Levi let himself believe it, because it was the only thing he could do, and his mind was still half on the fact that Asher still hadn’t touched him. He didn’t hear anything being discussed beyond the vague specifics: the array goes down, the creaturesgo dormant, they survive. The game would end, and Levi would convince Asher to leave with him this time.
The path forward looked like something he could walk to the end of.
Elliot moved through the room one person at a time, which immediately made Levi acutely aware of what he was seeing. The big goodbye. The moment in every movie or game where someone heroically sacrifices himself. He shook hands with Owen, who looked like he wanted to say ten things and settled on a nod. He touched Maddie’s arm briefly — she squeezed his hand once and let go.
Then he got to Levi and his expression softened, the NPC romance subplot winding up to deliver a moment that in any other game would have been sweet, something that Levi would have liked to watch in a cutscene in his old life.Don’t. Don’t do this. Not now. Not with him in the room.
Elliot hugged him.
Levi went rigid, his arms locked at his sides, his jaw clenched, every muscle screaming with the awareness of Asher’s attention on his back. His body flooded with the particular terror of being touched gently by the wrong person in front of the right person. If he pushed Elliot away, it could cause a scene, and a scene would slow down the progression he was making to the end of the game. If he didn’t push Elliot away…there was no good option. So he stood there, as rigid as the metal walls around them, enduring the warmth the way someone endures a blade against their throat.
“I know he’s hurting you. Things won’t be bad forever,” Elliot whispered. “I promise.”
Don’t whisper. He can see you whispering and that is so much worse than hearing it.
Elliot stepped back and smiled a smile that was probably meant to be comforting, then moved to Jasper. They began someover complicated fist bump, and Elliot leaned in towards Jasper, his voice low, “Keep an eye on Mercer while I’m out. He’s been through more than he’s showing and Kane isn’t—”
He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to. The shape of what he didn’t say filled the space anyway:Kane isn’t safe for him.
Levi’s eyes stayed locked on Asher, watching the shape of the statement land on his face as Asher’s jaw set, the furrow between his eyebrows deepening as his hand landed on his sidearm.No.Levi moved to his side and placed a hand on his forearm. “Hey.”
Asher still glared at Elliot.
“Dovey,“ Levi said through his teeth. Asher’s eyes widened and he glanced down at Levi, his face losing some of its tension as he did. “Please. It’s just the game making him say that stuff.”
Asher’s hand covered Levi’s on his arm, and his thumb traced a circle on Levi’s knuckles. “This isn’t a game, baby,” he said softly. “If he touches you again, I’m shooting him in the face.”
Levi just nodded, watching as Elliot made his way to the door. Asher’s jealousy wouldn’t be an issue soon. Elliot would do his job, they’d stop the final two creatures, the game would probably throw one or two setbacks at them, and then they would beat the game once and for all. He’d make Asher leave with him. It would be okay.
Then his sternum caught the vibration, in his chest this time before settling into his ribs. He looked up at the ceiling without thinking, staring at the ventilation grates and barely heard it.Clink. Clink. Clink.
Metal on metal, somewhere in the ducts above Engineering. It was the same kind of sound the metal made when the temperature shifted and old infrastructure remembered itself. Anyone who hadn’t been listening for it would have missed it entirely. Levi turned his head a fraction. Asher’s eyes were alsoon the ceiling. His jaw was set. His pulse was visible in the side of his throat.
Levi kept his face neutral. His hand stayed on the console as if he were still reading the schematic.
The clinking moved.
Clink. Clink. Clink.Across the ceiling toward the corridor, where Elliot reached the door to maintenance and was unlocking the door. Levi heard the clinking slow, the vibration in his chest wavering as it moved, and watched in horror as metal fingertips pushed through a poorly welded section of ductwork. The vent above the corridor entrance buckled inward as the metal sheared along its weakest seams. The creature followed in a cascade of torn steel and dust, the height of it filling the corridor mouth.
Elliot stumbled forward into the corridor, his boots catching on the threshold, his free hand finding the doorframe for half a second before shoving it forward.
“SHUT THE DOOR!” Elliot shouted. “JASPER, SHUT IT,NOW—”
Jasper was on the controls before the sentence finished and the electromagnetic seal engaged with a deep mechanical hum.
“Elliot’s badge just went hot.” Owen’s voice was tight, reading his sensor feed. “He reactivated it. Manually.”
The creature dot moved again on the ship schematic, following the activated badge. The walkie near Levi crackled to life: “I’m taking it to the Sector Three purge zone. I can seal the door behind me, burn it, then keep going to the locker. Two minutes.”
“Elliot—” Levi was on the radio.
“Two minutes, Mercer. Trust me. I’ve got this.”
Levi looked at the schematic. Sector Three…Elliot could make it. Elliot wasmakingit. The plan was bending but it was still the plan, and Elliot was the one bending it, and the team just had to not move for two minutes—
Asher was at a console marked with at least seven different warnings taped around it to not accidentally push the button.
“Asher.” His hand closed around Asher’s forearm and he pulled, his whole weight yanking back against the arm, trying to drag Asher’s hand off the panel. “Please.Please. He’s two minutes from the locker. We’re so close. We’re so close to being done. Please don’t do this.”