"Is my life a lie?" Serena whispers, tilting her head to the side as she locks her gaze into the watchful eyes of the surveillance camera. She raises her hand toward it, a silent plea for help. "If so, someone save me." Her words linger in the air for a few fleeting moments before she finally surrenders to exhaustion, drifting into sleep as the relentless ticking of the clock syncs with the rhythm of her throbbing headache.
***
Oracle Headquarters
"Where is the girl?" Louis demands, pressing the gun against his subordinate's temple with a chilling calmness.
"The police station, sir," the man replies, his voice shaking.
One job. Just one job. This subordinate had a single responsibility: to monitor the Dominatus so that decades of hard work wouldn't crumble overnight. Yet here they were. Louis's grip on the gun tightens, pulling back on the trigger.
"Now who the hell allowed her to end up there?" Louis bellows, his rage spilling over. "An idiot could put two and two together! They made contact with her, didn't they?"
"She's just another victim," the subordinate stammers, his breath quickening as sweat beads form on his forehead.
"Are you saying the Dominatus are as incompetent as you are? To let their victim end up at a police station, alive?"
The subordinate falls silent, the weight of Louis's words crushing him.
"No, sir."
The Dominatus had infiltrated the country and breached their territory, yet Louis only learned of it through a news report. The idiocy of this subordinate. It'll be the deaths of them all. For that, he deserved to lose his life, right here right now.
"Let's go, Charlie," Louis finally says, releasing his finger off the trigger. The deafening sound of the gunshot flies through the lair, a grim reminder of the consequences of failure.
"If I may ask, what value does Serena Williams hold?" Asks Charlie, curious what could make the number one most wanted man break into a police station.
At this moment, Serena Williams is insignificant—a means to an end. It's not about investing in the present; it's about focusing on the future. But as insignificant as the name Williams is, one glance is all it takes. To see that her life is indeed a lie. A ticking time bomb in his home territory, just ignited by the Dominatus, the current overlord of the underworld.