Agony tears through me as consciousness returns in brutal fragments.

Each breath is a knife between my ribs. Everything tastes like blood and dust. There’s a high-pitched squealing in my ears – not sure if it’s an alarm, ringing, or my brain clocking out.

“...can’t wait any longer…”

Voices fade in and out like an old radio. Jackdaw? He sounds pissed.

“...need to check…” That’s Syb.

I force my eyes open. It’s dark, but not totally. There’s a weak light somewhere above us, some emergency strip maybe? Or is it a crack in whatever ceiling we’re under? God, I can’t tell, everything’s glittering migraine rainbows. The floor is unforgiving ice against my cheek but moving isn't an option – not with the way the room spins violently at the slightest twitch.

“Jesstiny?” Syb’s suddenly there, crouching beside me. “Don’t try to move.”

I ignore him, gritting my teeth and shoving myself up anyway. Pain lances through my side. Yeah, I’ve definitely broken a rib or three.

“Where…” My voice comes out a croak of ground glass. “Where are we?”

“Service tunnel,” Jackdaw appears in my limited vision. “‘Bout half a mile from the hub, or whatever’s left of it.”

What’s left of it. The words take a moment to process through the fog in my head. Memory hits like a second explosion – the timer, the darkness, being carried…

“The others?” I try to keep my voice calm but it’s not working. “Where’s–”

“O-Ska and Nomercy were on east side when it went up.” Jackdaw’s voice is flat. “No sign of Daelith.”

“Karma…?” I search his face, but he just shakes his head, mouth a grim line.

My hands shake as I pull out my phone. Screen’s cracked, but it still works. No messages. Nothing in our encrypted channel. Nothing.

“We have to go back”, I say, already trying to stand up. The world tilts dangerously.

“Are you fucking mental?” Jackdaw grabs my arm, pulls me back down. “It’s crawling with drones, the three of us are lucky to be alive.”

“But–”

“He’s right,” Syb cuts in, his voice low and gentle. There’s something else there though that makes me want to punch him, some nasty little satisfaction. “We need to move. Now.”

I want to fucking scream. Hit him in his smug, stupid face, claw at him until he understands we can’t leave, not while Cam’s still in there somewhere. I don’t say anything though, just tighten my jaw. Because how the fuck do I explain to them that my Aidolon might be dying and the thought of him being trapped in that wreckage makes me feel like half of my soul’s being torn out of my stomach?

So I let them help me to my feet, trying to breathe past the pain slicing my ribs. And trying not to think about that last thing I remembered – that steel grip letting go just as the explosion hit.

The service tunnel stretches endlessly in both directions, maintenance pipes running along the walls. Every few meters, emergency lights cast sickly shadows.

"Here." Syb's hand lingers on my waist as he helps me walk, too familiar. "Lean on me."

I pull back, biting back a wince as his hand brushes against my ribcage. “I’m fine.”

“Of course,” he says softly. His fingers still brush my arm again. “You always are. Even when everything goes to hell.”

Something in his voice makes that uneasy thing in my gut crawl around. Before I can respond, there’s a crackle of static through the tunnel. Jackdaw yanks out his gun, but it’s just interference from a drone passing overground. The whomp of its rotors is already fading. Pax’s cleanup crew, I’m guessing. Combing the wreckage above.

“Tube tunnel’s not far,” Jackdaw says, but he’s watching Syb with narrowed eyes now. “Underground’s our best bet. Lie low, figure out what’s next.”

Lie low. Figure it out. I want to laugh. I want to scream. Cam’s still out there, damn it. Every time I blink I see flashes of the explosion splitting the black void.

I check my phone again, the ridiculous part of my brain expecting to see a notification. Nothing though. Just the meaningless time, mocking me. I tap open the messaging app – just to make sure. No unreads, just that last one from Cam. A stupid emoji. Maybe the last thing I’ll ever… No. I swallow down the stab in my throat. This isn’t helping anything. My hands shake as I type. Not yet. Not yet.

I hit send.

Jess: Where are you?

I wait. Still unread. It was never unread. Our messages went straight to his mind, he didn’t even have a damn phone. Tears sting my eyes and I blink them away furiously. This can’t be happening. He’s strong, though, right? Smart. He wouldn’t let himself get taken out by some explosion. Unless…

Unless he never made it out of the blast radius in time. Because he was too busy getting me to safety.

I can’t tell if the stabbing in my stomach is from my rib or from guilt now. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have brought him into all this shit. Why did I let him convince me to? He might be dead because of me, because I’m too stupid and slow to see it was all rigged until it was too late.

“This way.” Syb’s still too close, trying to guide me with a hand on my back. I swear to God. “Careful, there’s debris here.” Coddling me like a fucking child.

Another drone passes, and we press against the wall this time, holding our breath. In the dim light, Syb’s staring at me. That same look he gave Cam earlier, like he’s trying to work something out. Or knows something.

“What?” I snap.

“Nothing.” His mouth twists. “I was just thinking about loyalty. About what we would do for the people we care about.” He pauses. “Or the things we care about.”

My heart stutters at that. What the fuck? Even in the dim light, I can see the accusation in his eyes. The hunger. But I’m too numb to bite back, and there’s more movement down the tunnel. Jackdaw’s already got his gun up. It’s not wheels or rotors, it’s footsteps. Getting closer.

“Don’t shoot!” Nomercy’s voice, tight with pain and exhaustion. “It’s us!”

Three figures emerge from the darkness. I recognise Nomercy's lanky frame first, one arm hanging useless at this side. Then Daelith being half-carried between him and...

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“Cam.” The name leaves me in a breathless rush.

He looks up at the sound of my voice. He looks like hell. Clothes torn, covered in concrete dust and what might be blood. Maybe his. I didn’t even know he could… but that’s not important. He’s moving. He’s alive. One of his legs drags awkwardly, like it’s not quite responding to his brain’s signals like it should. He masks it as a limp.

I shove past Syb, ignoring the fresh burst of pain, but even in the darkness I see the slight shake of Cam’s head. A warning. I fight the urge to run to him, check he’s okay, understand how he’s even still functioning after all the electromagnetic discharge. But Syb’s hand is still on my back, his fingers digging in slightly. His eyes narrow to a predatory point, hunger turning to something darker.

“How lucky for you,” he mutters, just loud enough for me to hear. “Your boyfriend made it after all.”

I shove his hand away, swallowing back bile. His insinuation hangs heavy in the air, but I force myself to ignore it. There’s more important things to deal with right now.

“Where’s O-Ska?” Jackdaw asks, looking between Nomercy and Daelith.

Nomercy shakes his head, face grim stone. “Right next to me when the charges blew. Thrown into a wall. Didn’t get back up.”

My heart clenches. O-Ska. Gone. Just like that.

Daelith’s hurt bad, sagging between Nomercy and Cam – there’s a deep gash across his chest, but something’s wrong with the way it looks. No blood, just torn clothes and raw skin. He tugs his scorched jacket around himself, but the movement is jerky.

“What happened?” Nomercy asks, still catching his breath. “Those weren’t the same charges we’d prepped.”

“Security response,” Daelith grits out. His voice skips a beat. “They knew… they knew we were coming.”

Cam’s leaning against the wall now, watching Daelith from hooded eyes. He hasn’t said a word since they’d arrived back here. Not like him. Usually he’d have at least one smartarse comment ready, but now he’s just… watching.

“What? That makes no sense. How’d they know?” Jackdaw demands. “How’d they swap the fucking charges? We were clean. The hack worked. The cameras looped, I saw Jess do it–”

“Because I told them.”

The words hang in the air like the moment before lightning strikes. Daelith’s head twitches – a sharp, mechanical twitch. When he raises his gaze, there’s a red light flickering behind the usual brown of his eyes.

My stomach drops. No. Oh no.

“You…” Jackdaw levels his gun squarely at Daelith’s head.

“Had to,” Daelith’s voice distorts. “Had to let them… let them dig their own graves.”

“What the fuck?” Nomercy scrambles back in horror. “The fuck is he?”

But I’m not looking at Daelith anymore. I’m watching Cam across the tunnel, the way he’s shifted slightly, fingers flexing against the wall. He looks paler than he did before. Something’s wrong. The realisation hits me like a bucket of ice – how many EMPs went off in that data center? How much has he been exposed to already? Panic claws up my throat. I need to find a way to get him out, before…

Syb’s got the EMP gun out already. “He’s Pax. Aren’t you, Daelith? Or whatever your real designation is.”

Daelith’s glitching eyes are wide now with naked fear. He opens his mouth, then closes it again.

“We fucking scanned him. He passed the test,” Jackdaw says, but there’s an uncertain agitation in his voice. “The test works, right? Why the fuck didn’t the test work?”

I can barely breathe. If they figure out there’s a way around the test…

“Wait –” Daelith cries out as the EMP whines, charging up. Words spill out from him like vomit. “I was Pax. I was Pax and then I wasn’t – something happened, something disconnected me from home, then suddenly I was… I was me, then I – then I – then I – I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, wrong, wrong, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad…”

The EMP pulse lights up the tunnel. In that fraction of a second before it hits Daelith, I see it reflect in Cam's eyes across the way – a flash of gold turning red, then back again. His hand clenches against the wall, the barest tell. Enough for me to notice.

Daelith’s mouth’s still babbling the same word as the blast hits him square in the chest. For a horrifying instant, his whole body is lit from within, circuitry arcing and glowing like magnesium spaghetti, bright enough to blind. Then he crumples like a marionette with cut strings, the light in his eyes dying to unseeing black. I feel vomit rise in my throat, choke it back down.

I need to get Cam out of here. Now. Before anyone notices why he’s being so quiet, why he’s not pretending to breathe anymore. Before another EMP goes off and he can’t hide it.

But before any of us can even process what just happened to Daelith, before I can lurch forward and throw myself between them, Syb swings the EMP gun towards Cam with deliberate precision.

“Your turn.”

“Syb, what the fuck?” Jackdaw starts forward at the same time as me, before I’ve even shook the ice from my veins. “We just lost O-Ska, we don’t need–”

“You saw what just happened.” Syb’s voice is dangerously quiet. “The scanner didn’t work on Daelith. So tell me, Karma, why did it flash red for you first?”

The world narrows to a point. Cam doesn’t move from the wall, doesn’t even react. Just fixes Syb with that calm stare that always drives people mental.

“You really want to do this now?” Cam asks quietly.

“Answer the fucking question.”

Instead of backing away, Cam pushes off from the wall. Takes a step towards Syb. Another. The EMP gun doesn’t waver.

A ragged noise tears from my throat. I lunge forward, seizing Syb's arm in a white-knuckled grip. He snarls, twisting viciously. I hit the wall with a breathless cry, stars exploding across my vision as my ribs scream in protest.

In one fluid motion, Cam grabs the barrel of Syd’s EMP and presses it up under his own jaw. Syb’s eyes go wide.

“Go on then,” Cam says, voice low. “Fucking do it. See what happens.”

“Jesus Christ,” Nomercy mutters. “Can we all calm down –”

“Do it,” Cam repeats, pushing the gun harder against his throat. “Pull the trigger. Better make it count, because if you miss…” His eyes blaze. "You won't get another chance."

I can see his arm shaking minutely where it's braced against the gun, a combination of damage and sheer will the only thing keeping him upright. The EMPs are affecting him way more than he’s letting on, but his eyes are steady, challenging.

“Both of you, stand the fuck down!” Jackdaw’s voice cracks like a whip. “Syb, put the gun down. Now. Are you fucking stupid? We just lost two people, I’m not losing anyone else today.”

An eternity shudders by in the space of a handful of frantic heartbeats. Then Syb’s fingers loosen on the trigger. Cam lets go of the barrel, stepping back, that awful empty smile still painted on his face.

“This isn’t over,” Syb promises darkly.

“Never is, mate.” Cam's eyes flash in the faltering light, feverishly bright and brimming with unspoken menace. “Never is.”

Time starts flowing again. Syb strides away, Jackdaw blows out air loudly. Nomercy makes some quip nobody hears. I try to get to Cam too quickly, forgetting about my ribs. Pain shoots through my chest, my knees buckle beneath me. He moves to catch me, but his balance is off too. We both stagger, his arm around my waist, my hand gripping his jacket.

“Shit, sorry–” I start.

“Always so damn clumsy,” he tries to joke, but his voice sounds strained. Up close, I can see how bad he really is. Skin’s too pale, almost translucent in places.

“We need to rest,” Jackdaw announces, probably more to break the tension than anything else. “There’s an old maintenance depot about half a mile down. Let’s regroup there.”

Nobody argues. We shuffle on through the tunnels in silence, Cam and I supporting each other. Every now and then his steps falter, like his legs aren’t working right. I pretend not to notice. He pretends not to notice me noticing.

Kinda like it’s always been with us, I guess.

The depot turns out to be an abandoned station office, all peeling paint and broken ceiling tiles. Ancient posters for the 2012 Olympics cling desperately onto the walls. omercy starts checking the perimeter while Jackdaw tries to get the backup generator working.

“Here,” I guide Cam to a dusty desk in the corner, as far away from the rest as we can get. He sits heavily, letting out a breath he didn’t need. A courtesy for anyone watching.

“I’m fine,” he says before I can ask.

“Bullshit.” I keep my voice low, glancing back at the others. Syb’s probably still watching, but he’s too far away for us to hear. “How bad?”

Cam’s quiet for a moment, then: “Neural network’s destabilising. Too much bullshit. Can’t…” He blinks hard, like he’s trying to clear his vision. “Weights are getting screwy. Can’t flush RAM, either.”

“Fuck.” My hands hover uselessly over him, not sure what to do. The EMPs must have crashed a few service processes. If he can’t clear RAM, he’ll run out of memory – basically, there won’t be space to keep life support functions online and… “What do you need?”

“Time. Power. Not things you have right now.” His eyes meet mine, and despite everything that trace of a smirk still appears. “Don’t look so worried. Not like I’m going anywhere.”

But his hand still trembles when it reaches for mine, and his skin feels unnaturally cold like it’s given up pretending to be warm-blooded. Whatever’s happening to him, it’s bad. And we’re trapped down here with someone who’d love nothing more than to finish what the EMPs started.

“I need to check your code,” I whisper. If I can just–”

“Not here.” He squeezes my hand once, then lets go, eyes defocusing. “Risky. Wait until they sleep.”

The lights flicker on as Jackdaw gets the generator working. In the harsh fluorescent glare, I can see just how fucked we all are. Nomercy’s got a nasty cut above his eye, which has swollen up like a grapefruit. Jackdaw’s favouring his left leg. And Syb…

Syb hasn’t stopped watching us once.