The silence that followed was deafening.
Then the chaos resud, worse than before.
"We can’t wait anymore!" A squad leader shouted, his face reddening beneath his visor. "There’s barely any ti left!"
"Every second we delay is a second we could be working!" Another added. "We have to initiate sothing—anything—right now!"
"Our teams are ready, Lady Nadia! We have theories, we have protocols—give us the order and we’ll try!"
Their voices overlapped again, each one more desperate than the last. They threw out technical explanations proposals, ideas that might work but might also trigger the bombs.
The longer they talked, the more frantic they beca.
But Nadia shook her head.
"No."
The single word cut through the noise like a blade.
"We wait." She turned to face the main display, her expression hardening. "There’s no need for any of you to do anything right now. Not a single thing."
One of the squad leaders opened his mouth to protest.
But Nadia fixed him with a stare that was cold, empty, absolute.
"One single mistake..." She said, her voice dropping to barely a whisper. "...could cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people."
"Are you willing to take such a risk?"
The man’s mouth snapped shut.
She let her gaze sweep across the screens, eting each squad leader’s eyes in turn.
"Are any of you willing to take that risk?"
No one spoke. No one moved. The weight of her words pressed down on them, heavier than any explosive.
These were brave n and won. They would gladly sacrifice their own lives for the greater good—they had signed up for that the day they joined the bomb squad.
But if they made a mistake, it wouldn’t just be their lives lost.
Countless innocents would die. Families would be erased. Entire districts would beco craters.
That was a burden none of them dared to shoulder.
The lead squad leader stepped closer to his cara. His voice, when he spoke, was calr now. Resigned.
"Lady Nadia..." He hesitated. "We’re willing to wait. We trust your judgnt. But..."
He swallowed. "What exactly are we waiting for?"
Hearing this, a small, smug smile tugged at the corner of Nadia’s lips like she was waiting for him to ask
She was about to sing Mika’s praises.
To tell them how he was the most brilliant mind she had ever known, how he could accomplish what no one else could, and how, with him by her side, they had nothing to fear.
She turned toward him, ready to introduce her son with all the pride of a mother who had raised soone extraordinary.
But the mont she looked at him, her smile froze.
Instead of studying the tablet with intense focus like she had expected, Mika was casually holding Fauna one hand while his other arm was wrapped around the waist of a pretty young doctor in a white coat and glasses.
He was leaning in close, murmuring sothing that made the woman blush furiously and gently try to push him away.
Nadia’s proud expression shattered into pure disbelief, then irritation. The warm words she had prepared died in her throat.
Introducing him now would make her look like a delusional mother.
Instead, she called out in a low tone,
"Mika..."
Her voice was cold. Low. Barely above a whisper.
But everyone in the command center heard it.
The technicians froze mid-keystroke. The officers standing at attention flinched.
Even the bomb squad leaders on the monitors shrank back slightly, as if they could feel the chill of her tone through the speakers.
The young doctor, who was of course Cecilia—who ended up being snatched up by Mika when she ca over also saw Nadia’s expression, and imdiately stepped back from Mika, her face pale.
She practically jumped away, retreating to a safe distance.
Seeing her run away, Mika’s face fell. He looked genuinely disappointed, like a child who had just been told playti was over.
He then sighed, straightened his collar, and walked over to Nadia.
"Fine, fine." He said, raising his hands in mock surrender. "There’s no need to get so angry, Nadia. I’ve already gone through everything I needed to."
"I know what to do."
Fauna, still clinging to Mika’s arm, nodded vigorously.
"Yes, Nadia! There’s no need to use such a harsh tone. My poor disciple got so scared she ran away." She pouted at her sister. "Are you trying to make everyone here cry with that scary face of yours?"
Nadia felt heat rise to her cheeks. She was embarrassed—not just at losing her composure, but at the reason for it.
Why had she reacted so strongly?
Why did the sight of Mika flirting with another woman bother her so much?
She pushed the thought aside.
"The solution you’ve been asking for..."
She said, her voice returning to its usual calm.
"...is right here."
She grabbed Mika’s arm and pulled him forward, positioning him in front of the main display.
"He’ll be the one guiding all of you on how to dismantle the bombs."
The bomb squad leaders stared in disbelief.
They had expected Nadia to have a plan, a detailed, ticulously crafted strategy that she would deliver with her trademark precision.
Or perhaps she had brought in a specialist, so legendary operative from her military days, soone with decades of experience.
Instead, they were looking at a boy who barely looked old enough to drink.
A boy who, monts ago, had been flirting with a doctor while a Battle Angel clung to his arm like a lovesick puppy.
The protests erupted imdiately.
"What are you talking about, Lady Nadia! He’s just a kid! What is he, eighteen? Nineteen?"
"We need experts, not so—so high school dropout!"
"Look at him! That smug grin, those perfect looks—he’s obviously a playboy! Probably charms his way into fancy parties, not defuses bombs!"
"Lady Nadia, please! So many lives are at stake—we can’t just throw it all on this...this male model!"
"And he’s got the Plague Maiden draped all over him like a trophy! This can’t be right—it’s gotta be a joke!"
The voices overlapped, each one more incredulous than the last. The squad leaders shook their heads, their expressions a mixture of disbelief and frustration.
Around the command center, other personnel exchanged uneasy glances.
They too had seen how Mika had been acting—flirting, joking, treating the situation like a casual outing.
They felt jealous, irritated, even resentful.
After all, not only was he embracing a Battle Angel like Fauna, soone everyone dread of being held by, but he wasn’t satisfied with that. He was also chasing after pretty doctors.
And now he had Nadia’s trust, too, for so inexplicable reason.
They wanted him to just get lost.
Nadia looked at the screens. Her expression was calm. Unreadable. Before—
"All of you...do you trust ?"
She said, her voice carrying across the room.
The commanders hesitated. They exchanged glances.
Finally, the leader nodded. "Of course, Lady Nadia. We trust you wholeheartedly."
Others echoed the sentint. She was the reason they were alive—the reason anyone was alive.
Without her, the war would still be raging, the Eternal Queen’s shadow still covering the world.
If there was anyone they would follow without question, it was her.
"If you trust ..."
Nadia placed a hand on Mika’s shoulder.
"...then trust him as well."
She looked out at the screens, at the doubtful faces of the bomb squad leaders.
"He may seem young. He may seem inexperienced."
She glanced at Mika, who raised an eyebrow. "He may even look like a womanizer. No, he definitely is—"
"Hey—"
"But he’s also soone I trust with my life."
The area went quiet.
"I’ve seen him accomplish things that would seem impossible to anyone else."
Nadia continued with promise.
I’ve watched him solve problems that stumped experts. And I know that if you follow his instructions, we will get through this without losing a single life."
The squad leaders hesitated. They looked at Mika—at his casual posture, his easy smile, the way he was still pulling on Fauna’s cheek like they were at a picnic instead of a crisis.
But they also looked at Nadia. And they saw sothing in her eyes that they had never seen before.
Faith.
Not the faith of a commander in her subordinate, or a general in her soldiers. Sothing deeper. Sothing personal.
Finally, the lead commander nodded slowly.
"Okay, Lady Nadia." He straightened. "We’ll follow your lead."
He then glanced at Mika. "Your na lad?"
Mika stepped forward, his expression changing.
The playfulness was gone.
In its place was sothing else, a commanding presence that made the squad leaders straighten unconsciously.
"Mika." He said simply. "My na is Mika."
He looked at the screens, at the faces of the n and won who would be risking their lives to follow his instructions before solemnly saying,
"As long as you do exactly what I say, word for word, without hesitation, without improvising, we will get through this."
"No one will die. No bombs will detonate."
His gaze hardened.
"But to do that, you have to listen to . If you hesitate, even for a second, everything falls apart."
"Basically if I tell you to cut a wire, you cut it. If I tell you to wait, you wait. The mont you doubt —even for a second—everything falls apart."
He let the words sink in.
"So I need to know: do you trust ? Not because Nadia told you to. Not because you’re afraid of what will happen if you don’t."
"But because you believe I can do this."
The squad leaders stared at him.
Sothing had changed. This wasn’t the carefree playboy who had been flirting with doctors monts ago.
This was soone else, soone with presence, with authority, with the kind of confidence that made you want to follow him into fire.
The lead commander nodded.
"Of course, Mika. We’ll follow your lead."
The others murmured their agreent.
Nadia watched, a swell of pride rising in her chest.
It had taken him only a few words, a single mont to take command of the entire situation.
That was her son.
And she couldn’t have been prouder.
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