Evan closed his eyes. He reached for the Spark, but he was still empty. He braced himself for the end. But the concrete slab never hit them. CRASH! The sound of breaking glass echoed in the stairwell. Evan opened his eyes. Standing on the stairs above them, holding the massive slab of concrete with their bare hands, were the Silencers. There were twenty of them. The glass monsters who had been trapped on Level 99. But their eyes were not the terrifying red clocks anymore. Their eyes glowed with a beautiful, warm golden light. They had used their incredible, unnatural strength to catch the falling ceiling. Their black glass arms shook under the massive weight. Deep cracks appeared in their glass skin, but they held the concrete up. They created a safe tunnel for Evan, Marco, and Glitch. The Silencer closest to Evan looked down at him. It did not speak, but its golden eyes were filled with gratitude. It nodded its glass head toward the heavy blast door that led into the main se

The rich man in the purple suit stood up. He held two fistfuls of golden chips. "Guards!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "Scorpions! Arrest these thieves! Shoot them! They are stealing our property!"Fifty Elite Scorpion guards stood around the edges of the lobby. They held their heavy kinetic rifles. The lead guard looked at the rich man. Then, the lead guard looked at his own wrist. Ping. The guard’s watch was also glowing green. The guard had two million years of life. He did not need to work for the Bank anymore. He did not need to take orders from cruel, angry rich people. He was completely free. The lead Scorpion guard smiled. He reached up and pulled off his heavy black helmet. He threw the helmet onto the floor. It rolled away, hitting a pile of chips. "I quit," the guard said loudly. He lowered his rifle. He dropped it on the floor. All around the lobby, the other Scorpion guards saw their leader. They looked at their green watches. One by one, they took off thei

"It... it is perfectly shielded!" Glitch cried. "I cannot hack it from here! The code is a closed loop! The only way to stop it is to physically destroy the gear!"Evan struggled against the foot on his neck. "Then I will smash it!""You cannot smash it!" Glitch screamed. Tears were streaming down his dirty face. "Evan, look closely at the gear! Look at the shape of the code around it!"Evan forced his head to turn. He looked at the glowing purple gear spinning in the server slot. He squinted through the bright light and the flying dust. The gear was glowing purple. But it was not just a solid piece of metal. There were tiny, almost invisible threads of black energy wrapping around it. The threads looked like dark smoke. They looked like the Void. "That gear is not just a copy, Evan," Glitch sobbed. "It is the Master Gear. The Architect built it using the data from your own body when you were Subject 04! It is quantum-linked to you!"The Architect laughed. It was a beautiful, terri

The Grand Lobby of the High Spire was a sea of solid gold. Millions of heavy, shiny time-tokens covered the beautiful white marble floor. They were piled up against the golden pillars. They were stacked on top of the broken card tables. The air smelled of sweet ozone, sweat, and the sharp scent of metal. For the people of the South District, this room had always been a nightmare. It was the place where they came to lose their lives. It was the place where the Bank stole their hours, their days, and their years. But right now, the nightmare was dead. The people stood in the gold. They looked at their wrists. The heavy, black steel bio-watches were no longer blinking with angry red numbers. They were glowing with a bright, beautiful, warm green light. Ping. Ping. Ping. The sound of the watches was like a gentle heartbeat. Every single poor person in the room had millions of years in their account. They were immortal. They were rich. They were free. Silas, the old dealer with gray

The poor people stood in the Grand Lobby, victorious. They were breathing hard, covered in sweat and dust, but they were smiling. They hugged each other. They cheered. They had taken the floor. The ground belonged to them. Silas stood next to Maria. He smiled at her. "You have a good swing," Silas said. Maria smiled back, wiping sweat from her forehead. "I have a lot of practice hitting broken machines."They looked around the room. The Bank’s army was defeated. The people were rich. The doors to the outside world were open. But Silas knew the truth. He looked up at the ceiling. He looked toward the top of the High Spire. "We won the ground," Silas whispered. "But the boy is still up there in the dark. He is fighting the devil. And he is fighting alone."High above the cheering crowd, on Level 99, there was no cheering. The massive server room was incredibly quiet. The dust hung in the air like a thick, gray fog. Evan Kennedy stood in the center of the room. He was breathing he