Round 226

Halie stepped between Silra and Jeane again, raising both hands in a firm gesture meant to halt rather than placate. Her voice was steady despite the tremor she felt building beneath her skin—the building's demands had reached an insistent thrum that seemed to originate from everywhere at once. "No," she said clearly. "We don't solve this by hurting her." She turned to face Silra directly, blue-grey eyes locking onto the other woman's face with unwavering intensity. "Your hands are needed for fixing walls, not restraining friends who aren't thinking clearly. Stand down before you do something we all regret."

She felt Jeane's eyes on her back but didn't turn around. The silence stretched thin and taut between them—Silra's hand still hovering near the welder, the tool's low hum a counterpoint to Halie's steady breathing. The building groaned around them, a sound like a great beast settling into comfort or perhaps simply giving up the pretense of being anything else. It was getting harder to think clearly, harder to resist the urge to simply give in and fuck something—anything—as the structure vibrated with need.

But Halie stood her ground. "We're not giving up on her," she said, voice barely carrying over the building's insistent hum. "There has to be another way."