Traffic lights flicker.
Hospital systems momentarily stall.
Power grids shift loads.
Tiny disruptions.
Barely noticeable.
But they ripple through the city like tremors before an earthquake.
She watches the results calmly.
A test.
Just a test.
The infrastructure holds.
For now.
She leans forward again.
Activating the next phase.
On the screen—
The command prompt appears.
PHASE THREE READY
She rests her fingers above the keyboard.
Then pauses.
Because another signal has appeared.
Helicopter tracking.
Approaching fast.
Boone Grant.
River Channing.
Wren McKay.
Golden Team and the Brave Team.
The woman studies the names quietly.
Then she laughs softly.
“So Sentinel was right.”
He had said they would come.
That they would always come.
