Chapter 18 - The Facility Purge
Vincent stepped through the shattered glass, his silver veins burning brightly against his bloodstained skin.
Director Sterling scrambled frantically across the laboratory floor, desperately reaching for the emergency lockdown button.
Before her fingers could even graze the panel, Vincent’s heavy boot slammed directly onto her wrist.
The sickening crunch of breaking bones echoed loudly in the sterile, terrifyingly quiet white room.
Sterling screamed in pure agony, completely abandoning her cold, calculated demeanor for pathetic begging.
Vincent did not say a single word; he simply kicked her violently against the metal cabinets, knocking her unconscious.
He rushed over to the vertical examination table and effortlessly ripped the titanium cuffs securing Norah’s wrists.
Norah collapsed heavily into his strong arms, sobbing uncontrollably as she buried her face in his chest.
Vincent held her tightly, his pitch-black eyes slowly fading back to the warm, gentle brown she loved.
He kissed her forehead, promising in a raspy voice that nobody would ever touch her again.
Suddenly, the laboratory’s automated defense system engaged, bathing the room in pulsing red emergency lights.
A cold, robotic voice echoed through the facility, announcing the initiation of the catastrophic self-destruct sequence.
They had exactly five minutes to escape the mountain before the thermal charges incinerated the entire base.
Vincent scooped Norah into his arms, carrying her effortlessly as he sprinted out of the ruined laboratory.
They ran through the sprawling, chaotic corridors of the Vanguard facility, dodging panicked scientists and fleeing guards.
As they passed a maximum-security holding block, Norah heard a familiar, desperate voice shouting from a cell.
She begged Vincent to stop, pointing toward the heavy reinforced door at the end of the hallway.
Vincent kicked the steel door completely off its hinges, revealing a heavily bruised and bloodied Enzo.
The loyal underboss had survived the assault on the estate and had been brought here for brutal interrogation.
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Enzo grinned through his broken teeth, grabbing a discarded rifle from a dead guard in the hallway.
With the team finally reunited, they sprinted toward the primary extraction hangar located at the edge of the mountain.
