“Yeah,” I bark. “Now tell Rizzo to get his ass out here before someone gets twitchy.”
Tension crackles like static. Even Bruce stops moving.
Then, the gates creak open.
Rizzo walks out slow, flanked by guards, wearing that same battered flak vest and scowl that made him a legend. He stops when he sees me—then sees River—and something shifts behind his eyes.
“You went rogue,” he says to her, voice like gravel and gunpowder.
River straightens. “I got results.”
He glances at me, at the monsters flanking us, then back at her. “You brought a circus.”
“I brought backup,” she fires back. “And intel. Skeela’s alive. Barely. Her coup failed.”
That gets his attention.
He steps closer. “You sure?”
“She’s being held in the central tower. They’ve started purging sympathizers. The city’s locked down, Rizzo. If we don’t act fast, we lose any chance of getting her out.”
He doesn’t look convinced.
That’s when I step forward, past River, past the range where any decent sniper could take my head clean off. I make sure they all see me—unarmed, standing tall, every bone and instinct screaming at me to shift, to fight.
“I come not as a beast,” I shout, voice carrying across the courtyard, “but as your fucking best chance.”
The silence is thick enough to chew.
I see their eyes. Fear. Distrust. One guy actually spits. But no one shoots.
Yet.
Rizzo watches me. Measuring. Then he waves his hand. The guns lower, slow and hesitant.
“Talk.”
We go inside. River lays it out clean—Skeela’s capture, the failed rebellion, the chaos sweeping the city. She paints it in sharp, brutal lines, her voice hard with guilt she won’t name. Rizzo listens. Says nothing. When she’s done, he leans back.
“That city’s burning,” he mutters.
“Which means now’s the time to hit it,” River says.
“You got a plan?”
I step in again. “Two-pronged assault. Your team—humans—hit the outer districts. Make it loud. Make it messy. Force the guard to spread thin.”
“And you?”
“Me, River, a few of mine. We go in quiet. We hit the tower. We get Skeela out.”
Rizzo frowns. “That tower’s a fortress.”
“I’ve torn through fortresses before.”
He looks at River. “You trust him to do it?”
She meets my eyes before answering. “With my life.”
