The first rays of sunlight struggled through the grime-coated windows of the warehouse, casting a pale, flickering glow on the weary faces inside. Dust floated through the air like falling ash, settling gently over scattered papers and empty coffee cups.
They hadn't slept.
Not after what they learned the night before.
Alex slumped on a crate, nursing a cold soda as his eyes darted between Gaurav's laptop screen and Lyra's rapidly typing fingers. Brad leaned against a support beam, his hoodie pulled low over his head. He hadn't spoken in a while — just listening, watching.
Lyra finally spoke. "The Mars Project wasn't the goal. It was the distraction."
Alex blinked. "What do you mean?"
She tapped her screen, showing a satellite diagram. "The meteor was always coming. But the timing changed. It's been accelerating. Someone… or something… is guiding it."
Brad snorted. "That's impossible."
"No," Gaurav muttered. "It's worse than impossible. It's deliberate."
A sudden buzz shook the warehouse. All eyes turned to the laptop.
New Message ReceivedFROM: RavenSUBJECT: Meet me at the pier — midnight. Alone.
The room fell into silence.
Alex glanced at Lyra. "She's real?"
Lyra nodded slowly. "She's watching us now."
Brad gritted his teeth. "It's a trap."
"No," Lyra said. "It's a test. Go alone — or she disappears forever."
Alex sighed. "Alright. Midnight."
—
Meanwhile: Somewhere Else
High above the Earth, the sun pulsed — not visibly, but in radiation. A monstrous burst of solar energy, a coronal mass ejection, flared out into space, lashing toward the planet like a solar whip.
It arrived without warning.
In seconds, the skies above Earth rippled with unseen fury. Satellites blinked out. Planes lost navigation. Traffic lights died mid-pattern. Every major city on the planet — New York, Tokyo, Delhi, Moscow — went dark. Power grids overloaded. Generators sparked and smoked.
Hospitals lost power. Banks froze. News channels dropped into static.
Earth plunged into chaos.
The sky over the city darkened strangely, not with clouds — but with silence.
—
Gaurav's Apartment
Gaurav jolted upright as his monitor died. He tried the light switch. Nothing. He grabbed his phone — black screen. No signal. No bars. No Wi-Fi.
Only one thing could do this: a solar flare of extinction-level strength.
And someone knew.
He rushed to his drawer, pulled out a weathered USB drive labeled "Project S.O.L." — something he wasn't supposed to have. He shoved it into his backup laptop, one that ran offline.
The files confirmed his worst fear: the solar flare was predicted — by OMNI, by Verma, by the Syndicate. And the world hadn't been warned.
But the government?
They were prepared. Their bunkers were shielded. Their systems disconnected. They watched from the dark, safe.
Bastards.
Heart pounding, Gaurav grabbed his coat and ran.
—
Alex & Brad's Apartment – Balcony
Smoke curled into the early morning air as Alex and Brad shared a cigarette, eyes scanning the oddly quiet skyline. No car horns. No chatter. No power.
"Something's wrong," Brad muttered.
Alex nodded. "Feels… off."
A loud banging on the door broke their moment.
Gaurav burst in, breathless, sweat streaking his face. "Solar flare," he gasped. "Everything's fried. The government knew— they let it happen."
Brad stood stunned. "You're sure?"
Gaurav nodded. "They're moving pieces in the dark. Verma warned me again. And OMNI's been shielding their tech for months."
Alex dropped his cigarette, crushed it under his boot. "Then we're already at war."
Just then, Lyra's voice echoed from inside. "Power's gone. We're on backup solar cells only. If Raven still wants to meet — we better get moving before the whole city collapses."
The sun had risen. But its light had never felt darker.