The last door.
Twelve inches of reinforced steel descending fast enough to crush bone.
“We’re not making that opening,” Gabriel says sharply.
No.
Maybe not.
But then—
memory hits me.
A pressure plate hidden beneath the emergency panels.
Manual override.
Ascension always kept analog redundancies in case systems failed.
Wu trusted machines.
But he trusted control more.
“I can stop it.”
Clay immediately grabs my arm.
“Hannah—”
I’m already moving.
The narrowing gap beneath the blast door is barely shoulder height now.
Metal screaming.
Hydraulics grinding.
One mistake and this thing cuts me in half.
Russ drops beside the door firing controlled bursts at advancing operatives flooding the far corridor.
“MOVE!”
Gabriel and Clay cover me instantly.
Bullets hammer concrete around us.
I hit the floor hard—
and slide beneath the descending steel.
The gap shrinks dangerously above my back.
Too tight.
Too fast.
For one horrible second I think I’m not going to clear it—
