73. Clay
Clay
“There are more facilities.”
Wu smiles through blood like he just delivered some final brilliant revelation.
I don’t care.
I don’t care about his philosophy.
His “vision.”
His god complex.
All I see are children with barcode tattoos.
All I hear are kids asking permission to exist.
And this bastard caused every second of it.
I slam Wu harder against the reactor railing.
Metal groans beneath the impact.
The unstable core flashes violently below us.
Blue-white light bursts through the chamber like lightning trapped underground.
Gabriel shouts again from the upper terminal:
“CLAY!”
Right.
Reactor.
Focus.
Wu’s hand suddenly moves toward his sleeve—
Knife.
I catch his wrist instantly.
Too late to surprise me now.
We struggle hard against the railing while warning sirens scream around us.
Wu’s strength is fading from blood loss.
Mine isn’t.
Not even close.
“You know what your problem is?” I growl.
Wu smirks faintly.
“I assume you’re going to tell me.”
“You think fear makes people powerful.”
I wrench the knife free from his hand and throw it across the chamber.
“But all it did…”
I slam him back again.
“…was make everyone hate you.”
For the first time—
real anger flashes across his face.
Not calculation.
Not superiority.
Human anger.
Interesting.
Because maybe Hannah was right.
Maybe he spent so long trying to erase humanity that he became furious every time he saw it survive.
The reactor chamber lurches violently again.
Cracks split across the containment walls now.
Steam erupts everywhere.
Gabriel’s voice echoes desperately:
“I CAN STOP THE brEACH BUT I NEED ACCESS TO THE CORE MANUALS!”
Wu laughs weakly.
“You’re too late.”
Hannah suddenly steps beside me.
Her eyes lock onto Wu’s.
No fear left.
None.
“You lost the second those children chose each other over you.”
That hits him.
I see it.
Tiny crack.
Tiny flicker.
Because control was everything to him.
And now even his conditioned soldiers are rejecting him.
Wu studies Hannah quietly through blood and flashing reactor light.
“You think they’ll thank you?”
Cold.
Cruel.
Certain.
“The world will fear them.”
“Experiment on them.”
“Lock them away.”
Hannah’s expression never changes.
“Maybe.”
A step closer.
“But at least they’ll finally have a choice.”
Wu looks at her for a long moment.
And suddenly—
I think he understands.
Not emotionally.
Not truly.
But intellectually.
He lost.
Not because he was overpowered.
Because humanity survived him.
The reactor countdown alarms suddenly change pitch.
Gabriel looks up sharply from the console.
“Oh no.”
Russ immediately turns.
“What now?”
Gabriel looks genuinely panicked for the first time all night.
“The core shields are collapsing!”
The glowing containment barriers around the reactor begin flickering violently.
If they fail—
everything detonates instantly.
Wu hears it too.
And smiles again.
Last desperate victory.
“If Ascension dies…”
Blood runs down his face now.
“…the truth dies with it.”
Gabriel suddenly reaches into his jacket and lifts the portable drives.
“No,” he says coldly.
“It doesn’t.”
Wu’s smile falters.
Just slightly.
Gabriel steps closer.
“I downloaded everything.”
Silence.
Beautiful silence.
All the calm finally drains out of Wu’s face.
Not fear of death.
Fear of exposure.
Good.
Let him feel it.
Gabriel’s voice hardens.
“Every child.”
“Every experiment.”
“Every government contact.”
“Every facility.”
Wu lunges suddenly.
Pure desperation now.
He tries reaching for Gabriel—
But Russ shoots him through the leg.
The round tears straight through Wu’s thigh.
He crashes hard onto the reactor platform with a scream finally ripped out of him.
Not calm anymore.
Not composed.
Just a dying monster.
The reactor chamber shakes violently again.
Huge cracks rip across the ceiling overhead.
Concrete starts collapsing into the chamber.
Gabriel shouts over the alarms:
“I can stop the detonation manually!”
“But somebody has to stabilize the coolant system from the lower chamber!”
Silence hits instantly.
Because we all know what that means.
The lower chamber.
Closest point to the unstable core.
Maximum radiation.
Maximum heat.
No guarantee of escape.
Russ looks toward the glowing reactor below us.
Then toward the countdown timer.
00:03:41
Not enough time.
Not enough anything.
Wu starts laughing weakly from the floor again.
Broken now.
Delirious.
“You’ll sacrifice someone after all.”
No.
No we won’t.
Hannah suddenly moves toward the ladder to the lower chamber.
And my heart stops.