The elevator doors hung bent in their frame, wires spitting sparks like dying fireflies. Elara’s blood streaked the control panel—a rust-colored handprint that screamed failure. I pressed my palm against it, the metal still warm. My skin prickled as the stim worked through my weary body, sharpening every detail into a blade.

  “Maintenance corridor,” Mara barked, her rifle sweeping over the blast-scarred walls. West shaft. Move.”

  Beta-1 stomped past, its optics flickering as it scanned the darkened passage. Zara lingered beside me, her boot nudging a rebel’s corpse. The man’s throat was caved in, the shape matching Elara’s bootprint.

  “She’s not fighting to win anymore,” Zara muttered, voice low. “This is a woman who’s already written her funeral note.”

  Mara didn’t look back. “Desperation makes soldiers efficient. Until it gets them killed.”

  The words lodged in my ribs. A sigh escaped as I pushed ahead, the corridor narrowing until the walls scraped my armour. Beta-1’s hulking frame forced us single-file, its joints whining in the tight space. Every breath tasted of rust and ion burns.

  The Spire’s underbelly bled into ancient mining tunnels and caverns, the air growing damp, heavy with the scent of stagnant water and corroded metal. Rebel signs littered the path—discarded ammo packs, blood smears, a shattered drone sparking feebly in a puddle.

  The corridor tightened like a vice, the walls pressing close enough to taste the rust. Lyra’s scanner spat static. She smacked it against her thigh, frustration edging her voice. “Comms are dead. We’re ghosts down here.” Her other hand trembled slightly—just a twitch, but enough to show the strain.

  Mara gave her a sharp, assessing glance but didn’t comfort her. She slammed her fist into her comm unit, dead air crackling back. “Damn this rustbucket station—Focus on vectors. Not drama.”

  Zara shouldered past them both. “We’re not getting rescued. Surprise.”

  Jax’s hand clamped around my arm as my boot caught on a twisted beam. “Talk to me, Alex.” His grip tightened, insistent. “Not ‘later.’ Now.”

  I wrenched free, my arm aching in protest. “What’s there to say? Elara’s gone rogue, Seraphina’s trapped, and I—”

  “And you’re one wrong step from collapsing,” he interrupted, voice low and urgent. He blocked my path, forcing me to meet his gaze. In the sickly blue glow of the emergency strips, he looked older. Weathered. “You think I don’t see it? The way your hands shake? The way you flinched when Beta-1 moved too fast back there?”

  A rebel’s bloodstained jacket lay crumpled near our feet. I toed it aside, jaw clenched. “We don’t have time for this.”

  “We make time.” Jax stepped closer, his voice fraying. “You’re not some expendable grunt, Alex. You’re the damn glue here. If you snap—”

  “Then I snap!” The words tore out of me, too loud. Zara and Mara turned, but I didn’t care. “You think I don’t know what’s at stake? Elara’s out there because I couldn’t stop her. Seraphina’s in chains because I couldn’t protect her. So don’t—” My voice cracked. “Don’t stand there and lecture me about limits.”

  Jax’s expression hardened, but his eyes betrayed him. There was a flicker of fear, quickly smothered. “This isn’t about limits. It’s about you dying in heroic stupidity, instead of living smart.” He jabbed a finger at the blood trail ahead, Elara’s dagger still embedded in the wall. “She’s not the only one unravelling. Look at your damn sword arm.”

  I glanced down. My hand trembled, the vibroblade’s hilt slick with sweat. I could feel the Nexus’s soft hum stutter under my skin, a dying engine. I was at my limit. Again.

  “You taught me that,” Jax said quietly. “Back in the orphanage. ‘Never let the fight shake your grip.’ Remember?”

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  The memory surfaced unbidden. A scrawny Jax, twelve years old, fumbling with a stolen shock baton. My voice is younger, impatient: “Hold it like you mean it, or it’ll kill you first.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. “This is different.”

  “It’s not.” He gripped my shoulder, his touch grounding. “You want to save them? Then stop chasing ghosts. Breathe. Think.”

  Beta-1’s sudden growl cut through the tension. Its optics flared crimson, illuminating a fork in the tunnel. “Heat signatures. Primary target proximity: 87%.”

  Mara shoved past us, rifle raised. “Save the therapy session for the memorial. Move.”

  Jax held my gaze a beat longer—a silent plea—before following. I lingered, staring at the dagger embedded in the wall. Elara’s fingerprints marked the hilt, smudged in blood.

  She’s fighting like she’s already lost.

  Zara’s words slithered back, sharp and accurate. I yanked the blade free, its edge singing.

  “Alex.” Lyra hovered at my elbow, medkit open. Her voice softened. “The stim’s fading faster than it should. Let me—”

  “No.” I pushed ahead, the dagger cold in my grip. “Save the drugs for when she’s safe.”

  When, not if.

  A lie. But sometimes, lies were all you had. No what-ifs left. Just Seraphina’s face in the elevator—alive, terrified, close.

  Mara checked her data pad. “Two levels down. Move. Beta-1, tactical point alpha 2.”

  After making our way down a set of stairs, the tunnel opened into a cavern, its vaulted ceiling lost to shadows. Rebel floodlights bathed the space in harsh white, their glare catching on the mining platform’s rusted skeleton.

  Ahead of me, I watched as Elara crouched behind a shattered conveyor belt, her breath ragged, armour glistening with blood. Across the cavern, Reuben’s voice cut through gunfire.

  “You’re outnumbered, witch. You Always were. Give up. I promise to make your death fast.”

  Overhead, I could see Seraphina writhe in a rebel’s grip, her shouts raw. “Elara, stop! I’m here! I’m safe!”

  Elara didn’t flinch. Her pistol barked, the shot ricocheting off Reuben’s cover. I shook my head. She’s not hearing her. She’s not hearing anything.

  Zara hissed. “If we don’t pull her out, she’ll get them both killed.”

  Mara gestured to Beta-1. “Flank left. Take the high—”

  I couldn't wait. Not any longer. Jax might yell at me for this, but I couldn't stand there and not act. I ignored their shouts as I moved. “Elara!” My voice echoed, too loud, too desperate. “Look at me. She’s right there.”

  Her head snapped toward me, eyes wild, unfocused. A rebel surged from the shadows. My Nexus flared too slowly, but Beta-1’s cannon roared, reducing the man to ash.

  Reuben’s laugh crawled over the rocks. “Took you long enough, Baron. Did you think a few cracked ribs would keep me down?”

  I stepped forward as I felt the floor shift—a soft click.

  “Fuck—”

  The explosion tore through the cavern’s rear, stone and metal screaming. Beta-1 lunged, shoving me aside as the ceiling buckled. Dust choked the air, Seraphina’s scream slicing through the chaos.

  “This pit was never the prize,” Reuben roared over the collapsing rock, his voice retreating into the chaos. “Burn your ghosts here, Draven—I’ve got fresher graves to dig!”

  “ALEX!”

  My heart raced at her scream. I crawled forward frantically, sputtering as I tried to breathe through the dust. I looked around as the dust thinned, squinting through the haze. I saw her, Seraphina, teetering near the edge through the settling dust.

  A small figure darted from the shadows—too fast, too small. Dark braids whipped behind her as she threw herself at Seraphina, shoving her from the collapsing edge. Her eyes were wide and watchful.

  Seraphina tumbled, screaming. Elara lunged after her, too fast for thought. Armour clashed against stone. I almost shouted as she caught her just in time.

  I surged forward a second later, reaching—But Jax’s hand yanked me back. His mouth moved in a silent shout as another blast ripped through the rock.

  Beta-1’s optics glowed red in the dust. “Collapse imminent. Evacuation advised.”

  A broken cry ripped from my mouth as I felt Beta 1 pull me back. “No. No, no, NO—”

  The world tilted. Rock rained down. And then—

  Silence. Darkness. Cold.

  A single thought kept looping through my thoughts as the heat of the explosion burned my face. Her scream was still echoing in my skull when the stone swallowed everything.

  She was right there.