(Manhattan Skybridge)
Alia sprinted across the glass corridor, drones in deadly pursuit.
Carson's voice crackled in her earpiece:
"Left! There's an old Sterling anti-air defense system under your family estate!"
A missile slammed into the adjacent skyscraper—
The blast wave hurled her into the void.
As she plummeted, a fragment from Victor's cryo-case tore loose—
It magnetized to a nearby drone.
The α-toxin inside... didn't activate.
The alloy neutralized it.
"Reverse-magnetic coating…" Alia muttered, eyes wide.
She tumbled into a ventilation shaft, strapped shards of the cryo-case to her boots.
Mid-fall, she fired upward—
The charged metal fragments formed a barrier,
Drawing drones in like moths to flame—until they erupted into self-detonating infernos.
The rain of fire lit up the night—
And through the flames, Alia saw it:
At the pinnacle of Davies Tower, behind reinforced glass—
A prison cell.
Inside it, frail and motionless—
William Sterling. Alive.