Three days before the execution.

  The first rock hit my temple. Not pain first. Cold. Then a sharp crack, then warmth as blood ran down my face and into my eye. The world went red on one side.

  I knelt on the execution platform. Chains bit into my wrists, my ankles, the links heavy and cold against the bare metal grate. Below me, a sea of faces twisted with hate. Signs swung in my blurred vision. BREACH-MAKER. BLOOD FOR BLOOD. TRAITOR.

  To my left, the rest of my Temporal Stability Team knelt in chains. Marcus. Anya. Five others. Out of three hundred who'd been in Sector Seven when the stabilizer overloaded.

  Three hundred colleagues. Friends. Dead. Phased out of existence when the core went critical.

  Another rock hit my shoulder. Then a piece of broken concrete caught my ribs. I grunted, shifted, took it. The crowd needed blood. Mine was the only kind available.

  A figure in white and gold stepped onto the platform. Commander Kael Vance. The hero who'd contained the breach. The man the empire loved.

  The crowd fell silent. Not gradually. Instantly. Like someone cut the sound.

  "Citizens of Aethelgard," Kael's voice boomed, amplified by his collar mic. "Today, we bring closure to our greatest tragedy."

  He turned to me. His eyes were flat. Empty. I'd seen that look before. On faces of men who'd already decided you were dead.

  "Leo Vane. Lead Temporal Architect of Sector Seven." He paused, letting the title hang. "You ignored safety protocols. You rushed the test. You opened the breach that killed three hundred of our people and let the demons through."

  I strained against the chains. "That's a lie. Check the logs. The failsafes were tampered with."

  "Silence." Kael raised a hand. A projection flickered above the platform. Logs. My authorization code. Timestamps matching the overload command. Perfect forgeries, but no one in the crowd knew that.

  "I checked the logs myself," Kael said, softer now. "The evidence is clear. Your ambition killed them."

  Beside me, Eli shook. My apprentice. Kael's nephew. Seventeen years old. His chains rattled with his sobs.

  "Eli tried to stop you," Kael continued. His voice cracked. Theater. "He warned you the math was unstable. You called him a coward. You overrode his objections."

  That was a lie. Eli had been proud of that test. He'd triple-checked every calculation. Stayed up three nights running simulations.

  The crowd murmured. Hateful glances shot toward me. I felt them like physical weight.

  "And now," Kael said, turning to face the people, "after months of work, my Patriot Guard has finally suppressed the demonic incursion. Using reverse-engineered Chrono-Synergy technology, the breach is sealed."

  The crowd erupted. Cheers. Applause. Worship.

  My blood went cold. My tech. My designs. The very research they'd framed me for destroying. They were using it to build an empire.

  The executioner stepped forward. A pneumatic bolt-driver hummed in his hands. Heavy. Black. The barrel rested against Marcus's skull.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Thwump.

  Marcus dropped. His body hit the grate and didn't move.

  Thwump. Anya.

  Thwump. Thwump. Thwump.

  One by one. My team. My friends. The bolt-driver cycled and fired, cycled and fired. Each shot a wet, final sound.

  When only Eli and I remained, Kael approached. He knelt between us, voice dropping to a whisper only we could hear.

  "Stubborn to the end, Leo." He almost sounded amused. "You should have taken Stasis-Global's offer. They wanted to buy Chrono-Synergy, not destroy it."

  My eyes locked onto his. Stasis-Global. Our biggest competitor. They'd offered a merger six months ago. I'd refused. Their methods were dangerous. Cut corners. People died.

  "You sabotaged the test for them."

  Kael smiled. A small, private thing. "I optimized the outcome. The breach was necessary. It proved the existing methods were flawed. Created demand for new solutions." He glanced at Eli. "And the boy's bio-signature made the perfect catalyst. A tragic accident."

  Eli stared at his uncle. Horror spread across his face like a stain.

  "No."

  "Oh yes." Kael straightened. "But don't worry. Your death serves a purpose. You and Leo will be the villains. The reckless scientists who doomed the empire. And I'll be the hero who fixed your mess."

  He brushed dust from his uniform.

  "Stasis-Global now owns all Chrono-Synergy patents. I run their new Patriot Guard division. The empire pays us billions to fight the very demons we let through." He paused. "It's beautiful, really."

  I lunged. The chains held. My shoulders screamed.

  "You opened the breach on purpose. Three hundred people. For a contract."

  "Demons require demonic solutions." Kael's voice was flat. "And demonic solutions require demons."

  The bolt-driver pressed against Eli's temple.

  "No!" I screamed. "He's your family. Your blood."

  Kael's expression didn't change. "He was a loose end."

  Thwump.

  Eli dropped. His body folded. His eyes stayed open, staring at the grey sky.

  I stopped screaming. The world went silent. The crowd's cheers became static. All I saw was Eli's face. Seventeen years old. Dead because his uncle wanted a promotion.

  Then the bolt-driver pressed against my skull.

  Cold metal. A moment of pressure.

  Then nothing.

  I woke up screaming.

  My bed. My room. Morning light through the blinds. I touched my temple. No wound. No blood. Just sweat, cold on my skin.

  My heart hammered against my ribs. I stumbled to the window. The Aethelgard skyline gleamed in the distance. Clean towers. Moving transports. No demons. No destruction.

  My hands shook. I pressed them flat against the wall to stop them.

  The wall-screen glowed with the date. Three days before the Sector Seven test.

  I stared at the numbers. Counted them three times. Same result.

  I remembered everything. The execution. Kael's confession. The three hundred dead. Eli's eyes going dark.

  The test hadn't happened yet. The breach hadn't opened. My team was still alive.

  I crossed to my workbench. My hands touched familiar tools. Calibration wrenches. Diagnostic probes. The stabilizer core schematics lay where I'd left them, covered in my handwriting. The same designs Kael would steal and rebrand as Patriot Shield technology.

  My chronometer beeped. A reminder. SECTOR 7 FINAL TEST - 72 HOURS.

  Seventy-two hours until Kael murdered three hundred people and framed me for it.

  Seventy-two hours until he opened a controlled breach to prove his new technology worked.

  My fingers closed around a precision wrench. The metal was cold. Solid. Real.

  Three days.

  Three days to save my team. To expose Kael. To stop the breach before it opened.

  My reflection stared back from a dark screen. Pale. Shaking. Alive.

  I didn't feel alive. I felt like a ghost haunting my own life.

  The door chime sounded.

  I opened it. Marcus stood there, two coffee cups in his hands. Alive. Unharmed. Unknowing.

  "Morning, boss." He offered a cup. "Ready for the pre-test briefing?"

  I took the coffee. My hand was steady now. The tremor only lived in my chest.

  "Change of plans, Marcus." My voice came out flat. Calm. "Gather the team. We're running a full diagnostic on the failsafes. Today."

  He blinked. "The test is in three days. Everything's already certified."

  "Everything's wrong." I met his eyes. "Trust me."

  Something in my tone made him pause. He studied my face for a long moment, then nodded slowly.

  "Okay. I'll round everyone up."

  He turned and walked down the hall. I watched him go. Alive. Breathing.

  I closed the door and leaned against it. The coffee burned my palm. I didn't move.

  Three days.

  I finished the coffee in one long swallow. The bitterness matched the taste in my mouth. I set the cup down and picked up my tool belt. The weight was familiar. Comforting.

  Okay, Kael. Let's see how your hero story holds up when the villain knows the script.

  I stepped into the hallway.

  The countdown had begun.