Pay Data - MCP Test (Rock)

[Intro | no vocals, radio static and a rising drone whine] [Verse 1 | conversational weight, breath audible, kick and bass kept sparse] Datachip taped against my ribs Seven floors of ice behind me Alarms still bleeding down the stairs Cold vault air still in my lungs Sirens on the Gulf wind rising Red lasers crawling up the rooftops Kestrel-Tan wants me breathing no more Armored trucks on I-45 Neon bleeding over Montrose Slipping where the dead signals glow Every shadow wears a badge now Every window holds a gun [Pre-Chorus | pitch climbs a third, drums tighten into the lift, synth riser underneath] Little eyes in the dark, they're my wings Scouting ten blocks ahead of the sting Heat on my back and the clock's counting down One wrong turn and I'm done in this town Static in my ear Hold the line, hold the line [Chorus | chest voice engages on "run", open-throated belt, wobble bass and guitars at full width] Run, run, run through the Houston night Paydata burning, I'm out of sight Pull the wire, kill the light They'll never take me alive tonight Run, run, run through the Houston night Paydata burning, I'm out of sight Pull the wire, kill the light They'll never take me alive tonight [Verse 2 | same weight as verse one, drone feeds panned wide in the mix] Scout drone circling over the Heights Rain on tin, six hunters waiting Through the Third Ward, hands wave me left Kids on the stoops know the corporate boots Fifth Ward garage, oil and steel Swap the plates, swap the jacket Buffalo Bayou black beneath me Counting seconds, one more breath Drone feed flickers in my glasses Blue lines marking every turn Dead end, dead end, find the open Sixty seconds till they close [Pre-Chorus | tighter, rotor-wash noise swells under the vocal] Drone two's down, static in my ear Rotor wash screaming, they're breathing near Flash-bangs, tear gas, bullets like hail Burn the trail Hold the line, hold the line [Chorus | chest voice engages on "run", open-throated belt, wobble bass and guitars at full width] Run, run, run through the Houston night Paydata burning, I'm out of sight Pull the wire, kill the light They'll never take me alive tonight Run, run, run through the Houston night Paydata burning, I'm out of sight Pull the wire, kill the light They'll never take me alive tonight [Bridge | bass drops out, breathy close-mic'd vocal, half-time] Sunrise on the Ship Channel, refinery flares I can hear their engines, I can feel the stares One drone left and one chance to show Dead man's route where the old rails go [Final Chorus | same belt as before, lead vocal doubled] Run, run, run through the Houston night Paydata burning, I'm out of sight Pull the wire, kill the light They'll never take me alive tonight Run, run, run through the Houston night Paydata burning, I'm out of sight Pull the wire, kill the light They'll never take me alive tonight [Outro | vocal fades to breath, one low bass pulse, static] Chip's in the courier's hand Houston's burning behind me Ghost in the wire, ghost in the land Nobody left to find me