Zev snapped.
Not loudly.
Not all at once.
It began with a laugh.
Low. Hoarse. Wrong.
"They were calling my name," he said, staring at the floor.
"Did you hear them? They knew it. They knew I'd help.... but, i couldn't do NOTHING !!!."
Surgien tightened his grip on Zev's shoulders.
"Zev. Look at me."
Zev didn't.
"I told them I'd protect them," Zev continued, voice trembling.
"I promised."
His hands began to shake harder.
"I was right there. Right there—and I froze."
Silence crushed the room.
Rue swallowed hard. Circe turned away, jaw clenched. Spectr stood rigid near the doorway, scanning entrances even as his attention fractured.
Zev sucked in a breath that turned into a sob.
"I heard bones," he whispered.
"I heard them break. And I didn't move."
Surgien's voice hardened—not cruel, but sharp.
"This is a restricted zone," he said.
"We don't stop. We don't grieve here. If we do, we all die."
That did it.
Zev's head snapped up.
"Don't you dare," he snarled.
"Don't you dare talk like this is just another op."
He shoved Surgien hard.
Spectr stepped in instantly.
"Zev—stand down."
Zev rounded on him, eyes wild.
"They were kids," he shouted.
"And I watched them die like an animal in a cage!"
His breath hitched.
"This is my fault."
The air warped.
A pressure wave rippled outward—subtle, wrong. Lights flickered. Loose metal rattled.
Circe's HUD flared.
"Spectr—his vitals are spiking. Neural instability escalating."
Surgien grabbed Zev again.
"Damn, you're feisty as hell. Look kid. Listen to me. You losing control helps no one."
Zev laughed—louder now, cracking at the edges.
"Control?" he spat.
"I don't deserve control."
His muscles tensed.
Too much.
Spectr moved.
"Now."
They hit Zev together—precision, not brutality. Rue hooked his arm, Circe slammed a dampener against his neck, Surgien locked him down with practiced force.
Zev roared.
The sound wasn't human.
They barely got the restraints on before something else pushed back from inside him—rage, grief, guilt collapsing into a single violent pressure.
"LET ME GO," Zev screamed.
"I HAVE TO FIX IT—"
Spectr knelt in front of him, gripping his faceplate hard enough to force eye contact.
"You can't," he said quietly.
"Not like this."
Zev sagged.
The fight drained out of him all at once, leaving only shaking breaths and shattered silence.
Spectr rose and turned away.
"Netoshka," he said into the comms.
"We found him."
Static.
Then her voice—tight, immediate.
> "Status."
"He's alive," Spectr replied.
"But unstable. Very."
A pause.
> "Hold him," Netoshka said.
"We're finishing here. Be there in Thirty minutes."
Spectr exhaled slowly.
"We'll try."
He cut the channel.
Behind him, Zev stared at nothing.
"I failed them," he murmured.
The factory lights flickered again.
And this time, it felt like something was listening.