Page 30 of Seer Prophet

Revik began separating them out with his fingers.

I didn’t even try to follow what he was doing. Shielding him, I stayed behind the alcove to be out of range of random gunfire.

I also stood directly between Revik and the same.

Luckily, the smoke made visibility pretty much shit, so it was unlikely anyone would target us right away, not with the construct down.

Not with the shield I had over both of us.

Watching him squint into the dim light exuded by the living circuits, I grabbed hold of the necklace I wore and yanked it off my neck. Once I had, I put my light into the strands, commanding them to reconfigure. Within seconds, they formed the shape of a different tool, this one for manipulating filaments and equipped with a penlight.

Here, baby.I handed it over to him.Use this.

He took it from me with a pulse of gratitude. He never took his eyes off the tentacle-like strands inside the panel. Tossing the piece of metal he’d removed to the floor, he focused hisaleimi,working his way through each of the glowing segments.

Fuck,he muttered in my head.I was never good at doing it this way.

Feeling him thinking about Garensche, I winced, remembering the last time I’d seen the big lug, lying in pieces and covered in glass in the lobby of Shadow’s skyscraper in New York.

I hadn’t fully appreciated how unique and invaluable Gar was while he was alive, in terms of his genius with the machines. There were things we flat-out couldn’t do now, or couldn’t do well, or quickly, or without getting caught. The only person we had who even came close was Dante, and she was human.

Don’t do it that way if you can’t make it work,I urged him.Just talk to the damned thing. It’s what Gar would have done.

Nodding, Revik plunged his hand in the open panel, grimacing as he wrapped his bare fingers around the clump of organic strands.

I clutched his arm, hearing the mind of the cybernetic organism through his light. I felt Revik try to reason with the thing, to coax it into seeing him as someone of authority in the Legion of Fire. He told the creature its masters were in danger, that we wanted to help.

The door felt skeptical.

Listening to their strange conversation, I split my focus to keep an eye on our position. To hide Revik’s Barrier work, I also densified our shield. With the smoke, screaming and increased automatic weapon fire, I couldn’t make out much. I was hesitant to go into the Barrier to find out more; I knew it would only make us more visible.

Their infiltrators would be looking for us by now.

In the few glimpses I got of the room, I mostly saw people with soot and dust-smeared faces crouched behind white couches, scared out of their wits.

Bullets scored the wall near where we crouched and I ducked, pulling Revik in deeper with me. I doubt he even noticed.

Instead, he cursed, staring at the open circuits.

Fucking thing is encrypted. Keeps asking me for my DNA password.

Can you get past it?

I’m trying. We can blow it with the telekinesis if we have to, but then we’ll have company. They’ve got at least two full military units up here now.

My eyes slid to the other end of the room, seeing the cluster of armed Legion of Fire seers as Revik pointed them out with his light. The gunfire was already getting closer. Black-clad soldiers of the Legion of Fire were definitely firing back at someone on this floor. The anti-aircraft gun had quieted, so Balidor’s people must have reached the terrace.

Given all the confusion, I wondered if I might be able to procure us a gun.

No.Revik turned, glaring at me, obviously hearing my thoughts.Stay here. I don’t want you wandering around looking for fucking guns.

I considered arguing with him.

It would be easy as heck to sneak behind the firing line, knock out one of the Legion of Fire guards with my light, grab his gun. Then we’d haveoneautomatic rifle, anyway, in addition to whatever sidearm he might be carrying.

Feeling Revik’s light charge up, growing hotter as this went through my mind, I relented, rubbing his back with a hand.

How much time do we have?I asked.

---