The silence that followed was heavy, punctuated only by the low hum of the holographic projectors. Hayley broke it, her eyes fixing on Caspian with a sharp, professional intensity.
"Caspian," she said, her voice cutting through the tension. "Can you pull this off?"
Caspian leaned back, his eyes tracing the red veins on the map of Dredge City. He was silent for a long moment, calculating the odds of two Stage Ⅳs surviving an encounter with an Anomaly-rank horror. "I can," he said finally, "but we're going to need more boots on the ground for the extraction phase. Two men can't secure a perimeter and deliver a cure at the same time."
Hayley shifted her gaze to Henry, her expression tightening. "We have the Bastion Corps on standby. They've been restructured as a Black Ops unit. They're ready to move on your signal."
The name hit the room like a physical blow. The Bastion Corps had been Henry's pride—the brigade he had forged in the fires of the border wars when he was still a teenager. Every person in the room turned to gauge Henry's reaction, expecting a flare of temper or a biting remark about the military using his old unit for "dirty work."
Hayley braced herself, her jaw set. "What? No argument? No lecture on how I'm mismanaging your old soldiers?"
Henry didn't flare up. He just offered a thin, tired smile that didn't quite reach the starlit void in his eyes. "Actually," he murmured, "it's a good thing they're under you now, Hayley. They need someone better than me. There's no better person to lead them into this hell."
Serena stepped forward, her voice ringing out clearly in the sterile room. "The mission requires people who won't trigger Viroth's senses, right? That means we can come along too right."
Hayley turned her hazel eyes toward the three students. She studied them—sensing the raw, unrefined power humming beneath their skin.
"So," Hayley said, a small, challenging smile playing on her lips. "You're the 'Heroes' the prophecy told us about. Right now, you just have a title without any blood on your hands to back it up. If you survive this, the people—and the Council—will finally have to acknowledge you as more than just a legend in a scroll."
Wanda adjusting her expression cool and analytical. "I couldn't care less about public acknowledgment," she said. "But if this mission gives the 'Hero' title actual weight and authority, then I'm all for it. A title without power is just a target."
Claire grinned, cracking her knuckles. The fear from the forest had been replaced by a sharp, jagged excitement. "Plus, we get to go on a high-stakes Black Ops mission as a bonus. It beats sitting in a lecture hall listening to history when we can be the ones making it."
Henry leaned over the holographic map, the blue light catching the darkness in his eyes. The "Colonel" had fully returned; his posture was no longer lazy, but as precise as a drawn blade.
"Enough with the history lesson," Henry said, his voice dropping into a low, tactical rasp. "Let's talk logistics."
Caspian stepped back, yielding the floor. "You're the smart one, Henry. Build us a path through this nightmare."
"Firstly," Henry began, tracing a finger through the jagged, vine-choked streets of Dredge City, "we aren't taking the whole Bastion Corps. A brigade is a target. We take ten of the best—stealth specialists only. We have to navigate to the heart of that dome without killing a single civilian. They'll attack us, yes, but they're puppets, not enemies. As Hayley said we cannot shed civilian blood. Even if we make it through that gauntlet, we still have to contend with Viroth herself."
He looked directly at Serena, Wanda, and Claire. His gaze was heavy, stripped of all its usual apathy.
"You three need to burn this into your brains: we are not there to slay a monster. We don't have the rank, and we don't have the time. Our mission is to stick the needle in her neck. That's it. If you try to play the hero, you'll just be a casualty."
Morgana stepped forward, her ancient presence fluttering like the edge of a storm cloud. "Don't worry too much, girls. If the three of you find yourselves in fatal trouble, plans and protocols be damned. I will descend into that city and tear that creature apart myself. You are my students; therefore, you are my responsibility."
Hayley's eyes widened in disbelief. "What? You're willing to prioritize three lives over the safety of an entire city? You think the High Council—or we—will just stand by while you ignore the mission parameters?"
Morgana let out a soft, dangerous chuckle. "Who exactly is going to stop me, Hayley? You? Or your grandfather?" She glanced toward Albus, her smile widening into something predatory. "I know Albus is a wall of a man, but does he really think he's a match for me?"
Caspian held up a hand, trying to bridge the sudden, terrifying gap in the room. "Morgana, breathe. I'll look after them personally. My word on it."
Morgana didn't look at Caspian. Her eyes remained fixed on Henry, waiting for something else.
"Caspian said he'd watch them," Henry muttered, looking away. "What else do you want from me?"
In a blur of motion that even the people in the room couldn't follow, Morgana was in Henry's space. She grabbed him by the collar, pulling him down so they were eye-to-eye. Her voice was no longer playful.
"Caspian is too good of a person," she hissed. "He'll try to save everyone and end up saving no one. I want you to promise me, Henry. I want you to promise that you will protect them."
Henry's face twisted into a scowl. "What? I'm not a babysitter. I left the military because I was tired of holding the lives of others in my hands. What makes you think I want that burden back?"
Morgana didn't blink. "Because you're the only person I can truly count on. You've never broken a promise, and you've never lied, at least not to me. Not once in all these years."
The room went silent. The three students watched, breathless, as the Henry and the Morgana stood locked in a battle of wills. Henry looked at the girls, then back at the woman who had been like a best friend to him these past years.
He let out a long, jagged sigh. "Fine. I promise. I'll look after them."
Henry then smirked, the tension breaking just enough for his cynical wit to return. "I still can't believe you just said something so cheesy without cringing, Morgana."
Morgana pushed him away, a flicker of her usual smirk returning as she smoothed her dress. "And you still can't read the room, Henry."