The city outside pulsed with life. Different sounds from car horns, music, and bursts of laughter spilling from bars. But inside the apartment that served as their black site, silence held tight, broken only by the steady hum of servers. The team sat in a circle of screens, their faces lit by shifting data.

Leah leaned forward first, her voice cutting through the stillness.

“Tell me I’m wrong, Jason. Tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”

Jason didn’t look up. His eyes tracked the lines of code glowing on his laptop.

“It’s worse,” he said quietly. “Project Chimera. And Thorne’s signature is everywhere.”

Ben blinked at his own...