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Kellie's voice echoed through the room as she demanded, "Where is my father?" Her eyes were wide with fear and suspicion. She knew her father would never let them launch the nuclear missile while she was missing. Something was wrong.
Henry looked up from the table and gave an order that shocked everyone in the room. Even Belinda and the others, who had just entered, were taken aback.
"Lock her up with her father," he commanded coldly.
Before Kellie could react, two security officers grabbed her roughly by the arms. She struggled and cried out, but they dragged her away. The room fell silent. Everyone there knew what this meant: if they were in Kellie's place, Henry would do the same to them without hesitation.
Moments later, two soldiers burst into the room, faces grim. "Sir, we have bad news. The three-headed monster... it survived the missile. It's rampaging through the city."
"Bang!" Henry slammed his fist on the table, his frustration palpable. "How is that possible?"
The second soldier spoke up, keeping his tone neutral. "It's worse, sir. The missile didn't just fail to kill the creature. The blast caused the gate to expand, and now waves of beasts are pouring through it."
Henry's face darkened. "Give me a range on the beasts."
The soldier hesitated before replying, "We're seeing over a hundred beasts escaping every second, and it's been a while since the missile hit."
Henry rubbed his temples, trying to process the disaster unfolding before him. Just then, a young woman entered, holding a strange device that looked like a small robot with legs. The device scurried to the TV screen, attaching itself and projecting a 3D image.
The young woman addressed Henry respectfully, her voice calm despite the chaos. "Sir, we have received confirmation that the missile strike was, in fact, a good decision."
The room fell quiet as everyone tried to grasp the idea that the missile's strike could be good news, given the monster's survival and the flood of beasts.
The woman swiped her hand across the device, and the screen shifted to show the gate. First, there was an image of the gate struggling to open. Then, after the missile fired, the gate opened wide, allowing the creatures to rush through.
Henry frowned. "Where's the good news in all of this?"
The woman swiped again, and this time, the image shifted once more. The gate was now collapsing inward. The balance of energy had been disturbed by the missile, and the gate was failing.
As the realization dawned on them, everyone in the room stood up in surprise. There was hope. The portal was on the brink of collapse, and the missile had triggered it. A few cautious claps rang out around the table as people relaxed a little, their fears of the portal remaining open now eased.
But the soldiers remained tense. One stepped forward, his face serious. "Sir, the portal may be collapsing, but the real problem is right here. The city is overrun with beasts, and they're attacking civilians who didn't make it to safety."
"How are those survivors still alive, it's a Nuclear missile for fuck sake!!!" Henry jaw dropped when he heard about the survivors.
Then the woman with the 3D device pointed towards the portal and rewinded the video, "Sir, I think it's all thanks to the portal. It absorbed a lot of the nuclear energy."
Henry sighed deeply, realizing that the worst wasn't over. "Get me in touch with your boss," he ordered.
The device that had been connected to the TV scuttled back to the woman's wrist, compacting itself into a small, sleek watch. She quickly contacted her superior, and a few tense moments passed before a middle-aged man's distressed face appeared on the screen.
The soldiers immediately saluted, but Henry's expression darkened when the man spoke. "I warned you to take Adler seriously. Now look at the mess you've caused."
Henry bit back his frustration, unwilling to admit his mistake in front of everyone. "Do you really want to start this now? We have bigger issues to handle," he snapped.
The man's expression darkened. "It's too late for that. You ignored everything Adler told us, and now we're paying the price. We need to focus on saving what's left."
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