00:01:47
The dome is a screaming hive.
Guards pour in from every airlock, rifles up, silver rounds glinting. VIPs trample each other toward the exits. Bastian's voice cracks over the emergency channel: "Containment Protocol Omega! Shoot the girl, shoot the hunter, shoot the moon if you have to!"
Kade moves first.
He's a blur (black tactical vest ripping at the seams as shoulders broaden, claws punching out). One guard gets within five feet; Kade catches the rifle barrel, bends it into a U, then uses it to clothesline three more.
00:01:29
He's carving a path straight to me.
I should run. Instead I stand on the auction stage, barefoot in blood and silk, and watch him come.
Because I want to see what a $666 million weapon looks like up close.
00:01:12
He reaches me.
Up close he's taller than the billboards promised. Scar across his left eyebrow. Cracked crown tattoo bleeding light where the timer burns.
He grabs my throat (not hard, just enough to tilt my head back).
His voice is gravel and smoke.
"You just put a two-minute death sentence on my neck. Give me one reason I don't snap yours first."
00:01:03
I smile up into storm-gray eyes.
"Because I can take it off you. But only after you kill me first."
His pupils blow wide (wolf black).
00:00:58
He understands faster than I hoped.
I see the exact second he decides to test me.
His hand tightens.
Vertebrae pop like bubble wrap.
The world goes black.
Reload.
I gasp awake on my knees in the corpse corridor, Sub-Level 13. Exactly 00:05:00 before the auction started. The gurney with 147 is in front of me again. Furnace still orange (hasn't turned blue yet).
My neck is whole. No blood. No broken bones.
But I can still feel the ghost pressure of his fingers.
I laugh so hard I have to brace my hands on the floor.
Holy shit. It works on other people's timers too.
Footsteps overhead. Same guards, same route, same bored voices.
I know their patrol pattern now. I know everything that's about to happen.
This time I'm ready.
I sprint.
Take the service stairs three at a time. Steal a guard's keycard on the way (knife to the throat, whisper "sorry" like I mean it). Reach the auction dome forty seconds early.
The stage is empty. Bastian is still backstage doing his makeup.
Kade is leaning against the far wall, arms folded, waiting for the show to start. The cracked crown on his chest glows softly: 00:04:11 and counting.
He hasn't seen me yet.
I walk straight up to him.
He straightens, scenting the air.
"You're not supposed to be here yet, little bird."
"This time I'm early," I say. "Hi. I'm Raven. You killed my friend Elias. You're going to help me burn the moon down. Any questions?"
His eyes narrow.
00:03:47
I reach up and tap the glowing timer on his chest.
"Tick-tock, hunter. I can loop this day until the heat death of the universe. You can either die in two minutes, or you can follow me and live long enough to make them regret ever putting a price on your skin."
A beat.
Then he does something I don't expect.
He laughs (low, cracked, real).
"Thought you'd be taller," he says.
00:03:29
Alarms blare. Bastian's voice: "Lot 282 has escaped containment!"
Kade tilts his head, listening.
"Plan?" he asks.
I grin.
"First we rob the auction. Then we rob the moon. Try to keep up."
I grab his wrist (big, warm, scarred) and pull him toward the backstage corridor.
He lets me.
00:03:12
We disappear into the dark just as the guards flood the dome.
Behind us, the screens are still flashing the original bid:
$200,000,000 – CLOSED
They just don't know the buyer changed her mind.
Reload complete. Round two begins now.
Kade's voice drifts out of the shadows as we run.
"One condition, glitch."
"Name it."
"When this is over, I get to be the one who kills you. For real. No resets."
I glance back, teeth bright.
"Deal. But only if I get to kill you back."
His smile is all wolf.
"Looking forward to it."
Somewhere above, Bastian Crowe is realizing the leash just slipped off the wrong throat.
And the timer on Kade's chest just hit 00:02:59 again.
This time, we're both counting down together.