Nate's fingers danced across Jack's keyboard with unnatural speed.
The room was dead silent except for the rapid clacking of keys and the faint hum of the damaged lab's backup generators still managing to hold on. Sparks fizzled from the wall, a broken pipe hissed steam, and the floor bore the scars of the recent assault. But none of that mattered right now.
Nate didn't blink.
His eyes scanned every line of code, every window he opened, his mind processing data faster than any of them could comprehend.
Then—footsteps.
Alice arrived first, panting slightly, with Ryder and Ray not far behind. Sera trailed them closely, but two more shadows moved fast behind the group. Amara, her fiery hair dancing in the breeze, and Elena—calm, sharp, and unreadable as always—entered the lab without hesitation.
No one could stop her. Madison was her best friend. There was no version of this mission where she stayed behind.
The group ca to a dead halt as they looked around the lab.
The damage was clear. The burned walls. The broken glass. The scorched furniture. This wasn't a rescue. It was an aftermath.
Sera's heart dropped when her eyes landed on a small form slumped in a chair—Cleo.
"No—" she whispered and imdiately darted toward the girl.
But as she reached her side, she slowed. Cleo's breathing was soft and steady. She was just… asleep. Probably the effects of whatever drug they used to knock her out.
Sera let out a shaky breath, gently brushing Cleo's hair back. Relief washed over her, but the storm inside hadn't cald. Not yet.
Click. Clack. Click.
They all turned at the sa ti, finally noticing the sound behind them.
Nate was hunched over Jack's computer, fully imrsed. His eyes flicked from screen to screen, code filling the monitor as he jumped between command lines like it was second nature.
Sera furrowed her brows. "Nate… what are you doing?"
No response.
He didn't even look at her. His fingers just moved faster.
Ray stepped forward, slowly, curiosity overtaking his caution. He leaned in, squinting at the data flying past the screen.
And then it hit him.
His eyes widened. "He's… he's hacking a satellite."
Everyone froze.
Even Amara took a half-step back, confused. "Wait—what?"
Ray didn't answer imdiately. He just stared, almost in disbelief, before speaking again.
"I've been around Jack long enough to know he's not normal," Ray said quietly. "But Nate? He's just like him. An abnormality. Maybe even worse."
The others leaned in now, their confusion building as Nate's fingers moved faster, a final set of commands executing in a flash. The screen glitched for a second, then refocused.
A world map ca into view.
Tiny grids began to scan the planet. Data poured in. Climate readings, pressure graphs, infrared maps.
Ray turned back to the others, his voice dry. "He did it… he actually did it. He hacked a global satellite system…"
"W-Why?" Amara asked. "Why would you scan the whole earth?"
That's when Nate finally spoke. He sat back slightly, his voice low and controlled, eyes still locked on the data. "I'm looking for the coldest point on the planet."
That made everyone pause.
Ray blinked. "The coldest…?"
"Jack. Madison. Bella. The crystal," Nate said. "Wherever they are, that crystal would be with them. And Alice froze it. If it's not the coldest thing on Earth right now, I don't know what is."
The room was silent.
Then Alice slowly stepped forward, nodding. "It's true. When I froze that thing, I went all out. If you scan for sub-zero anomalies, that crystal should light up like a beacon."
Ray muttered sothing under his breath as he stared at the live satellite feed, now sweeping across continents.
"You're insane," he said, half admiringly. "But it might just work."
A single bright point suddenly blipped onto the screen—an impossible cold spot in the middle of a desert range, far off the usual grid. It was surrounded by nothing but red heat signatures… except for that one small, piercing blue zone.
Nate's eyes locked on it.
"There," he said. "That's where they are."
And just like that, they had a lead.
A chance.
A direction.
Hope.
Nate didn't wait.
The mont the satellite beeped and marked a location, he stood up—no words, no pause. Just pure focus.
He strode toward the entrance of the lab like a man on a mission, every step echoing with weight. Sera quickly got up from beside Cleo and rushed after him.
"Nate—wait. I'm coming with you."
But Nate stopped without turning.
He didn't look at her. His eyes were fixed on the horizon through the lab's cracked entrance, the wind whistling outside like a warning.
"I'm going alone," he said, his voice calm but cold.
Sera froze, confused. "Why?"
Nate finally turned his head slightly, just enough for her to see the look in his eyes. It wasn't anger. It wasn't grief.
It was sothing worse.
Conviction.
"Because I know sothing's coming," he muttered. "Sothing bad. I don't care how much blood I spill to get them back. I just need to know they're alive. That's all."
Sera stepped back slightly as if the weight of his words pushed her.
And just like that, he disappeared.
The wind slamd into him the mont he exited. It hit like knives, sharp and cold, but Nate didn't flinch. His skin, though soft in appearance, was hardened—scarred by battle and forged by pain. He wasn't human in the way most were anymore.
He was sothing else.
Sothing that refused to break.
The world blurred around him as he moved at near impossible speeds. The desert stretched endlessly before him, dunes shifting in the wind. There were no roads, no signs of life, just endless golden nothingness.
Then he stopped.
The coordinates matched. This was it. The exact location the satellite pointed to.
But there was nothing.
Just sand.
Nate stood there, panting softly, his boots sinking into the scorching dust. He scanned the area again—still nothing. No hidden entrance. No underground base. No signs of life.
Then sothing caught his eye—a faint red blinking light behind a mound of sand.
He darted forward, hoping, praying, anything—just sothing.
His fingers wrapped around a small, tallic object. It was an antenna.
Beeping quietly. Blinking steadily.
His face twisted.
"No…" he whispered.
He knew what this was. It wasn't a signal. It was bait. A decoy. Whoever was behind this knew soone would try to scan for them… so they planted this here to throw them off.
He was played.
Rage welled inside him, hot and uncontrollable. In one motion, he raised the antenna high and smashed it against the ground with a roar, making it sink into the ground.
Then he scread.
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
The desert swallowed his voice, but the pain in his cry shook even the still air. He stood there for a long mont, chest rising and falling as he tried to calm himself down.
But there was no peace inside him anymore.
Just war.
He turned around, eyes burning with fury, and dashed back toward the lab.
By the ti he returned, the others had settled down. Alice sat with Cleo who was slowly waking up. Ray and Elena were talking quietly in the corner, Amara stood near the broken window, her arms folded, flas lightly flickering around her palms as if reflecting her frustration.
When they saw Nate return—alone—they knew.
Alice didn't even ask. She just looked down, her jaw tightening.
Nate didn't say a word. He walked past them all and went straight back to Jack's computer. The screen still glowed faintly, awaiting new input.
He sat.
And typed.
Faster this ti. More aggressive.
If that signal was fake, then he'd find the real one.
No matter what.
He punched in new queries. Cross-referenced temperature data with power usage across remote sites. Filtered for crystal-based energy readings. Narrowed down heat maps. Everything he could think of.
Then the screen beeped again.
Nate's eyes lit up. Another cold signature.
"Yes…" he whispered.
But then, another popped up.
Then another.
Then two more.
In seconds, the map was littered with dots—cold signatures scattered across the globe. Dozens of them. Hundreds. Like a constellation of lies.
Nate stared, frozen.
He didn't move.
Couldn't.
"What the hell…" he whispered.
Alice moved behind him, eyes narrowing. "They set decoys…?"
Ray leaned in, muttering. "That's not just decoys. This is coordinated. You don't scatter cold signatures around the entire planet without insane levels of control."
Nate clenched his fists.
Every part of him burned.
And then—he slamd the table with both hands, rattling the entire desk. A crack ran through the screen's plastic casing.
"If I have to search every one of them…" he growled, "I will."
But the mont he said those words…
The screen went black.
Every dot vanished.
The room fell silent.
Before the screen went blank. The temperature readings had completely stopped. There were no more signals. Nothing. The map was clean. Too clean.
Nate's eyes widened slightly.
"...They're watching us," he said softly.
Everyone in the room felt it then.
That chill. Not from temperature.
But from knowing.
Whoever they were up against… they weren't just hiding.
They were listening.
Watching.
They must have mics in this already.
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