Councilor gave me his authority. I’ll be doing it my way. Do you understand?”
Hernandez blinked his displeasure, but shrugged and crossed his arms. He said nothing. Lena held tight to the threads of her concentration. Why was Lucas allowed to speak to a superior like that? Why had he been given another chance? She didn’t think Reyes knew, either.
After the agent who’d been sent to retrieve the mystery woman had gone, Lena tried to work through the puzzle of who could be coming to assist Lucas, but her mind began to fuzz out again.
Lucas put his hands into his pockets and wandered back to his place beside Lena. He looked down at her with a broad smile. “Look at her,” he said to Hernandez. “She’s already recovered. They have incredible recovery from pain, even more than the average Spark. It would be amazing if they weren’t such monstrosities.” He shook his head and glanced over at the larger man. “Your current may be keeping her from zapping us. But it won’t work again to hurt her. She’ll adapt. She’s trying to figure out how right now, if she hasn’t already. She’ll make herself immune to the pain.”
Hernandez’s eyes narrowed. His hand moved on the slender handle before him.
Current sliced through her again. She was ready. She couldn’t focus enough to talk to their Dust, no. But she could get her own to act, even if only sluggishly through the interference in her head. She’d already moved thin insulating layers of Dust between her skin and the eight pads. Electricity still arced through her, heated pain pouring through her flesh and blood and bones and then out into the surface behind her. She could bear it. It wasn’t even a grounding.
The current abruptly stopped. Hernandez ground his teeth together loudly in the silence that followed.
“And how is it,” Reyes’s voice grated from the corner, “that you know so much about this, Junior Agent Brayer?”
A gloating smile ghosted across the younger agent’s face. “Because there’s a lot you don’t know, Reyes. Now you’re the junior, and I’m the master. You see that much, right?” Lucas said. He walked toward her head, searching her face as she gasped in recovery. “She adapted, just like I said. But there’s pain. And then there’s pain. It’s time to do things the Brayer way.” He grinned suddenly, the tight skin of his face pulling down with his leer. He purred the next words like a promise. “Because there are some things for which there’s no immunity.”
Chapter 8
What was Lucas waiting for?
He perched next to Lena on the bed, one leg dangling, in obscene parody of a concerned friend visiting a patient. He didn’t ask her any questions. He didn’t speak at all. He waited.
Hernandez leaned against the wall to her left, hands clasped across his broad front. She assumed Reyes still stood in the corner.
She tried to figure out what Lucas had meant with his pain comment and who he’d called in as back-up. Someone better at causing her pain? What kind of pain? Her current-addled brain couldn’t hold onto the start of a circular thought long enough for her to come back around and begin to analyze it. She had to let it go.
Pain is pain is pain , and I have the advantage. She had managed to regain even more control over her own Dust, both that which lived inside of her and that living on her skin. Lucas could do little to hurt her now. She only wished she could hurt him.
She couldn’t send commands out beyond her body. She’d tried. Oh, how she’d tried, staring at Lucas sitting smugly beside her, to force her thoughts and will to pulse out at him in the gaps of focus between waves of static. It simply hadn’t been enough. It hadn’t been enough to work on the generator or Hernandez the Ox’s charge-producing machine, either.
If she could gather enough Dust both above and beneath her skin at each electrode point and ask the Dust to send out a quick pulse of energy at each point,
Hernandez blinked his displeasure, but shrugged and crossed his arms. He said nothing. Lena held tight to the threads of her concentration. Why was Lucas allowed to speak to a superior like that? Why had he been given another chance? She didn’t think Reyes knew, either.
After the agent who’d been sent to retrieve the mystery woman had gone, Lena tried to work through the puzzle of who could be coming to assist Lucas, but her mind began to fuzz out again.
Lucas put his hands into his pockets and wandered back to his place beside Lena. He looked down at her with a broad smile. “Look at her,” he said to Hernandez. “She’s already recovered. They have incredible recovery from pain, even more than the average Spark. It would be amazing if they weren’t such monstrosities.” He shook his head and glanced over at the larger man. “Your current may be keeping her from zapping us. But it won’t work again to hurt her. She’ll adapt. She’s trying to figure out how right now, if she hasn’t already. She’ll make herself immune to the pain.”
Hernandez’s eyes narrowed. His hand moved on the slender handle before him.
Current sliced through her again. She was ready. She couldn’t focus enough to talk to their Dust, no. But she could get her own to act, even if only sluggishly through the interference in her head. She’d already moved thin insulating layers of Dust between her skin and the eight pads. Electricity still arced through her, heated pain pouring through her flesh and blood and bones and then out into the surface behind her. She could bear it. It wasn’t even a grounding.
The current abruptly stopped. Hernandez ground his teeth together loudly in the silence that followed.
“And how is it,” Reyes’s voice grated from the corner, “that you know so much about this, Junior Agent Brayer?”
A gloating smile ghosted across the younger agent’s face. “Because there’s a lot you don’t know, Reyes. Now you’re the junior, and I’m the master. You see that much, right?” Lucas said. He walked toward her head, searching her face as she gasped in recovery. “She adapted, just like I said. But there’s pain. And then there’s pain. It’s time to do things the Brayer way.” He grinned suddenly, the tight skin of his face pulling down with his leer. He purred the next words like a promise. “Because there are some things for which there’s no immunity.”
Chapter 8
What was Lucas waiting for?
He perched next to Lena on the bed, one leg dangling, in obscene parody of a concerned friend visiting a patient. He didn’t ask her any questions. He didn’t speak at all. He waited.
Hernandez leaned against the wall to her left, hands clasped across his broad front. She assumed Reyes still stood in the corner.
She tried to figure out what Lucas had meant with his pain comment and who he’d called in as back-up. Someone better at causing her pain? What kind of pain? Her current-addled brain couldn’t hold onto the start of a circular thought long enough for her to come back around and begin to analyze it. She had to let it go.
Pain is pain is pain , and I have the advantage. She had managed to regain even more control over her own Dust, both that which lived inside of her and that living on her skin. Lucas could do little to hurt her now. She only wished she could hurt him.
She couldn’t send commands out beyond her body. She’d tried. Oh, how she’d tried, staring at Lucas sitting smugly beside her, to force her thoughts and will to pulse out at him in the gaps of focus between waves of static. It simply hadn’t been enough. It hadn’t been enough to work on the generator or Hernandez the Ox’s charge-producing machine, either.
If she could gather enough Dust both above and beneath her skin at each electrode point and ask the Dust to send out a quick pulse of energy at each point,
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