The comm in Raizen's ear tore itself in half.
"Hold - do not - stay put -" Alteea, stretched thin, sirens chasing her voice. Kori hammered in on a second loop, iron over steel: "Stay - camp- That's an order. Sit tight, everything's under con -"
Raizen reached up and pinched the switch at the base of his earpiece.
Click.
Silence arrived like a door shutting on a storm.
Everyone had been braced to argue with a voice. No one was ready for no voice at all. Hikari's breath hitched. Esen's eyes jumped to Raizen's hand. Arashi's mouth opened on a joke that forgot what it wanted to be and closed again.
Raizen didn't raise his voice. He didn't have to. "We move."
That was the sound of a coin landing on its edge and staying there.
