Anya, Ethan, and Maya huddled around the holographic screen, Professor O'Connell's weathered face flickering with concern. His revelation about Anya's father, Dr. David Montgomery, hung heavy in the air, casting a long shadow over their already precarious situation.
"Your father wasn't just trying to expose the Puppeteer, Anya," Professor O'Connell continued, his voice laced with a hidden urgency. "He was on the verge of completing Project Phoenix, unlocking its true potential – a global communication network capable of bypassing any control system, even the Puppeteer's."
A chill ran down Anya's spine. Her father, the gentle scientist she barely remembered, had been on the cusp of creating something revolutionary, something that could have shattered the Puppeteer's grip on the world. And they had silenced him.
"But how did they learn about it?" Maya asked, her brow furrowed in thought. "Project Phoenix was supposed to be top secret."
