Apex Five: Mech Elite novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Cup Final

Sixty thousand people were on their feet when I walked out of the tunnel.

They were not chanting.

They were stamping, all of them at once, one slow beat that shook the floor of the Ring.

Old Nail stood beside me in the tunnel mouth, patched and rattling.

Hob had given the old junker a new spine, and the new blade hung at its side, black alloy with the four cores glowing in a ring.

Next to it stood Ronan's black frame, bent shoulder straightened.

I looked up at the cockpit.

He lifted two fingers to me through the glass.

I climbed into Old Nail.

The cradle closed on the back of my head, and the blade woke.

It hit me all at once.

Four cores, four years, all of it at once, pouring into my skull.

I gripped the controls and breathed, and counted, and did not scream.

"Wynne," Hob said, in my ear. "Talk to me."

"I'm here."

"Your pulse is hammering."

"It's supposed to."

"Mira's next to me. Say hello."

"Hello," Mira said, small and clear. "Wyn. Give them hell."

I almost laughed.

Across the Ring, the far tunnel opened.

Six frames walked out in a wedge.

Five silver, each with a red Anchor box bolted under its chest, and in front of them, taller than the others, Dane's white command frame, whole and polished.

The crowd's noise changed.

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