Because survival is no longer the goal.
Now—
I’m part of the hunt.
61
Malenkov
Location: Ascendancy Command Level — Eastern Europe
Time: 1159 Hours
The door is sealed.
The system confirms it.
The diagnostics agree.
Containment protocols remain green across every internal display.
And yet—
Something is wrong.
Malenkov stands motionless before the reinforced observation wall, hands clasped behind his back, eyes fixed on the subterranean schematic hovering in the air. The sealed node glows calm and obedient, just as it has for hours.
Too calm.
“Run the scan again,” he says quietly.
The technician hesitates only a fraction of a second before complying.
“Full sweep,” Malenkov adds. “Manual verification. I want redundancy stacked on redundancy.”
“Yes, sir.”
The hum of servers deepens. Data scrolls. Layers peel back. Subsystems cross-check one another with machine precision.
Still green.
Still contained.
Still wrong.
Malenkov turns slowly, his gaze sharp enough to make men straighten without being told.
“Where is Jonah Elliot?”
The room stiffens.
“He… hasn’t been reacquired,” the technician says carefully. “The tunnel collapse should have—”
“Should have,” Malenkov repeats softly.
That word again.
He steps closer to the display, fingers lifting as he isolates the sector where the alarms first triggered. He studies it the way a chess master studies a board after an unexpected move.
