Robin and Victoire escape through a hidden tunnel to Griffin’s subterranean safe room, a space mirroring their old dorms. Grieving and exhausted, they clean themselves and search the room, finding coded correspondence, weapons, a letter to Robin he cannot bear to read, and a silver-inlaid beacon lamp used by Hermes to transmit signals.

They compose a terse call to arms and feed it to the lamp’s flame, hoping allies receive it. At dawn they slip to the ruined Old Library, where bodies still lie amid rubble, hardening their resolve. With no better option, they decide to shut Babel down to stop the impending war on China.

Using Griffin’s explodere distraction and their invisibility bar, they enter the tower and address the lobby. Robin’s halting speech, bolstered by Victoire’s accusations, gains traction when Playfair inadvertently confirms key parts. Professor Craft believes them; the mood shifts. A scuffle breaks out, Playfair brandishes a gun, and Victoire shoots him, ending the stalemate.

With Professor Chakravarti’s help, Robin and Victoire secure the lobby, forbid calling the police, and announce a takeover and strike: no silver-work, no translation, no clients. They allow anyone unwilling to join to leave after ordering away the constables, then destroy the departing scholars’ blood vials. Most faculty and Europeanists exit; a small group remains—Chakravarti, Craft, and several students and fellows of color.

At noon, Robin and Victoire ceremonially burn the discarded vials and scatter hand-copied pamphlets from the tower balcony, publicly declaring Babel’s strike until Britain abandons war against China. They wager that Babel’s indispensability makes it untouchable, and that withholding its labor will cripple the Empire’s machinery. Victoire frames her shot at Playfair as justice for Anthony, and they brace for the response.