In all the chaos, Lucian moved Evelyn down from the stage, her fingers tightening around his hand as he led her toward the side exit.

"What happened!? What the hell happened!?"

Behind them, Nolan kept shouting in a panicked voice. His personal guards immediately surrounded him. They pulled him away from the desk, using their own bodies to form a wall around him.

Lucian completely ignored them. Nolan was good or whatever, but at this moment, he only cared about Evelyn.

"Let’s move."

Alaric spoke as he appeared next to them. Lucian nodded.

"Route clear."

Sarah held the left-side door open, her eyes scanning past them.

"No residue."

Elise was standing a few steps farther inside the corridor.

That was when Clara’s voice came from the comm.

[Audience is evacuating through public exits, studio feed cut, building’s emergency systems are active.]

"Do we know the cause of the fire?"

Alaric asked.

Knowing the cause could shed light on whether it was only an accident or something planned.

[We do not know yet.]

Clara shook her head.

People were busy with evacuation, the other teams had just arrived.

"Then we assume it’s a planned attack."

Alaric ordered. The rest of the team nodded.

They moved quickly through the first corridor. Lucian tried to focus on his senses, but there was too much chaos. Plus, with the alarm ringing constantly, it was meddling with his focus, forcing him to keep his range smaller.

"Wait! Wait! Don’t leave me!"

That was when Lucian and the others heard a voice.

It was Nolan.

He and his guards had entered the same corridor.

"Don’t stop."

Lucian spoke with a solemn look on his face.

The corridor led to the exit, so it was normal for Nolan to follow them. Still, Lucian kept a safe distance. Honestly, it was actually safer for Nolan to be away from them, though the Anchor didn’t seem to realise it.

"Take the left."

Lucian spoke.

This was Evelyn’s escape route, something he had already discussed and signed with the venue. Nolan was supposed to take escape route two, which was to the right.

But—

"No!"

When one of his guards tried to pull him to his route, Nolan resisted strongly. He looked at Evelyn, then at the people around her, and he could see it clearly—

Her security was better than his.

If he stuck with her, he would be safer.

"Follow them! We will follow them!"

He snapped at his guards, and those words made Lucian narrow his eyes for a moment.

"No."

He spoke as he stared right at Nolan.

"What do you mean no!?"

Nolan snapped.

"Your route is right.

Take it.

We signed a dea—"

Lucian ordered.

"You think I care about a deal!? This is MY venue! I will move wherever I want."

Nolan shouted.

Lucian’s violet eyes shone at those words. That was when Alaric stepped forward.

"You are not going any farther than here."

The commander spoke, directly taking his sword out. Nolan’s guards acted the next instant, taking out their guns.

"We need to evacuate our client, please drop your weapon."

One of Nolan’s guards spoke with his gun pointed at Alaric.

Alaric’s gaze moved to the man.

"Then use your route."

"I am not dying because you want to follow some stupid plan! What’s going to happen anyway!? We can both escape from the same route!"

Nolan screamed.

The moment Alaric took out his sword did stump him, but the adrenaline in him was pushing him. And it made the situation a little difficult for Alaric.

Should he... just kill them?

That didn’t feel right.

"It is not a request."

Alaric threatened, trying to think of a way out of this situation without having to kill. Should they just... move with them?

That was too dangerous.

"Wherever she goes, I go!"

Nolan didn’t back down.

"Alright then, take this route."

Alaric sighed.

"Clara."

He spoke. Clara instantly understood what Alaric wanted.

Reroute.

[Take the right. There’s service corridor three there. It adds thirty more seconds to evacuation, but it is safe.]

Lucian nodded in understanding.

The group moved but—

"I said, where she goes, I go!"

Nolan shouted.

Now he wanted to take the right, abandoning the route he had previously fought for.

This... was a problem.

The other Enclave members could see it as well. They could see that Nolan truly was scared. This was why he wanted to be with Evelyn, thinking her security team was more capable than his.

It was a fairly logical plan considering the current situation.

A fairly... human plan.

And that’s what stumped them so much.

They couldn’t let him follow them, they couldn’t kill him, they couldn’t knock him unconscious, nor could they outpace him using supernatural speed—

All of it would raise too many questions.

So...

What were they supposed to do?

Lucian looked at Alaric’s hand, more specifically at the bracelet under his sleeve. He could tell that the commander had had enough. He was about to bind Nolan’s entire group, civilian or not.

But before that could happen—

"Back! This corridor is compromised!"

A shout was heard.

The group turned and saw a man in a fire safety jacket running towards them from the far end of the hall with an extinguisher in hand.

"Identify yourself!"

Sarah turned toward him.

The man did not answer quickly enough. Just then, another person appeared behind him, then another from a side door.

A technician in a gray uniform.

A woman with an emergency kit.

A man wearing a studio staff badge, face half-hidden by a mask.

They entered the hall from different points, all moving fast, all looking like people reacting to an emergency.

But Lucian—

The instant his eyes fell on them, his face turned solemn.

He didn’t recognise any of them.

None of the five matched the staff files he had reviewed.

"Commander."

Lucian called out with a serious look on his face. Alaric’s face had changed as well. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe all five of them had come at almost the same time.

Something was wrong, and Lucian’s face just confirmed that.

That was when it happened—

The five ’people’ who had just walked in, all panicking and screaming just a few moments ago—

They stopped, just a few meters away from Lucian’s group, and they smiled.

They were no longer pretending.