The convoy reached the warehouse at dawn.
Gilden had sent drones from the abandoned base. Silas Ledger’s transport crews waited beside reinforced roach coaches. Councilbug Vale had disappeared during the night.
Hood County arrived before the first crate moved.
Not as an army.
As everybody.
Saloon workers.
Rappers.
Shopkeepers.
Church members.
Sex workers.
Census clerks who had realized they had been used.
Even a few of the Dumb Slugs showed up, mostly because Lethargic Bill had heard there might be free food afterward.
MC Ian entered the warehouse alone.
Gilden’s voice came through his implant.
“You belong to me.”
Ian kept walking.
“I built you.”
Ian reached the first stack of gold.
“That part’s true.”
“You have no history without me.”
“I got one now.”
Gilden triggered the override.
Pain ripped through Ian’s body.
He dropped to one knee.
Outside, Dewdrop heard his scream over the transmitter.
“False.”
“I hear him.”
“Give him something.”
False Black pushed every available channel into one signal.
Then he played the first beat Ian and Dewdrop had made together in the burrow.
It reached Ian through the implant.
Gilden’s command fought it.
The beat was not stronger because it was louder.
It was stronger because Ian had chosen it.
He stood.
At the lab, Gilden’s control screen filled with errors.
“No.”
Ian ripped the receiver from the side of his head.
Blood and wire came with it.
“No,” Gilden said again.
Ian looked directly into the warehouse camera.
“Phase one is over.”