Chapter 29 · Everybody Woke Up

The lights went out.

Not just in the med bay. Everywhere. The whole grid dropped like someone cut the spine, and for ninety seconds the city held its breath in the dark.

Mara counted every one of them.

She was still cuffed to the med frame when the emergency backups kicked in, painting everything red. Lia had her hand on Mara's wrist, not pulling, just holding on like she could keep her from doing something worse.

"You did it," Lia said. Her voice was flat. "You actually did it."

Mara didn't answer. She was listening to the silence where the hum of the grid used to be, waiting for the echo to come back wrong.

It did.

Somewhere in the blackout blocks, someone started screaming. Then someone else. Then a lot of people, all at once, like the dark had reminded them what fear tasted like. Mara heard glass break three streets over. A siren tried to wind up and died halfway.

"How many people just flatlined because you wanted to make a point?" Lia's grip tightened. "How many?"

"I don't know." Mara met her eyes. "Ask Darian how many he was going to put the kill switch in.