Chapter 51 Cathedral Cicada

The Cathedral Cicada lifted platform three on its back while Odelia's copied command sent civilians toward the broken stair.

Calista struck her spear against rail four times, overriding the false voice with a movement signal every survivor had just learned.

'Words belong to the monster now... rhythm still belongs to whoever changes it,' Ossian opened Dreadweight, 'Tavet, authorise combat.'

Tavet watched the adult wing split another support column before amending his emergency order on the public channel.

"Registered configurations may be used against the adult target, but every undocumented function remains grounds for later review," he said.

'Permission with a future knife attached... good enough for people under concrete,' Ossian transferred Ironback left, 'receive the platform first.'

Ten seconds left both gauntlets empty while the Cicada repeated Tavet's authorisation through twelve station speakers.

The copied order sent two Directorate teams toward the creature before Ione stopped them with one raised fist.

Ironback settled above Furnace in the correct left sequence, giving Ossian one open receiving palm beneath the platform edge.

He caught the next collapse, storing weight while heat climbed through the full socket toward his forearm.

[Adult signal predator has claimed the public channel]

[Seventy-five allied lives remain inside its territory]

[Stack burden is rising through the left vessel]

'Seventy-five evacuated, not inside... system counts territory instead of safety,' Ossian held the slab, 'Calista, move without speech.'

Calista used spear angles to divide civilians across two ramps, never giving the Cicada a verbal command to weaponize.

Odelia remained on the freight landing with her throat bandaged, tapping route changes against an analogue handset casing.

Two slow beats sent Bastien toward the western ramp while three fast strikes directed Ione's containment team at the restrained larvae.

The Cicada copied each pattern through its legs, shaking false directions into every section of rail at once.

Odelia changed tempo before repetition finished, creating a broken note by striking metal, bandage buckle, plus her own sternum.

The pattern carried three instructions at once: hold position, clear the eastern rail, plus ignore any voice using complete words.

Bastien taught the nearest civilians through hand signs, making the rescue pattern spread without entering another speaker.

One frightened guard shouted an old route order before Calista could stop him, giving the Cicada fresh language for platform access.

The adult repeated his command through Odelia's tone, combining trusted sound with official phrasing none of them had authorised.

'It builds credibility from separate stolen parts... voice from her, badge language from him,' Ossian held the platform, 'strip both away.'

Ione removed every transit guard from audible command, assigning them physical gates and numbered boards instead.

Vaska marked the real Odelia with a scent corridor visible only through Orchid, letting rescue teams track her position without sound.

Tavet approved the change after identifying no rule the Cicada could copy through vibration alone.

Maelle drove her hammer into a cracked support, preserving the platform angle while Ossian shifted stored weight toward solid foundation.

The bronze line in her weapon turned cold whenever larval throats approached, providing another warning outside the adult's copied voices.

"Cold means counterfeit rhythm below us, so do not confuse that warning with the adult's body," Maelle said through the analogue handset.

'Every specialist owns one truth the monster cannot combine cleanly... use the gaps,' Ossian felt heat climb, 'Odelia, change surfaces again.'

She struck glass, rubber, plus concrete in a sequence no single station speaker could reproduce with its installed metal cone.

The adult answered only the concrete note, exposing which parts of its copy depended on the building around it.

Calista cut two speaker cables with her spear, narrowing the available network until the Cicada had to vibrate through its own wing.

'It copies sound, not intention... damn, every new surface becomes vocabulary,' Ossian released stored platform weight into the intact foundation, 'give me its real body.'

Vaska opened Carrion Orchid along the smoke, separating the adult's living boundary from six larval throats beneath it.

Maelle marked a cold seam where the Cicada's wing joined its abdomen, hidden behind concrete dust and copied cries.

Ossian transferred Jackal Right while Ironback held the left, accepting another exposed ten-second interval beneath Calista's silent route.

The adult spoke through Odelia's voice during second five, "Platform four is clear, so send everyone below."

Nobody followed it after Bastien held up Odelia's handwritten card stating that genuine instructions would contain no complete sentence.

'A damaged voice protected by its own refusal to speak... hell, monster stole the sound after she changed the rules,' Ossian felt Jackal settle, 'hunt the seam.'

Grave Rush committed across four steps, carrying him along the tilted platform toward Maelle's marked cold line.

The Cicada answered with Calista's voice ordering him to stop before the third step landed.

He followed the vibration under Odelia's broken rhythm rather than copied words, completing the fourth step through falling dust.

Jackal Right struck the wing seam, opening a clear injury without reaching the adult's protected throat.

The creature screamed through every voice it had stored, including children, guards, plus the food seller demanding rescue payment.

Fracture turned those voices into compartments again, each sound appearing useful if separated from the person who once made it.

'Not samples, not tools... stolen pieces of living calls,' Ossian tasted blood, 'forty-eight wants organisation, refuse it.'

Odelia struck one sustained vibration through the rail, holding the note with metal rather than her injured throat.

The Cicada copied its pitch but not the change travelling under platform weight, revealing which vibration came from the adult body.

Calista placed her spear along that line, giving Ossian a visible path without speaking his name.

He caught the adult's wing impact through Ironback, fed stored force into Furnace, plus sent heat along the damaged seam.

The left stack opened the joint while Jackal found the spreading injury across its underside.

Ossian climbed onto the wing, used Dreadweight as two separate grips, then tore the cold seam through the thorax.

The adult collapsed beneath platform three without crushing the larvae Ione had restrained along the service wall.

Its last copied voice belonged to Odelia, although the words came from no call she remembered making.

"You spent everything useful before anyone learned your name," the creature said.

'A sentence built from her fear rather than memory... shit, Solenne taught more than copying,' Ossian broke the signal organ, 'keep that evidence.'

After fifty-two seconds of authorised combat, the adult died and left a bronze-black face inside its vibrating chest.

Silver system text offered the new mask while Odelia's sustained rail note faded beneath the station.

[Cathedral Cicada acquired]

[Owned faces: 5]

[Initial synchronisation: 12%]

Cathedral's bronze face continued vibrating inside the evidence case, storing every nearby breath without releasing another stolen sentence into the station.

Its new instinct demanded one coordinated answer from every voice within reach after entering Ossian's collection.

He refused to wear it while rescue teams still needed separate decisions across three platforms.

Tavet recorded the refusal as controlled non-use, satisfying the rule that an acquired weapon could remain inactive for a stated safety reason.

Aboveground, the certification board posted the perfume clinic's former clients under medical review rather than stable awakened status.

Every Veil Court guarantee became a written liability attached to the seller, lowering false Capability classifications across the registry.

Paloma sent the posting to each protected patient without describing it as victory or demanding public gratitude.

Odelia received twelve stitches while a throat specialist reviewed the Cicada's resonance pattern beside her old injury scans.

Ossian expected fear when the system opened a compatibility result above her medical bed.

[Odelia compatibility: 89%]

[Cathedral Cicada recognises a viable permanent voice]

[Binding risk includes irreversible throat transformation]

'Eighty-nine, high enough to become another pressure disguised as rescue,' Ossian closed the screen, 'do not offer tonight.'

The specialist warned that another supernatural strain might end Odelia's remaining natural voice permanently, even if binding succeeded.

Odelia read the warning, wrote the percentage beneath it, plus returned both pages without asking Ossian for the mask.

"Tomorrow, explain what silence costs before you explain what power gives," she wrote.