With Mika’s expert knowledge guiding them and the bomb squad’s exceptional technical skills executing his commands, the operation moved with breathtaking precision.
Step by step, wire by wire, component by component.
They worked their way through the intricate chanisms, through the fusion of mana and technology that should have taken days to understand, let alone disarm.
It didn’t take long to reach the final step.
But now—now everything ca down to a single mont.
One final move. One collective breath held by everyone involved.
Success ant everything went perfectly. They would all walk away alive, the bombs neutralized, the city saved.
Failure ant they all died on the spot. Vaporized. Erased from existence in a flash of light and heat.
It was a ga of probabilities, and the odds were terrifying.
And even though they were confident—Mika’s instructions had been flawless, their execution had been precise—the weight of what they were about to do pressed down on them like a physical force.
Sothing could still go wrong. Sothing always could.
Across all five sites, the bomb squad mbers felt it.
So pulled out their phones, calling their families one last ti.
"I love you." They said, their voices cracking. "I’ll be ho soon. I promise."
Others typed out wills on tablets, fingers trembling over the screens.
A few simply stared at photos of their loved ones—children, spouses, parents—morizing every detail as if seeing them for the last ti.
Then they looked at Mika.
They looked at him with trustful eyes with the unspoken plea that he would sohow pull them through.
He was their only hope. The only one who could save them.
Mika on the other hand focused on monitoring everything.
His eyes moved from screen to screen, cara to cara, taking in every detail—the position of every tool, the tension in every wire, the sweat on every brow.
He ran ntal calculations, cross-referencing data, simulating outcos.
Finally, after multiple confirmations, after ensuring there were no mistakes, he let out a small smile.
"Are you ready, guys?" His voice was calm. Almost gentle. "Ready for the final step? The dealbreaker? The mont that will decide all of your fates?"
Everyone tensed even more at his ominous words. The air grew thick with anticipation.
The lead task force commander, a grizzled veteran in his forties with scars on his hands and ghosts in his eyes, gritted his teeth.
"Yes, sir." He said, the word "sir" carrying a weight of respect that hadn’t been there before. "We’re all ready."
Around him, his team nodded. Their eyes were serious, focused, determined.
They had co this far. They wouldn’t falter now.
Mika felt a swell of admiration for these people—brave n and won willing to risk their lives to save others.
He didn’t know them personally, didn’t know their stories or their struggles. But he respected them.
He held up three fingers.
"On the count of three, I want every single one of you to perform the final action I described. Pull the wires, cut the cords, press the buttons—do it all at once. Ready?"
They nodded and imdiately...he lowered one finger.
"Three."
The atmosphere grew heavier. Nadia clenched her fists. Fauna held her breath, her wings twitching slightly.
Even the technicians in the command center stopped moving, frozen in anticipation.
"Two."
Another finger lowered. Sowhere in the distance, a dog barked. A car honked. The sounds of a city unaware of its own mortality.
"One."
Mika’s voice dropped to a whisper—but everyone heard it.
"...Do it."
Across five districts, hands moved in unison.
One group pulled out multiple wires simultaneously, the sparking ends carefully insulated to prevent any accidental connection.
Another pressed a sequence of buttons while the bomb trembled and shook, its internal chanisms fighting against the intrusion.
A third team burned through a set of cords, the acrid sll of lted insulation filling the air.
Every single team executed their final steps at the sa ti—a symphony of destruction prevented, orchestrated by a young man who had never defused a bomb before today.
And imdiately...everyone braced themselves.
So said silent prayers.
Others thought of their families—their children, their spouses, their parents.
A few simply closed their eyes and waited for the end that might never co.
Seconds ticked by.
Five seconds. Ten. Twenty.
But...nothing happened.
No explosion. No massive fireball consuming the sky. No shockwave to flatten buildings and claim lives.
When the team mbers slowly opened their eyes and turned to look at the bombs, they saw sothing they had dared only to dream of: the devices had gone still.
The ticking had stopped!
The humming had ceased!
The bombs were dead!
The silence lasted for one heartbeat. Two.
Then—pandemonium!
"WE DID IT!"
"WE FUCKING DID IT!"
"LET’S GO! LET’S FUCKING GO!"
Cheers erupted across all five sites.
So of the team mbers jumped up and down, pumping their fists in the air.
Others cried—great, heaving sobs of relief that ca from sowhere deep in their souls.
One man, overco with emotion, literally did backflips across the room, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"I lived! I fucking lived, bitch! I FUCKING LIVED!"
Papers flew through the air like confetti.
Technicians hugged each other.
Officers who had been maintaining a professional distance suddenly found themselves embracing, laughing, crying.
It was a festival of joy, a celebration of survival against impossible odds.
The bomb disposal experts themselves, the ones who had actually done the dismantling, collapsed to their knees.
Their bodies gave out, overwheld by the adrenaline crash and the sudden release of tension.
"I can’t even move." one of them said, his voice shaking. "My whole body is trembling."
"Sa." Another agreed, staring at his hands as they quivered uncontrollably. "I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared in my life."
One of the female team mbers, a brash woman with a no-nonsense attitude and a reputation for speaking her mind leaned against a wall, her chest heaving.
"I don’t think I’ll ever reach this level of excitent again." She announced. "No matter how many tis my husband fucks , it’s not gonna compare to this mont."
Her teammates stared at her. Then they turned to look at her husband, who stood nearby with his mouth hanging open.
Their expressions were a mixture of amusent and pity.
Then sothing even more unexpected happened.
The task force commander, a man who had spent decades facing death without flinching turned to face one of his subordinates.
His face was pale, his hands trembling. But his eyes were steady and filled with resolve
"Martha." He said, his voice cracking slightly. "I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry for delaying it for so long."
Everyone went quiet.
The commander reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box.
He opened it and to everyone’s shock—he revealed a diamond ring that caught the light and sparkled like a star!
"I’ve been planning this for quite a while now."
He continued, his words tumbling out in a rush.
"It’s been a year since I wanted to propose to you. But every single day, I lived in fear that sothing would happen to . That I would leave you devastated."
His voice cracked. "I was a coward. A damn coward. But now—"
He looked at the dead bomb behind him, then back at her.
"I don’t care anymore. Life is too short. And if I’m going to die soday, I want to die knowing that I asked you this question."
He took a shaky breath.
"Martha William Daniels, will you give the honor of spending the rest of my life with you? As your husband?"
The room erupted.
"SAY YES!"
"CO ON, MARTHA!"
"CAPTAIN, YOU CRAZY BASTARD—FINALLY!"
Martha stared at him, tears streaming down her face. This man—gruff, brave, impossibly stubborn was on his knees before her, trembling like a leaf, his eyes full of fear and hope and love.
"Yes." She whispered. Then, louder: "YES! YES, I WILL!"
She threw her arms around him, and he caught her, holding her tight. Their lips t, and around them, the entire team erupted into cheers and whistles.
"Yes, Captain! You finally did it, you bastard!"
"How long did you make her wait?!"
"About damn ti!"
People were crying again—happy tears this ti. The joy was infectious, spreading through the screens, through the command center, through everyone watching.
Even Fauna teared up, dabbing at her eyes with the sleeve of her coat.
"Beautiful." She murmured, sniffling. "So beautiful."
She then glanced at Mika, imagining just for a mont him on one knee before her.
A proposal. A ring. A future together.
Her heart fluttered, and she quickly shook the thought away. Wrong. So wrong. But the smile that crept onto her face couldn’t be denied.
Nadia also watched. Her eyes drifted down to her own hand. Her ring finger. Empty.
Won her age usually wore sothing there, a wedding band, an engagent ring, so symbol of commitnt.
But she was not like other won.
She was a Battle Angel. n who approached her didn’t see a woman; they saw power, authority, fear. They never looked at her with love in their eyes.
She had never felt anything for any man.
Except—
Her gaze drifted to Mika.
She caught herself and blushed—her emotionless face showing a rare flash of embarrassnt.
She slapped her own cheek lightly, scolding herself for such thoughts.
The celebration continued, the joy spreading like wildfire. People hugged. People cried. People laughed.
It was a mont of pure, unbridled relief—a reminder that even in the darkest tis, there was still room for happiness.
But then—everything changed.
A man burst into the command center, his face pale, his eyes wide with panic.
"Lady Nadia! It’s an ergency!"
Everyone turned to look at him. The joy died in their throats.
"We still haven’t been able to find the bomb!" He said, his voice cracking. "We’ve searched the entire property. Multiple tis! We’ve used the most advanced technology. We’ve brought in specially trained canines."
"But...nothing." He said in a desolate manner.
"No traces. No clues. It’s as if...It’s as if the bomb doesn’t exist at all!"
His subordinates, who had been in charge of the search, nodded grimly. Their faces were haunted, their shoulders slumped.
The festive mood evaporated. In its place, a cold dread settled over everyone.
The task force commander, still holding his fiancée’s hand, turned to the man.
"Is it possible..." He said slowly. "...that the bomb isn’t here? That it’s sowhere else entirely?"
The question hung in the air like a death sentence.
If the bomb was sowhere else, sowhere far away, sowhere they couldn’t reach—then everything was lost.
The five bombs they had dismantled would an nothing. Hundreds of thousands of lives would still be at risk. And there were only minutes left.
"We’re not going to make it." Soone whispered. "We’re not going to—"
"Stop."
Mika’s voice cut through the panic like a blade.
He walked forward, his expression calm, his eyes sharp.
"The bomb is definitely here."
The search leader shook his head, frustration bleeding into his voice.
"But we searched everywhere! Every room, every closet, every corner. We scanned the grounds, the parking lot, even the surrounding streets."
"There’s nothing—"
Mika held up a hand.
"Then we’re not looking in the right way."
He turned to Nadia.
"Take around the hospital. I need to see it for myself."
Nadia stepped forward, ready to grab him—
"No!"
Fauna slipped out of Mika’s embrace, her eyes bright.
"Let do it, Nadia."
Before anyone could react, a pair of beautiful angel wings sprouted from her back, shimring, ethereal, impossibly white.
She then grabbed Mika from behind and launched into the air.
Whoosh!
They shot through the hospital like a missile—through corridors, around corners, up stairwells, across floors.
Fauna flew with breathtaking speed, her wings barely grazing the walls, her body weaving through obstacles with inhuman grace.
Mika scanned everything—every wall, every floor, every ceiling. His eyes moved faster than humanly possible, cataloging, analyzing, searching.
anwhile, Nadia watched them disappear, her mouth hanging open.
She had been about to take Mika. She had been ready. But Fauna had stolen the opportunity right out from under her.
Her eye twitched. Her jaw tightened.
She knew she was acting irrationally. She knew that this wasn’t the ti for jealousy.
But she couldn’t help it. The thought of Fauna being the one to fly with Mika, to hold him close, to share that mont of intimacy...
She shook her head and followed.
The search took longer than expected.
Mika and Fauna zipped through the hospital while Nadia trailed behind, her frustration growing with every passing second.
The command center watched through the caras, their hopes dimming with each empty room.
Finally, they returned.
The search leader stepped forward, his face lined with worry.
"Lady Nadia, have you found anything? Do you know where the bomb is?"
Nadia turned to Mika.
He had a pensive look on his face—eyes slightly narrowed, lips pressed together, clearly deep in thought.
She had seen that expression before. It was the look he wore when he was working through a problem, turning it over in his mind, examining it from every angle.
It basically ant...he hadn’t found it.
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