The soft hum of automated systems filled the lab when a black vehicle slid to a stop outside the reinforced gate. Moments later, Saelyn Vire stepped into the warehouse-turned-tech haven, her sharp heels muted against the sleek, freshly polished floors.
She stopped a few feet in, letting her eyes adjust.
"...You built all this in under two weeks?"
Raen stood near the central console, leaning casually, hands in the pockets of his hoodie.
"Just the beginning. You haven't seen the good part yet."
She took a slow, deliberate step forward, absorbing every detail—the modular walls, overhead mechanical arms docked in standby, floor tiles embedded with data lines, temperature and airflow actively shifting as she moved deeper inside.
"This place... breathes."
Raen smiled faintly. "That's the point."
He snapped his fingers once, and the ambient lighting dimmed. A soft pulse of azure ran through the metalwork, and a circular interface unfurled from the ceiling.
VoxFrame.Alive.
The system lit up silently, syncing with the lab's sensors. The lighting adjusted to Saelyn's presence, the air filtered more precisely in her direction, and screens across the walls brought up her credentials and ID from her last visit—without a single word from Raen.
She turned slowly, visibly stunned.
"It recognizes me?"
"It recognizes anything and adapts accordingly. It's not just an interface—it's the central nervous system of this entire structure."
She reached out, tentatively brushing her fingers across a nearby display as it seamlessly curved to her hand.
"This is..." she breathed, "a living lab."
Raen chuckled. "I call it breathable. Smart enough to change airflow, resource priority, power grid alignment, even mechanical load... all on its own."
She blinked. Then turned sharply to him.
"And you're running this off... commercial power?"
Raen's smirk dropped. He tapped the floating schematic hovering mid-air—a compact cylindrical structure with cooling lines, triple-layer magnetic shielding, and a dense reactor core.
"No. I plan to run it off this."
Saelyn stared at the model for a long time. Her voice, when it returned, was brittle with disbelief.
"Is that… a miniature nuclear reactor?"
Raen nodded. "Clean. Sealed. Controlled. Fully automated."
"Do you realize what kind of threat level something like that carries? You're talking about building one of the most heavily regulated devices in the world—in the middle of a city!"
"And I've simulated over 3,000 failure scenarios," Raen replied calmly. "The chance of critical error is below 0.01%. This is safer than most buildings' gas lines."
Saelyn took a step back, eyes wide.
"You're not insane," she whispered. "You're… something else."
Raen didn't respond. He just turned to the VoxFrame interface and slid open a security feed from the lab's external sensors. It expanded and formed a detailed blueprint of the entire structure.
"Once it's running, this place will be off-grid. Fully self-sustaining. No one will be able to monitor, limit, or throttle what's built in here."
Saelyn folded her arms, gaze bouncing from the reactor schematic to the lab's walls, then back to Raen.
"You weren't exaggerating when you said you wanted independence."
"This isn't a workspace anymore," Raen said. "It's an ecosystem. One that thinks, breathes, and adapts. This is just the start."
A moment of silence stretched between them. Then Saelyn took a breath.
"What do you need?"
Raen tapped the reactor's component list. Many parts were grayed out. Blacklisted, restricted, untraceable.
"Access. There are places I can't reach without tripping surveillance. But you might have connections."
She watched him for a beat, then gave a slight, amused exhale.
"I invested in you for software. Not private nuclear infrastructure."
Raen smirked.
"Well, now you're funding a future power grid."
Saelyn rolled her eyes. "You're lucky I like ridiculous."
She reached for her comm tab.
"Fine. I'll make a few calls. But if the military shows up, I'm blaming your hoodie."
"Deal."
"And one condition—" she added as she turned to leave, "—I want to be here when you turn it on."
Raen smiled.
"Then I hope you like front-row seats."