Apex Five: Mech Elite novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Semifinal

The semifinal sold out in four minutes.

Sixty thousand people packed the stadium, the biggest crowd in the history of the League, and every one of them had seen the yard.

They did not chant my name this time.

They chanted, "Scrap them."

Ronan had given me the plan at dawn, with a mug of black coffee and his hand flat on the small of my back.

"Stay calm," he'd said. "Don't give his recorder anything."

"You're asking a lot."

"I'm asking you to remember what I said last night."

I had remembered it all day.

Now I sat in Old Nail's cockpit, the core strapped behind my head, and I took a deep, slow breath and made my pulse boring.

Across the Ring, the new Apex Five walked out of the far tunnel.

Four silver frames in a V, with Dane's white command frame in the center.

The crowd roared.

On the big screens, Dane waved to them.

Somebody had covered the red mark on his cheek with makeup.

"Wynne," his voice said, over the open channel. "Last chance. Walk to my side and we'll forget the whole thing."

"Say it to the camera."

"I just did."

"I'm not talking to you, Dane."

I switched channels.

"Ronan."

"Ready," he said.

His voice came through my cradle, clear and close.

It was not the open channel.

It was a private line, running through a link that had not existed a day ago.

Ronan's cradle was lit now.

He had flown for seven years on his own two hands and no link, and last night he had woken in the cockpit with my pulse in his head.

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