It’s late afternoon. The light through the high windows has taken on that golden, lazy quality that means most students are wrapping up for the day. But you’re still here, hunched over your bench, a magnifying lens balanced on your head as you coax a microfilament wire into place on a prototype gauntlet interface.

The door slams open.

No knock. No warning. Just the crack of wood against the wall and a gust of air that rattles the blueprints pinned above your station.

The gauntlet's grenade assembly is noticeably misaligned—one of the pressure-release valves is blackened, crusted with residue from a forced detonation.