Counterstrike

[WHISPERED]

Again.

[Violin stab]

Hit me again.

[Beat drops]

I learned the rhythm from a fist to the jaw,

boots on the floor, back against the wall.

Counted every second between impact and breath,

learned real young what a warning meant.

You thought pain made obedience.

Funny how that turned out.

Every hit became a metronome,

every bruise mapped a way out.

I stopped asking,

"Why me?"

Started asking,

"What next?"

Put the fear into storage,

put the anger to work.

No ceremony.

No retreat.

Just a pulse saying—

get

on

your

feet.

[Strings ascend with each line]

I built a war room

behind my eyes.

Mapped every exit.

Memorized every lie.

You trained me without knowing it.

[BEAT CUT]

Now I'm ready.

I'M READY FOR THE WAR.

[Violin strike]

Ready when the red lights call.

I took every hit,

turned it into armor—

now I don't fold at all.

I'M READY FOR THE WAR.

You can hear the engines start.

I prepared for your ending—

the end of your hands

around my heart.

[Fast violin ostinato + hip-hop drums]

Hey—

one, two,

load the pulse.

Three, four,

break the hold.

Five, six,

nothing left to fear.

[Glitch cut]

You built this soldier here.

Used to hear your footsteps,

body went cold.

Now the same sound hits

and I don't lose control.

That's evolution

you didn't plan.

You were raising resistance

every time you raised your hand.

I studied pressure.

Studied pain.

Studied how a person changes

when survival hits the brain.

Turned panic into timing,

timing into aim—

not a weapon in my hand,

a target in my name.

And the target was simple:

never again.

Never that room.

Never that floor.

Never that version of me

waiting behind the door.

I declared war

inside my head.

Not just the world—

but everything you left behind.

Every reflex.

Every fear.

Every voice that sounded like you.

[Beat pauses]

One by one—

I put them through.

I'M READY FOR THE WAR.

Ready when the red lights call.

I took every hit,

turned it into armor—

now I don't fold at all.

I'M READY FOR THE WAR.

You can hear the engines start.

I prepared for your ending—

the end of your hands

around my heart.

[No vocals]

[Violins play a fast aggressive classical motif]

[Special effect sounds]

[808 bass follows the cello register]

[Trap hats accelerate]

[Granular string glitches answer each phrase]

[Distorted guitar slowly joins underneath]

I used to think

the kill meant you.

[Silence]

Now I know better.

It was the part of me

that still believed

you had power.

[SUB DROP]

So I killed that.

[SCREAMED]

KILL THE FEAR.

[VIOLIN HIT]

KILL THE HOLD.

[GUITAR HIT]

KILL THE VOICE

THAT DID WHAT IT WAS TOLD.

[VIOLIN RUN]

NO MORE FLOOR.

NO MORE CAGE.

YOU GAVE ME PAIN—

I GAVE IT RANGE.

[BEAT CUT]

You wanted me afraid.

[WHISPER]

Look what you made.

I'M READY FOR THE WAR.

Let the whole damn system burn.

Every scar became a signal,

every signal found a spark.

I'M READY FOR THE WAR.

Let the whole damn system burn.

Every scar became a signal,

every signal found a spark.

I'M READY FOR THE WAR.

No surrender in my blood.

You prepared me for the battle—

you just never thought

I'd stand back up.

I'M READY FOR THE WAR.

[Choir backing]

READY FOR THE WAR.

I'M READY FOR THE WAR.

[Choir backing]

READY FOR THE WAR.

You wanted my ending—

[VIOLIN ASCENDING RUN]

but you trained me

for yours.

[Return to exact opening motif]