Chapter 56 - Resurfacing the Deadbeat
Thirty minutes later, the high-speed transit lift of the Genesis Spire slammed into its docking bay.
Aurelius Miller stepped onto the metal platform, his ebony cane tapping rhythmically against the steel grate. Behind him, two hulking guards dragged Álvaro Miller like a sack of trash, tossing him onto the floor at the feet of the twins.
Álvaro lifted his battered head, his eyes widening in a mixture of shame, disbelief, and primal terror as he saw his two ten-year-old sons standing tall, composed, and completely unfazed in the heart of the world's most guarded abyssal fortress.
"M-Mateo... Marcos..." Álvaro stammered, coughing up blood. "You... you have to help me. I'm your father! Blood means something! We are family!"
Mateo didn't even cast his gaze down at the broken man. "When we stood in the auditing hall with the blue folder, you called us gutter rats. You told the security guards to throw us into the street."
"I was stressed! I was cornered!" Álvaro cried, reaching out with a trembling hand toward Marcos’s shoe. "Your grandfather—he’s insane! He’s going to kill us all! He doesn't care about family! He only cares about the Genesis Core!"
"Silence the dog," Aurelius commanded coldly. A guard slammed the butt of a rifle into Álvaro’s back, driving the deadbeat father flat onto his face with a pathetic whimper.
Aurelius walked past his son as if he were nothing more than a stain on the floor. He stopped three paces from the twins, admiring their unblinking resolve.
"He is right about one thing," Aurelius said softly. "The Genesis Core demands absolute obedience. Look around you, boys. The Spire is drawing power from the Earth's mantle. In less than twenty minutes, the alignment will be irreversible. Insert the final cipher from Elena’s blue folder into the terminal, or watch me execute your pathetic father before I extract the encryption from your brains by force."
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Mateo tilted his head slightly. "You think you can force our minds?"
"I have neuro-extraction technology that makes Cassian's synthetic cores look like toys," Aurelius replied, his smile widening into a terrifying rictus of absolute power. "Do not test me, children."
