Kara's fading whisper of resistance trembled as the slab's edge pressed against her skull, its crushing weight splintering bone, the fireball's flames licking her face, melting her skin into a mask of agony. The neural clamp's prong, lodged deep in her brain, pulsed with a cold siphon, draining her essence, her brother's final memory—a laugh—dissolving into a void of static. The chasm's silence roared, the walls fused shut, trapping her in a tomb of molten rock and ash, while the enforcer's scream, pinned by debris, faded into a gurgle. The tether's flames raced up her arm, igniting her sleeve, the stench of burning flesh choking the last air from her lungs.
The extractor's hum surged, a final wipe cycle kicking in, its needle twitching as it sought to erase her core defiance, her vision fracturing into a kaleidoscope of pain—Lena's sneer, Marcus's buried eyes—merging with the real torment of her jaw cracking under the slab's pressure. A new tremor rocked the crevice, a hidden gas pocket igniting, sending a jet of fire blasting through a crack, scorching her chest, fusing her ribs together with a sickening sizzle. The enforcer's rifle, dropped in the chaos, discharged accidentally, the bullet ricocheting off the wall, grazing her temple, the whistle a deafening prelude to death.
The fireball intensified, its heat melting the slab's edge, a drip of molten rock searing her eyelid shut, blinding her as the flames consumed her hair, the crackle drowning Marcus's faint, buried plea: "Kara… rise…" The tether snapped, recoiling like a whip, lashing her throat, snapping her windpipe, her breath a wet rasp. The clamp's prong malfunctioned, sparking a feedback loop, electrifying her brain, her body convulsing as the siphon stuttered, a glitch preserving a fragment of her will. The crevice's walls groaned, a secondary collapse imminent, and a massive shard broke free, hurtling toward her pinned form, its shadow a guillotine blade.
The enforcer, half-crushed, lunged with a knife, its tip piercing her side, twisting as he gasped his last, the pain a supernova exploding through her. The gas jet flared, igniting the knife's handle, the flames racing toward her heart, while the shard struck, lodging against the slab, sparing her head but crushing her pelvis, the crunch echoing in the void. The extractor's wipe faltered, a spark of her brother's voice— "Fight!"—jarring the system, but the clamp's prongs readjusted, plunging deeper, drawing a scream that shattered her eardrum.
The chasm's final tremor unleashed a deluge of molten rock, flooding the crevice, its heat searing her legs to stumps, the pain beyond comprehension. The enforcer's body slumped, his knife embedded, and the shard shifted, tilting the slab to crush her skull fully. The fireball roared, the clamp hummed, and the walls sealed tighter—her pulse a solitary beat against the encroaching dark.