The world didn't care about my intentions. By the time I'd scrambled out of the shop, the street was just a haze of settling dust and fading echoes. I'd missed them. Again.
While I was stuck playing "Good Apprentice" for Halde, the plot was moving at Mach speed. Powder and the crew were already on the run from Enforcer Marcus. They were cornered in a dead end—The End of the Line—only to be saved by Ekko's last-second ladder rescue.
I didn't have time to wait for a ladder. I spent almost every copper I'd earned at the clock shop on a "Map of Zaun" that looked like a toddler had spilled ink on a napkin. Zaun isn't a city; it's a vertical knot of pipes and misery. Maps don't work here.
But I didn't stop. I spent two days sleeping in filth, eating whatever didn't smell like battery acid, and pushing through gang territories that should have gotten a Level 1 character like me killed. I finally reached the Black Alley, my heart pounding a rhythm of "Please let there be time."
I burst into The Last Drop.
"Vander? Benso? Anyone?" I wheezed.
The bartender just polished a glass with a grim look. "They're out. Everyone's out."
I didn't wait for the details. I sprinted toward Benso's shop, but the smell of ozone and blood reached me before I even saw the door.
The Aftermath
The scene was a visceral nightmare. Grayson—the only Enforcer who actually gave a damn about peace—was gone. Benso was a mess of torn limbs in a pool of dark blood.
My stomach did a slow roll. I'd seen these characters as pixels and voice lines for years, but seeing them "rendered" in the grit and gore of reality was different.
"I'm too late," I gritted my teeth. "Silco's already taken Vander."
I knew the trajectory. Vi and the boys would be heading to the old cannery by the docks. Powder would be left behind, desperate to prove she wasn't a "jinx." She'd be sitting on a roof right now, winding up the end of the world.
"The cannery!" I shouted to no one, and I ran.
I didn't notice the HUD flicker. My Movement Speed wasn't 320 anymore. Adrenaline—or maybe the system's "Homeguard" effect—had kicked in. I was a blur of desperation, hitting 450 MS as I tore through the industrial district.
The Monkey's Dance
I reached the cannery just as the Shimmer-mutants began their assault on the internal doors. It was a cacophony of bending metal and screams. I looked up. High on the roof, a tiny shadow sat with something glowing in her lap.
"Powder! Stop! Don't do it!" I screamed, my voice cracking.
But I was just a whisper against the roaring machinery. Powder was in her own world, whispering to her mechanical monkey, pressing her forehead against its cold metal face. "You have to succeed, for me, okay?"
She wound the spring. She dropped it into the vent.
I watched, frozen, as the little monkey waddled toward the fray with its rhythmic kachi-kachi sound.
Inside, Mylo had just popped the last shackle on Vander. Claggor had just smashed the escape hole in the back wall. They were seconds from safety.
Then the cymbals clapped.
BOOM.
A brilliant, blinding blue light erased the darkness. The Hex-crystal didn't just explode; it tore the fabric of the room apart. I saw the shockwave hit first. A piece of shrapnel caught Claggor mid-stride, his goggles flying off in a spray of red. A steel pipe, propelled by the blast, drove straight through Mylo's chest.
The ceiling didn't just fall; it collapsed like the hammer of a god, burying the boys in rubble.
I was close. Too close. A massive piece of masonry caught me in the chest, throwing me backward like a ragdoll. I hit a corrugated metal wall and slumped down, the world spinning in nauseating circles.
System Notification: You have suffered concussion damage. Stunned for 5 minutes.
"No..." I tried to move my fingers. They felt like lead. "Not five minutes... I need to go... I have to..."
I watched through a haze of purple Shimmer-fire as the cannery burned. Powder was somewhere in the wreckage, probably realizing she'd just "helped" her family into an early grave.
"You trash system!" I screamed internally, hot tears stinging my eyes. "Why give me the quest if I can't reach it? Why am I always a second too slow?!"
I was a Level 1 kid in a world of monsters, and I'd just watched the tragedy play out exactly as it was written.