Page 53 of Craze

“We need her parts,” Sevrin snorts. He turns to me. “Your communications implant, the one your parents installed, really was the key. As soon as I learned how it worked, I had to create one to try out for myself.”

My father’s headset comes to mind.

“You didn’t die when everyone else has,” Sevrin remarks, walking around my chair and swiveling the computer screen to him. It reads: battledagger program loading—

“Why do you think that is?” Sevrin asks with snotty curiosity.

Rochir grumbles and leans against the wall.

I stare at him, keeping as much emotion tucked away as possible. “To survive is to defy you.”

He stares at me for a moment, then cackles. “All this time, you thought you weredefyingus? You werehelpingus. And then you brought us one of the rarest Titans, one we havedesperatelysearched for! You really were worth the pain in the ass that you have been.”

A video pops up of Craze running through Solcrue outside. Explosions light up the sky in the background.

They’re here!

Even if I die, my friends are here. The rebellion is still going.

“He thinks he can bash his way through anything and always heal until he saves the day. Pathetic. He’s a machine, and we need the solution and the parts in his core.”

I switch on and hunt for the local network. The connection illuminates my eyes with schematics.

Navi>>Craze: Get out of here, it’s a trap!

Sevrin laughs. “Oh, he can’t hear you. We’ve had plenty of time to engineer this room so that Titans can’t talk to one another.”

I panic, realizing I’m just bait for the only one who has protected me with his life.

Solcrue squads lineup in mass numbers with an array of weapons, all advancing on Craze’s position.

“Gravpunch guns are quite handy.” Sevrin opens the video feed and turns up the volume until I can hear the gunfire outside and Craze swearing at them all. “I still want to know why you survived, Navi.”

I strain against my wrist cuffs. “I don’t know! Just let him go!”

“Tell me, and I will.” Sevrin glances at me as blue explosions rip across the tarmac.

Craze is knocked down.

Get up, Craze!

He calls out my name as he takes hit after hit. The windows of the room light up with the explosions outside though I can’t hear anything but the muffledwhompof the warping blasts through the glass.

They’re shredding him.

My pulse quickens, thumping in my ears. He’s dying out there. I fight my restraints and try to come up with some way to save him from where I am.

“Do you have nanoserum in your veins, Navi?” Sevrin calmly asks.

“I don’t fucking know! You’re the one who’s cut into me a hundred times or more. You tell me!” I scream at him.

Soldiers pile on top of Craze.

I strain against my shackles until I can’t pull any harder. A growl of fury escapes me. I have lost all of the control I trained into myself for four years, control that I thought had saved me, but now I’m not sure. I just don’t want Craze to die.

“That’s a coilgun,” Sevrin says with a shrug. “I have long awaited the day I would darken his eyes and get his parts. There aren’t many left that I need to complete the perfect SuperTitan.”

Desperate to not lose him, I blurt, “His ultromotor is connected to his nanoserum creator.”

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