The Pre-Sequel

[Static. A voice, familiar but off — too smooth, too calm.]

"You know what I respect? Ambition. Real ambition. Not the 'I want to be rich' kind. The kind that makes you look at everything you've ever known and say… 'I could burn this down and build something better.'"

[Beat creeps in — low, ominous, glitching.]

---

[VERSE 1]

We ran together. You and me.
Had a plan. Had a dream.
Said we'd open the vault, split the score
Be something more than the dust and the gore.
I trusted you. That's the joke.
That's the part I choke on when I smoke
And think about the moment you turned
When the loyalty in you burned.

---

[HOOK]

This ain't a sequel. This is the pre-
The moment before you did what you did.
The calm before the blade.
The choice you made.
This ain't a story. This is a debt.
One of us walks away. One of us forgets.
But I remember. I remember it all.
The pre-sequel. The rise before the fall.

---

[VERSE 2]

You found the key. Didn't tell me.
You found the map. Hid it carefully.
Said "we need more gear, more guns, more time"
While you were already crossing the line.
I was your shield. I was your guard.
I was the one who took it hard
When the traps went off, when the heat came down
You were already on the other side of town.

---

[BRIDGE]

[Beat drops to near silence. Voice, low and cold.]

"The thing about betrayal is… it's not the moment it happens.
It's all the moments before.
The meals we shared. The close calls. The 'I got you's.
Every single one of them was a pre-sequel.
And you knew it the whole time."

[Beat slams back.]

---

[VERSE 3]

I watched you take the vault. Watched you take the power.
Watched you become the thing we said we'd devour.
You called it evolution. Called it fate.
I call it a knife and the sound it makes
When it slides between ribs you thought were protected
By promises made, by trust you collected
And cashed in the moment the math was right.
Hope the view from the top was worth the night.

---

[HOOK FINAL]

This ain't a sequel. This is the pre-
The moment before you did what you did.
The calm before the blade.
The choice you made.
This ain't a story. This is a debt.
One of us walks away. One of us forgets.
But I remember. I remember it all.
The pre-sequel. The rise before the fall.

---

[OUTRO]

[Static. The smooth voice returns, laughing softly.]

"You're still thinking about that? Let it go. It's just business."

[Pause. The betrayed voice, quiet:]

"Yeah. It always is."

[Static. Hard cut.]

Industrial Hip-Hop, narrative interlude, male, Nerdcore