A deadline notice from the rear, the first cracks in faith in the system
The buzzing sound was extremely faint.
It originated from Ravonna's Private Terminal and represents the highest priority communication within TVA.
The sound echoed through the deathly silent metal room, leaving no reverberation, yet it seemed to create a tiny crack in the air.
Ravonna's body remained completely still.
Her gaze didn't even immediately fall on that familiar device.
She maintained her upright posture, her gaze fixed on the empty darkness ahead.
A few seconds later, she slowly turned her eyes to look at the Personal Terminal that was flashing a faint blue light.
Once upon a time, this voice represented the organization's trust, the call to duty, and her supreme glory as a member of TVA.
At this moment, it only sounds shrill.
She reached out and traced a line on the light screen with her fingertip.
The official letter unfolded in the standard TVA format, with the title written in bold gold lettering, exuding an unquestionable authority.
Urgent Notice Regarding the Requirement for the Joint Inspection Group to Complete Its Work Within a Limited Timeframe
Issuing Authority: TVA Discipline and Inspection Commission
Ravonna's gaze swept over the title without lingering, and went straight to the main text.
"Observer Ravonna Renslayer:"
"Given that the Joint Inspection Group has been stationed in the Negative Zone for some time, but the inspection work is progressing slowly and has failed to submit interim reports on schedule, this has already had a potential impact on the overall coordination and stability of the Multiverse."
"The Discipline Inspection Commission meeting has decided that your department must complete this Special Inspection of Historical Safety Hazards within 48 hours, prepare a Ending report, and file it. In your work, you should focus on the established objectives, avoid escalating the situation, and ensure a smooth conclusion to the process."
This is to inform you.
The official letter was short, every word conformed to regulations, and every phrase was impeccable.
Ravonna finished reading it.
She read it again.
Her gaze eventually settled on the phrases "slow progress" and "avoiding escalation."
The room remained quiet.
She could even hear her own steady breathing.
But something was silently shattering inside her body.
Slow progress?
She just uncovered a shocking secret about collusion between TVA executives and Hydra; is this considered slow progress?
How to prevent the situation from escalating?
After discovering a scandal that could upend the entire foundation of TVA, the first instruction she received was to not make a big deal out of it.
This is not a work order.
This is a sealing strip.
It's more like a death warrant.
That cold, 48-hour countdown wasn't for this inspection report; it was for her.
They knew what they had found.
They were using the most standard and compliant method to order her to stop immediately and shut up.
If she complies and submits a meaningless Ending report, she will become the only outsider with inside knowledge of that shady affair. A subordinate who knows the truth is the biggest threat to those powerful figures. What awaits her is either some "accident" or another transfer order that will send her to some certain death.
If she doesn't comply, continues to investigate, or attempts to escalate the matter to higher authorities, then she will become a rebel openly defying the orders of the Discipline Inspection Commission. They have countless legitimate means to completely "cut her out" of this universe within forty-eight hours.
This is a dead end.
They didn't even bother with more subtle methods; they simply used a single official document to permanently seal her off.
Ravonna shifted her gaze from her Private Terminal to the Public Terminal in the Negative Zone on the other side.
On it, the "Spectrum Analysis Chart of Energy Decay and Abnormal Fluctuations in the Sokovia Ruins Area" sent by the Technology Integration Department was still quietly displayed.
A seemingly ordinary energy curve precisely marks the complete flow of that black gold.
Lynn had already laid everything out in front of her.
He did not report it.
He politely handed her this evidence—evidence that could determine her life or death—in a letter titled "Supplementary Technical Materials."
At that moment, Ravonna understood completely.
From the moment she stepped into the Negative Zone, she was no longer the hunter, but the bait.
TVA executives used her to test the limits of Negative Zone.
Lynn, on the other hand, was used to pry open the internal decay within TVA.
She was caught in a dilemma between the two sides.
The higher-ups at TVA need her dead.
Lynn in the Negative Zone needs to live, as a pawn that can detonate TVA at any time.
The TVA system she had always been so proud of, the unbreakable system of rules and order that she held in high esteem, seemed utterly ridiculous at this moment.
The sacred Timeline and the great order are nothing but lies built on a series of dirty deals.
The faith for which she fought and sacrificed everything was rotten to the core.
A huge, hollow weariness overwhelmed her.
Abandoned by the organization.
Being manipulated by the enemy.
She became truly alone, hanging above a bottomless Abyss, with only a rope burning at both ends beneath her feet.
What should she do?
Beg Lynn for mercy? That man is cunning and calculating; to bow down to him would be like asking a tiger for its skin.
Or should she take a gamble and believe there are still clean people within TVA? This thought only flashed through her mind for a moment before she dismissed it. What could she possibly gamble with? Her own life?
Time passed second by second in a suffocating silence.
The countdown on TVA's Private Terminal has jumped from "48:00:00" to "47:58:13".
Every decrease in the number felt like a hammer blow to her nerves.
Finally, she moved.
She slowly stood up and walked to the center of the room.
In the darkness, the light from two screens shone on her from different directions, shattering her shadow into fragments.
One piece is blue, from TVA, cold, imposing, carrying a countdown to death.
One piece is white, originating from Negative Zone; calm, orderly, yet concealing a deadly truth.
She stood there for a long time.
Then, she made her choice.
She didn't go to the Private Terminal belonging to TVA, nor did she draft the closing report that was destined to bury her.
She turned around and walked step by step to the Public Terminal in the Negative Zone.
She slowly raised her hand.
Fingertips hovered over the light screen.
There, there is an inconspicuous icon, which is the communication channel in the Negative Zone's Internal Communications system leading to the Management Committee Director's Office.
Her finger stopped just a millimeter from the screen.
To die in humiliation, or to live without dignity?
With nowhere else to turn, Ravonna discovers for the first time that these are the only options left for her.