Page 9 of Swamp Kings 2

“I recall pieces.”

“Well, he’s evolved to the point where he can bite an individual and gain any kind of cognitive gifts they have for a short time, but the part we need is how ittriplesthe potency of the gifts in the giftee. In an effort to upgrade our human forces, we’ve thought to—”

“Have them all bitten,” he said, gold eyes flashing between them. “This is brilliant. Do you know why?” he demanded. “Because it’s nonreplicable. It gives us arealadvantage. What kind of gifts are we gaining with the Marsh King?” he wondered, curious.

“Handy’s backlash power allows him to not only read but see the full potential of their gifts. And after touching the Marsh King leader, he said he was a Quantum Architect.”

“Really!” Quantum’s marvel tingled in Kult’s balls.

Harlow gave a nod. “He foresaw him able to create just about anything and Handy asked him to createhisbody. But it requires him to take the bite, which he was reluctant to do until his Seer mentioned they were rescuing a woman via King Rukem’s bridge, which… turned out to be loaded with bio-sensors of people needing rescuing and brought here.”

The look of bafflement was almost comical on his face. “How is that possible?”

“They’re in the business of finding gifted people and built that amazing fuckin’ virtual transit to do it. My guess is his bridge is similar.”

“So… are all the people they’re rescuing gifted?” Quantum wondered, hopeful while pacing in the containment room.

Harlow shrugged. “No idea, really.”

“We think,” Fetch announced, his tone loaded with warning. “It would be verynecessaryfor Quantum to handle the issue with Celeste while the Bishop sorts Handy. As soon as possible.”

“What’s wrong?” Quantum demanded first.

“We have placed a containment field around her and they’ve been steadily eating through it. We need to discuss extraction methods with her. Unlike Kaphas, she’s not built with indestructible features and we’re not sure what part of her backlash powers they’re hijacking. If they aim to kill her, we can assume they’re corrupting the part of the power designed to protect her.”

Harlow wondered, “What if we use the neural inhibitors? We could flood her system with them to suppress the backlash, keep the parasites from hijacking it entirely, or at least slow them down. We’ve used them before with Kaphas.”

Quantum’s head snapped up. “No. Celeste’s system is fully human. The inhibitors would wreak havoc on her brain, shutting down more than just the backlash powers. We’d risk permanent damage—motor functions, cognitive abilities, everything could be compromised. It’s too dangerous.”

“What if we took a hybrid approach?” Fathom suggested. “Use a weaker version of the inhibitors, just enough to dull the backlash but not completely shut her system down. We don’t need to stop it, just slow it enough for Quantum to work on isolating the neural parasites.”

All eyes returned to Quantum who was already nodding. “Yes. Slowing the backlash without shutting her system down entirely could give us the window we need to target the corruption.”

“Alright,” Harlow said, his eagerness growing. “Acarefullymonitored hybrid dose. If it starts shutting down too much, we pull it immediately. But if we can balance it right, it would buy us enough time to isolate the parasites and stabilize her.”

“I can calculate the right dosage,” Fathom said.

“And I can regulate her blood flow,” Fin said. “Ensure there’s no risk of clots or hemorrhaging during the extraction. I can also manipulate her bioelectric field to drain the excess energy from the parasites before they overwhelm her system. If her vital signs start to drop, I’ll use my energy transfer to boost her life force and stabilize her autonomic functions. Herbodywillstay under our control.”

Kult regarded Fetch. “And what will your lazy ass be doing?”

He angled a grin at him. “Fetching coffee, I suppose.”

“Guess I’ll handle the hors d’oeuvres,” Kult muttered.

“Bring Garbagio,” he said. “I’m practicing what it might feel like to be a dad.”

“A dad,” Quantum cut in, worried.

“No, I’m not pregnant,” Fetch assured. “But the question has been asked more than once if I’m capable.”

“You can’t get pregnant,” Quantum said like he was a fucking moron, making Kult laugh.

“I think it’s a figure of speech,” Harlow chuckled, though very carefully.

“I’mevolving,Father,” Fetch smiled at Quantum. “Are you proud?”

“I’ll be the proudest father to whoever opens this fucking door and gets me out of here.”

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