The response did not come with sirens.
It came with signatures.
---
Three hours after Anabeth's assembly, the first directive arrived.
It wasn't addressed to her.
That was the insult.
---
Mara read it twice before speaking.
"They've suspended cooperative autonomy," she said quietly. "Campus-wide."
Anabeth didn't look up from the window.
"Meaning?" she asked.
"They're invoking emergency oversight," Mara continued. "External administration. Temporary."
Anabeth exhaled slowly.
Temporary was the lie systems told when they intended permanence.
---
Rafael arrived ten minutes later.
Not storming.
Not furious.
Controlled in the way men become when rage has nowhere safe to land.
"They're overcorrecting," he said. "Hard."
"They always do," Anabeth replied.
---
The first signs appeared subtly.
Security uniforms changed.
Badges were reissued.
Buildings that had always been open now required authorization.
---
Students noticed.
They always do.
---
By evening, drones circled overhead.
Unarmed.
Officially.
---
The campus—once chaotic, loud, alive—began to feel watched rather than protected.
---
Cassian watched it unfold from the far edge of the compound.
He hadn't left.
He hadn't been asked to.
Which was worse.
---
He understood now.
What Anabeth had done.
She hadn't defended herself.
She'd exposed the system's reflex.
And it was reacting exactly as predicted.
---
"They're scared," he muttered.
Mara didn't answer him.
She didn't need to.
---
The first confrontation happened outside the humanities wing.
A student refused to show credentials.
A guard insisted.
Voices rose.
Phones came out.
---
Anabeth arrived before Rafael could stop her.
She walked directly into the space between them.
"Stand down," she told the guard.
The man hesitated.
His comm unit crackled.
A voice Anabeth didn't recognize spoke.
"Ma'am, you no longer have authority to issue—"
She turned her head slightly.
"I wasn't issuing," she said calmly. "I was asking."
The student stared at her.
The guard stared at his orders.
The crowd held its breath.
---
The guard stepped back.
Just one step.
Enough.
---
The moment spread.
Not viral.
Organic.
---
That night, the delegations escalated.
Not publicly.
Strategically.
---
Anabeth's access to external networks was restricted.
Funding channels paused.
Faculty contracts flagged for review.
---
Rafael slammed a hand against the wall.
"They're strangling you slowly."
"They're isolating me," Anabeth corrected. "Different tactic."
---
"They want you to break," he said.
"They want me to submit," she replied. "Breaking is optional."
---
Cassian finally asked to speak with her.
Mara objected.
Rafael hesitated.
Anabeth allowed it.
---
They met in the old library.
No surveillance.
No guards.
Just dust and memory.
---
"I didn't think they'd move this fast," Cassian admitted.
"You thought they'd negotiate longer," Anabeth said.
"I thought fear would make them cautious."
She smiled faintly.
"Fear makes systems cruel."
---
"They're planning a vote," Cassian continued. "Formal removal. Public justification."
"And the justification?" she asked.
"Instability," he said. "Radicalization. Security risk."
Anabeth nodded.
"They're not wrong about the risk."
Cassian frowned.
"That's not how defense works."
"That's how truth works," she replied.
---
"They'll frame you as the cause," he said.
"They already are," she answered.
---
Cassian leaned forward.
"There's a failsafe," he said. "They're activating it."
Rafael stiffened.
"What kind?"
"The kind that forces an example," Cassian replied. "A visible collapse they can pin on her."
---
Anabeth's pulse steadied.
"Campus-wide incident," she said.
"Yes."
---
Cassian swallowed.
"They're pushing conditions until something breaks."
Rafael's voice went cold.
"Or until someone does."
---
The next morning, the tension detonated.
---
A convoy entered campus without notice.
External security.
Heavily armed.
Officially temporary.
---
Students flooded the central square.
Not organized.
Not violent.
Just present.
---
Anabeth walked out to meet them.
Alone again.
---
A representative stepped forward.
Polite.
Smiling.
"We're here to ensure stability."
"You're here to provoke resistance," Anabeth said.
The smile tightened.
---
"You've become a symbol," the man said. "Symbols invite extremism."
She looked at the crowd.
Then back at him.
"Symbols only threaten systems that fear what they represent."
---
The first shot wasn't fired.
It was dropped.
A flashbang.
Not aimed at her.
Close enough.
---
The crowd scattered.
Someone screamed.
Someone fell.
Panic rippled outward.
---
Rafael moved instantly.
Security responded too late.
---
Anabeth knelt beside a student with ringing ears and shaking hands.
She felt it then.
The calculation.
The moment where power decides whether a life is acceptable collateral.
---
"This is it," Mara whispered over comms. "They're forcing the incident."
---
Anabeth stood.
Her voice carried.
"Everyone stay where you are."
No one obeyed.
Fear never listens.
---
Another device rolled.
Then another.
Chaos.
---
Rafael shouted orders.
Cassian froze.
He saw it now.
What his caution had enabled.
---
Anabeth stepped forward again.
Hands raised.
Body exposed.
---
"STOP," she shouted.
---
A weapon leveled.
Not at the crowd.
At her.
---
Time slowed.
Rafael moved.
Too far.
Too slow.
---
And Anabeth understood.
This was the moment.
The one systems design quietly.
Where her death would restore order.
Where escalation would stop.
Where blame would settle neatly.
---
She met the guard's eyes.
And stepped closer.
---
"Don't," Cassian shouted.
She didn't hear him.
She heard clarity.
---
If she died, they'd pause.
If she lived, they'd double down.
---
She thought of Rafael.
Of Mara.
Of everyone watching.
Waiting.
---
She lowered her hands.
Just slightly.
A signal.
---
The guard faltered.
Orders screamed through his comm.
His finger tightened.
---
Rafael reached her—
—
A shot rang out.
---
Not from the convoy.
From the roof.
---
The guard dropped.
The square went silent.
---
Rafael wrapped Anabeth in his arms.
She was shaking.
But alive.
---
Cassian stared upward.
He knew that shot.
---
Mara's voice came through.
"External interference," she said. "Unaligned."
Rafael looked up sharply.
"Who?"
Mara swallowed.
"Another power."
---
The system hadn't just panicked.
It had exposed weakness.
And predators were moving in.
---
Anabeth clutched Rafael's jacket.
"This isn't just about us anymore," she whispered.
He nodded.
"I know."
---
Above them, the drones withdrew.
Not out of mercy.
Out of recalibration.
---
The system would respond.
Violently.
Excessively.
---
And Anabeth—never meant to lead this soon—now stood at the center of something she could no longer step away from.
Not without blood.