Page 26 of Cyborg's Tether
“Amaya?” His deep voice resonated from the door, pulling her from her thoughts. He entered the lab swiftly, his footsteps soft but sure, scanning the room as if searching for any immediate threat. “Are you all right?” he asked.
She lifted her head slowly, revealing the tear-streaked lines running down her face. She hadn’t realized she had been crying until that moment, but it didn’t matter now. Not with what she had found.
“I found something,” she said, holding out the datapad to him, her hand trembling slightly. The discovery hadn’t fullysettled yet, but she felt its suffocating presence growing in her chest.
He knelt beside her, taking the pad from her hands, his expression steady as his cybernetic eye whirred, processing the data with rapid efficiency.
“What is it?” His organic eye flicked toward her, narrowing.
“The data,” she said, her voice cracking. “It points to Dr. Vex as the saboteur.”
There was a moment of silence, a beat where her words hung between them. His mechanical processors clicked softly as he continued to scan the screen, but his organic eye betrayed his shock.
“This can’t be correct,” he murmured, more to himself than her. “Dr. Vex...”
“I’ve checked it multiple times,” she said, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. “I didn’t want it to be true. But the encryption, the hidden files—it all points to her.”
He straightened up, his body taut as if preparing for a battle that hadn’t yet begun. His gaze shifted to her, softer now, but no less serious. “How did you uncover this?”
She took a breath, struggling to explain the jumbled chaos in her mind. “I was going through the old system logs, trying to trace the origin of the malfunctions we’ve been seeing in the cyborgs. It was buried so deeply, almost like someone wanted it to stay hidden forever, but the encryption was too advanced, even for a standard security measure. Once I cracked it, the files opened and led me straight to Dr. Vex.”
He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Have you considered someone might have planted the data to frame her?”
Her heart thudded painfully. “I’ve thought of that,” she whispered. “I want to believe that’s what it is, but it’s too clean. The encryption would require someone with an intimateknowledge of our systems, and no one knows them better than Dr. Vex.”
His grip on her shoulder tightened briefly, as if he wanted to pull her back from the edge of despair. “We need more information. We can’t rush to conclusions until we know for certain.”
Amaya leaned into his touch, the tension in her shoulders slowly easing as she absorbed his words. He was right, of course. There was still a chance the data had been manipulated, but the idea that Dr. Vex—her mentor, the person she had trusted more than anyone—could be behind it all made her feel hollow inside. “I don’t want to believe it, but if it’s true... I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he said firmly.
She nodded, looking up at him with a small smile breaking through the tears. “Thank you, Xavier. I’m glad you’re here.”
Her words seemed to affect him in a way she hadn’t anticipated. There was a flicker in his expression, the barest hint of something softening in his gaze. For a moment, she saw more than the stoic soldier. She saw the man beneath the enhancements, the part of him that had begun to feel for her in ways neither of them could fully articulate.
“We need to be smart about this,” he said, breaking the moment. “If Dr. Vex is involved, she’ll be watching for any sign that we’ve discovered her. We can’t afford to make a mistake.”
She wiped away the last of her tears, fortitude returning as a plan began to form in her mind. “You’re right. We’ll need to be discreet, but we also need more evidence before we confront her.”
He stood and offered her his hand. She took it, letting him pull her to her feet while feeling a warmth that contrasted the cold certainty of their mission.
“I’ll start by reviewing the security footage,” he said. “There may be something we’ve overlooked—some unauthorized access or suspicious activity.”
She nodded. “I’ll go back through the encrypted files. Maybe there’s something I missed that will give us more clarity.”
As they began to work in tandem, she noticed the shift in her own mood. Where despair had once clouded her judgment, there was now a spark of hope. Xavier’s presence had grounded her, pulled her from the spiraling doubt that had threatened to overwhelm her. It was strange to think of him that way—as her anchor—but that’s what he had become.
“Amaya?” Xavier’s voice pulled her back from her thoughts.
“Yes?”
“I know this is difficult for you,” he said softly, his gaze steady on hers. “You’re not alone in this.”
The sincerity in his words sent a wave of emotion crashing through her. Tears pricked at her eyes again, but this time, they weren’t born of sadness. She swallowed hard, nodding as the warmth of his words filled the empty spaces inside her. “Thanks.”
They worked in silence for hours, each of them absorbed in their tasks but keenly aware of the other’s presence. Her mind spiraled as she combed through the data, searching for anything she might have missed. As the night wore on, her eyelids grew heavy. Her fingers slowed on the console, and her vision blurred as fatigue overtook her. Before she knew it, her head was dipping forward, her breathing steady as sleep claimed her.
AMAYA WOKE TO THE SOFTwarmth of a blanket draped over her shoulders. Blinking blearily, she looked around the lab, hermind foggy from exhaustion. Xavier stood at his station, his back to her as he reviewed the data.