The air in the Low-End didn't just smell like ozone anymore; it smelled like burning history. Vesper Malice leaned into the Resonance Blade, the hilt vibrating with a predatory hum that made the metal bar top groan.
"You see, old man," Vesper purred, his voice smooth and cold, like polished glass. "The problem with 'Static' is that it's messy. It's an impurity in the Spire's perfect signal."
He slowly twisted the blade. Garrison's teeth grit so hard they sounded like they might shatter, but he didn't give the Trimmer the satisfaction of a scream. Vesper looked over his shoulder at Hajee, the violet glow of his visor reflecting off the bronze gauntlets. "And you, Vane. A carrier of a dead line. You're not a legend; you're an unpatched bug in the code."
The Rank 1 Echo raised its cannon, the high-pitched whine reaching a crescendo as it locked onto Garrison's skull.
THE WILD CARDVesper was so focused on the Vane that he forgot the mountain itself had teeth. Sia moved. Her hands snapped like a spring-loaded trap, her fingers digging into the gaps of the Echo's wrist-armor. With a whip-like torsion of her hips, she jerked the arm upward.
K-BOOM.
The sonic blast missed Garrison's head, vaporizing a support pillar near the ceiling. Sia didn't stop. She flowed into a brutal, close-quarters combination—a palm strike to the Echo's throat followed by a digging elbow that shattered its primary optic sensor. As the armored grunt stumbled, she stepped over her father, her eyes burning with a cold, insectoid focus as she locked onto the second Echo.
"Hands off my father!" she hissed.
THE CAVERN FLOORBefore the second Echo could respond, Vesper roared. With an explosive burst of "unlocked" speed, he drove a brutal shoulder-check into Hajee's chest. The impact sent Hajee launching backward, crashing through the pressure-tank doors and tumbling into the wide, rocky expanse of the central cavern.
Hajee rolled and scrambled to his feet as Vesper stepped through the wreckage. The Trimmer spun the Resonance Blade, its hum deepening. "Any last words for the Ledger?"
Then, the Trimmer unleashed. He began a furious, chaotic dance, the Resonance Blade whistling as he furiously sliced through the air. Each arc of the violet blade sent jagged waves of sound tearing through the stone floor—a relentless storm designed to shred them both.
Hajee and Sia moved in sync—a flick-dodge that sent them spinning in opposite directions. They pulled the focus apart, forcing Vesper to choose a target. Vesper, seeing them start to flag, went for the kill. He focused his visor on Hajee, the violet light narrowing as he prepared his final, furious slash.
THE MANTIS STRIKEIn that split second of narrowed focus, Sia saw her opening. She became a blur of lightning-fast speed. As Vesper committed to his ultimate strike toward Hajee, Sia dropped low. She hooked her fingers into the rocky ground, anchoring herself as she whipped into a low, centrifugal spin. Her leg snapped out in a Snap-Sweep that hit like a piston, catching Vesper's anchored heel.
Vesper's feet left the ground. His own "unlocked" momentum betrayed him, flipping him backward into the air.
THE FINAL CHORDTime seemed to stutter. Vesper looked up as he tumbled, but he didn't see the jagged pipes of the ceiling. All he saw was a figure silhouetted against the dark—Hajee didn't jump; he flowed, appearing in the air above Vesper as if he had been there all along.
The Trimmer's eyes widened behind his visor. He caught a glimpse of glowing green eyes and a bronze fist encased in a freezing emerald light.
"This is the break in your rhythm," Hajee growled.
The Absolute Zero ignited. Hajee caught Vesper mid-air, palm-down on the Trimmer's face, and mashed him vertically into the ground. K-TCHOOM. Vesper was driven into the rock, his armor shattered and his blade snapping in half.
THE DYING SIGNALHajee ripped the comms-unit off Vesper's mangled wrist. A holographic display flickered: Lyra Tone.
"Vesper, report," her voice demanded.
Hajee held the unit to his face, his green eyes cold. "Vesper isn't talking right now, Lyra. He's a little too deep in the dirt."
"Vane," she breathed with venom. "You are a glitch that will be erased."
"I'm coming up," Hajee whispered. "And I'm bringing the noise with me." He crushed the unit in his palm and tossed the scrap onto Vesper's broken body.
THE KEEPER'S VOWHajee walked back to the ruins of the bar where Sia was helping Garrison. "We need to move," Hajee rasped. "The Spire doesn't send Trimmers alone."
Garrison let out a rough, wet laugh. "We'll vanish. But you... you're heading for the Sound Bar."
Hajee's green eyes narrowed. He looked at the old man, a sudden suspicion crossing his face. "Wait. How did you know where I was trying to go? I never mentioned the Sound Bar to you."
Garrison's lips pulled back into a bloody, knowing grin. He looked at Hajee, his gaze heavy with a truth that went deeper than the Gutter. "I know what it is to be born of the High Crest, boy. I know the weight of that bloodline. I traded all that—the seats, the power—for a life that was actually worth living down here in the mud. My son... he's the one who made sure the folk who needed to get clear, got clear of their reach."
"Call it destiny, Vane," the old man whispered. "Some frequencies are just meant to collide. You're heading for the resonator of the entire mountain. Sia, go with him. You carry the blood of the Architects. You're the only one who can help him bridge the gap when he hits the center of that frequency."
Sia stood up, her posture as sharp as a blade. Hajee looked toward the dark tunnels.
"The Sound Bar," Hajee whispered. "Let's go, Sia. We've got some math to fix."