Jinx's gaze locked onto me, and my eye instinctively met hers. It was a habit I couldn't break, holding her sharp stare. Her lips pulled into a smirk.
"What's a guard like you doing all the way out here?" she asked, her voice light and teasing, but with an edge that could turn sharp in an instant. She tilted her head, watching me closely.
She stepped closer, her eyes narrowing as if she could see through my helmet's visor. Her gaze shifted to my back, and her smirk widened.
"What's that you've got there?" she asked, gesturing at the four small drills strapped to me. "Not standard issue. Looks… fun."
There was a trace of the chaotic energy I'd seen in her before, but now it was controlled. Her calm confidence was unnerving. She wasn't just reckless; she knew exactly what she was doing. And right now, she was focused on the makeshift hoverboard I'd pieced together from speedster drill attachments.
Jinx didn't miss details. She'd spot a lie before I even told it. And she definitely wasn't ignoring the odd gear strapped to my back.
"Tools for the miners," I said, keeping my tone steady. "Foreman sent me to bring spares. Old equipment breaks down a lot."
She raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Tools, huh?" she said, starting to circle me. Her fingers twitched, like she was already imagining taking the drills apart. "Doesn't look like anything I've seen before. What're those drills running on? Chem-fuel? They look… overclocked. Real souped-up."
Her voice was sharp now, though still playful. "You sure you're not hiding something fun back there, mister guard?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Foreman likes to experiment," I said smoothly. "Thinks upgrades mean fewer breakdowns. Means we don't have to haul miners back up every time something jams. You know how it is."
Jinx stopped circling, standing directly in front of me now. Her piercing blue eyes narrowed, studying me like she was piecing together a puzzle. Her smirk didn't falter, but there was something sharper beneath it—something dangerous.
"Hmm. Funny thing about foremen," she mused, tapping a finger to her chin. "They don't usually send guards to carry their shiny new toys around. That's more of a… technician thing, don'tcha think?"
My grip tightened on the rifle, but I didn't flinch. "Techs are all tied up fixing the power grid," I said quickly, adding a note of irritation to my tone. "Foreman wanted someone armed to move the tools. Didn't want them disappearing in the chaos."
Her smirk grew. "Ahhh, I see," she said, drawing the words out. "Armed escort for some boring old drills. Totally makes sense."
She wasn't buying it.
Her hand was on her left side, her finger ready to grab the pistols on her holster and shoot.
Then, her attention flicked to the sirens in the distance, the blaring noise reverberating through the cavern. "Guess I'll let you get back to it," she said suddenly, stepping back with a shrug.
With that, she spun on her heel and strolled off, humming a tune under her breath. My muscles relaxed, but my heart didn't stop racing. She'd bought the lie—for now.
As her silhouette disappeared around a corner, I exhaled and adjusted the drills on my back. Whatever Jinx was up to, it wasn't part of the plan. But I couldn't let her derail what Scar and I had worked for.Not now.
Time was running out.
I had to make it to the loudspeaker room.
If Scar's intel was right—and after seven years of his digging, it better be—the foreman always kept at least two guards stationed at every key room. Armed, of course.
The corridor ahead was dimly lit, its walls slick with grime. The sound of distant machinery hummed through the air, a faint reminder of the mines below. These mines weren't built for uprisings. Only one way out, and the workers had been beaten down for so long they probably didn't even remember what rebellion felt like. It's why the guards up here had grown lazy, cocky. They didn't think anyone would dare to challenge them.
As I rounded a corner, I spotted two guards in front of the door I needed. Their stance was casual, rifles slung loosely over their shoulders, but their eyes sharpened the second they saw me.
"What's this? Who told you to be up here?" one of them barked. His voice was sharp, commanding. "State your purpose."
I didn't answer. Instead, I kept walking toward them, head down, making it seem like I belonged there. One of the guards stepped forward, raising a hand to stop me. His fingers were just about to touch my shoulder when I made my move.
Grabbing his wrist, I twisted hard. The crunch of bone was satisfying, though his scream that followed wasn't subtle. The second guard reacted instantly, raising his rifle and aiming straight at my face.
I yanked the first guard in front of me, using his body as a shield. The second guard hesitated—he wasn't about to shoot his buddy. That hesitation was all I needed. With a sharp kick to the first guard's chest, I sent him flying backward into his partner. Both slammed into the iron wall behind them, groaning as they crumpled to the ground.
I didn't wait. The first guard was still clutching his wrist, trying to get up, so I grabbed his rifle, ripped it from his grip, and slammed the butt of it into his head. He dropped, unconscious. One down.
The second guard was quicker, rolling away and scrambling to his feet. He brought his rifle up, aiming at me with deadly precision. But I was faster. Reaching for one of the detachable pieces of my hoverboard strapped to my back, I threw it straight at him.
The green glow from the chem-powered propulsion lit up as it shot through the air, accelerating toward him. He barely had time to flinch before it smacked him hard in the head. Staggering, he tried to recover, but I was already on him.
I darted in close, ducking under the barrel of his rifle before he could fire. Wrapping my arm around his neck, I locked him in a chokehold. He clawed at my arm, gasping for air, his finger twitching toward the trigger. I wasn't about to give him a chance. Lifting him slightly, I slammed him into the wall—once, twice, three times. His body went limp in my grip, and I let him drop.
Both guards were down. My heart was racing, but I didn't have time to rest. I retrieved the hoverboard piece from the ground and slid it back into place. Then I grabbed the rifle from the unconscious guard and slung it over my shoulder.
The door to the loudspeaker room loomed ahead. Beyond it, the next step of the plan waited. Scar was counting on me to set the chaos in motion, and with most of the guards and workers trapped in the mines below, the timing couldn't be better.
Taking a steadying breath, I pushed the door open.