Chapter 84: Lysander: Hangar 17B

Summary

• Lysander is standing in Hangar 17B, feeling like prey while waiting for Atlas to arrive.
• He is equipped with scarabSkin armor under his clothes, a sidearm, and his razor, but regrets not having his pulseArmor.
• Lysander is nervous and avoids looking for Cassius, who is also present but hidden to avoid alerting Atlas.
• Three black nightRaptors arrive quietly, floating above Lysander and his team before landing. A fourth one arrives later, which disgorges Atlas’s heavily injured Gorgons and Atlas himself.
• Atlas arrives casually dressed with a reinforced pack, aware of Lysander's presence but showing signs of exhaustion from a recent mission.
• Atlas confronts Lysander for not being in the barracks as instructed; Lysander claims there is a problem that couldn't wait.
• Casualties of the Gorgons are evident; many are injured, boosting Lysander's confidence about Atlas's vulnerability.
• Lysander tries to keep Atlas engaged and on the hangar's hangar until Pytha can give him the green light for their trap.
• Lysander cautiously reveals to Atlas about Diomedes and Darrow, while Atlas begins to determine Darrow's location based on clues provided by Lysander.
• Atlas sends out orders to have his men chase down Darrow, not realizing he is walking into a trap.
• As Atlas's men leave, Lysander and Atlas talk about the failed mission and Lysander feigns cooperation.
• Lysander suddenly attacks, while Cassius provides cover fire from a hidden position.
• Lysander brutally kills several Praetorians and Markus and Drusilla, but is severely injured by fire from Rhone.
• Lysander and Rhone engage in a fierce, close-quarters fight, which ends with Lysander fatally stabbing Rhone.
• After defeating Rhone, Lysander moves towards Atlas and Cassius, who are in the middle of an intense battle.
• Cassius, severely wounded, manages to subdue Atlas with his razor’s whip.
• When Lysander realizes he can finally act, he shoots Atlas in the head, killing him.
• Lysander plants a weapon in Cassius’s chest to frame him and demands Cassius leave without the biological weapon in Atlas’s pack.
• Cassius confronts Lysander and is heartbroken by the betrayal, but still charges Lysander, who shoots him multiple times.
• Cassius dies smiling, and Lysander is left to cover up the event by faking his own attack.
• Lysander orders deaths to make it appear like a Rim assassination, trying to secure his power and position as Sovereign.
• Lysander retrieves Atlas's pack, a biological weapon, and plants it elsewhere.
• He instructs the medici to only patch him up enough to preserve his life, wanting his wounded condition to be seen as evidence of the attack.