Page 35 of True As Steel
I cast a worried look towards Loreus, trying to silence the panic that wanted to take root. My jaw dropped, seeing the Cyborg slice his arm open while half-drunkenly stumbling towards an empty stasis chamber.
“What the fuck is he doing?” I exclaimed.
“Recharging,” Jarog said, grabbing the shield from one of the unconscious guards as well as his weapon. “Stay with him until he’s good to go, then come out. I’m going to hold them off.”
“Wait, what?”
He didn’t respond and dashed outside instead. A loud sound made my head jerk back towards Loreus. He’d torn out one of the electric cables hooked into an empty stasis chamber. Before the electrical sparks had even dissipated around the exposed live wires, the Cyborg jammed the latter into the cut he’d sliced into his arm.
“NO!” I shouted, running towards him only to stop dead in my tracks.
Loreus’ body jerked under the effect of the massive current coursing through him. However, they weren’t the violent spasms of someone being electrocuted, but the subtle tremors of someone cresting, on the verge of an orgasm. Even his face—quite handsome at that—had taken a borderline sensuous expression.
“Recharging… right…” I muttered while my heart tried to settle back down in my chest.
For a moment, I thought the Cyborg had gone suicidal and tried to nuke himself after we’d gone through all this trouble to get him out. Fighting the urge to run outside to assist Jarog, I rifled through the unconscious forms of the other two guards, recovering their respective shields and weapons. Like I had done with the first weapons I’d lifted from the guards manning the station outside this room, I replaced their crystals with the zomoran ones I’d brought with me, which would significantly enhance their power.
It took me barely a minute. To my relief, Loreus was already done recharging—no freaking wonder with the kind of voltage he’d zapped himself with—and was finishing putting on the Cyborg uniform he’d worn on the transport ship. I brought him a shield and a second weapon. He took them quietly while shoving his feet into his boots.
“Ready,” he said, activating the shield.
My uneasiness still lingering, I locked gazes with him. He stared back without flinching. My eyes flicked to the brand on his face. Yeah, he was a rebel like us, but that didn’t mean he had truly rebelled against Shui.
Jarog had not either, and yet…
And yet, I trusted him with my life, shared his bed every night, and hoped he’d settle down with me here and wherever I would go next.
“Let’s go,” I said, lifting my chin defiantly.
The subtle smirk that stretched Loreus’s lips hinted that he’d guessed what troubling thoughts about him had crossed my mind.
“We’re coming,” I told Jarog through the com.
“Go out through the same route you came in,”he ordered.“They’re trying to pin me at the opposite end.”
“Understood,” I replied.
We stormed out of the room, shields raised. The alarmed voices and blaster fire covered the sound of our footsteps. As an elite soldier, Loreus adapted to me with frightening ease, understanding my instructions with a simple glance or gesture. We slinked around the far corridor in the hope of sneaking up on them from behind. As we approached the corner, the Cyborg gestured for me to hold back. He raised three fingers, indicating the number of targets, pointed at his eyes to tell me to watch, and then pointed at the wall on the opposing side of the corridor our enemies were standing in.
It took me a second to realize he was pointing at their reflection in the large window of the room in front of which they stood. His face took on this slack expression I’d seen on Jarog’s face before. He then silently mouthed a three, two, one countdown then, moving at lightning speed, he erupted into the hallway. Before I could even complete two steps, he’d already shot the three guards. I knew he’d calculated the precise aiming on each target before attacking, but it still left me reeling.
Nevertheless, I ran in after him. He raised two fingers and pointed to my left. Without hesitation, I raced to the corner of the next intersection, flattening myself against the wall. My heart almost jumped out through my mouth when I leaned forward to take a peek only to find myself nearly face to face with a guard backtracking into the hallway. I instinctively punched him in the throat. As he doubled over, choking, I slammed the handle of my blaster on the back of his head. He collapsed with a muffled grunt. A few meters away, the second man Loreus had mentioned took aim at me.
I dove into a roll while firing at him. Carried by my momentum, I got back to my feet, shield raised, and rushed him. He tried to back away, but I jumped and kicked him in the chest, sending him crashing backwards. I shot at him again, stunning him before his body even hit the floor. I spun around to see Loreus lifting a guard by the neck with one hand, smashing him against the wall while firing at someone I couldn’t see with the other. The guard went limp and slid down to the floor when the Cyborg released him.
“Go to the lift,”Jarog’s voice said through the com.“I’m barreling through the stragglers, and I’ll meet you there.”
“Acknowledged,” I replied, drawing an inquisitive look from Loreus. “To the elevator,” I told him as sole explanation.
An eerie feeling descended over me as we ran the long stretch of the corridor, countless people lay unconscious on their desks or sprawled on the floor where they had collapsed. The shouts and pleading cries in the distance spurred us on. As we neared the intersection, a loud thud and a huff resonated right around the corner before a guard slid on the floor in front of us. Two shots and a couple of shouts later, a troubling silence settled in the underground base, only disturbed by the sound of our footsteps.
Jarog ran past us just as we were merging into the main corridor behind him. He shot the guard that had slid in front of us, stunning him and didn’t slow down until he was inside the elevator.
“Getting out through the loading dock is going to be a clusterfuck,” I warned.
“Correct, which is why we’re not,” Jarog said. “Miko, take us up,” he ordered through the com. A light lit up on the control panel of the lift, indicating our destination to be the top level. “Shalla is on her way to the roof. Yelena and Lanish are nearby to give us cover if needed.”
“Miko?” I asked.