Alarms shred the lab. Ceiling lights strobe red, and dust pours from hairline cracks in the walls. Sally has the origin files in hand, but the whole lower archive is starting to come apart.
Doctor Polpovich
Stop her! Those files belong to my work!
Doctor Polpovich recoils behind a sparking console, while Test Number x134 hurls herself into Amilia, forcing her back from the doorway. Amilia plants her feet and keeps the exit open.
Amilia Jacobs
Sally, go. I can hold them here.
A heavy support beam groans overhead. One wall buckles, spilling steam and twisted metal into the room. The path out is narrowing fast.
Sally
The ceiling is giving way.
x134 surges again, nails flashing, but Amilia drives her back with raw strength and stubborn timing. Polpovich reaches toward the terminal, frantic now, trying to save something from the wreckage.
Sally stands at the edge of the collapse, files clutched tight, with one final gap between her and the exit. Amilia is still between her and the threats. The next move is Sally’s.
“Amilia and I run out, grabbing polpovich on the way. He is under arrest for what he has done.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled +0)
Sally lunges through the widening gap and gets both hands on Polpovich before he can retreat to the console. He jerks hard, but her grip wins, dragging him away from the terminal and toward the exit.
Sally
You are under arrest. Move.
Amilia sees the opening and surges in beside her, one arm hooked around Sally to help drive the three of them through the doorway. Behind them, the archive buckles louder, coughing steam through the cracked walls.
Doctor Polpovich
No, no, those files, give them back!
Polpovich stumbles, half hauled, half shoved, while the origin files stay tight in Sally’s other hand. A beam drops behind them with a metallic scream, cutting off the lab in a burst of dust and red light.
Amilia Jacobs
Keep moving, Sally. I’ve got him.
Together they clear the threshold. Polpovich is pulled out into the corridor, where the floor still holds, and the collapsing archive seals itself behind a rain of debris. Amilia keeps a hard grip on him while Sally has the proof in hand and the exit.
Quest Complete
Secure proof from Doctor Vladimir Polpovich
New Gift: Neural Pattern Mapping
Dust poured from the sealed archive doors. The last groan of the lab faded into the corridor's harsh silence.
Amilia Jacobs
You got them out. That counts for something.
Sally
It counts for everything.
Doctor Polpovich
No. Not the files. Not like this.
Sally stood in the wreckage with the origin files held close and the Department's secret finally pried loose. Behind her, the archive was gone, sealed under dust and ruin, and ahead of her was the hard work of making truth survive pursuit. The chapter ended with Sally still moving, but no longer running blind.