Allium stepped in front of Cassidy without thinking.
The distortion at the far wall thickened, space folding inward as something forced itself through—angular, jointed, wrong. A leg pierced the air and with it came pressure, not force but insistence, like reality being told where to stand.
The wave hit him square in the chest.
White surged up his spine, sharp and surgical, reaching for control it had tasted before.
Cassidy gasped as his glow fractured—
Then Allium shut his eyes.
The music was still there.
Low.
Steady.
Human.
The pressure wavered.
White tried to rise again and failed, smothered beneath memory and presence and choice. His breathing steadied. His hands unclenched.
He opened his eyes and stared directly at the distortion.
"Not gonna work this time."
Behind him, Cassidy exhaled hard.
The distortion spasmed. Clicking erupted—fast, jagged, furious. The limb twitched once, twice, then withdrew as space sealed itself shut like a wound deciding not to bleed yet.
Gone.
Not gone enough.
Allium turned slightly. "Where is everyone?"
⸻
Jax's office felt like a room after impact.
Not destroyed—shaken.
Jax stood rigid near the console, hands braced, eyes bloodshot but focused. "Okay. Okay. I'm good." He looked down at his boots. "Can you remove this, please?"
Rose stepped forward and shattered the ice cleanly. She shivered once—then steadied.
Thane rubbed his temples. "Ugh. Feels like my head went through a blender."
Nina wiped at her eyes, embarrassed. "I haven't cried in years."
Weaver stood apart, robe folded in his hands. Rose passed it back to him. He took it—but the guilt didn't settle with the fabric.
"Cassidy must be behind this," he murmured.
The door opened.
Allium stepped in.
Orange.
Whole.
Every eye snapped to him.
Cassidy followed. "Okay. He's normal for now. Khelos is still here. I know he's not gone."
Jax moved to the console. "Medical teams—assist civilians. Evac to docks. Repeat, evac to docks."
He turned the display toward them.
"In my condition," he said tightly, "I isolated the frequency he uses to hide. It's not perfect—but it's enough."
Nina and Cassidy leaned in immediately.
"He's deep in the Solara garden," Nina said. "Still close."
Cassidy nodded. "When I reached Allium, he was watching. He's still trying to trigger Overload—just adapting around how I stopped it."
Weaver's voice hardened. "Then we don't wait. We deal with him now."
Rose's aura stirred, frost tightening. "After him using me? I want this settled."
Allium raised a hand.
"He will flee," he said calmly. "If we approach as we are."
Jax looked up. "Meaning?"
"He knows we are strongest together," Allium continued. "Distance and patience are his weapons. I can remove one of those."
Weaver frowned. "How?"
Allium didn't answer immediately.
"He expects calm," he said instead. "And a weapon."
He looked at them then.
"What if I am not those things?"
Silence.
Weaver shook his head sharply. "If he learns what stabilized you—"
"He already is," Allium replied. "But he waits. That delay is valuable."
Rose stepped forward. "That still doesn't answer what you're planning."
Allium met her eyes.
"I go out there," he said. "I get his attention. You follow behind."
Weaver stiffened. "That's reckless."
"It buys time," Allium said. "And forces proximity."
Nina spoke carefully. "The ley lines in the Solara garden might disrupt his phasing."
Cassidy snapped her fingers. "Yes. If we spike the nodes with a counter-frequency. I can try tuning it as we move."
Thane frowned. "You'd have to be ahead of him."
"I can stall," Allium said.
They moved toward the armory as the plan sharpened.
Rose walked beside him. "What is my role in this?"
Allium didn't answer at first.
Jax input a code. The blast doors hissed open.
"If the frequency works," Allium said at last, "and he becomes vulnerable—"
He stopped.
Turned.
"I need to face him alone."
The air snapped.
Weaver's voice rose instantly. "Are you out of your mind?"
Jax took a step forward. "That's dangerous."
Thane opened his mouth, then shut it.
Rose didn't speak.
She stepped closer to Allium instead.
"It's attachment," she said quietly. "If he sees one of us fall… that's Overload. No matter what."
Allium nodded.
Weaver's voice dropped, raw. "I can't watch you break again."
Allium placed a hand on his shoulder. "I do not intend to."
He turned to Rose.
"That's where you come in."
Her head tilted slightly. "Explain."
"If the node holds," Allium said, "you freeze him. Everything you have. If you succeed—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
They understood.
Rose stepped closer and took his hand.
"You trust me with this?"
"Yes," Allium said. "I do."
Jax armed the electric weapons and tossed one to Thane, another to Cassidy. "If I can slow him, I will."
Nina handed Cassidy stakes, faint red light pulsing. "I'll track the nodes."
Cassidy smirked faintly. "All brain. No problem."
They fitted the discreet comms.
The front gate opened.
The Solara garden waited—half-lit, breathing, wrong.
Cassidy and Allium moved first.
Into the dark.
And somewhere just beyond sight, something leaned closer—
curious to see how far one would go alone before everything finally broke.