Present
Star Harbor looked calm on the surface.
The streets carried their usual rhythm, vehicles moving through mist settled lanes, people unaware of the storm quietly building beneath their feet. The sea breeze drifted through the city as if nothing had changed, as if danger had not already taken its place among them.
But inside the Sterling Security Operations Room, the illusion of peace had already shattered.
Large digital screens stretched across the walls, each one alive with motion. Drone feeds swept across the skyline, diving through streets, hovering over rooftops, locking onto moving vehicles and still objects alike. Algorithms scanned faces in real time, matching patterns, cross checking identities, flagging threats within seconds.
The hum of systems filled the room.
The agents worked without pause.
And at the center of it all stood Miles Sterling, watching everything unfold with eyes that had already seen where this was heading.
An agent stood up suddenly.
