Julia
For half a heartbeat, the world froze—Hawk’s confession still burning between us, Reese staring like he’d just witnessed the one outcome he couldn’t calculate, the override chamber pulsing with cold blue light.
Then everything erupted at once.
Reese lunged.
Hawk shoved me aside—not away from him, but into a safer angle behind the pillar as Reese fired. The bullet sparked off metal inches from my shoulder.
“Hawk!” I yelled.
He’d already closed the distance.
The two men collided like opposing storms—silent, controlled fury against calculated fanaticism. Hawk landed the first hit, a brutal right hook that rocked Reese’s head sideways. Reese staggered, recovered instantly, and drove a knee at Hawk’s ribs.
I raised my rifle to fire—but the chamber lights surged and every weapon in the room clicked as if gripped by invisible hands.
“Lyric,” Reese barked. “Disable firearms.”
“Confirmed,” the AI replied calmly.
My trigger locked. Hawk’s sidearm locked. The rifles on our backs sealed in place.
“Coward!” I spat. “You can’t even fight clean!”
Reese wiped blood from his lip, eyes fever-bright.
“I fight to win. Hawk fights to atone.”
He swung again.
Hawk blocked, twisted, grabbed Reese’s wrist, and slammed him against the metal railing. The impact echoed like a gunshot.
“You think this is about Meridian?” Hawk growled. “About Ford?”
His voice cracked with fury. “This is about you killing innocent people and calling it logic.”
Reese laughed—cold, breathless.
“There are no innocent people. Only variables.”
I charged.
Reese saw me coming and swung the butt of his gun like a club. Pain exploded along my cheekbone—but I didn’t fall. I drove my shoulder into his ribs, knocking him sideways into Hawk’s waiting fist.
Reese crumpled.
For a moment.
Then Echo Core responded.
The walls pulsed, lights shifting from white to red—alarms whispering rather than blaring, as if the system were speaking directly to itself.
Lyric’s voice dropped to a lower pitch.
“Override chamber destabilizing. Integrity at 43%. Please select an interface candidate.”
Reese staggered to his feet, clutching his ribs.
