Smoke crawled through the corridors.
Buzz pushed through it, wings twitching from strain, body still steaming from the gold burst that had ripped him free. The air reeked of burnt metal and ozone. Sparks snapped from ruined panels. Somewhere behind him, alarms still screamed—mechanical, desperate, human.
He didn't care. Every step burned. Every breath came sharp. His claws left molten prints on the metal floor.
Zza's voice lived at the edge of his memory now, cutting through the chaos. *Keep breathing. Keep crawling.*
He moved.
The Queen's whisper twined through his skull like static. *They wanted to own you. You belong to no one now.*
He didn't answer. He couldn't. The pain was too raw, too real.
Buzz rounded a corner and froze. Two guards waited at the end of the hall, rifles glowing blue. They shouted something he couldn't understand and fired. The rounds hit his shell, exploding into arcs of energy. He staggered but stayed upright.
