The team sat in a stunned silence, staring at the manual override screen flashing urgently before them. In the midst of the chaos, it was a sliver of hope—an unexpected lifeline they couldn't afford to waste. James's pulse was racing, his mind spinning as he tried to decipher what the Auxiliary Core was offering them. Manual Override. It sounded simple enough, but this wasn't a button to press or a wire to cut. This was Cerberus, and with them, nothing was ever as it seemed.
The timer for the Phoenix Protocol—now burning down at a terrifying speed—read 20:22:36, ticking down in steady, relentless intervals. Emily, Lucas, and the rest of the team looked to James, waiting for his lead.
