The green light from the override panel illuminated the rising steel bulkheads, but the path wasn't completely clear. A mercenary broke past the frontline, eyes locking directly onto the metallic briefcase beneath Da-eun.

Da-eun didn't wait to be attacked. Slipping her hands free of the handles, she pivoted on her heel, using the momentum to sweep the attacker's legs out from under him. As he hit the marble floor, she drove her blunt wooden spar into his shoulder plate, disarming him in a single fluid motion. Years of self-defense training she had kept hidden from the academy records kicked in with perfect, reactive muscle memory.