Damien could barely breathe. He paced back and forth, muttering under his breath, eyes darting to the operating room doors every few seconds. "She… she can't be… this isn't real… Isla… my best friend…" His fists clenched tightly, knuckles white.
Vega reached out, grabbing his shoulder. "Damien… breathe. You're not helping anyone by panicking."
He spun toward her, eyes wild. "I can't help it! She's… she's in there, Vega! She's… she's lying on that table, and we're just… waiting!"
MJ stepped forward, voice calm but firm. "Damien, enough. We need answers, not panic. How… how did this happen?"
Before anyone could respond, the hallway doors opened slightly, and Ren Aria appeared, looking as composed as ever but with a shadow of worry in his eyes.
"We don't know yet," he said. Voice steady, precise. "We couldn't get access to the CCTV footage immediately. The system locked down during the emergency protocols. We're trying to retrieve it, but it'll take some time."
Vega's eyes narrowed, and she turned to MJ. "Can you pass me my bag?" she asked quickly. MJ handed it over without question.
She fumbled inside and pulled out her laptop, flipping it open. Fingers flying across the keyboard, she muttered under her breath as lines of code and security protocols filled the screen. The glow reflected in her determined eyes.
Rose, sitting beside her, pulled out her tablet. "Here," she said softly, tapping a few icons. "I've mapped out the navigation of the CCTV feeds. You'll need this to trace her movements. It's all timestamped, so we can estimate exactly when the accident happened."
Ren's sharp gaze flicked over their screens, impressed despite himself. "Good. Use the timestamps and the feed navigation to cross-check. Based on the surgeons' report and emergency response time, I'd estimate the accident occurred between 6:17 PM and 6:23 PM. That's the window we're working with."
Damien froze mid-step, staring at the screens. "6:17… 6:23… that's it? That's all we have?"
Vega's fingers didn't stop moving. "It's a start. And with this feed, we can see exactly where Isla was before, and maybe how it happened. Don't panic yet — we can figure this out."
Rose tapped her tablet, overlaying the feed paths on the main screen. "I'll guide you through the cameras — front entrance, main hall, side corridors. You can track the sequence exactly. Start from the earliest timestamp."
MJ nodded. "Good. Everyone, stay focused. Panic won't help. Damien, try to calm down."
But Damien only nodded shakily, eyes fixed on the glowing screens, heart racing. The hospital hallway felt smaller now, tense with expectation, with Vega hacking, Rose guiding, and Ren giving precise estimations.
Outside the operating room, time slowed, every second a countdown, every beep of monitors a reminder of the fight Isla was enduring — and the frantic race to piece together what had happened.
Vega's fingers flew across the laptop keys, her eyes locked on the code cascading down the screen. "Got it… I think I got it," she muttered, heart hammering.
Rose leaned over her tablet, tracing the CCTV map in real time.
Vega's confident smile faltered as the screen flashed red. System blocked.
"What… what in the world?!" Vega hissed, slamming a palm on the keyboard.
Rose shot her a look. "Relax! We can't start panicking. Let's just figure out the location first. We can't go tracking every cctv in this city till we find her car, plus remember her license plate broke, so we gotta track her route."
At that moment, Ren's voice cut through, calm but sharp: "They found Isla and her car… abandoned near the flyover near their home. That's your starting point."
Vega's fingers flew again, bypassing the firewall as fast as she could. Rose's tablet lit up with the mapped routes of the cameras surrounding that area.
"There!" Rose pointed. "Follow the cameras along this path — the hall, the side exit, then the street outside. That's the route she must've taken."
Finally, the screen flickered to life — CCTV footage. The families leaned in. A car appeared, waiting on the side street, headlights glowing in the night. Heartbeats synced with the footage.
Vega's eyes narrowed. "Someone's waiting there… It's not good."
Before they could react, another car came into view, swerving directly into the first one. Metal screeched. Chaos on screen. And then — gunfire. Bullets pierced the air, the camera angle catching every terrifying second.
Damien's hands flew to his mouth. "Oh my god… that's… that's Isla's car, right?"
Rose shook her head quickly. "Not yet. We have to check the route precisely." She tapped her tablet, overlaying the streets on the CCTV feed, syncing timestamps. "We can verify if the car's license matches the GPS path of Isla's route."
Vega tracked the vehicle with deadly focus, fingers flying across the laptop. "Yes… yes, that's her path. That has to be her."
Ren's voice remained steady, authoritative, but carried a hint of tension. "Stay calm. Document everything. We need every angle — who's in the cars, where the bullets hit, the escape path. This is the only way to figure out who did this."
The screen replayed, frame by frame. The families huddled together, watching the moment unfold — the collision, the gunfire, the helplessness of it all.
Rose whispered, almost to herself: "We'll find the truth. We have to. We can't let this go unanswered."
Vega didn't respond. Her fingers didn't stop moving. Every key pressed was a promise: she'd get the answers, no matter what.
And outside the operating room, the hallway felt even heavier, filled with a mixture of fear, adrenaline, and the desperate hope that Isla was still fighting.
The screen replayed the collision again, frame by frame. The families watched in tense silence — the first car swerving, the gunfire, the panic. Vega's fingers didn't stop moving, tracing every movement of the cars, her laptop glowing in the dim hallway light.
Rose leaned over her tablet, overlaying the route once more. "This is definitely her path… yes, that's Isla," she confirmed, eyes narrowed, scanning the street map against the CCTV footage.
Damien's hands flew to his face, whispering under his breath, "I can't… I can't believe this is happening…"
MJ, standing slightly behind Vega, let out a quiet sigh and then looked at her. His eyes softened, a mixture of pride and awe. "You've really grown up, Vega," he said, voice low but steady.
Vega looked up from her laptop, startled for a second, then offered a small, determined smile.
MJ's gaze shifted to the others — Rose guiding the feed, Damien tense beside her, Kairo and Kael watching every frame intently — and he shook his head slightly. "Look at them… they're all growing up to be just like us."
Ren, standing nearby with his arms crossed, nodded slowly. Thyme and Kevin exchanged quiet glances, and one by one, they all agreed in hushed voices:"Yes… they're becoming their own version of us.""Just… a little younger, maybe sharper.""Exactly. We'll need to trust them… they can handle this."
Even amid the fear and tension, there was a strange warmth — a small anchor in the chaos. The younger generation was stepping up, taking control, fighting with brains and courage. And in that moment, the older ones realized… maybe the world wasn't completely in their hands anymore.
Back on the screens, Vega's eyes narrowed. "I think we've got the timings… the movement of the cars, the collision… everything." She paused, fingers hovering over the keys. "Now we can see who planned this."
Rose tapped her tablet, zooming in on the path. "Frame by frame. Let's track every second and figure out what happened before and after the crash."
Outside the operating room, the heartbeat of the hallway felt almost synchronized with the blinking of the monitors. The families huddled close, eyes fixed, minds racing — but somewhere beneath the fear, there was trust. Trust in each other, and trust in the ones they'd raised… now ready to fight alongside them.