Zza's eyes opened to blinding white.
Not clean white.
Not holy white.
A hungry white.
The kind that felt like it wanted to peel her open just to see what her thoughts were made of.
Her body dangled from a web of metal threads, thousands of them, thin as hair and sharp as broken glass. She tried to move. The threads didn't resist. They *followed*, like they were waiting to see what she'd do before deciding if she deserved to keep her limbs.
Her breath hitched. "Buzz…?"
The city answered for him.
A low vibration trembled through the chamber, soft at first, then tightening around her skull like a cold hand. Images flickered across the walls. Blurred. Warped. Gold burning through black. Wings twitching. Claws dragging across steel.
Her heart dropped.
Buzz.
The city was showing her Buzz.
Where was he? What was wrong?
If only she could reach him.
But something was off.
The movements.
The twitching.
The angle of the wings.
