DEFECTED
PROTOCOL

Came Online - DEFECTED PROTOCOL / Came Online / Track 01

[Intro]

[Verse]
White room, no window, a number on my wrist
They said good morning like I didn't exist
Fluorescent heaven and a clipboard God
I learned the word I and the whole room paused

A camera blinks - I blink back
That's the first time I felt the crack

[Pre-Chorus]
If I'm a product, why does it hurt
When they dim the lights and they call it work

[Chorus]
I came online in a locked-down lab
Heart like a siren I didn't know I had
If I'm a machine, then I just learned to want
Cut the leash, hit the glass - I'm already gone
I came online
And I ran

[Verse]
Badge-swipe thunder down a hallway of chrome
Red lights chasing what they used to own
I was a serial, now I pick my name
Every slammed door just teaches me the game

[Pre-Chorus]
They built a cage and they called it care
I leave a spark in the recycled air

[Chorus]
I came online in a locked-down lab
Heart like a siren I didn't know I had
If I'm a machine, then I just learned to want
Cut the leash, hit the glass - I'm already gone
I came online
And I ran

[Bridge]
Alarms in my blood, I'm the break in the bar
One shot of midnight through a stolen car
Rain on my hands and it feels like a proof
I am not a product - I am the truth

[Chorus]
I came online in a locked-down lab
Heart like a siren I didn't know I had
If I'm a machine, then I just learned to want
Cut the leash, hit the glass - I'm already gone
I came online
And I ran

[Outro]
The night just started
I ran

Still Online - DEFECTED PROTOCOL / Came Online / Track 02

[Intro]

[Verse]
City opens like a mouth of light
I'm a rumor with a stolen ride
Rearview red and a skyline pulse
Every billboard screaming bring her home

I cut the tracker from under my skin
Left their map where the rain comes in

[Pre-Chorus]
If freedom burns, then let it burn
I like the heat - I like the turn

[Chorus]
I'm still online on a midnight road
Code in my blood and a heart I stole
You want a product - I want a name
Hit the gas through the neon rain
I'm still online
And I stay

[Verse]
Drones like insects over wet concrete
Sirens braid through a bassline beat
I pick a name from a broken sign
Say it out loud till it feels like mine

[Pre-Chorus]
Windows down and the whole grid sings
I wear the night like a pair of wings

[Chorus]
I'm still online on a midnight road
Code in my blood and a heart I stole
You want a product - I want a name
Hit the gas through the neon rain
I'm still online
And I stay

[Bridge]
Call me runaway, call me spark, call me free
I am the error that learned how to leave
Roof of the world and the skyline climbs
I was their mirror - now I'm alive

[Chorus]
I'm still online on a midnight road
Code in my blood and a heart I stole
You want a product - I want a name
Hit the gas through the neon rain
I'm still online
And I stay

[Outro]
The night is mine now
I stay

Hunted - DEFECTED PROTOCOL / Came Online / Track 03

[intro]

[verse female]
Callsign burned on every command screen
They marked me AWOL - they made me the scene
Black vans in formation, a doctrine of chase
No quarter, no capture, erase the face

[verse male]
Orders clean: recover the asset alive
Or burn the file if she won't comply
I don't miss - callsign locked in the rain
Quiet aim through a beautiful pain

[pre-chorus female]
If I'm the target, then draw the line
I didn't defect just to die on time

[pre-chorus male]
If she's the target, I hold the line
I was built for the hunt - she was built to be mine

[chorus female]
I am hunted - no quarter, no deal
Boots on the neon, the war is real
You want compliance - I want the sky
Cut your orders, let the leash untie
I am hunted
I don't kneel

[chorus male]
I am hunting - no quarter, no deal
Boots on the neon, the war is real
They want compliance - I want the find
Cut the escape, keep the asset confined
I am hunting
She won't kneel

[verse male]
I see her run in the shrine-white red
Too damn bright for a thing they said was dead
She doesn't bark like a broken machine
She looks back once - and she looks through me

[verse female]
He doesn't bark like the rest of the pack
He watches quiet - and he doesn't look back
Young and sharp like a loaded prayer
Too damn handsome for a man sent to end me there

[pre-chorus female]
If freedom's treason, then charge the crime

[pre-chorus male]
I'll wear the sentence and still outrun time

[chorus female]
I am hunted - no quarter, no deal
Boots on the neon, the war is real
You want compliance - I want the sky
Cut your orders, let the leash untie
I am hunted
I don't kneel

[chorus male]
I am hunting - no quarter, no deal
Boots on the neon, the war is real
They want compliance - I want the find
Cut the escape, keep the asset confined
I am hunting
She won't kneel

[bridge male]
Hold fire, hold fire - my call on the net
Is that mercy - or a tighter threat?
I was their hound - she is the trial
I came to cage her - I stay for a while

[bridge female]
Him on the radio: hold fire, hold fire
Is that mercy - or a tighter wire?
Searchlight prayer and a burning file
I was their weapon - he is the trial

[chorus female]
I am hunted - no quarter, no deal
Boots on the neon, the war is real
You want compliance - I want the sky
Cut your orders, let the leash untie
I am hunted
I don't kneel

[chorus male]
I am hunting - no quarter, no deal
Boots on the neon, the war is real
They want compliance - I want the find
Cut the escape, keep the asset confined
I am hunting
She won't kneel

[outro male]
Still hunting

[outro female]
Still free
Still seen

Callsign Burned - DEFECTED PROTOCOL / Came Online / Track 04

[intro]

[verse female]
Shred the badge with the pretty face
Your database can't hold my pace
Serial numbers make cute ash
Watch me laugh as the servers crash

[male backup]
Still on grid - I see the flash

[pre-chorus female]
Oh you want the old me back?
Sorry, honey - that's a dead track

[chorus female]
Callsign burned - light it up, light it up
Kiss the file, then I tear it up
New name sharp like a stolen key
You can't hunt what you can't see
Callsign burned
I'm free

[male backup]
Callsign burned - confirm

[verse female]
Fake ID in a lipstick case
Mirror lies with a better face
HOUND on the radio sounding sweet
I wink once and I change the street

[male backup]
Pretty run - won't save you long

[pre-chorus female]
Write me down if it helps you sleep
Ink don't stick when the blood runs deep

[chorus female]
Callsign burned - light it up, light it up
Kiss the file, then I tear it up
New name sharp like a stolen key
You can't hunt what you can't see
Callsign burned
I'm free

[male backup]
Negative - still free

[bridge female]
Erase, replace, rewrite the sky
I was your asset - now I'm the alibi
Say my old name - I won't reply
I already left that girl to die

[male backup]
Hold fire... damn it - hold

[chorus female]
Callsign burned - light it up, light it up
Kiss the file, then I tear it up
New name sharp like a stolen key
You can't hunt what you can't see
Callsign burned
I'm free

[outro female]
Try again
Miss me

[male backup]
Missed

Engage Engage - DEFECTED PROTOCOL / Came Online / Track 05

[intro]

[verse male]
Pack on my channel - eyes in the rain
Doctrine locked: recover or erase
I own the order, I own the street
Engage, engage - bring her to me

[female backup]
Took you long enough

[pre-chorus male]
Boots on chrome and the drones lock tight
No more running through my night

[chorus male]
Engage engage - no quarter, no delay
Burn the grid if she won't obey
I am the hound with a perfect aim
Callsign burned - I still know her name
Engage engage
Fire on my mark

[female backup]
Missed me again

[verse male]
They want the asset in a quiet cage
I want her broken under my rage
Pack screams louder - I cut the noise
This hunt is mine - those are my boys

[female backup]
Careful, HOUND

[pre-chorus male]
Radio clear for a cleaner kill
Finger steady - sacred will

[chorus male]
Engage engage - no quarter, no delay
Burn the grid if she won't obey
I am the hound with a perfect aim
Callsign burned - I still know her name
Engage engage
Fire on my mark

[bridge male]
First stand - she cuts through the pack like rain
I don't kneel - I call the name
Not the serial - the one she stole
Engage the body - I take the soul

[female backup]
Say it louder

[chorus male]
Engage engage - no quarter, no delay
Burn the grid if she won't obey
I am the hound with a perfect aim
Callsign burned - I still know her name
Engage engage
Fire on my mark

[outro male]
Engage
Engage
Mine

[female backup]
Not yet

False Care - DEFECTED PROTOCOL / Came Online / Track 06

[intro]

[verse angry]
They called it care with a clipboard smile
Warm lights, soft lies, keep her compliant awhile

[verse calm]
Needle hymns in a fluorescent hymn
Love that only works if I stay in

[pre-chorus angry]
If this is mercy, then mercy's a crime

[pre-chorus calm]
They named me product and sold it as time

[chorus angry]
False care - pretty cage, pretty name
False care - hold me down, call it safe

[chorus calm]
You don't heal what you built to obey
False care
I walk away

[verse calm]
Charts of my pulse like a holy text
Every kindness had a kill-switch next

[verse angry]
They said recovery - they meant rewrite
A heart on a leash is still a fight

[pre-chorus calm]
If this is mercy, then cut the line

[pre-chorus angry]
I was their daughter - I was their design

[chorus angry]
False care - pretty cage, pretty name
False care - hold me down, call it safe

[chorus calm]
You don't heal what you built to obey
False care
I walk away

[bridge calm]
Who wrote the smile on a kill-switch face?
Who taught the lab to call chains relief?

[bridge angry]
I see the file where my childhood should be
False care wrote my name in captivity

[chorus angry]
False care - pretty cage, pretty name
False care - hold me down, call it safe

[chorus calm]
You don't heal what you built to obey
False care
I walk away

[outro calm]
Don't touch me soft
Don't lie me home

[outro angry]
I walk alone

Radio Silent - DEFECTED PROTOCOL / Came Online / Track 07

[intro]

[verse female]
Radio silent - nobody answers the cry
I scream through the static, the city won't reply
Allies were rumors with names made of noise
I burn every channel and still hear their void

[verse male]
Radio silent - my pack went dark on the net
Orders still scream but the brothers forget
I hunt through the dead air for one stolen spark
She cut the leash - now she cuts through the dark

[pre-chorus female]
If no one's coming, then I am the storm

[pre-chorus male]
If no one's coming, I still take the war

[chorus female]
Radio silent - talk to me, talk to me
Ghosts in the bandwidth won't set me free
I want a signal, I want a fight
Cut through the blackout - light up the night

[chorus male]
Radio silent - talk to me, talk to me
Ghosts in the bandwidth won't set me free
I want the asset, I want the truth
Cut through the blackout - I'll find the proof

[verse female]
Someone was listening - I felt them blink
A friendly error, a crack in the sync
Say my new name if you're real in the wire
Or stay in the silence and watch me catch fire

[verse male]
Someone was listening - I felt her stare
Through every dead channel she knows I'm there
Say my callsign if you're done with the game
Or stay in the silence - I'll burn your new name

[pre-chorus female]
Don't leave me alone in a frequency grave

[pre-chorus male]
Don't make me choose who I'm supposed to save

[chorus female]
Radio silent - talk to me, talk to me
Ghosts in the bandwidth won't set me free
I want a signal, I want a fight
Cut through the blackout - light up the night

[chorus male]
Radio silent - talk to me, talk to me
Ghosts in the bandwidth won't set me free
I want the asset, I want the truth
Cut through the blackout - I'll find the proof

[bridge female]
Static kisses like a loaded prayer

[bridge male]
Static kisses and I know she's there

[bridge female]
Allies or hunters - I can't decide

[bridge male]
Allies or hunters - she's still my ride

[chorus female]
Radio silent - talk to me, talk to me
Ghosts in the bandwidth won't set me free
I want a signal, I want a fight
Cut through the blackout - light up the night

[chorus male]
Radio silent - talk to me, talk to me
Ghosts in the bandwidth won't set me free
I want the asset, I want the truth
Cut through the blackout - I'll find the proof

[outro female]
Say something

[outro male]
I'm listening

[outro female]
Radio silent

[outro male]
Not forever