not a secret anymore.

The elevator door slid open into the darkness. Overcome with curiosity, they stepped inside. The doors closed, and they descended. When the doors opened again and the lights blossomed from their footsteps, they could only stare in stunned, absolute silence at the impossible laboratory before them.

Back in his room, Emka's phone, lying on his nightstand, began to buzz insistently. His eyes shot open as he realized the pattern of the haptics. On the screen, a message from Cyber flashed in red: SECURITY BREACH: LAB.

He flew out of bed, a bullet of pure adrenaline. He didn't bother with the stairs, vaulting over the railing and landing silently on the floor below. He sprinted to the basement, slapped the panel, and shot down in the elevator.

The doors opened to the sight of Lukne and Benji standing in the middle of his secret world, looking completely shell-shocked.

"What... what is all this, Emka?" Lukne whispered, her usual sarcasm gone.

They both turned, seeing him standing there, his face a grim mask. They started talking at once, a flood of questions about the cars, the jet, the suit.

Emka held up a hand, silencing them. He took a deep breath. "It's a long story." He explained everything—the genius intellect he hid, the tech he built in secret. He led them to a corner of the lab where two other platforms stood, covered by tarps. He pulled them away, revealing two more suits, similar to his but unfinished, one clearly designed for Benji's compact frame, the other for Lukne's.

"I... I've been building these for you guys," he admitted, looking at the floor. "I was going to tell you... break the ice on my birthday next week."

Benji exclaimed "SO THAT BOOM WAS YOU?"

emka replies with a "yes"

The lab fell silent, the weight of the revelation hanging in the air.

"Based on your elevated heart rates and signs of extreme fatigue," Cyber's voice echoed through the lab, calm as ever, "I would recommend you all get some sleep. The probability of productive conversation at this time is exceedingly low."

The morning sun cast long shadows across Emka's bedroom. He woke up to find himself diagonally across the king-sized bed, Lukne curled up where the pillows should be, and Benji hanging half off the edge, one foot on the floor. The events of the last 24 hours felt like a fever dream. He nudged Benji with his foot.

"Wake up, you two," he grumbled.

They stirred, groaning. After a few minutes of scrolling through YouTube videos on Emka's tablet, the silence was finally broken.

"So..." Benji started, his voice serious for once. "The giant secret lab full of sci-fi tech... we're gonna talk about that, right?"

Emka sighed. "Yeah. Let's go."

Down in the lab, the awe from the night before was quickly replaced by a new dynamic.

"Dude, my suit is definitely gonna be faster than yours," Benji declared, circling his unfinished armor.

"As if," Lukne shot back, hands on her hips. "Mine's sleeker. It's built for agility, not for a meathead who just wants to go fast."

"Oh, I'm the meathead? You're the one who—"

"Enough!" Emka snapped, his voice echoing in the vast space. The bickering was already giving him a headache. "You're like an old married couple. Now suit up."

As the armor assembled around them, Emka instructed, "Cyber, activate training protocol. Bring out the fighter bots."

Sections of the polished floor slid away, and dozens of sleek, menacing robots rose on hydraulic lifts, their single red optical sensors glowing. "These are programmed for training exercises," Emka explained, activating a plasma blade from his gauntlet and effortlessly disabling a nearby bot. "The suits respond to your thoughts. To enable weapons, just focus on what you want to do."

Benji and Lukne watched, wide-eyed. But the bots didn't engage. They stood motionless.

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