The base did not erupt.
It sealed.
Sirens never sounded.
Instead, doors closed softly.
Networks segmented.
Feeds rerouted.
Every action deliberate.
Practiced.
This was not panic.
This was doctrine.
Li Chen was led into a room with no markings.
No mirrors.
No restraints.
Just a table.
Three chairs.
And walls thick enough to forget the outside world.
Grant was stopped at the threshold.
"Temporary separation," a voice said.
Grant stepped forward.
"Permanent mistakes start that way."
The door closed anyway.
Inside, Li Chen sat alone.
Hands folded.
Breathing even.
The System spoke first.
[SYSTEM PHASE II — DAMAGE CONTROL ACTIVE]
[Narrative containment priority: MAXIMUM]
[User risk elevated]
Li Chen nodded once.
"I know."
Screens flickered on.
Faces appeared.
Uniforms.
Civilian suits.
No names.
No ranks.
Just authority.
"What you did was observed," a voice said.
"Yes."
"Do you deny violating protocol?"
"No."
The admission disrupted their rhythm.
"Explain," another demanded.
Li Chen considered his answer.
"I prevented a fatality."
"That is not an explanation."
"It is the only one that matters."
Silence.
Data scrolled.
Footage replayed from twelve angles.
Slowed.
Enhanced.
Paused on the impossible moment.
"Do you understand the implications?"
"Yes."
"State them."
Li Chen did not hesitate.
"I can no longer be plausibly classified as human-normal."
A murmur rippled.
Outside the room, Grant argued into a secure line.
"You're not interrogating a weapon," he said. "You're interrogating intent."
No one answered.
The System updated again.
[SYSTEM PHASE II — ETHICAL CONFLICT]
[Directive clash detected]
[Preserve user autonomy vs. preserve global stability]
Li Chen felt the weight of it.
Not as pressure.
As responsibility.
"Would you do it again?" a voice asked.
"Yes."
Immediate.
Unequivocal.
The feeds cut.
Decision-making moved elsewhere.
Far above.
Behind closed doors.
Hours passed.
Or minutes.
Time blurred in isolation.
Li Chen remained still.
The door finally opened.
The woman from the facility entered.
Her expression was not hostile.
It was careful.
"They're invoking emergency classification," she said.
Li Chen looked up.
"And Grant?"
She hesitated.
"He's fighting it."
The System spoke softly.
[SYSTEM PHASE II — USER QUERY]
[If ordered to comply against ethical preference—]
[—will you resist?]
Li Chen closed his eyes.
For the first time, the answer was not immediate.
Outside, helicopters lifted without lights.
Satellites realigned.
Files duplicated across continents.
The story was already escaping.
Li Chen opened his eyes.
"Yes," he said quietly.
The System acknowledged.
[SYSTEM PHASE II — RESOLUTION]
[Contingency protocols prepared]
Lockdown held.
For now.
But containment was no longer about walls.
It was about choices.
And the world had begun to ask the wrong ones.