The tunnel stretched like a decaying artery beneath New York, damp with decades of secrets. Raven walked in silence, each step drowned out by the flow of stagnant water beneath her boots. Pipes groaned softly in the distance, as heat was released from them around her.
Then she saw it.
A faded symbol, painted low on the wall in cracked white paint. A lighthouse, simple and unmistakable, its beam rendered as a circle. Raven stopped.
Found it.
She reached into her System Space and pulled out a black tactical flashlight. With a flick of her thumb she turned it on, the light cutting through the tunnels darkness. She aimed it directly at the circular light image.
On. Pause. Off. Three seconds.
On again. Five seconds.
Off for six.
On.
Repeat.
Once the second sequence ended, she lowered the light and waited.
A low mechanical click echoed through the bricks beside her. Then came the slow groan of old stone grinding back. The wall to her left parted—section by section—revealing a narrow passage lined with old red brick.
A photo-reactive sensor. Simple, precise, secure. Light House technology.
She stepped inside without hesitation. As her boots cleared the threshold, the stone wall began to slide shut behind her, resesealing the entrance with a dull thud.
Raven looked ahead and said, "Thank God Light House has these entrances all over the city."
Her voice echoed faintly through the concrete tunnel. "The apocalypse will just force their existence into the public eye they have existed in the shadows of society for decades. "
Raven paused. Her breath fogging briefly in front of her in the stale air.
"There will still be kids who don't survive. Some of them…" Her eyes narrowed. "Some won't come back as people but things far worse.
The thought lingered like mold in her lungs. But there was no use dwelling on it. Pity doesn't shape futures.
She moved forward.
The passage curved sharply, leading to a service room buried beneath NYU's Mechanical Engineering R&D wing. She reached the base of a vertical shaft and grabbed a metal ladder that led to the surface.
Up she climbed, each movement smooth and controlled. At the top, her hand found a sealed hatch, thick with dust. Raven pushed upward, the lid groanned slightly before it gave way.
She hauled herself through and stood up in the darkness.
The air smelled of rust and cellulose. Raven waved away a hanging curtain of cobwebs above her head.
She was in a sealed utility storeroom—untouched since the Eisenhower administration. The dust was piled thick across rusted shelves, and forgotten wooden crates crowded the corners. Paper labels had yellowed into unreadable chicken scratch. Somewhere near the back, an old boiler loomed like a sleeping iron giant.
Raven turned towards the door. But there wasn't one.
Or rather there was. It was behind the outside wall, sealed behind a layer of vintage floral wallpaper, now faded and peeling.
She took two steps back and rammed it with her shoulder.
The impact cracked the rotting frame and door as it burst open into a silent hallway. Paint flakes and a strip of torn wallpaper fell to the floor.
Rave stepped into the corridor and scanned her surroundings. The lights were dimmed, motion sensors long disarmed. Echoes didn't travel far here so there was no need to worry about noise.
"Perfect timing," she said quietly. "Nobody's watching."
COVID had locked down the entire NYU campus. No students. No faculty. No janitors wandering past doors. Maybe a security guard or two in another building, if they hadn't decided to take the day off. The state mandate closed everything indefinitely. Even the rats looked bored in the corner and they love being alone.
The silence wasn't unnerving. It was bliss for her but maybe not that massive rat she just walked by.
Raven made her way towards the main lab corridor, stopping briefly at the heavy security door marked ME-R&D.
The keypad still glowed green, waiting for an ID.
Raven knelt beside it, pulled a screwdriver from her system space, and jacked into the port hidden beneath the panel.
Lines of code ran across her phone as she said, "Still using firmware from 2018. How generous."
A soft chime sounded. The lock disengaged.
She pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The lab had everything she wants.
Rows of advanced equipment stood gleaming in the low light like an altar to human ingenuity. Laser cutters, including an Epilog Fusion Pro model, dominating one corner, its casing immaculate. Nearby, two Markforged X7 printers sat beside a Stratasys F370, idle but powered. CNC milling benches and precision metal lathes lined the back wall. Hydraulic and pneumatic test platforms stood prepped with full gas canisters. And in the center, under a glass ceiling, waited a robotic prototyping arm still labeled with calibration stickers.
Raven stood still for a moment.
Then she exhaled.
This was it.
The heart of NYU's mechanical engineering department sealed and waiting for someone bold or insane enough to take it all.
Her fingers twitched slightly with anticipation to steal everything.
But she didn't move yet.
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