Eli scrambles toward the blocked maintenance ladder, shoving broken metal aside with shaking hands.
“There has to be emergency access—”
“There isn’t enough time,” Gabriel snaps.
He’s right.
The tunnel is dying around us.
And somewhere above us?
Wu is walking away.
Alive.
That thought is the only thing currently stopping me from losing my damn mind.
Hannah kneels beside the little girl, checking her quickly for injuries while the child cries into her shoulder.
“You’re okay,” Hannah whispers softly. “Look at me. Breathe with me.”
The girl obeys instantly.
Trust.
That simple.
Because Hannah makes people feel safe even underground beneath a collapsing black-site tunnel.
I watch her for half a second too long.
And it hits me again—
Wu tried to convince her love was conditioning.
Programming.
A response.
But nothing programmed could explain this.
The way she comforts people even while terrified herself.
The way broken survivors keep gravitating toward her.
The way I would tear apart the entire world before letting anything happen to her.
That isn’t conditioning.
That’s Hannah.
Another explosion rocks the corridor.
Nora cries out as the wall behind her buckles inward.
Eli catches her immediately.
Instinct.
