Buster's Journey

Wind claws across the outer catwalk. The relay light above them flickers weakly, and the sealed service exit stays shut behind Buster and Mara.

At the far end, one of the silhouettes lowers his hands. His stance shifts from blocking to bargaining.

The other silhouette, Meridian, tilts their head toward Buster, watching for the answer.

Mara tightens her grip on the release hardware, eyes moving between the keycard and the dark below. The next move hangs on Buster's choice.

Buster studies the faces of the two brokers, searching for a flicker of sincerity that never arrives. The cold wind carries the scent of ozone and river water, but it cannot mask the calculated, hollow intent behind their eyes.

Buster plants one hand on the catwalk rail and tears free a jagged span of steel. The metal shrieks, then comes loose in his grip like a broken door.

He turns the bent rail toward Mara at once, putting his body between her and the brokers as the shadowy wind lashes through the gap.

Below them, the unlatched door sits open for a sliver, and a weak relay glow sputters once in the dark tower throat.

Lask extends the keycard again, but now he waits behind it, watching Buster and Mara for the first move.

Buster glances at the drone cache data flickering on his wrist display, but the numbers are dead weight. The cache is not a power source, but a massive, active drain that is already siphoning the last of the tower's structural integrity into the network's own grid.

Buster plants the jagged railing between Mara and the brokers, then steps into Lask's path like a wall.

Lask and Meridian trade a quick look as the catwalk shudders under their feet, the dark below swallowing the broken relay glow.

Buster surges forward, and the first broker staggers back hard against the catwalk frame, losing the advantage in an instant.

The wrist display spits red in the darkness as Buster's grip tightens, and both brokers hesitate, suddenly much less certain of the catwalk.

Buster drives the railing section down onto the cache housing. Metal shrieks once, then the crate splits open, spilling dead drone shells and shattered circuitry across the trembling grating.

A hot burst flashes from the wreckage, and the catwalk lights stutter in reply. Buster keeps his footing, but the impact jars his wounded palm and fresh blood dots the rail.

The drone parts clatter into a useless pile, their hidden hum gone silent. Mara tightens her grip on the release hardware and steps closer to Buster, eyes fixed on the brokers.

Lask recoils at the question, and Meridian angles back toward the dark edge of the platform. Below them, the failed relay gives one last weak stutter, then fades almost completely out.

Buster drives forward off the wreckage, shard of rail low, shoulders square. Lask stumbles back a step, and Meridian snaps their attention to the edge, hunting for distance that is already gone.

The catwalk shudders under his weight. Mara stays tight behind him, release hardware clutched hard, eyes locked on the brokers as if she can measure the next lie before it lands.

Buster closes the gap anyway, and the rail shard forces Lask to brace against the catwalk frame. Meridian freezes, hands half-raised, reading the drop and finding no comfort in it.

Above them, the relay gives a weak, dying flicker. In the dark below the grating, two silhouettes remain at the catwalk end, silent and waiting for someone to choose the wrong move.

Buster keeps moving, and the brokers give ground at once, their confidence collapsing under the threat in his hands. Mara edges with him, ready to bolt or strike if they reach for her.

Buster jams the rail shard into the frame with a harsh metallic bite. The catwalk answers with a violent shiver, and Lask jerks hard as the steel bites across the narrow space between them.

Meridian flinches back too late. The shard pins them both into the ribbed wall section, stealing their room to retreat while Mara stays braced behind Buster, release hardware tight in both hands.

Above them, the relay light stutters to a weak pulse. Below the grating, the waiting silhouettes remain motionless, like they are listening for the first bad choice.

Lask’s keycard slips against the wall beside Buster’s shard, half-trapped and useless for the moment. Mara shifts one step closer, eyes on the pinned brokers and the dark end of the catwalk.

Buster snaps Lask and Meridian forward into the wall in one brutal motion. The rail shard still locks them in place as their heads knock hard against the metal frame, stealing the brokers’ breath and words at once.

Mara jolts at the impact, then squares herself behind Buster with the release hardware raised. The relay above them flickers to a thinner, meaner pulse, and the darkness swallows more of the catwalk.

The two silhouettes at the far end do not move, but their attention feels fixed now, waiting for the first sound of collapse or surrender.