Page 68 of A Cyborg for the Alien Mercenary

“Excellent.” He reached out to slide his big metal arms under her with surprising gentleness. She almost got the feeling that he was used to operating in a body that was far larger than the one she’d found him in. “Let’s try to get you on your feet.”

She gritted her teeth as he helped her sit upright and then swung her legs around so she sat on the edge of the operating table. Her muscles screamed in protest as she stood, swaying unsteadily. She leaned heavily on him for support, her legs feeling alien beneath her.

“How do you feel?” he asked, concern ringing in his voice.

She looked down. He’d stripped several of the Scorperios and somehow melded them around her body… around her torso and legs. The only things that weren’t covered were her arms. She lifted a hand to check. Yeah, he’d even covered her throat and… she swept her hand down her right arm.

She grinned. “You gave me Scorpio-class gun mounts.”

He chuckled. “Of course. Anything for my favorite sister.”

She took a tentative step, expecting to pitch forward onto her face, but the exoskeleton moved smoothly. Within two steps she forgot it wasn’t a part of her. If she concentrated, she could feel the hum of energy coursing through it, supplementing her damaged systems. But she was moving and she was functional.

“Thank you,” she murmured, her voice thick with emotion. “I’m glad I found you that day.”

“So am I.” He nodded, the movement very organic for the big machine. But then, his voice hardened. “Now, we need to figure out our next move. Those assholes had been trying to break my security and activate me for years. From what I’ve seen, I suspect you had it worse.”

Her jaw clenched as she turned to face him. “You remember them trying to activate you?”

She thought he’d been inert, protected from anything these humans could do to him.

He shrugged. “Not them precisely. I knew someone was trying to fritz about in my systems. The last real thing I remember is that battlefield. How did we end up here? This looks like some kind of lab, so I’m assuming we were captured?”

She shook her head and then frowned. Shit. How did she tell him… well everything?

“No. Well, yes and no. It’s… complicated.” She took a deep breath. “We’re not in our own universe anymore. Somehow, we’ve crossed over into a different reality.”

The lights on his suit flickered, as if processing the new information. She had to admit, it was a lot. “A different universe? How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But it’s true. And yes, there are humans here too. And they’re…” She paused, thinking of all she’d been through since arriving in this new world. The lies, the manipulation, the pain. “They’re just as much assholes as the ones back home. They experimented on me for years. The main doctor here… treated me like a lab rat, poking and prodding, pushing my limits until I thought I’d break.”

Her hands curled into fists. “And then… and then he killed the man I loved. Just to see how I’d react. Like it was all just another test.”

She looked up at the ceiling, tears burning in the backs of her eyes. She would not cry. Not another tear. Not until she’d found Tanner and ripped his spine from his body so he could see it before he died.

“I’m going to track him down,” she said. “I’ll find him, and when I do, I’m going to overload my power core. This whole place, all his research, everything he’s ever done—it’ll all be obliterated in an instant.”

She turned back to Jex, her expression softening slightly. “You should leave. Get as far away from here as you can. There’s no reason for you to go down with me. Find a mercenary unit called the Warborne. D5-10M4 is with them.”

Jex snorted, the sound of amusement odd coming from his suit speakers. “Leave? Jesh, I have nothing here but you. You’re all I’ve got in this world.”

He took a step toward her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “If you want to go out in a blaze of glory, I’m all for that. We came into this world together, might as well leave it the same way.”

She placed her hand over his, tears welling again. But they were tears of gratitude. “You’re sure?” she whispered.

“Absolutely,” Jex replied with a nod. “Let’s teach them that nobody fucks with the Zodiacs.”

Jesh’s eyesadjusted quickly to the dim light as she emerged from the maintenance shaft and held it open to allow Jex to climb out after her. He unfolded the big Scorperio suit with a grace that she was sure no human operator could ever match, like he’d been born in it.

She turned and frowned at the corridor that stretched before them.

“I know this place,” she whispered, making sure her voice was barely audible over the hum of the environmental systems. Jex would hear her, no matter how quietly she spoke. “They dragged me through here… countless times.”

Jex moved ahead of her. “Stay alert,” he warned. “We don’t know what we’re walking into.”

As if on cue, a squad of security guards rounded the corner, their weapons raised and faces set in snarls as they spotted the two cyborgs. Time slowed as her combat protocols kicked in, her cybernetic enhancements flooding her system with adrenaline, boosted by the power from her new exoskeleton.

In a blur of motion, she closed the distance to the first guard. Her hand shot out, gripping his assault weapon with inhuman strength. With a twist and a pull, she wrenched it from his grasp,his startled cry cut short as she brought the butt of the rifle crashing into his temple.

---