“A-a…fuckin’…suit…”
“One? One goddamn corpo took all of you out?” I grabbed Yuri roughly, and he cried out, coughing again. I shook him. “Tell me more, yarou.”
“—teknik” Yuri went quiet after that, and I wasn’t sure if he’d passed out or died. I didn’t care. I needed to find this asshole.
I dropped him, letting his head smash into the ground, and ran down the corridor, following the trail of bodies. The underworld was always disgusting and damp, but whatever had gone down here had wrecked the pipes. Teknik, Yuri had said. There were scorch marks everywhere, but I had to assume those were from my guys. I hadn’t felt any EM fields, so not that either. Air Flux, maybe? Unless it was some pre-burnout geoteknik kid…and if that was the case, we were all dead.
Sparks flew from busted lights and exposed conduits as I kept moving, my steps silent. I climbed a set of stairs leading to a raised walkway when I heard a shout, followed by consecutive gunshots. I froze, listening, and everything went quiet again. Then I heard them—soft but steady footsteps crossing the grated metal, moving away from me.
I flew up the stairs without a sound. The walkway led down a tunnel lined with pipes and wires. The corridor opened up atthe end, and the light from beyond caught the man in harsh silhouette. The suit he wore was flawless—not a drop of blood or grime on him. He heard me and turned, his profile sharp in the light, his strong aquiline nose prominent.
I fired five shots before I even took a breath.
They all stopped, suspended midair, caught in some kind of force field around him. A shield. Tech like that had been rumored, but I’d never seen it in person.
No problem. I had other weapons at my disposal.
The tattoos on my arms glowed as lightning coiled around my arm. “Shinjimae.”
A bolt cracked through the air, bright enough to leave streaks in my vision. It surged toward him, white-hot—when suddenly the energy dispersed in a shimmer of blue light, just inches from his skin, like it had been swallowed whole.
I heard the wrench of pipes and the unmistakable splash as the wall of water he’d summoned slammed down to the ground.
My brain barely had time to process before he moved. One second he was standing there, unbothered—the next, he was on me. A sharp, twisting motion of his wrist sent a blade of water slicing through the air, catching me across the ribs. It hit like a steel whip, knocking the breath from my lungs. I staggered, barely twisting away before another tendril lashed out, slamming me back into the wall hard enough to make my teeth rattle.
I hit the floor, gasping. The corridor’s dim light reflected off the water as it disappeared through the grated floor currently pressing into my face. I watched as some reversed direction, rippling unnaturally as it slithered toward my wrists and ankles. I tried to roll, tried to push myself up, but the second I moved, the water snapped tight, pinning me to the ground.
He loomed over me, perfectly composed, adjusting the cuff of his sleeve like this was nothing more than an inconvenience.“You rely too much on raw power,” he murmured, voice smooth, unhurried. “That has its limits.”
He’d never seen power like mine. I could feel my implants humming. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d used so much, and pain fractured through my cheekbone as they overloaded. But I held it all as I heard those footsteps ringing closer and closer.
I waited until the steps were right up next to me—then I let it all burn through me. My face scalded as all the surrounding water vaporized, and I couldn’t hear anything over the tunnel nearly collapsing in on itself.
I went until I had nothing left to give. I couldn’t have even flickered a spark if my life depended on it. The steam settled, and an eerie quiet settled over me, until all I heard was my labored breathing and the pounding of my heart.
An icy hand seized me by the back of my neck; my head spun as I was thrown against the steel wall.
“Not bad.” The suit’s cold voice almost sounded amused as he knelt in front of me, his dark eyes scanning my face. He looked immaculate—not a hair out of place. What the fuck was this guy?
“Just another corporate shill,” he said, like he could read my mind. Fuck, maybe he could. No, I’d said it out loud.
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Are you going to beg me for your life, like the others?” The question passed between his soft lips like he was asking me the time of day.
“Fuck you,” I gritted out, my vision still blurred as I tried to get any of my limbs to move.
“You will. They always do.” He flicked his fingers, and a small pipe near my head burst open. It let out barely a trickle of water, and the man frowned.
He shook his head—and then I screamed as what felt like a million ants crawled over my still-bleeding stomach. I clutchedthe wound as blood seeped through my fingers, running up my chest.
No fucking way.My heart started beating erratically again as my own blood crept up my neck and into my mouth. The hot, metallic taste coated my throat, and I thrashed, trying to claw the liquid away, trying to summon any of my goddamn Flux, but there was nothing. I gagged, my lungs beginning to fill, my head spinning as he drowned me.
He stood up as I collapsed onto my side, his eyes never leaving me. My vision turned black.
“Beg.”
I was dying, no doubt about it—but I wouldn’t give this fucker the satisfaction. If he was going to take my life, he couldn’t have my soul too.
I flipped him off and laughed—or tried to—but it came out as a horrible, bubbling sound as the darkness closed in around me.
