Robb grabbed a flashbang from Talle and lobbed it at the son of a bitch. It exploded, so bright it blinded everyone, giving him time to draw his lightsword and rush the Metal. He slashed. Di deflected with his own sword, still sizzling with Ana’s blood. Robb attacked again. Sparks sprayed off their blades as he pushed Di into a corner.
Robb was the best fencer at the Academy. Like hell would some Metal beat him.
He tossed his lightsword up, catching the hilt in reverse, and rammed it into the Metal’s shoulder like a stake. The sword slid through, although he wanted so angrily to hit his memory core, and sank into the wall behind.
Di hissed in pain as the sword pinned him like a moth to a corkboard.
Try to get out of that fast, Robb thought.
Siege swooped Ana up in her arms and they ran, following the lanterns, finding themselves in the great hall, murals of the Goddess on the ceiling. They ran as fast as they could, so close to the entrance of the palace Robb could see the gilded front doors.
And that was when the Messiers leaned forward from their statuesque perches and pursued them.
Robb dodged the grip of one, but another pulled at his tailcoat. Talle took out her pistols and sent bullets into their chests, dropping them one by one, but they swarmed out of doorways like silver-skinned ants replacing those that fell.
And behind them, pushing through the flooding Messiers, was the unmistakable glow from Di’s red eyes, cutting down every body in his way with a sword in each hand. His injured shoulder spit sparks as he went.
The sword hadn’t held him long enough.
“Di’s coming!” Robb warned, as at the same time Messiers filed into a line at the entrance of the palace, blocking their escape.
“Talle, up ahead!” Siege thundered.
Talle dug into her coat for another flashbang and pulled the pin out with her teeth, pitching it at the Messiers. It exploded in rays of white. Robb dodged between two blinded automatons, the sound of Di’s lightswords slicing through them a moment later.
They hurried out into the square, now a graveyard of sweet-smelling food stalls and half-destroyed tents. Di followed, too vicious to be slowed down.
Robb realized they weren’t going to make it out of the palace alive.
He turned to Siege frantically. “Where’s Jax? What do we do—”
A roar—so loud it sounded like a starship—came from above. The smell of thruster exhaust exploded through the square.
From the dawn-filled sky fell a ship he never thought he’d be happy to see again. The Dossier.
Jax.
The ship landed in the center of the square, flattening tents and stalls. The cargo bay door lowered, and in its yawning mouth stood Lenda with a heavy machine gun slung under her arm. She shot cover fire over their heads, raining sparks of white-hot bullets onto the Messiers in pursuit.
“WE’RE ON, JAX! FLY!” Siege howled after she’d climbed into the cargo bay, followed by Talle.
She spun back, extending her hand back to Robb. “Grab it!”
Twenty feet away, Di was closing in. His eyes flickered like rubies. A pulse throbbed from his Metal body and made his hair levitate, infused with static. Every comm-link and holo-pad in a twenty-foot radius exploded, leaving gaping holes in the Ironbloods still trying to escape.
The chip in Robb’s wrist sparked. He hissed, shaking away the pain. He took Talle’s hand and was pulled up into the cargo bay.
Siege cradled Ana in her arms. Blood was everywhere, soaking her opal dress crimson. The fiber optics in Siege’s hair shimmered with panic. “Ana, darling. Please—please, darling. Talle! Get a med kit! We have to stop the bleeding. Stay with me. Ana,” she choked, cradling her. “You’re safe, you’re safe. . . .”
But being safe didn’t matter now.
Thrusters hummed as the ship shifted, rising.
Robb glanced out between the closing cargo bay doors one last time and met Di’s ruby eyes. He was still coming, quickly, without remorse. Fifteen feet—ten.
The Dossier rose higher into the air.
Then Di stopped. He reached his hand up as if to grab the ship. Robb felt a shift—brief, like a magnetic pull—
And Di snapped his fingers.
The chip in his wrist lurched. Robb clutched it with a cry, dropping to his knees. Pain, swirling, throbbing, raced up his swordfighting arm as the chip grew brighter. And brighter. Blazing like the sun through his skin. He screamed. Pain curled up around his shoulder, seized hold of his heart, and squeezed. It squeezed so hard he barely felt it when the chip burned away the nerves in his wrist. When it tore apart the blood vessels in his hand. When it spread like molten lava, up and up and up his arm until the pressure was too much and the light was too bright—
The tracking chip burst.