Vance moved with an unnatural speed, the sonic blade humming as it cut through the air. Kaelen was no fighter; he ducked and weaved, his focus split between staying alive and finishing the anti-frequency. The blade's shriek was a physical force, scrambling his thoughts, threatening to shatter his concentration.
Across the room, Anya was a whirlwind of controlled fury. She sidestepped a powerful swipe from the other Lycan, using its momentum to slam it into a console. Sparks erupted in a shower of light. She turned to face Jax, her brother's eyes staring out from a monster's face.
"Jax, I know you're in there!" she yelled, dodging his claws. "Fight it! We're here to free you!"
Jax recoiled, a war raging within him. He clutched his head, a low, agonized moan escaping his throat. The beast was strong, but the memory of his sister was stronger.
Kaelen saw his opening. He rolled under a wild swing from Vance, coming up next to the main console. His anti-frequency was almost complete—a perfect, inverted copy of the Alpha wave. All it needed was the final, initiating pulse.
"Anya, now!" he screamed.
Anya didn't hesitate. She feinted left, then dropped to the ground, sweeping Jax's legs out from under him. As he fell, she lunged for Vance, tackling him away from Kaelen.
It was all the time he needed. Kaelen slammed his hand on the console interface. "Broadcasting!"
A new sound filled the chamber, so profound it was less a sound and more a shift in reality itself. It was the sound of silence being born from noise. The anti-frequency washed over them, colliding with the Alpha wave.
The effect was instantaneous and catastrophic. The colossal resonator shuddered, overloading. consoles exploded in chains of fiery bursts. The two Lycans howled, not in rage, but in release and confusion. They collapsed, their bodies convulsing as the forced transformation began to unravel.
Vance screamed in fury, throwing Anya off him. "What have you done?!" He raised his sonic blade for a final, killing strike on Kaelen.
A massive, fur-covered hand caught his wrist. It was Jax. His eyes were clear, human, and filled with a righteous fury. With a sickening crunch of metal and bone, he crushed Vance's arm. The executive's scream was cut short as Jax backhanded him, sending him flying into the overloaded resonator. A flash of blue energy, and Silas Vance was gone.
The chamber fell into a relative quiet, broken only by the crackle of fires and the heavy breathing of the exhausted survivors. Jax stood over them, his form already beginning to shrink, the beast receding, leaving a scarred, broken, but free man in its place.
The chain was broken. But the city below was now a chorus of a million confused voices, and the silence they had created was fragile, waiting to be filled.