Buzz's claw hit the floor beside Zza's head so hard the metal rippled like water, a wave of liquid silver rolling under her body and shivering up her spine. The impact rang through the chamber, echoing in long, drawn-out pulses that made her ears twitch and her breath snag in her throat.
She scrambled backward, elbows slipping, body shaking, mind a twisted knot of terror and disbelief. Buzz loomed over her, wings twitching in weird little spasms like someone was pulling invisible strings through his joints. Gold light pulsed under his shell with the lazy rhythm of a heartbeat that didn't belong to him.
"Buzz… please," she whispered, breath stuttering. "Fight it. Just… fight."
His head jerked to the side as if someone slapped him. His mandibles clicked together hard enough to spark. A tiny grunt escaped him — Buzz's grunt, the one he made when he tried to lift something too heavy for his broken shell.
*z…zza… hold…*
