Using the Archimedes’s stealth hull, Darrow and Cassius shadow a Votum convoy into the Venus dockyards. As Aurae takes the helm and prepares to place their lone atomic as insurance, she and Darrow trade tense words about survival and change. Darrow and Cassius don forged House Rath-style armor to pass as Carthii knights and prepare for an EVA insertion.

They leap from the Archimedes, use a traction gun to anchor on the station, and slip through the Vulcan Mouth by riding a doomed destroyer into the incinerator system. Inside, they target a delirium arcade, where Cassius accidentally kills the Green admin in high gravity and Darrow murders a fulgur bellator after witnessing his grotesque simulation. They coerce an unnamed Green architect to access security feeds and locate a prisoner matching Sevro’s tattoos and scars.

With a jamField masking them, they force the architect to open routes and deploy a spider drone to gas the high-security block. As alarms blare, Darrow smashes into the defenders, cutting down Grays while Cassius duels and kills two Obsidians. They push through to the target cell, where Darrow unlocks the wolf-helmeted prisoner.

The prisoner proves to be an imposter. At once, exits seal and a crushing gravity well engages. Cassius dives into the cell as the door slams, failing to set a breaching charge. The mounting gravity pins Darrow, staggers Cassius, and halts their escape.

Over a speaker, Apollonius addresses them, revealing the rescue was a baited trap. With their route blocked and bodies failing under the intensified gravity, Darrow and Cassius are stranded inside the cell, their assault compromised and Sevro’s fate unresolved.