Taos’ head simply…came apart.
There was no other way to describe it. I watched in what felt like slow motion as the vessels in her skull ruptured. The pressure reduced her head to fragments and viscera, red mist and white shards spraying across the server room floor in a wide, terrible radius.
Eon screamed, the sound torn from somewhere painfully desperate, as Taos’ headless body slumped to the floor.
But the system continued its emotionless report: “Neural transfer interrupted. Data center integrity compromised. Initiating emergency containment protocols.”
The emergency protocols never engaged. Server racks began to overheat and spark, the chain reaction spreading exponentially.
“Warning: Catastrophic system failure detected. Emergency shutdown initiated.”
The shutdown came too late. The transfer protocol had already triggered feedback loops throughout the Magenta infrastructure, creating cascading failures no emergency system could contain.
The floor beneath us trembled as the first major power conduits blew somewhere deeper in the building. Throughthe walls, we could hear the distant sounds of explosions as the unstable reaction spread outward, following Magenta’s electromagnetic grid.
“This quadrant is experiencing a power overload. Evacuation window: six minutes, forty-seven seconds,” the system announced.
I couldn’t see them, but I felt them—thousands of bodies pulsing with panic just beyond the data center walls. The floors shook with footfalls, distant screams like pressure waves pounding against my chest. I felt their terror like a pulse in my own heart.
Levi released Eon’s wrist, seemingly satisfied with the destruction unfolding around us. “Excellent work, Ms. Ibarra.”
Eon didn't respond. She stood frozen at the terminal, eyes fixed on the spot where Taos had been—now nothing but a cooling corpse and scattered viscera. Her electromagnetic field had gone almost completely dark, like her own consciousness had retreated from what she’d been forced to do.
“Shall we?” Levi strode toward the metal staircase that led up and out of the control room. The beta squad followed, each with a rebel slung over their shoulder. Maddox was just behind them, casting a long glance over his shoulder—at me, and then at Eon.
She was still at the terminal, her knuckles white on the metal frame. I walked over and placed my hands on her shoulders.
“Time to go, doll.”
“Leave me,” she murmured, so low I barely caught it.
“Can’t do that.”
I expected her to fight me, but she didn’t. She let me guide her up the stairs and out of that condemned place. On the roof, air transports waited for us. Levi boarded his billion-creds rig and lifted off without a backward glance. I loaded Eon into a military transport beside Maddox and the others.
She wouldn’t look at me.
“Eon, please…”
She pressed her face against the glass as the transport lifted off.
“Don’t watch,” I begged.
She didn’t listen. She never fucking listened.
At first it seemed small, a deep rumble beneath hundreds of feet of concrete. Then one building cracked. Then another. Each fell inward on itself, clouds of dust rising like mushroom blooms into the night. Neon lights in every unnatural hue blinked out, replaced by the primal glow of red and orange as flames erupted from the wreckage, consuming entire blocks.
Eon’s forehead slammed into the tetraglass window, her face lit by the burning city like she was descending into hell itself. She didn’t say a damn thing, but I saw the light catch on the tears streaking down her face.
CHAPTER 66
CY
The transport docked against the roof of HQ with a gentlethud, the magnetic clamps engaging with barely a whisper. Perfect engineering, as always. Neo Stellaris sprawled before us—the usual neon glow scarred by unnatural darkness where the Magenta District now smoldered.
I hadn’t spoken during the flight. Neither had Eon. She’d remained pressed against the window until the Magenta District vanished from view, her fingertips leaving ghost impressions on the glass when she finally pulled away.
The transport bay doors slid open, revealing the sterile white of POM’s landing platform. Maddox gave me a nod before disappearing with the beta squad and their rebel captives. Standard protocol: processing, interrogation, disappearance. I’d performed it countless times without question.
