Interstellar: Return of the Villain
Chapter 228: Fixing 035?

Chapter 228: Fixing 035?

Ryan’s instincts were on point. Barely half an hour after the explosion, orders hit the Special Forces with urgency: "Secure the area. Eliminate all threats."

Simple words, but everyone knew that if Special Forces were being called in, the higher-ups were seriously worried. When the team got the details, an icy dread settled over them.

Whoever blew up the High-Confidential Room wasn’t just bold—they were lethal. Word was, they hadn’t even found a full body among the patrol guards who had chased the attacker down into the sewers.

The scene left little doubt: this enemy didn’t play games.

At the facility, the team met up with the director, a man looking beyond drained. His brow furrowed with frustration as he angrily polished his glasses. "The target blew up the building to cover their tracks," he muttered. "Probably to hide whatever files they accessed. Tech’s working overtime to recover anything related to Administrator 035. Your mission is to clear the site and find any disruptors."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "A disruptor? What exactly is that?"

The director sighed, clearly irritated. "To control 035 remotely, the attacker would need a medium—something to act as a disruptor. Without that, the entire thing would’ve been impossible."

A chill ran through Ryan. ’A medium? Wasn’t I the last one near 035 before the blast?’

As if reading his thoughts, the director added, "And, sir, since you were the last person in contact with 035, you’ll need to be investigated as well."

Ryan exhaled. He’d seen it coming. He cast a sidelong glance at Lyra, whose expression remained unreadable. With a resigned nod, he headed off with the facility’s team, leaving his squad under Lyra’s command to examine the site.

As the squad moved through the rubble, faint sounds of sobbing broke the silence.

Nearby, a line of bodies lay beneath black tarps—patrol officers lost in the attack.

Young patrolmen huddled together, their crisp uniforms standing out against the bleakness of the scene. Tears filled their red-rimmed eyes.

"Our leader was level nine... and now he’s just gone..." one of them muttered, bitterness in his voice.

"We never should’ve sent them after that monster," another choked out, barely processing the sudden loss.

Half an hour ago, they’d been laughing, planning where to grab drinks after the shift. Now, thanks to that brutal attacker, they were left to mourn instead.

The sight cut deep for the newer Special Forces members. But the newly appointed Lyra barely flinched, her voice cold as she urged them to focus. "Don’t stare. You’ll get used to it soon enough."

In Special Forces, loss was as common as the bread served daily in the cafeteria.

Lyra took charge of Squad No. 7 with a calm authority that set the tone.

Marty, one of the seasoned members, tried to reassure the rookies. "Disruptors come in all kinds," he explained. "If surveillance missed it, then it’s probably got anti-surveillance tech. Could even be invisible."

As he spoke, he noticed Lyra subtly waved a hand at empty air, as if fighting off another of her coughing fits. Only, this wasn’t random—an invisible disruptor now rested beneath her skin, ready to be smuggled out without a trace. The setup was flawless.

Ryan returned from questioning without a hint of distress. He couldn’t help being struck by Lyra’s calm. She’d blown up the place and come back to the scene like nothing happened, her nerves seemingly unbreakable.

The squad scoured the area for hours, but no disruptor showed up. The documents were incinerated beyond recognition, and recovering 035’s data seemed like their last hope of catching the mastermind.

Caught in the tension, Ryan wasn’t sure if Lyra intended to fully destroy 035. Just in case, he’d made sure she had a chance to get close to it again. After all, he wasn’t about to get caught up in her plans.

"Squad No. 7, guard the tech center," he ordered, his gaze locking with Lyra’s as she walked by. His tone was quiet, but layered with meaning. "Be careful."

No way was he going down with her.

Lyra simply nodded, unfazed. "Yes, sir."

That afternoon, Ryan kept a close watch on Lyra from a distance, growing more anxious with every passing minute.

She wasn’t making any moves, though, and it was driving him crazy. ’Am I wrong about her?’

Despite his gut feeling, Ryan was starting to second-guess himself. Still, based on everything he’d seen and sensed, he was almost sure the disruptor had been smuggled in through him.

Eventually, his patience ran out.

Clenching his jaw, he made his way straight to the tech center.

"Sir, what are you doing here?" Lyra looked up, mildly surprised as he approached.

Ryan felt a tension headache building just looking at her. "What exactly are you doing here?" He kept his voice low and leaned closer, glancing around the room to make sure they weren’t overheard.

Then he gave a subtle nod, signaling her that this was her chance.

But Lyra remained cool, expression unreadable. "I’m on watch, just as you ordered. You don’t need to worry."

Exasperated, Ryan tried stepping inside, but she quickly blocked him. "The Tech’s head’s orders were clear—no outsiders allowed."

"Fine, keep up the good work," he muttered, eyeing her one last time. ’How can she stay so calm?’

Meanwhile, in the surveillance room, the facility director watched the monitors, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. His brow was deeply furrowed.

"It doesn’t look like he’s the one behind this," the Tech’s head said, scratching his head.

The director’s tone was flat. "He was the last to interact with 035. He’s our top suspect."

"But with his skill level, he couldn’t have taken down the entire patrol squad," the Tech’s head countered.

The director rubbed his temples. "Still, he’s the one who brought the disruptor in and made sure to get close to the 035 wreckage. That makes him a prime suspect."

A heavy silence filled the surveillance room. After a long pause, the director asked, "No progress on restoring 035’s data?"

The tech team exchanged glances, looking uncomfortable. "The storage was too damaged in the blast. There’s nothing we can recover."

They had hoped their sting operation would draw the real culprit out, but so far, the bait hadn’t worked.

The director sighed, his face weary, then gave a determined order: "Find that disruptor."

He knew nobody would escape scrutiny after this disaster. However, as the head of a facility that had guarded the Alliance’s secrets for years without issue, he wouldn’t rest until the culprit was found.

Soon, one of the Special Forces members finally located the "disruptor". As suspected, it was equipped with anti-surveillance and invisibility features. The bad news? It was trashed beyond repair, the data storage fried.

"Destroyed? But wasn’t the point to steal information?" one of the tech staff shouted, frustrated. "With all the security measures in place, any data transmission would’ve been impossible from here. So why didn’t the attacker retrieve it?"

"Maybe they weren’t after the data at all," someone suggested, "maybe this was all just about causing chaos."

"That makes no sense," another staffer snapped back. "If they only wanted chaos, why even bother using 035? Blowing up the room alone would’ve been simpler."

While the tech team argued, the Special Forces had wrapped up their security sweeps and were preparing to turn the scene over to the investigation team.

The director listened to the tech team’s analysis, his gaze locked on the wreckage outside.

Then, something clicked. His eyes widened, and he grabbed the nearest tech officer’s arm. "Hold on—what if that disruptor was just a decoy? What if the attacker is still here?"

Just as the Special Forces were about to leave, the tech team rushed over, lugging new detection gear.

"Wait!" the Tech’s head called out, halting the exit. "We’re doing a full scan—everyone needs to be checked before leaving."

Ryan’s pulse quickened. Knowing he was hiding something, he fought to keep his expression calm and even encouraging, nodding along.

"Good call," he said, making sure his voice sounded steady.

He organized the team into a line for scanning, one by one.

Meanwhile, the Tech’s head’s eyes lingered on Ryan, silently wondering, ’Could he really be innocent, or is he just that good at playing it cool?’

"Why don’t you go first, sir?" the tech director suggested to Ryan, his tone laced with barely concealed suspicion.

Ryan’s heart skipped a beat. They still didn’t trust him!

He shot a quick glance at Lyra, who stood in line with a perfectly neutral expression. Strangely, a sense of calm settled over him too.

If Lyra intended to frame him, she wasn’t about to escape cleanly herself.

With that thought steadying him, Ryan nodded and stepped forward, submitting to the inspection without complaint.

He even allowed them to examine his Space Button, watching as they went through every compartment.

When the check was over, he was cleared. He didn’t miss the flash of disappointment in the tech director’s eyes, which almost made him smirk.

It dawned on him then: Lyra had probably used him as a smokescreen, a convenient red herring to buy herself time and draw suspicion away from her own movements. Clever—infuriatingly so.

When Lyra’s turn came, Ryan kept his gaze fixed on her, looking for any hint of wrongdoing. Yet the inspection was swift and uneventful, and she too was cleared.

The Special Forces team finally filed out of the facility.

Outside, he caught a glimpse of Lyra subtly waving a finger, seemingly to empty air. A tiny nick formed on her fingertip, disappearing as fast as it had appeared.

Ryan made a point not to ask—better to maintain some distance. Still, his suspicions toward her only deepened.

All around them, rumors about the explosion spread like flood, sparking heated debates.

"Seriously? The Alliance let one of their top facilities get bombed?"

"Bet someone’s about to leak those files. Can’t wait to see what comes out!"

"Probably an Empire spy. Has to be, right?"

While the public speculated, the true culprit returned calmly to the base, blending right back into military life with her usual polished uniform and unshakable composure.

Once alone, Lyra didn’t waste a second. She connected the disruptor to an offline opticomputer, hidden away from any network prying eyes.