The resonance stabilizer continued to hum steadily in the corner of the medical room, its glow subtle now, integrated with the pulse of the House around it. Darling remained near the foot of the bed, watching the display scroll calmly across the tether readout. Every value was within range. Susanna was steady. Safe.
And Trench? Trench was already moving.
"Salvador," he said into the comm clipped to his coat. "I want updated sweep reports from all four affected sectors, particularly the lower Maintenance wings. If the entity left any trace behind, we find it."
Darling turned toward him, eyes wide with a flicker of confusion. "Director, she's okay. The stabilizer's holding. You can breathe."
Trench looked at him for a long moment. Then nodded.
"I know. And thank you," he said, though the words came out rushed, like he hadn't had time to fully feel them. "But this isn't over."
Kate glanced up from her daughter's bedside. "Zach, we just got her back. You don't have to—"
"Yes," Trench interrupted, gently but firmly. "I do."
He turned back to Darling. "You said it yourself—this resonance, this thing, whatever it is—it didn't just target her. It was trying to seed itself through the House. Through our people. Maybe through the House itself. Susanna's just the first one who showed it. After…" Trench didn't want to finish the thought that whatever it was, it had hitched a ride on him that one night.
Darling sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "We only disrupted one tether. The one tied to her. If it used her as a conduit... there may be others. Residual channels. Weak spots."
"Exactly," Trench said. "We need to assume there's more. I want you to prep the same stabilization array—but adapted to scan for latent fields instead of suppressing one. I want a sensor suite we can take into the Foundation again. Into Black Rock Quarry. Anywhere the resonance passed."
Darling blinked. "You want to hunt it."
"I want to erase it," Trench said, voice like steel. "This thing got inside my daughter's mind, made her sick enough to nearly die. I'm not stopping until I'm sure it doesn't get into anyone else's."
Darling nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll begin upgrades to the prototype immediately. I'll need a mobile power relay, probably some clearance to pull hardware from Research Vault 3A—"
"You've got it," Trench said. "Take whatever you need."
He turned to go, but paused at the door.
"You did good, Casper," he said without looking back. "You saved her."
Darling opened his mouth, but Trench was already gone, his footsteps heavy and fading fast.
There would be time later.
For now, the entity wasn't gone.
And Zachariah Trench was going to make sure it never came back.
