Queen of Contingency (Overmind)

[Intro — low, cold, half-whispered] Sit down. Shut up. Listen. I’ve already lived this night twelve times. [Verse 1 — tight, elegant, dangerous] I count the windows, count the lies, Count the tremor in your eyes, Count the seconds till the floorboard sings, Count the panic broken silence brings. One route in and three ways out, Two men weak and one devout, A hidden latch behind the art, A loaded gun and a failing heart. I know the safe. I know the code. I know which bastard folds in smoke. I know the turn your courage takes The very second your swagger breaks. [Pre-Chorus — rising, superior, almost amused] I am the hand behind the hand, The map beneath the shifting sand, The quiet wire inside the wall, The one who knows How it all will fall. [Chorus — huge, villainous, triumphant] I am the queen of contingency, Built from steel and impossible things, Plans on plans on plans in line, Every thread tied off in my mind. You call it madness, I call it art, A sharpened brain and a blackened heart, Every move you make is already mine— Bow to the smoke And the grand design. [Verse 2 — more biting, more theatrical] You think you choose? How sweet, how brave. I marked your path, I dug your grave. I saw your greed before you spoke, Saw where your pretty little nerve-lines broke. I don’t need luck, I don’t need prayer, I need blueprints, breath, and air, A rooftop line, a deadbolt flaw, A frightened fool with a trembling jaw. I was raised on war by lantern light, On maps that taught me wrong from right, On stories sharp as butcher blades— Now I make kingdoms out of raids. [Pre-Chorus — tighter, more frantic underneath] There’s no such thing as chance to me, Just angles, weight, velocity, A thousand futures split and spun— And I can see Each bleeding one. [Chorus — bigger, harsher] I am the queen of contingency, Built from ash and precision teeth, Plans on plans on plans in line, Every last weakness filed in my mind. You call it cruel, I call it clean, A perfect theft in a brutal machine, Every move you make is already mine— Bow to the smoke And the grand design. [Bridge — low, intimate, cracking open] But the mind— Och, the mind— It doesnae ever bloody sleep. It gnaws the bone, It names the dead, It buries ten more in my head. Every door still swings. Every scream still rings. Every “what if” crawls and stings. And I would give near anything For one small hour Of being no one. [Breakdown — half-sung, half-spoken, smoky, unraveling] So light the pipe. Let the room go soft. Let the gears slip loose. Let the edges off. Smoke in the lung, Slow in the vein, Mercy written down like rain. Blur the math. Drown the noise. Mute the marching of a thousand choices. When the smoke goes black and sweet, The knives in my skull lose half their teeth, And for one damned blessed little span— I’m not a plan. I’m not a weapon. I’m just a woman with shaking hands. [Build — tense, coming back online] Then it clears. Then it bites. Then the whole machine relights. Cold again. Sharp again. God help anyone in my sights. [Final Chorus — maximal, operatic, sinister] I am the queen of contingency, Storm-eyed mind in a city of thieves, Plans on plans on plans in flame, I write the end before the game. You call me cursed, I call me right, The last calm voice in the teeth of the night, Every move you make is already mine— Bow to the smoke, Bow to the fear, Bow to the mind That keeps you here. [Outro — low, satisfied, chilling] Now breathe. Be still. The plan is perfect. You were always going to lose.