The lights didn't go out like a normal blackout.
They blinked.
One second the command center was a clean hive of screens and hums and controlled voices. The next, everything stuttered. Monitors flashed white. Then black. Then white again, like the system couldn't decide which reality it lived in.
A few operators cursed. Someone slammed a hand on a console. The air-conditioning cut out, leaving the room suddenly warmer, thicker, full of human breath.
Aria stood still in the center of it, heart steady, skin prickling.
This wasn't her power surging.
This was the world slipping.
Kai moved closer to her, shoulder brushing hers. His eyes scanned the room, the exits, the guards. "You feel that?"
Aria nodded once. "Yes."
Viktor didn't speak right away. He watched the screens cycle through static and error codes, jaw tight, like a man watching a bridge crack while insisting it's still safe to cross.
"Restore main power," he snapped.
