Chapter 391: He Heard Me Humming and Picked the Wrong Problem

Rex had broken the release cable and decided that meant he had broken the plan, which was the sort of confidence I usually admired right before it became someone else’s problem.

I started humming while looking at the ruined housing. The tune came easily, quiet enough to sound almost thoughtful beneath the groan of damaged machinery.

Lukas heard it and stopped asking whether I was all right. He followed my glance toward the backup station, then returned his attention to the front controls before Rex could see what had passed between us.

Old Mate moved his drink away from the edge of his private bar.

[System: There’s that tune, mate. Last time you sounded this relaxed, somebody became a cleaning expense, so I’ll keep the good glass out of the splash zone.]

I would appreciate a count more than a review of my musical career.

The portal timer still had thirty seconds left. I needed them, and Rex needed to believe we had run out of useful choices.

"You said the front release worked, Lukas, and now it was hanging off the wall like a fucking decoration."

He stared at me for one hard second, then caught the performance I was offering.

"You wanted the quick option, Matt. I told you the other control was farther away."

Rex looked pleased. He had spent the whole evening treating us like material for a show, so we finally gave him a scene he wanted to believe.

I moved out from the column, keeping the remaining lamp behind me and the central lane within sight. Lukas stayed by the damaged housing, pretending to pull at the broken cable while working his way toward the narrow passage behind the support.

Rex followed me instead of looking behind it.

"If I took the job, did it come with better equipment or just more speeches about potential?"

He lowered the pistol slightly, interested despite himself. Men like him always seemed to believe that everybody eventually wanted the chair they were sitting in, even when the chair was on fire.

He promised a share of the next series. I asked how much, then complained about the percentage until he grew impatient enough to step closer.

My lie warning stayed quiet through the figures. I wasn’t checking whether he could make me rich anymore. I was checking how long he would keep talking while Lukas moved where he needed to be.

Behind Rex, the damaged guide frame had a bent crosspiece lying across one side exit. He had struck it earlier while clearing our cover, narrowing the easy route away from the counterweight lane.

The other side opened toward the station where Lukas would pull the backup lever. I needed Rex facing me, committed forward, with no reason to inspect either escape route until it was too late.

[System: Twenty seconds, you reinforced dragline. Keep him selling the dream while your mate fixes the return policy.]

I kept humming between questions. Rex called it a nervous habit, and I let him have the interpretation because correcting him would have been rude to the trap.

Lukas’s sleeve appeared briefly through the service opening behind the far support. He had reached the backup station. The long steel safety pin still held its lever locked, and removing it by hand would require him to lean into Rex’s view.

Mine Now had been ready since the relay theft. I needed only to bring myself within three meters of the visible pin and leave a clear place beside my body for its full weight.

Rex stood between my current position and that line, close enough to catch me if I rushed him directly.

The portal timer reached ten seconds. I slid farther into the lane, drawing his feet beneath the weight’s guide path while keeping the opposite clear strip visible through the open frame.

My entry point would sit ahead of me on the clear outer strip, beyond the weight’s guide path. Its paired exit would stand beyond Rex, near the backup pin and beside the clear strip leading out of the guide frame.

Both openings were less than twenty meters apart. I could see the empty spaces now, before activation, and the route carried me through the air I already occupied rather than through machinery or another person’s body.

Lukas met my eyes through the service gap. He placed both hands on the lever and waited for the pin to disappear.

[System: Five seconds, mate. Don’t get sentimental about the timing, because the floor wasn’t going to negotiate.]

The backup lever had a simple return spring. Lukas would have to hold it open until the weight reached the bottom lock, which meant he couldn’t run early to help me. I told him that quietly while Rex checked the damaged pistol, and my friend nodded once without offering a promise neither of us could guarantee.

Rex raised the pistol again when I stopped answering his offer. I asked him one last question about whether he had approved the tiny-winged toy himself.

His annoyed answer gave me the final second I needed.

Backdoor Bludger became available. I surged forward, opened the paired passage and entered with my own momentum still carrying me through the short turn.

I emerged beyond Rex, beside the open service panel. Mine Now took the safety pin into the clear space against my lower length, and its heavy shaft struck the deck with a loud clang.

Lukas pulled the backup lever. The brake released, and the suspended weight started its controlled drop along the guides above the central lane.

Rex turned faster than I could clear the exit strip. His hand caught the trailing edge of my wing, hauling me backward while the portal remained open a few meters ahead.

The safe way out was back through the same opening I had just used, returning to the outer strip. It remained visible beyond the edge of my wing, close enough to reach if I could break his grip.

I felt the damaged material stretch, heard the weight move above us, and realized he had enough of me in his grip to make sure neither of us left cleanly.