>> They're Called Sinners For A Reason

  The room goes very quiet. Thrills of fear and sudden excitement writhing through my body. My toes and fingers clenching. Clawing. Ripping into the bed. My swollen half-hand twitching as it tries to grip.

  Beads of cold pulsing in my wrist as I take another hit of Lucidity.

  Is this a trap? Or a test?

  Did Polybius engineer this entire freaking nightmare to put me in this position? This moment?

  So it can insert itself in my head, and take over?

  The multi-armed girl gets done choking, and snarls. "You let us make that entire deal without once-!!"

  "The Cartel can hear you." Polybius states. Cold as death. Shutting her down.

  We all stare at the door. "Did they?"

  "They are not talking. Listen closely." The Machine rotates in maddening patterns, bending around the others. "You may yet talk your way out. But if that fails, my Core will be your final bargaining chip. Or your final failsafe."

  Her eyes widen. She nods. But my stomach wrenches into knots.

  Holy shit, Polybius. What the Hell are you up to? Freaking revealing yourself to-

  Lady Amalia of The Sinners Cartel slides through the door. Flanked by red-robed guards, in such numbers my broken head cannot count them. Their limbs and faces splitting into thousands. Blending together, into a wall of screaming flesh.

  But they didn't bring the goods.

  "Have we made a decision?" Amelia's front of delicate business hides a crack of glee. A note to her voice that echoes in my thundering skull.

  A note of desire. Of hunger. Or knowing.

  But is it imagined? Like the swarm of bright embers that crown her?

  I try to focus. Wavering and swaying, even laid back as I am.

  Hard to even remember what decision I'm bloody making. But I've got my final choice locked in, and held by endless repetition. My heart racing as I force it out.

  Realising, as I do, that the almost-dead really do not give a shit.

  "Yeah." I almost chuckle. "I'll take the one you're hidin' from us."

  That. That gets their freakin' attention.

  "I see." Amelia says, in the exact same tone. "And which one would that be?"

  Her words are bland, but her face bleeds darkness and blinding-bright worms.

  "Mate- Like, hold on-" Zipper stutters. But I yank my arm out of his.

  "You know which bloody one." I drawl, matching her level tone. "Real short title. Real suspicious. Came in at the back, like it's afraid of gettin' caught."

  "The [Conversion Kit]?" Amelia's tone doesn't shift even a fraction. "Apologies, but I am afraid that item is defective. I assume it was added by mistake."

  "Was, huh?" I rumble as the Lucidity really hits.

  More like her friend is an idiot, and she didn't catch it.

  "We were pressed for time. I hope you understand."

  I smile, or something like it. "Does your boss know you're rippin' him off? Cause we can tell im."

  "Spook!" Kami stutters. "I'm sorry. I-"

  "We will put that down to the brain damage." Amelia smooths, layering calm words with cold implication. "Now. Why don't we choose an option that won't kill you? Or get you killed." She taps at the air. A screen I can't see. "How about the [Think Tank], perhaps?"

  "Don't like soup enough t'wanna be one." I force a snarky grin. But my traitorous tail taps a nervous little dance against the bed.

  It's a dangerous game when we're broken, beaten, and barely armed. Facing actual freaking adults. With experience. And muscle. And better guns.

  And all our leverage spent. Or, so they think.

  Even damaged, I can see we're in freaking trouble. All we have now is their damned honour, and their word.

  The Kami-girl is frozen. Zipper, a near-blur of manic twitching.

  I need The Left Hand. I need it. But where is it?

  "Keep her busy." Polybius whispers. Spreading curls of metal wing that snare The Sinners, like shadows of damnation.

  "Then, perhaps the [Obelisk Hivemind] is more to your tastes?" Amelia continues. "It was never worth recovering without a [Pilot]. But perhaps we can come to an arrangement?"

  My snark stumbles. "Did we.... did we look at that?"

  "It's on the list." She confirms. "Joining The Masked Fleet is a great privilege. But I hear you are a [Pilot] of some skill. With the right Honour Gift, you could claim your place in The Sinners' Armada. Which offers certain protections."

  "Too far away. Too far underwater." Our metal-armed girl inserts, covering for my sudden confusion and silence.

  I don't remember the hive thing at all.

  Zipper nods. "Yeah, like, we're kinda on borrowed time. Right? So maybe-"

  "We have a fast ship, directly outside." Amelia counters smoothly, steering us into her trap. "Air, or water - it will get you there in moments. And everything you need will be ready on arrival."

  "And what d'ya mean by 'Honour Gift'?" I say, very carefully. My tired, damaged, heart spiking its trembling beat. Fighting to keep my thoughts in order.

  I feel her smile, though I can't see it.

  "It's hard to say. Perhaps you came by some other trinket or treasure the ruins that you have yet to disclose." She insinuates. Delicately. "Or already have one?"

  The ruins. The Factory. Yet to disclose.

  My eyes snap to Zipper and Kami, with a sudden chill. What the Hell did they give her?

  And what the Hell does she know?

  Is this about The Hand? Or.....

  "Like what?" I fish. Clenching to hide the sudden tremor in my hands. My face. My lips.

  "That's up to you." She counters. "Temptation is our thing, so make us an offer."

  Instinct trembles. She's after something specific.

  The Hand? The Core that Polybius offered me? Or Polybius itself?

  Panic explodes inside me. My face twisting. Realisation boiling like acid and magma in my chest, as I start to see the edges of a plan I simply cannot comprehend.

  Maybe, even, on my best day.

  Polybius is far beyond humanity. Beyond anything we can dream of.

  Yet, at the same time, vulnerable. Physically, actually, vulnerable in ways I can't even remember or explain. Not as I am - broken, and exhausted, and horrifically damaged.

  So why would it out its own existence to The Sinner's Cartel? Not just randomly, but right after revealing their intent to betray us?

  I swallow. Because there's only one, terrifyingly possible, reason it would do that:

  It doesn't think that intel will leave this freaking room.

  I lean back, slowly. Fighting panic on my face, as Amelia regards me like a corporate statue.

  Cold. Imperious. Remote. Stripped of all detail.

  Dangerous.

  God, Polybius. I hope you know what you're doing. I hope we all do.

  "That is, if you're feeling overly generous. Of course." Amelia says, as if she isn't trying to take us for everything. "If not, perhaps we could consider the other [Hivemind]." She taps her wristband, frowning.

  "Other??" My ear tilts. Panic rising. Fear, too.

  Is my memory failing that quickly? What were we talking about?

  "Yes. Was that not mentioned either?" There is no edge of contempt in her voice. Nothing. But yet, I know it's in there. I feel it. "The [Dasha Vata Hive Cluster] is very established. Very reputable. Very exclusive. Normally, it's invitation only."

  "Don't." The Kami girl warns me.

  "We can also provide a selection of AI Cores, for your consideration." Amelia insists. Politely, of course. With no pressure.

  My exhausted face twitches. But my teeth grit.

  "Do not trust her. Do not go with her. She offers you trinkets she need not replace." Polybius warns. Heard only by me. "She will devour your remaining time. Waiting for you to fold."

  But what do I do? I can barely think. I'm coming apart, bit by bit.

  Was I too cocky? Too weak? Too stupid?

  My head throbs too much. I just can't.... Maybe it would be better to give in. To pick something. Anything.

  Not the [Obelisk]. That's just an excuse to dump us underwater and forget about us forever.

  But the [Think Tank]? Sounds bulky as Hell, but it's legit. I could be a massive Mek.

  Or get copied into an [AI Core], and wonder forever if I'm really still Spook.

  And she'd take the real prize, leaving me with bugger all and trash.

  I heave a breath. My claws clench. Eyes sharper. Wilder.

  Something violent and mad awakening inside me.

  There's always The Fourth Option.

  I could choose it. Right now.

  And hurl them all to Hell.

  My breathing turns hard. My blind eyes burning as I lean forward to open my mouth. Fury and frustration rising hard and sharp. "I-"

  "Wait."

  "What....?" I clutch my face, heads flickering toward me.

  Least I have an excuse. Right?

  "Be calm. Be still." It churns in the void. Neither calming, nor still. "We are leading The Sinners to a certain conclusion."

  "We...." We are?

  "But they must think it was their own idea. They must not realise they were duped."

  Are we? I hesitate. Suddenly unsure.

  Confused. Befuddled.

  "Follow Zipper's lead."

  I nod, almost imperceptibly. And our [Drone Tek] sidles his sketchy self up to Amelia, like they're suddenly best pals.

  "Hey, Mate, look. I'm real sorry bout this. Been a rough day, yeah? Rough month." He says, and I can almost feel the cocky grin. "But, like, Spook's really sorta hung on that- Whatsit?"

  "[Synthetic Conversion Kit]."

  "-[Conversion Kit]. And, like, I know this thing says it's broke. Right? Probably junk." He doesn't miss a beat. "So, yeah, wouldn't hurt to just have a peek? Just so Spooko don't fix on it no more? Y'know? I'll record it, too, so like they won't bug you again."

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Amelia goes very still, and I frown.

  "I am afraid it was a mistake to include that." She repeats. "This was all very last-minute."

  "Hey. Yeah. Sorry about that" Zipper hops on his toes to peek round her at the thugs. Just a curious Demi kid. "But, still, like, how about we s-see it at least? Like, it wouldn't hurt. Right? Then Spook can shut up about it?"

  A fraction of hesitation.

  "Of course." Amelia says, with a flick of her finger. Singling one of the thugs, who vanishes for a second.

  I whip my head towards Polybius. "Wait." I mouth. "What just happened?"

  The Machine Mind unfolds, and twists, and churns in brain-shredding patterns.

  "She is a betrayer. A murderer. A thief. A poisoner." It blazes in my mind. "But she is bound to The Sinner's Code. Or its appurtenance."

  "But-" I flick eyes at the thugs. "They're gonna-"

  "Betray you? Of course." It echoes in my aching skull. "Honour is a Cartel's mask. Hiding the filth within. Its exists, only, when that True Face cannot be shown."

  Such as when every eyeball is capable of livestreaming to the Pirate Web. Which just so bloody happens to love scandal and slander like an old ladies knitting club.

  "Oh." I breathe. "Holy shit."

  He's playing the Cartel against its own false fa?ade of Honour. Threatening to expose the rot within, but in a way that sounds so freakin' innocent. And helpful.

  Like, 'he's just trying to shut me up' by videoing everything.

  Zipper. Ho. Dang.

  He's got her by the neck, and she can't even be freaking offended.

  Could the video be faked? Hell yes. Does that matter? Heck no. Not in our world.

  In the neon dark of our City, all truth is a lie. So all lies are truth.

  It just needs legs.

  "Phase Five. Variant Alpha." The machine concludes, as the thug returns with a shining silver case.

  I shake myself from the daze of thought.

  Teeth shivering as a case slides onto the bed, right at my feet.

  Amelia pops it. Neatly. Smoothly. Revealing a thick white headband, set with an odd little gem. Its surface all built of screwy angles and curves that do weird things to my head.

  As if twisted through dimensions I can't even see.

  It looks old enough. Dusty enough. Eerie and strange enough. But Polybius flickers. "Kami. Lead her to the trap."

  "That's not it." The girl says. Tightly. Keeping her calm.

  "It is. I assure you-"

  "No. I've seen these before. The gem is a-" She hesitates. Too long. "-kind of AI Core."

  Amelia leaps on that. "Are you sure?"

  "It's a Latherby's Mind Matrix. Built about five-hundred years ago." Kami recites. Bluntly. Blatantly. "Can we stop wasting time here? Spook doesn't have long."

  "I'm fadin' fast." I try to joke.

  Amelia ignores me. "You know an awful lot about them. Suddenly." Her tone is hard. Purposeful. Slow.

  We're just kids. Right? She can scam us all day.

  No smear on The Sinners' Honour if we don't know what we want.

  Worse: she can trick us, and have us know it's a trick. But force us to buy it, on the strength of her arm.

  Kami shoves back at her braids, casual as can be. But she's picking her words all too carefully. "We all have implants. They can identify things."

  Subtle pressure. A hidden threat.

  "Perhaps it's in the wrong box?" Amelia retorts. Tension cracking her cold, calm, voice. "But, as you say, your friend doesn't have long. And choices do have to be made. If-"

  "Push her. Spook. You're the only one who can."

  Holy shit. It's right. She's treatin' me 'special' cause of the damage.

  It's a freakin' licence to offend.

  I reach out a rough foot, and slam the case shut. Planting it on top.

  "No." I try not to snarl. "No [Hivemind]s. No [AI Core]s. No fakes. No turnin' Spook into chunky salsa jelly dip. No thanks."

  "But those are the only option-"

  I clench my fist to spread the Lucidity.

  "So. You agree it's fake?" I challenge. Hurling her own words back in her face. "Cut rate bloody Scams from the great Cartels. Where's ya freakin' honour?"

  Amelia flat-out freaking ignores me. Turning to Kami in a flick of red cape. "I am afraid your friend is delirious. I suggest you chose instead. It will be for the best."

  "Spook. Do not let her slip aside. Do not mention the messages."

  "No honour." I purr, and the room tightens. My fangs flickering with mad determination.

  "I suggest." Amelia whispers, in rage. "We sedate-"

  "Cut rate con-artists."

  Amelia's razor-edged heels snap a single, furious, step toward me.

  "This is a cut against our Face. Damage or no, if you-"

  "If I bloody what? Upload this shit to the net? PROVE you're cheatin'." I roar as calming drugs fall before the rage and turmoil inside. "You'll do what? Bloody apologise?"

  The Sinner's Court, stirs. Twisted into a violent mass of impossible loops around me.

  A painted whirl of red-cloaked revelry.

  "Mate! Like, calm down? Hey?" Zip echoes through the rising fog. Reaching for my arm. "Like, maybe a little-"

  My claws rip the Lucidity drip from his hand. Cranking it to the max.

  "Spook??" Kami yells.

  "Shit, like- Wait- Like that stuff-"

  "No. Enough bloody games. Enough dancin' about." I snarl. As much to the spinning room as them. "We caught The Sinners in a bloody con. Fair and square."

  Kami looks at the thugs, then me.

  She makes a calculation. Based on fear. On doubt.

  On trying to save me.

  "Sorry." She stutters to Amelia. "Don't take it personally. Spook's brain-"

  "Stealin' cookies from The Sinners. Ain't ya? That's what this shit's really about." I rumble, voice twisted between them like a blade. "Fob us with the cheap tat. Replace it. Pretend we took the gold. Run off with it. Sell it." My lips tighten. "Tale as old as time."

  The room is a void of silence. Sucking at my words.

  I oblige it.

  "Shit. I bet that's why you're suck out here with us. In Pirate Town." I grin. Demented, and wild. "Risky business. Stealin' from The Corp. Guess they fired your ass."

  "That drug will accelerate your decline." Amelia states. "You're on borrowed time, and all of these options are good. Do you want to waste your final minutes arguing?"

  My head twists in a rictus of life. "Go big or go home." I hiss. A sinuous whisper, dripping with violence. "So what'll it be? Finish the deal, or I'll tell your boss - and he eats you alive."

  A sudden hitch in her breath, almost hidden by her act.

  "That...." Amelia says, far too late. "....is not the threat you think it is."

  "No? Then here's a bloody better one." I grin a mouth full of bloody blades. Polybius shimmering. "Bring me what I chose before our AI takes us live, to the freakin' world."

  The woman herself stands utterly silent. Stiffening, like brittle glass, as cracks thread outward from her heart.

  But it isn't fear. Or shock. Or shame.

  It's rage.

  "Brass case outside." I add, helpfully. Images of it swimming in the dark.

  It's too much.

  Amelia's fine hand snaps towards me, and clenches. Bullet fast. The Lucidity Drip. The machines. The wires, and plugs. All of it simply implodes.

  Raining a torrent of sparks, gears, and odd little parts.

  "Apologies. The Lucidity was poisoning your mind. I had to act swiftly."

  Holy. Hell.

  I don't know what that is, but I want one.

  "You killed the nanite drip!" Kami shrieks. Panicking. Rushing to find another, as I suck in a breath.

  "A casualty of speed." Amelia whispers, as the folds of thugs begin to shift. Meaty hands slipping beneath bloody red cloaks.

  Seeking guns. Knives. Retribution.

  Words can kill out here, after all.

  "Killing a client? On video? Right in the bloody middle of a deal?" I grin, manically. "Gonna be a fun day on the net for you. Lady. They're gonna crucify your frekin' ass."

  "Video means nothing. It will show whatever I want." Her finger flicks.

  "W-Wait, like hey!" Zipper jerks an arm up. Leaping between us. "Like, Spook's brain ain't working so good. Y'kno-"

  A thug smashes the back of an axe into his chest. Cracking armour. Slamming boy into a cabinet with force enough to shatter him.

  He falls. Crumpling to the ground.

  But the blade gleaming, naked and sharp, as the thug slips towards him.

  "If no Code is seen to be broken." Amelia says, very softly. "There is no broken Code."

  "Wait!" The Kami girl stutters. "Our eyes are military tek. It's neoSoviet. And they trust nothing."

  "Your point?"

  "It's signed. With a special, unique, encryption key. I can show you." She says, tightly. "It will be proven real. And this will kill The Sinners' honour. You'll never be trusted."

  "Lies."

  "Here. Look for yourself." She tosses her a digital shard. "Our AI will post it. Right now. If you hurt any one of us. Are you willing to take that chance?"

  The woman stares at nothing. And then her rage is suddenly, violently, subdued. Snapping back behind the veneer of cold, robotic, calm.

  "I see." She whispers. Axes glimmering as they flick under cloaks.

  "Phase six. Variant Alpha." The Machine Mind clicks. "Amelia is tenacious. Proud. Yet, now she is scorned. Humiliated by children. She will not accept defeat. Not even at this cost."

  "Then what shall we do?" Kami says to Amelia, and Polybius, at the same time. The red cape stirring around our enemy. Whipping in a wind that isn't even real.

  Red Ridding Hood is the killer. If you think about it.

  She never lifts a hand, but she never has to.

  "I am a Red Cape of The Velvet Room. You have no proof. Nothing." Amelia says. "And they will listen to me."

  "Now. Kami. Now."

  "Oh yeah?" She grins. "No proof, huh?"

  Messages spill into the air around her. Pouring from the churning nightmare that is Polybius.

  Thousands of records, hacked from Amelia's wristband.

  Assembled, at terrible speed, into an inky portrait of her life.

  I lean back. Shuddering. "Bet ya boss don't know about any of this." I breathe. "But soon, everybody will."

  "Phase Seven. Variant Alpha." Polybius states. A spidery thing of Death and Clockwork, wrapping its victim.

  I look at it. Wide eyed.

  "Provide her the rope, and she will make her own noose."

  "But what?" I breathe.

  "A bribe. An Honour Gift." The cogs tighten. "Given, it seems, in good faith."

  But what do we even have? Only our most precious items.

  The Left Hand. The Night Tyrant.

  And-

  "Take care. All of you. She must be led to think it was her own idea."

  Oh, God. Polybius.

  Either you love us to death, or you're planning a freaking apocalypse.

  "There! Proof!" I spit at Amelia. Knowing the thugs can't move on our words alone. Not for a client. "But we'll drop it all in the gutter, if ya keep our bloody deal."

  Amelia does not look at me. "Even this, can be faked."

  "Yeah." I grin. "But you know Karrak. You think they care?"

  She says nothing.

  I itch a pointy ear, tail winding slowly. "You made a damned promise. So that's ours. Keep your bloody name, or your bloody toy. Which'll it be?"

  Amelia remains very still. Inhumanly so.

  Not even pretending to draw breath.

  "Do not provoke her further. She will snap."

  "You owe me." I point at her. "We paid."

  The woman's eyes twist toward me.

  Slowly. A rage building that no mere scraps of Honour can stop.

  "An entire originTek factory." The Kami girl states. "Worth billions of Old Blood."

  "What." I stutter. "B-" I choke. “Bloody BILLIONS!?”

  "Not counting spacial anomalies." She adds. "Those are worth more."

  "Oh my God....."

  "And where did those come from, I wonder." Amelia says, in a very precisely controlled voice. Still focused, tightly, on me and me alone.

  As if holding back an explosion of death and violence, building inside.

  "You'll have to test them." Kami shrugs, as Zipper rises from the busted cabinets. Armour sparking, as he slips toward the door. "In the meantime, we're paid. We're good. So where's the real deal?"

  Amelia straightens. She checks her blouse, adjusts her cape, and then treats us all to an expression I can't read. "I believe we have already satisfied the terms of the deal."

  "What....?" I blink.

  "All your friends stipulated, in their panic was that we provide a selection of options to save you.” Her hands spread. "Which we have done. That item, itself, was never specifically required by the deal."

  Flickers of blood behind her. Of teeth in the void.

  “It’s required now!” I snarl in sudden madness. “I’m requirin’ it! So-”

  “Yet it remains that the item is mine.” Amelia lies. Dropping the part about it being defective. "So. If you bargain for it, you bargain with me. Not The Sinners. But you will need to a treasure of superior value to do so.”

  "You said it was junk. Worthless." I heave as demented things crawl back into the room. "God. The noises......"

  "It’s originTek. It has real value, broken or not." I'm sure she's smiling. The slippery bitch. "Why not make me an offer? Assuming you even need the [Protocol]?”

  I open my mouth. But then snarl. "No. We've got nothin' you want."

  "Are you sure?" She asks. Sharply. Yet placing each word with strict care. "I've head you already have a far superior device. The [Apothian Rebirth]."

  “And where did you hear that? Eh?” I say, blandly. "Been spyin' on us too?"

  "So much for your fabled ‘Privacy in Sin’." Kami snarks. "Big day for breaking your The Sinner's Code, isn't it?"

  Amelia's fist creaks. A fine leather glove torn from the inside-out.

  "I will find out who is feeding you information." Amelia says, very quietly. "But tell me. Where is this treasure you found? This.... fourth option of yours. The one you're so terrified to use that you came to us instead?"

  None of us speak. Amelia drawing closer to me.

  Closer.

  As if licking her lips.

  "Tell me." She says, "What is this..... 'Polybius'?"

  Silence rules for far too long. It crawls.

  "You.... you mean..... The Fractal Core." I whisper into the hush, as claws itch my torn face. Gripping the blanket, bent over. "We found it. It.... it talks to us. Tells us things. It hacked into your bracelet."

  "No mean feat." She says. Slowly.

  "It wanted into my head. But it could kill me. Take me over." I breathe hard. Forcing myself to stay calm. "I don't trust it. Don't trust you either."

  "Do you know what a Fractal Core is?"

  "No. It. Nobody knows." I shudder. "But. I heard a word. Once. I'm not supposed to know it."

  "And what is that?" She asks. Drawing close. A woman with all the time in the universe.

  "Ceidus." I whisper. Chills and shudders raking my sides. "It's part of a.... thing.... an ancient Machine called a Ceidus."

  A breath, and she stops. Tapping at her bracelet.

  "Bring it here." She says. Insistent now. "Bring me The Fractal Core."

  I laugh. "No. You don't know what you're askin'."

  'Greedy little Children. With Greedy little fingers.' Sneers a memory of Moon in the hollow of my broken mind. 'Careful they aren't snip-snipped off....'

  I hope I didn't say that out loud.

  "Spook.... you can't." Kami is crying. "You can't....."

  But Amelia is flicking off orders. Her men bringing me a shining gold case inset with brassy, ticking, clockwork.

  And tiny, tiny, rubies.

  "This is your prize. It will never work. It has never worked. But we will see."

  I touch it. Gears shifting under my fingers.

  Gears carved with tiny, tiny, eyes.

  What in the Hell?

  Her glove tightens on the lid. "Bring it here. Or I will simply drag this out until you die."

  "And you won't just-"

  "The Sinners do not scam clients." Amelia recites. Carefully. "This is why you came to us, and not to The Devil's Court. Or The Rusted Throne. We have a Reputation, and we uphold it to the strictest standards."

  I look at Kami. She nods. "Okay. Okay. Demon. Come in....." She stammers.

  "And you'll delete the footage, will you?" Amelia interrupts. "I suggest not lying."

  I stare her down. Shaking. Shuddering. But defiant.

  "No." I snap. "But it ain't gettin' out. We got our own code."

  Amalia's gaze remains fixed on me. "I think you children are running a scam." She says, as Demon enters through the back. Gripping a tiny, battered case.

  The thugs part around him.

  "Keep ya word. I keep mine." I let my eyes slip. Following Demon.

  The boy's tail snaps, nervously. His golden eyes a painted whirl.

  He looks..... strange. As if tilted through too many mirrors.

  But his claws crack the case.

  A roar building in the dark behind the world.

  The Left Hand howled with Silence. With Oblivion. But this?

  The Fractal Core SINGS. A single, conquering, note that thunders in my skin. That thunders in the walls, like distant trumpets.

  Vast. Sharp. Piercing.

  Yet deep. Fathomless. Powerful. And strange.

  A thrum that vibrates the very teeth in my skull. The eyes in my sockets. The glass in the cupboards.

  And there is a voice, beneath it. Unheard, yet straining at the edges of my mind.

  Rising, rising, into the roar of never-ending crescendo.

  Very slowly, a single Shard of Polybius quivers and begins to rise.

  Tilting. Rising upon its point. Hanging there, like a threat of damnation and eternity.

  Burning with threads of eerie colour, too terrible and beautiful to be real.

  And, in that instant, the TICK of Polybius is not a muffled whisper.

  It a hammering in the void behind the stars. Like the starting of some monumental engine of the universe. Like the heartbeat of God.

  Like dawn in a City that has never known the sun.

  It isn't a sound. Or even a feeling.

  It is an echo of something deeper. More ancient.

  Never seen. Never felt. Not until this very instant.

  But always there.

  Even her thugs all stand in breathless wonder. Never moving. Never blinking. Entranced by the bottomless, unsettling, unimaginable depths of Polybius. In colours I see, even though I am blind.

  Colours beyond all imagination.

  All reality.

  And, that. That is the instant we would have attacked. Should have attacked.

  If we could.

  Instead, Amelia draws toward it. Her hand outreached. Her breath stilled.

  Stepping, slowly. Gently. As if in the presence of something utterly sacred.

  Her fingers touch the case. Closing it, with a snap.

  The thugs topple, if she cut their strings.

  "Ma'am?" Croaks one. The first time any of them have spoken.

  He sounds terrified.

  Amelia turns. The case gripped to her heart.

  "Leave them! Leave everything!" Her fingers are shaking. Her eyes wild. Her hair pricked like static. "We have something better. So much better."

  "We should kill them. Take bo-"

  "SHIT! YOU THINK I WANT JIN LOOKING IN ON ME NOW!?!?" She screeches, like an old bag on the subway. "YOU THINK WE NEED HEAT LIKE THAT!?!"

  They stare at her. As if they've never seen her before.

  Amelia's breath comes out sharp. Fast. Panicked.

  "We go. Now. We say nothing. The handoff was a success. Nothing else." She babbles, pacing frenetically. "We make this disappear. Then we all disappear, far far away. Before Jin makes it happen for us. Do you understand?"

  Her look says everything.

  And then, with incredible efficiency, they freaking run.

  > > >< < <

  Who beat who in this little game?