Dick looked like he was back in his radio booth.
He straightened up, adjusted his headphones, and started his final podcast—live, straight from the middle of everything going to hell.
“Over these past few Sundays… out of all the stories we told, we figured out one thing.
INĀNE, for fuck sake—ain’t evil. And… ain’t good either.
Not a god. Not a demon. Not a curse.
The universe’s survival instinct…
Just a cosmic function that showed up because of one dumb worm that was supposed to die out half a billion years ago.”
He exhaled heavily.
“Holy cosmic shit. One damn worm—and the whole galaxy might go straight to deep ass. But as long as we’re alive—we keep broadcasting.
And as long as you ungrateful bastards are still alive and watching—hit like and share it with your loved ones…”
He let that hang for a second.
“…if you got any.”
He smirked.
“Alright. Let’s see what’s going on up there…”
Zeros stood at the very edge of the crane arm, staring up.
Blindy stayed on all fours for a few seconds, snot dripping, completely wrecked.
“Shit—shit—shit—
I’m dead. I’m so—yeah—great—De Grasse…
I’m so fuckin’ dead—”
He swallowed hard, still not fully trusting his legs.
“Survived all that—
all that shit—
just to die by splattin’ into the goddamn ground—
WHY THE HELL DID I COME UP HERE—?!”
Zeros heard his partner’s voice and turned his head just a few degrees, glancing over his shoulder.
“You rotten piece of meat.
What the hell are you doing here?
I told Phoenix—don’t disturb me.
So why the fuck did you come up here?”
Blindy started pushing himself up—slow, shaky—like his body filed a complaint against gravity.
“Dick-droid—
you could at least—uh—
help a little—maybe—?!”
Up there, the wind hit hard, like it was trying to throw him off. Blindy staggered, knees buckling, taking short, panicked steps. Breathing heavy, he moved toward Zeros.
Zeros kept looking forward.
He raised his hand and slowly swept it across the city below—already beginning to burn.
Ships fell from the sky. One of them, spinning, slammed into the Save&Pray bank tower, ripping off the sign they had just finished fixing.
“You know, Blindy…
How many times I stood up here… dreaming about this day.”
The firelight flickered across his faceplate as the city crackled below.
“The day this city burns. And you burn with it. Pathetic human.”
Blindy finally reached him and grabbed onto his metal arm to steady himself, clinging harder than he’d ever admit. He forced himself upright.
“The hell are you—what—
what the hell are you talkin’ about, you psycho piece of shit—?!”
His grip tightened without him noticing.
Zeros let out a quiet snort, not even looking at him, and placed his free hand on his chest plate.
“I was built for this day.
There’s a core inside me… meant to start it.”
He slowly ran his fingers across his armor.
“But I kept running from it.
Tried to drown out its voice… with your pathetic whining.”
The wind howled around them, carrying heat from the burning city below.
“No matter how hard I tried…
This day still came.”
Jackie cut into the broadcast.
“Dick… he’s talking about IDCC—Internal Darkatron Compression Core.
So the Aelors and the Kanzakis really did build it to summon INĀNE.”
Dick nodded, eyes on the screen.
“Yeah…
What was it Phoenix said back when this metal dumbass was stuck in the Architect’s infinite Spiral?”
He smirked.
“‘Accept yourself, Kairelin… You are what you are. You can’t run from it.'”
He shook his head.
“Heh. Looks like this idiot finally accepted what he is.”
Phoenix’s voice came through the holo-display:
“I did not foresee that Zeros would encounter INĀNE.
Those words were only meant to pull him out of the loop.”
Jackie cut him off sharply:
“Both of you—quiet.
Let’s see what happens next.”