end of Novacore"—
They believed in him.
The plan was reckless.
It had no guarantee of success.
But it didn't matter.
Because at sunrise, Novacore would burn.