The scream from the security guard faded as the elevator dropped, but the echo seemed to rattle around inside the metal car.
Rook was smashing the Door Close button even though the doors were already shut.
"He sounded… digital," Rook said, his voice trembling. "Did you hear that? It was like a glitched audio file."
"I heard it," Lyric said, staring at the floor numbers ticking down. 4… 5… 6… "Keep your cutter ready. If the guards upstairs are compromised, the ones downstairs probably are too."
"Compromised?" Rook let out a sharp laugh. "Veyne, his eyes were glowing blue! That's not 'compromised,' that's a horror movie scenario."
The elevator shuddered as it passed Level 7. The lights flickered.
"The deeper we go, the denser the memory pressure," Lyric said, gripping the handle of the ceramic sword. "Level 9 is Deep Storage. Finch said that's where they keep the things they can't delete. It's going to be heavy."
Ding.
The elevator slowed. The display read LEVEL 9.
The doors didn't slide open smoothly like they had upstairs. They groaned, grinding against the frame, and stuck halfway open.
A blast of freezing air hit them.
"Great," Rook muttered, pulling his collar up. "AC is stuck on 'morgue'."
Lyric stepped forward and pushed the doors apart. They stepped out.
It wasn't a hallway. It was a cavern.
Level 1 had been a pristine, white library of small drawers. Level 9 was a massive, industrial warehouse carved out of the raw bedrock. The ceiling was lost in shadows high above. The floor was metal grating suspended over a drop that went down into darkness.
Instead of small drawers, there were rows of massive, cylindrical tanks. They were ten feet tall, filled with a thick, glowing blue liquid. Inside each tank, dark shapes floated in suspension.
"Are those…" Rook shined his flashlight on the nearest tank.
Inside the blue fluid, a man floated. He was naked, hooked up to breathing tubes. His eyes were open, staring blankly through the glass.
"Bodies," Lyric whispered. "Not just memories. The whole person."
"Why keep the body?" Rook asked, looking green. "I thought memory was the currency. The body is just the wallet."
"If you extract too much," Lyric said, walking down the row, "the mind breaks. Maybe these are the ones who broke. They keep them on ice."
Lyric pulled out the datapad Rook had given them. The screen was static-filled, barely readable.
"Coordinates," Lyric muttered. "Row H, Unit 404."
"We're in Row A," Rook said, shining his light down the endless aisle of tanks. "We have a walk ahead of us."
They moved quickly, the sound of their boots clanging softly on the metal grate. The silence here was different. It wasn't empty; it was full of a low, throbbing hum, like a massive heart beating slowly beneath the floor.
"So," Rook whispered, trying to fill the silence. "Your brother. Valerius. What do you remember about him? Besides the name?"
"Nothing," Lyric said, eyes scanning the numbers on the tanks. Row C… Row D…
"Come on, muscle memory," Rook prodded. "You remembered how to fight. You remembered the Architect. Do you feel anything when you say his name?"
Lyric paused. "I feel… annoyed."
Rook blinked. "Annoyed?"
"Yeah. Like he's always telling me what to do. Being protective. Overbearing." Lyric touched the side of the tank they were passing. "I think he was older. Or he acted like it."
"Protective big brother," Rook nodded. "Makes sense why you'd want to erase him if you were trying to run away. He probably tried to stop you."
"Maybe," Lyric said. "Or maybe I erased him to save him."
"Save him from what?"
"From me."
They reached a wide intersection. In the center, a robotic drone—the same type they had ridden down—was lowering the black coffin-pod onto a specialized dock.
"Get down," Lyric hissed.
They crouched behind a generator unit.
Two figures were waiting for the drone. They weren't guards. They wore long white lab coats, but their faces were covered by masks that looked like smooth mirrors.
"Scientists?" Rook whispered. "Or Architects?"
"Neither," Lyric said. "Look at their hands."
The figures had metallic, multi-jointed fingers. They were cyborgs. Or high-level androids.
"Subject Keter-7," one of the androids said. The voice was flat, devoid of intonation. "Transfer to Isolation Unit."
"Confirm," the second android said. "What is the status of the Containment Breach on Level 1?"
"Security is responding. The intruder, Unit 7, is assumed to be in the shaft."
Lyric tensed. They know we're here.
The androids began to push the black coffin toward a set of heavy double doors marked RESTRICTED.
"We can't let them take that coffin," Rook whispered. "If that's a weapon, we don't want it locked away where we can't reach it."
"Focus, Rook," Lyric said. "We're here for Valerius. The coffin is not our problem."
"Unless Valerius is inside the coffin," Rook countered.
Lyric froze.
They looked at the coffin. Then at the datapad.
"Unit 404," Lyric checked.
They looked at the tank rows. The numbers skipped. Row G… Row H… Unit 402, 403…
Unit 404 was empty. The glass tank was shattered. There was no water, no body. Just a broken pedestal.
"He's gone," Lyric breathed.
"Or he was moved," Rook pointed at the coffin the androids were pushing. "Into the VIP box."
Lyric cursed softly. "Okay. Change of plan. We follow the coffin."
They waited until the androids pushed the pod through the double doors, then sprinted across the open space. Lyric caught the door just before it clicked shut.
They slipped inside.
This room was different. It wasn't a warehouse. It was an operating theater.
Bright white lights focused on a central table. The androids were lifting the black coffin onto the table. The walls were lined with screens showing complex brain-wave patterns.
"Initiate unsealing," the first android said.
"Wait," Rook whispered. "They're opening it."
Lyric and Rook hid behind a bank of computer servers, watching through the gaps in the wires.
The androids pressed a series of buttons on the side of the coffin. The hiss of depressurization filled the room. The lid of the black pod cracked open and began to lift.
Smoke—supercooled nitrogen—spilled out, covering the floor.
"Here we go," Rook whispered. "Moment of truth."
A hand reached out of the coffin.
It wasn't a monster's claw. It was a human hand. Pale, shaking.
A man sat up, gasping for air. He was wearing a gray prisoner jumpsuit. He had dark hair, messy and frozen with frost. He coughed, his whole body violently shivering.
He looked up, blinking against the harsh lights.
Lyric felt the air leave their lungs.
It was the man from the photo. The same sharp jawline, the same gray eyes.
"Valerius," Lyric whispered.
"Subject awake," the android stated. "Vital signs stabilizing. Prepare for memory extraction."
One of the androids reached for a large, terrifying-looking drill suspended from the ceiling.
"No," Valerius rasped. His voice was cracked, unused. "No more."
"Compliance is mandatory," the android said.
"They're going to drill his brain," Rook said, horrified.
Lyric didn't wait. The plan didn't matter. Stealth didn't matter.
Lyric vaulted over the server bank, landing in the open light of the operating room.
"Get away from him!" Lyric shouted.
The androids turned in unison. Their mirror-masks reflected Lyric's angry face.
"Intruder identified," the first android said calmly. "Unit 7. Fugitive."
"Rook! The panel!" Lyric yelled, pointing to the control console for the drill.
Rook popped up from behind the servers. "On it!" He scrambled toward the console.
The androids moved fast. Too fast.
The one near the drill didn't go for Rook; it lunged at Lyric. Its metallic fingers extended into scalpel-sharp blades.
Lyric drew the ceramic sword.
Clang.
The blade met the android's metal arm. Sparks flew. The ceramic held, but the impact jarred Lyric's shoulder.
"You are Guild property," the android droned, swinging again.
Lyric ducked, the blade slicing the air where their head had been. Lyric swept the leg—muscle memory again—but the android's legs were heavy steel. It didn't budge.
It backhanded Lyric.
The blow was like being hit by a car. Lyric flew across the room, crashing into a tray of surgical instruments.
"Lyric!" Valerius shouted from the table. He tried to climb out, but he was weak, stumbling to his knees.
The second android moved toward Valerius, grabbing him by the throat.
"Subject is agitated. Sedating."
"Don't touch him!" Lyric groaned, pushing up from the floor. The ribs were screaming in agony now.
Lyric looked at the android holding Valerius. It was ten feet away. Too far to reach in time.
I need to close the distance.
The Architect. He had shortened the hallway.
Lyric looked at the floor. It was tiled.
I can't rewrite space. But I can erase friction.
Lyric slapped their hand on the floor in front of them.
Erase.
Lyric erased the texture of the floor tiles.
Lyric pushed off, launching forward. Without friction, they slid across the room like a hockey puck on ice, moving impossibly fast.
The android didn't expect the speed.
Lyric slid right past the android holding Valerius, slashing the ceramic sword at its legs as they passed.
Crunch.
The blade cut through the hydraulic line in the android's knee. It collapsed, dropping Valerius.
Lyric slammed into the wall on the other side of the room, using their boots to stop the slide.
"Rook! Now!"
Rook jammed his laser cutter into the drill's control panel. "Shorting it out!"
Spark. Pop.
The massive drill above the table groaned and died, sparks showering down.
The first android—the one Lyric had fought initially—was charging now.
"Get him out!" Lyric yelled to Rook.
Lyric stood between the charging android and the brothers.
"Unit 7," the android said, raising both bladed hands. "Lethal force authorized."
Lyric sheathed the sword.
"Sword didn't work," Lyric muttered. "Let's try the direct approach."
Lyric waited. Shoulders squared. Weight on the balls of the feet.
The android thrust its hand forward, aiming to impale Lyric's chest.
Lyric sidestepped—barely. The blade tore the side of the canvas coat.
Lyric stepped inside the android's guard. They placed a palm flat against the android's chest plate, right over its power core.
"Shutdown," Lyric whispered.
Erase.
Lyric didn't erase the metal. Lyric erased the energy. The battery charge.
The blue light in the android's chest flickered and died. The machine instantly went limp, collapsing into a heap of heavy metal at Lyric's feet.
Silence returned to the room, broken only by Valerius's ragged breathing.
Lyric turned around.
Rook was helping Valerius stand up. Valerius looked pale, shaking, but his eyes were locked on Lyric.
"Lyric?" Valerius whispered. He looked confused, heartbroken, and relieved all at once.
"Yeah," Lyric said, breathing hard. "It's me."
Valerius stumbled forward and grabbed Lyric's shoulders. His hands were freezing cold.
"You came back," Valerius said, his voice breaking. "Why did you come back? You were supposed to be free."
"I forgot I was free," Lyric said. "I erased myself, Val."
Valerius stared at them. Then he looked at the dead androids, then at Rook.
"You erased yourself," Valerius repeated. He let out a shaky breath. "Of course you did. You always were the dramatic one."
He looked at the open door.
"We have to go," Valerius said, his demeanor shifting instantly from victim to soldier. "The alarm is silent, but the Warden knows we're awake. And if the Warden comes down here… we aren't leaving."
"The Warden?" Rook asked. "Is that the Architect?"
"No," Valerius said, picking up a scalpel from the floor to use as a weapon. "The Architect builds the cage. The Warden is the cage."
He looked at Lyric.
"Can you walk?"
"I'm fine," Lyric lied.
"Good," Valerius said. "Because we just broke into the heart of hell, little sibling. And the devil is coming."