The voice from the speaker did not repeat itself.
It did not need to.
The entire archive room had already gone still, every shelf and drawer seeming to lean inward around the sound. Fang felt the residual tension in the air like a held breath. Ren's posture changed first. Not dramatically, but enough that Fang recognised the adjustment at once. It was the same stillness he used when deciding whether to answer a threat with patience or with force.
Pax was the one who moved first, stepping towards the wall speaker with the kind of wary curiosity that always looked, to Fang, as though he were one step away from identifying a trap and annoyed that it had the audacity to exist.
Wolf folded his arms. "This is either convenient or absurd. I cannot yet decide which I hate more."
Ren did not take his eyes off the speaker. "Identify yourself."
A pause answered him.
