Page 46 of A Cyborg for the Alien Mercenary

“Gamer,” she admitted. “I’d like to go pro, really. But Dennis would never allow it. He smashed my rig.”

“You should go definitely pro,” Jesh said, wanting nothing more than to go back and give that asshole doctor a piece of her mind. She knew a lot about having her choices taken away, and it looked like Mira did as well. “You’re good at this.”

Mira smiled, genuine happiness on her face. But before she could say anything else, the sound of fast-approaching heavy footsteps jolted them back to reality.

“We need to move,” Anson growled, turning to cover the rear.

“Follow me. Quickly,” Mira said, leading them out of cover and down the corridors at a run.

As Mira led them toward a heavy metal door, Jesh’s eyes flicked to the keypad beside it. She knew before her onboard fed her schematics that she could hack it. Before she could make a move toward it, though, Mira punched in a code, her fingers flying across the keypad with a practiced ease.

The door hissed open, revealing a stairwell that led up to the roof, the dim lighting above a contrast to the harsh glare of the corridors they’d left behind.

“It’s just up here,” Mira said, her voice low and urgent as she gestured for them to follow her.

They headed up the stairs in a tight group, and Jesh’s senses were on high alert for any sign of danger. As they burst onto the roof, the cool night air hit her face like a slap, a welcome respite from the sterile environment they’d left behind. She looked around and her face tightened.

Just one problem.

They weren’t alone…

A dozenheavily armed soldiers in tactical gear surrounded them, their weapons trained on the small group. And at the center of it all stood Amanda Hargrove, her eyes blazing with a hatred so intense it made Jesh’s skin crawl. Her business clothes and the perfect blowout of her hair was gone, replaced by a scraped back bun and combat gear. She held a nasty looking assault rifle.

“Did you really think you could escape,Elena?” Her “mother” sneered, her voice dripping with contempt. “You’re nothing but a failed experiment, scrap metal pretending to be a person.”

Jesh clenched her fists at her sides, anger surging through her like a tidal wave. But before she could respond, Amanda’s gaze shifted to Mira, half concealed behind the group.

“And you,” Amanda spat, lifting her gun. “Fucking traitor!”

Time seemed to slow down as Amanda’s finger tightened on the trigger. Jesh moved on pure instinct, throwing herself infront of Mira. The crack of the gunshot rang out, and her head snapped back on her neck.

Everything went black as something inside Jesh’s head shattered. Memories exploded outward in a violent torrent of knowledge, images, and sensations that held her paralyzed in place for what felt like an eternity.

Zero point three four seconds,her onboard informed her in its dry voice.Recommend movement before adversary can react.

She blinked. Everything. She remembered everything cascading backward from the current moment in time.

The experiments… training… pain… the explosion… and Dael…oh god,Dael.

“Jesh!” Covak’s anguished roar cut through the fog of memory, overlaying the echo of Dael’s voice from the day when the portal that had brought them to this universe had torn their ship apart.

Jesh’s eyes snapped open, her vision clearer than ever before. She was no longer confused or uncertain. She knew exactly what she was… she was a cyborg created for war. And right now, she had a battle to win.

Her mind raced, processing information at light speed. Using her onboard system, she reached out and brushed Anson’s circuits. He was easy to find, a blazing beacon of cybernetic energy on the roof.

Anson, I need you to synchronize with me,she projected through a neural link.

What the—Anson’s mental voice was filled with surprise.How are you doing this?

No time to explain. Trust me.

He hesitated for a split second before relenting.Alright, I’m in.

Their cybernetic systems synchronized, and she gasped, momentarily overwhelmed by the dual sensory input. She could see through Anson’s eyes, feel the tension in his muscles as he prepared to strike. It was disorienting yet exhilarating.

What the draanth? This is… incredible,Anson’s voice echoed in her mind.

She allowed herself a brief moment of surprise. She shouldn’t have been able to link this deeply with another cyborg, especially not one of a different technology from an entirely different system. Yet here she was, sharing Anson’s senses as if they were her own. For a moment she frowned, sure she sensed two presences within him, but then the other was gone like it had never been there.

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