The lights went out.

Curiosity burned hotter than caffeine. He clicked play.

His phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: “You weren’t supposed to see that. But now that you have… welcome to the real rookie season.”

On the screen, the episode ended not with credits, but with a single line of text:

It was three in the morning. Nolan had just finished a double shift, his body aching from a foot chase through the industrial district. He almost deleted it. But something about the episode number made him pause. Season 2, Episode 4. That was the night his entire life changed.

The video quality was grainy—an HDRip, clearly filmed off someone’s television. But the footage was unmistakable: a body-worn camera angle he’d never seen before. It showed him , two years younger, pinned behind a Dumpster while gunfire shredded the brick above his head. His training officer, Talia Bishop, was screaming into her radio.