Bram stepped into the center of the hall like he had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Around him, the room stirred as people adjusted slightly in their seats.
"I didn't want to do this," Bram said, looking towards Talia. "But you've left me no alternative."
Talia stood in his path with a tense look on her face, like he had finally crossed a line she wasn't willing to overlook anymore. "You think fear will hold this place together?" she said, taking one step forward.
But then Bram's men moved in, stepping between her and the center of the room, right where Bram was. They positioned themselves to make it clear what would happen if she pushed any further.
Bram moved away from her and turned toward the rest of the room, scanning faces like a ledger being balanced. "Effective immediately, and until further stability is ensured, all decisions pass through me."
That stirred the room. People looked to each other, uncertain, as if they didn't know whether they were meant to act on it or not.
Bram waited until that faded into silence again.
"As for the outsiders," he continued, facing Riven and Cassian, "you can go, we're not jailers. But that piece of tech stays."
Riven's look was unwavering while his hand tightened around the satchel. The core was too important for him, regardless of how many stood between him and keeping it.
"No," Riven said finally. "That's not yours to claim."
Cassian moved one step forward, enough to signal that he wasn't letting that pass either.
Bram smiled. "Of course you'd say that. But what I see is two scavengers with a shiny piece of pre-collapse tech they don't even understand."
He walked closer.
"You think this town doesn't know your type?" he said. "Lying, greedy outsiders. You don't show up unless you want something. And the only way to deal with that kind of threat…"
His hand moved before Riven could react. With one sharp motion, he yanked the strap clean off, pulling the satchel away with a single movement.
Riven stepped forward instinctively, but two of Bram's men were faster. They caught his arms and held him still, tight enough to make sure he couldn't do anything threatening. Then two others moved in on Cassian as well, making sure he didn't get the chance either.
Bram held the core up in his hand. Its surface gleamed faintly, marked by a line that split the casing clean through.
"All this trouble," he said, lifting the device and turning toward the benches, "for something so small." He rotated in place, showing it to everyone like evidence in a trial already decided. "You see this? This is what happens when we forget what kept us safe all this time. We start entertaining risks. We start letting outsiders walk in with their mystery toys and half-truths and then have us do whatever they need us to."
Bram tilted the device in his hand, grazing one of the faint seams that ran along its side. With the touch, the core pulsed, and a thin line of light traced the edge.
Bram froze, looking at it. A few steps away, Riven caught it too, and his eyes remained fixed on the core in an attempt to anticipate what it meant.
It answered with a faint tone, like a confirmation ping, then a voice. "Identification: Bram Elric Sandoval."
Everyone in the room turned towards the source. A few people gasped. The voice that had spoken was calm, almost warm, and unmistakable. Riven recognized it immediately as the same voice he had heard a day before, while beneath the collapsing node.
"Authorization attempt recorded. Behavior profile flagged. Command access rejected. Subject classified: high-risk."
"What the..." Bram blinked, looking down at the core as if it had just spoken a different language. "What did it say?"
But Riven barely heard him. He was still locked on the word "flagged".
Then the voice resumed with the same calm tone. "Behavior profile shows repeated use of force, threats, and decisions that harmed community trust. Emotional pattern suggests intent to punish. Chances of safe interaction: too low. Clearance revoked."
Riven held still, processing it. If the core had access to full behavior profiles, it wasn't just some leftover tool for opening locked systems. He quickly turned his gaze to Cassian, reminding him without words of their conversation the day before. Cassian caught it.
Bram's eyes widened.
"Wait..."
Suddenly, a flare burst from the core, cutting straight through Bram's chest. The light folded inward first, then snapped outward in a short, blinding pulse. Bram's mouth opened, but no sound came out. Then his legs gave out, and he dropped to the floor in an instant.
The core hit the floor too a second later, bounced once, then rolled a few inches before stopping against a support beam.
For a few seconds, no one moved, as if the room itself hadn't caught up to what had just happened. Then the silence broke, chaotic and loud. Screams tore through the hall. People shoved back from the benches and stumbled. Someone knocked over a table, while another cried Bram's name and tried to crawl toward him.
Cassian moved instantly, shoving off one of the men who'd been holding Riven.
"Riven..."
But Riven was already up. He stared at the body, then at the core. The casing was glowing faintly, displaying one line of text.
Cassian saw it too. "What the hell does that say?"
Riven leaned in.
"Activating infrastructure."
The first rumble came, distant and deep, like something ancient stirring below the surface. The floor trembled underfoot as dust slipped from the ceiling. Riven recognized the signs immediately and knew they had little time to react.
"Move," Cassian said, pulling him back.
Panic took hold. Half the room surged toward the side exits, while the other half remained frozen, still trying to process what they'd just seen. Bram's body lay near the front, with his face turned slightly in their direction. Riven's eyes caught on it, and for a moment, it seemed like it was still watching them.
Cassian grabbed Riven's shoulder and pushed harder. They needed to go now.
They barely made it to the doors before the second wave hit. This one was louder and closer, which made it feel more real. Somewhere outside, metal shrieked as if being torn or bent into shape.
When they pushed the doors open, the light outside had changed and hurt their eyes. It was brighter through the haze of dust.
As their vision cleared, they saw massive jointed arms forcing their way up through the soil, slowly clawing at the surface. Some ended in drill heads, others folded back like crane rigs. Whatever they were, they clearly hadn't been built with people in mind. They were old-world demolition units, probably left dormant until now.
Riven stopped just outside the door, trying to read the layout and find some logic in what he was seeing.
"There's no way the core had that kind of capability," he said, more to himself than to Cassian. "Not without help. Not without..."
The roof above them cracked. A wide mechanical arm punched through it from the side, dragging debris with it. Chunks of stone and paneling rained down around them.
Riven jerked back, shielding his head, and as he did, the satchel slipped from his shoulder. It hit the floor, and the flap tore open, sending the core skidding across the concrete again. He reached for it instinctively, but another tremor threw him off balance, forcing him to brace against the wall.
Cassian grabbed Riven back by the arm and ran, hitting his shoulder onto the edge of the door frame.
"Do all of that later!" he shouted. "Survive now!"
They ducked down a side path that went along the back of the hall.
The militia had started to regroup in the main square, but there was just too much chaos and smoke.
"There!" someone shouted. "There! They killed Bram!"
But the militia was the least of their problems. Riven felt the air dragging past his face as one of the structures moved too close, cutting through broken alleys and rooftops. Cassian cursed, grabbed his arm, and pulled him hard around the nearest corner. They dropped into the shadow of a collapsed storage room, dust still hanging in the air.
"Well, that went smoothly," he whispered. "You know, for a diplomatic resolution."
But Riven's mind was still racing. He needed to get the core back somehow. None of this should've been possible unless the systems buried beneath them remained half-awake even after the node collapse. Then Riven remembered the massive web of connections the Lady had shown him. Those fragments were starting to make sense now, aligning with what he was seeing unfold.
Suddenly, footsteps came close.
Cassian swore and was ready to move again, but then he recognized Talia approaching fast. She stepped into view with one arm raised, her other hand stained with what looked like oil or blood. They couldn't tell.
"This way," she snapped. She moved fast, leading them through a gap in the debris that none of the others seemed to notice. It was a maintenance corridor, forgotten, or maybe just avoided. As they moved, Riven glanced back and saw another arm tear through the far edge of the square. It smashed into the side of the council hall, folding the wall inward like it was paper.
The corridor opened into a tunnel that seemed older than the town itself. Riven recognized the structure style as something that couldn't have been local work. He'd seen tunnels like this before, during the years spent moving from one site to another with Rheya.
They moved quickly, and Talia only slowed when the tunnel split. Without a word, she reached into her coat and pulled something free.
The core.
It still vibrated faintly and was corroded in one spot from the overload, but it was overall intact. Riven's fingers didn't move at first, but then Talia pressed it into his hands anyway.
"I still don't know what it is," she said", but whatever it's tied to, it can't stay here."
He took it carefully, feeling the familiar weight settle into his palm. As soon as he touched it, a low tone rippled from the casing, like a return to something stable. And in the distance, the tremors slowed, then stopped altogether.
They all looked toward the ceiling, listening to the atmosphere settle.
"You need to go," she said, pulling a folded map from her pack and handing it to Riven. "Follow this north until the trail moves east. You'll reach a trading outpost, and there's a caravan over there that can take you further."
Riven opened the map and scanned the markings. He saw Stillwater circled in graphite. The lines were faint, like someone had traced and retraced them, but the path was clear.
Cassian studied Talia as she tucked her hands back under her coat. "You're not coming."
She shook her head. "They'll need someone. And this place... It's still mine. I need to stay and hold together what's left."
For a moment, none of them moved.
Then Riven adjusted the satchel strap back over his shoulder, securing the core in place. He folded the map and glanced down the tunnel. "We'll make it to Stillwater."
"Good," Talia said. "Maybe one day our paths will cross again, with more answers and fewer mistakes. I hope by then, you'll have found what you're looking for."
Riven gave a faint smile. A few quiet moments passed before he spoke again, softer this time. "Anya?"
"She'll be safe. I've kept her safe before," Talia said, glancing over her shoulder. A few of her men had appeared near the tunnel's end, signaling for her to come back. She was needed.
They gave a small nod in acknowledgment, and moments later, Talia disappeared into the thick wall of dust, heading back toward what was left of the town.
Riven and Cassian left the tunnel behind, emerging through a concealed exit just beyond the northern ridge.
The sun had sunk lower, taking the worst of the heat with it. The horizon stretched out wide and unfamiliar in front of them, while behind, smoke still climbed from the far edge of the town where twisted structures leaned broken against the sky.
Cassian adjusted his coat and looked back once. "I swear," he muttered, "we need a calm day for once."
They kept walking foward.