A thunderous boom shook the early morning quiet. Orange me shot into the dark sky as Substation 12 of the Phoenix Grid exploded. Pieces of metal and concrete flew in all directions. The night security guard, having stepped outside for a cigarette moments earlier, stared in shock from the parking lot.


    Three blocks away, Rose watched from the passenger seat of a stolen van, her facit by the distant mes. A small smile yed on her lips as smoke rose into the night sky. “Beautiful,” she whispered. "Just like I nned.”


    Beside her, Herod gripped the steering wheel, his face tight. "Drive now, admireter," he said, shifting the van into gear." Security cameras might have caught us."


    As they sped away, emergency sirens began to wail in the distance. Fire trucks and police cars raced toward the burning substation.


    "Phase oneplete," Rose said, her voice filled with satisfaction. "Now we wait for phase two, the system copse."


    Herod kept his eyes on the road, his mind racing through escape routes, contingency ns. There was no going back now. They had crossed the final line.


    *** **


    Camille jolted awake to the sound of her phone ringing. She fumbled for it in the darkness, Alexander stirring beside her.


    "Camille Kane," she answered, voice still thick with sleep.


    Her body tensed as she listened. "How bad?" she asked, already climbing out of bed. "How many injured?"


    Alexander sat up, instantly alert at her tone.


    "I''ll be there in twenty minutes," Camille said, ending the call. She turned to Alexander, her face pale in the dim


    light. "Someone bombed Substation 12. No one hurt, but the Grid is destabilizing."


    "Rose," Alexander said. It wasn''t a question.


    "Has to be." Camille pulled clothes from her closet with shaking hands. "Hannah''s


    already at control headquarters. The backup systems are holding for now, but if we don''t reroute power soon, we could lose the whole eastern sector."


    Alexander was already dressing. "I''ll drive you."


    They raced through the pre-dawn streets, the city still quiet


    except for emergency vehicles heading toward the


    smoke rising in the distance. Camille clutched her phone, watching real-


    time alerts from the Grid''s monitoring system.


    "Junction 17 showing stress, she muttered. "Power loads increasing on the northern ry."


    Her phone rang again. Hannah''s voice came through, tight with panic.


    "It''s spreading faster than we predicted," she said without preamble. "The safety protocols are shutting down rys


    to prevent overload, but that''s pushing too much power to the remaining


    stations."


    "Can you bypass the safety protocols manually?" Camille asked.


    "Too risky. We''d burn out the whole system. We need to redirect the power flow from the damaged substation."


    "I''m almost there," Camille promised.


    The Grid control center hummed with frantic activity when they arrived. Engineers rushed between workstations. Warning signals shed on screens. Hannah stood in the center, issuing instructions, her usual "Camille!" Relief washed over Hannah''s face. "The situation''s getting worse."


    Camille moved immediately to the main control panel. Disys showed the Phoenix Grid as an interconnected web of light. One section glowed angry red-


    Substation 12 and its connecting rys. Yellow warning indicators spread outward like a disease, showing


    stress points throughout the system.


    "Where will it fail next?" she asked, eyes scanning the data.


    Hannah pointed to three junctions. "Any of these could go. When one does, it will trigger a cascade."


    Alexander studied the


    schematics over Camille''s shoulder. "Can you iste Substation 12pletely?"


    "If we do, we lose power to eight city blocks," Hannah replied.


    "Better than losing the whole eastern sector," Camille decided. "Do it."


    Hannah typedmands into the system. On the main disy, the connections to Substation 12 went dark. Warning lights across the board shed as the Grid adjusted to the sudden change. "Power load redistributing," Hannah reported. "Junction 24 now at ny-


    five percent capacity. That''s too high."


    Camille leaned


    forward, fingers flying across the keyboard. "Rerouting through the western sector backup. System should bnce in three... two... one..."


    The warning lights for Junction 24 shifted from red to yellow, then green.


    "It''s holding," Hannah said, not quite believing it.


    "For now," Camille cautioned. "But we''ve lost redundancy. If there''s another failure-


    *


    Alexander''s phone rang. He stepped away to answer, his expression growing darker as he listened.


    "Police found evidence of explosives at the substation," he reported when he retumed. "Professional job. They''re checking security footage now."


    Camille''s fists clenched. "She''s escted. This isn''t just sabotage anymore."


    "The press is already at the scene," Alexander added. "They''re calling it a terrorist attack on the Grid."


    Camille felt sick. After all their work, all their sess, Rose had managed to cast a shadow over the Grid''s triumph. If public confidence in the system fell, everything they''d built could copse.


    "Iing power surge!" Hannah suddenly called out. "Junction 17 is overloading!"


    All heads turned to the main disy. Junction 17-a key


    connection point for the northern sector-shed red.


    "It shouldn''t be surging," Camille said, rushing back to the controls. "We rerouted away from that section."


    Hannah''s hands flew over her keyboard. "Someone''s tampering with the load bncers remotely. They''re forcing power into that junction."


    "Shut it down!" Camille ordered.


    "I can''t! The controls aren''t responding!" Hannah''s voice rose with panic.


    Alexander moved to another terminal. "It''s a secondary attack. They''re hacking the system while we''re distracted by the explosion."


    Camille felt cold dread spread through her chest. Rose hadn''t just nned


    a physical attack, she''d coordinated a cyber attack to follow, hitting them when their defenses were focused elsewhere.


    "Manual override," Camille decided. "We need to physically disconnect Junction 17 before it overloads and takes down the northern sector." "That would mean going on-


    site," Hannah said. "The junction box is in the Riverside facility."


    "I know." Camille grabbed


    her jacket. "Alexander, stay here and coordinate with Hannah. I''m going to Riverside."


    Alexander caught her arm. “It could be a trap.”


    "Of course it''s a trap," Camille replied, her eyes hard. "But if we lose the northern sector, hospitals will lose power. People could die."


    He held her gaze for a long moment, then nodded. "Take security with you."


    "No time," she said, already moving toward the door. "Send them after me. And keep working on the remote override-


    if f you get control back, shut down Junction 17 immediately."


    The drive


    to Riverside took twelve agonizing minutes. Camille kept Hannah on speakerphone, listening to the worsening situation.


    "Junction 17 at one hundred ten percent capacity," Hannah reported. "Safety systems failing. We''re losing control of the connected rys."


    Camille pressed the elerator harder, weaving through early morning traffic. "Hold it together. I''m almost there."


    The Riverside facility loomed ahead, a concrete building surrounded by chain-


    link fence. Camille screeched to a halt at the gate, swiping her security card. The gate slid open too slowly. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, counting each precious second.


    "Junction at one hundred fifteen percent," Hannah''s voice crackled through the phone. "Camille, hurry."


    She parked haphazardly and ran for the building entrance. Inside, red emergency lights bathed the corridor in an eerie glow. The hum of


    electrical equipment grew louder as she approached the main control room.


    "Where''s the manual disconnect?" she asked Hannah.


    "East wall, blue panel. You''ll need your override code."


    Camille pushed through the door into the control room. The junction box dominated the center-


    a massive metal cab with blinking lights and digital readouts showing dangerously high numbers. She spotted the blue panel and ran toward it. Her fingers trembled as she entered her override code. The pa


    "I''m at the disconnect," she told Hannah. "What happens when I pull it?"


    "Riverside district loses power temporarily. Backup generators will kick in for essential services in thirty seconds."


    "Junction status?"


    "One hundred twenty percent. Metal housing is heating up. Camille, if it blows..."


    "It won''t," Camille said firmly. She grabbed the lever with both hands. "Disconnecting now."


    She pulled with all her strength. The lever resisted, then gave way with a metallic argan. The lights on the junction box immediately went dark. The hum of power ceased, plunging the room into eerie silence bro "Junction 17 offline," Hannah confirmed through the phone. "Power


    surge contained."


    Camille sagged against


    the wall, adrenaline still coursing through her body. "Damage assessment?"


    "Substation 12 destroyed. Junction 17 offline but intact. Grid redistributing power through secondary channels. We''ve lost redundancy in two sectors, but the system is holding."


    Alexander''s voice came through the speaker. "Security teams are en route to your location. Don''t leave the building until they arrive."


    Camille nodded, though they couldn''t see her. "Has anyone called Victoria?"


    "She''s already at control headquarters,” Hannah replied. "She arrived right after you left."


    Of course she had. Victoria would never stay away during a crisis.


    "The press is gathering outside headquarters," Alexander added. "They want a statement."


    Camille closed her eyes briefly. Rose hadn''t just attacked the Grid, she''d attacked public confidence in their creation. Even with the immediate danger contained, the damage to their reputation could be severe.


    "Tell them I''ll make a statement when I return," she said. "And Alexander... have security check all other


    substations and junctions. This might not be the end of Rose''s attack."


    The line went silent for a moment. "You think there are more bombs?"


    "I think Rose won''t stop until she''s destroyed everything we''ve built," Camille


    replied. "Or until we stop her."


    As if to confirm her fears, a distant boom echoed through the early morning air. Camille rushed to the window in time to see smoke rising from another part of the city.


    "Alexander! What was that?" she demanded.


    His voice came back tight with tension. "Substation 8 just went offline. Another explosion."


    Cold fear gripped Camille''s heart. One explosion could be managed. Two meant they were facing a


    coordinated attack designed to bring down the entire Grid.


    "I''ming back," she said. "Have Hannah start emergency shutdown procedures for all non-


    essential systems. We need to reduce load on the remaining substations."


    As she hurried back to her car, Camille''s phone buzzed with a text message from an unknown number. She


    opened it, already knowing who it would be from.


    *Enjoying my surprise, sister? This is just the beginning. Everything you''ve built will burn.*


    Rose''s words glowed on the screen, a digital taunt. Camille''s fingers tightened around the phone, rage and determination warring within her.


    As Camille drove back toward control headquarters, her resolve hardened into something unbreakable. Rose wanted a war? She would get one. But not on her terms. Not anymore.