Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
All of his female’s enemies would die.
Drift glared from a shadowed alcove inside the Humanoid Alliance’s manufactured mountain.
That Gacy creature would be the first being he killed.
He would end the male’s lifespan. Slowly and painfully.
The Humanoid Alliance leader handled Drift’s female so roughly he left marks on her delicate skin. And he disrespected her. With his eyes and with his words.
“You want Gacy’s cock, don’t you?” The human male squeezed her right breast. Hard. “You’re such a dirty little cunt.”
“I do want. Badly.” His female maintained her smile.
But she couldn’t conceal the pain and disgust reflected in her eyes.
Not from Drift. He processed her.
And he processed what she was communicating. She wanted the human male to die.
That was what she desired.
Drift’s fingers curled around the handles of the daggers strapped to his side. He would give her what she wanted. Soon.
“But I dressed all pretty for you.” His female batted her simulated eyelashes at the Gacy creature. “And everything here is so…dirty.” She looked around her and wrinkled her nose. “Like, ewww…disgusting.”
The weapon manufacturing site wasn’t a cyborg-level of clean.
The bots couldn’t tidy the floors as quickly as the sand from outside covered them. And every second overhead light appeared to be malfunctioning, making it easy for a being like Drift to hide in the structure.
But it wasn’t disgusting. The usage of that word was part of Drift’s clever female’s act.
“Can we go to that place you took me last time, Gacy?” She pouted at the human male. “The place with the big”—she lowered her voice—“wide—” She swept her fingertips over the male’s garment-covered chest and Drift had to suck back a growl. His female shouldn’t have to touch any other being that way. “—horizontal supports?”
“You like that access, don’t you?” The male’s grin was edged with malice. “And you know only Gacy can give that to you.”
The Gacy creature, for some illogical reason, referred to himself in the third person.
“Give it to me, Gacy.” Drift’s female played with her garment’s flimsy straps. “Give it to me hard .”
Drift would give her Humanoid Alliance contact the blade of his dagger. Hard. He would drive it right into the male’s fully organic stomach.
“Gacy told Dave he could watch this time.” The enemy male glanced toward the open exterior doors. “But fuck him.” He grabbed Drift’s female by her right wrist. “Come on.”
The male dragged her toward the interior doors.
He had reacted to her seduction as Drift’s female had predicted.
Everything was progressing as they had planned.
As soon as Drift’s female had strolled through the exterior doors, the Cancris had placed the tools containing the cylinders around the world-ender-resembling weapon.
The males had undertaken that task with a stoic resolve and with a bravery that earned them Drift’s full respect. There had been no hesitation, no mixed emotions. The Cancris were prepared to sacrifice their lives to ensure others of their kind lived free.
While they were undertaking that courageous act of defiance, Drift had accessed the Humanoid Alliance systems. He gave himself remote access to them.
The Gacy creature approached the control panel located beside the interior doors.
Tension stretched across Drift’s body armor-covered shoulders.
Because a palm-sized round red button, one of many in the space, was fastened to the stone wall next to the control panel. That button was hardwired to the site’s alarm systems.
If the Humanoid Alliance male pressed it, there was nothing Drift could do to intercept the signal. A second set of exterior doors, also hardwired, would lower and they’d be trapped inside the structure with the enemy.
And with the explosives.
The Gacy creature didn’t press the button. He authorized the opening of the interior doors.
Drift then deactivated that function.
The interior doors didn’t close. They would remain open permanently.
The explosives in both the manufacturing and the leader sections of site could now be detonated from anywhere inside the simulated mountain.
But that created another challenge that had to be solved.
The Gacy creature would notice the open doors. He’d press the alarm button if there wasn’t an explanation for that malfunction.
Drift’s female had assumed the responsibility for providing that reason.
“You’re going too fast, Gacy.” She punctuated that fake protest with a humorless giggle.
The Humanoid Alliance male didn’t notice her lack of mirth. And he didn’t slow for Drift’s female.
“Oopsie.” Drift’s female deliberately tripped over the threshold.
She wrenched her wrist out of the male’s grip as she fell.
The doors, if they hadn’t already been deactivated, would sense her presence and remain open.
The Gacy creature continued moving into the leader section of the site. His face was turned in that direction.
Drift saw his opportunity to enter the space unseen and dashed forward.
As he rushed past his sprawled-on-the-threshold female, he bent and glided his fingertips along her cloth-covered back.
She quivered.
He stifled a moan.
The physical contact infused both of them with energy.
Their enemy was unaware of their surreptitious interaction.
And, by the time the Gacy creature turned, Drift had found a shadow to hide in.
“Get up.” The Humanoid Alliance male scowled at Drift’s female. “You’ll set off the alarms.”
Those system-activated alarms had already been disabled by Drift.
His soul bellowed to stay by his female’s side and protect her. Danger was all around her. The Gacy creature was a threat to her. And safeguarding her was Drift’s number-one priority.
But the best way to do that was to complete their mission as quickly as possible.
And to trust that his skilled little human could protect herself and distract the Humanoid Alliance male while he was parted from her.
Drift reluctantly left his female where she was sprawled. He navigated the hallways at cyborg speed. Cylinders were placed in ventilation shafts and by chambers. Each site had been meticulously chosen by him and his female to maximize effectiveness.
The Humanoid Alliance males meeting inside those sheltered spaces showed no signs they detected Drift’s presence. They chattered about the robots almost being ready for the fabrication of the second weapon and how they wouldn’t need the primitives anymore.
Then they laughed.
That sound was sinister. And it was familiar.
He had heard it while the decisions regarding his brethren had been made.
It was the same type of decision. The Cancris, his female’s adopted kind, were being slated for the humanoid version of decommissioning.
Drift projected it would be no less horrific than the cyborg version.
He and his female and their team would stop that from happening. The weapon, the Humanoid Alliance’s Cancri B-assigned leaders, and the robots would be destroyed.
According to the databases, all were currently stored within the manufactured mountain.
The Erinomean Green Fire would decimate all of them.
The Cancris elsewhere on the planet would be protected. They would live.
Drift placed all the explosives and headed back to his female.
“What the fuck did you do, you nasty cunt?” The Gacy creature’s voice assaulted his auditory system. “The doors aren’t closing. And why?—”
Gurgling sounds replaced the Humanoid Alliance male’s query.
Drift turned a corner.
His female stood over the male. She gripped a bloody dagger in one of her hands.
A pool of crimson spread around her deathly still Humanoid Alliance contact.
“I know you wanted to end his lifespan, my male.” Her words were meant for his advanced systems alone. “But he was going to sound the alarm. And I couldn’t allow him to do that. That monster wasn’t going to jeopardize the Plan. No fuckin’ way would that happen.”
Drift took the dagger from her, wiped the blade on his body armor and slid it into one of his side sheaths. The weapon fit that built-in holder perfectly.
Because it had once belonged to him. He’d given her the dagger after they’d killed the offspring-threatening males.
It warmed his chest that she still carried his weapon.
“You did the right thing.” He kissed her temple, tasting the salt on her skin.
“There were no problems placing the explosives?” She gazed up at him.
He wanted to replace the concern in her big brown eyes with assurances. “There were no?—”
“No, Gacy won’t give a bovine shit if you watch too.” The voice of one of the exterior guards reached Drift’s auditory system. “He likes an audience when he fucks them. And…where the fuck is he? He said he was taking her in front of the primitives this time.”
“We have to go.” Drift slung his female over his right shoulder.
“And why the fuck are the inside doors open?” the guard yelled.
Fraggin’ hole. Drift ran through those doors, conveying his female.
The guards were standing by the control panel.
Drift drew two of his guns and placed a projectile in each of their skulls. They fell to the stone floor. Their arms and legs gyrated.
But the damage had been done. The taller one had pressed the red button by the control panel.
Sirens wailed. Lights flashed.
Secondary sets of doors lowered.
Drift hauled his ass forward at full speed, carrying his female.
“Drift.” She reached for her handheld.
“Fates.” Luam reached for his device also.
It was too early. Much too early.
Yet Drift had no choice. “I’m detonating the explosives.” He sent those instructions to all the cylinders.
Then he slid with his female under the exterior doors. Metal scraped over his body armor-protected arms.
But they cleared the gap. Barely.
Drift secured his female to his chest, flipped into the air, and landed on his booted feet.
And he ran faster than he’d ever run. The sand and the mountains blurred around him. His muscles strained. His heart pounded. His circuits surged.
A loud whoosh sounded behind him. There was a screech of twisting metal.
Frag. Frag. Frag. They had to be located a greater distance away from the site.
His systems detected the approaching rush of energy.
There was no avoiding it, no outrunning it.
Drift tightened his grip on his female and flung himself forward.
One of the panels from the secondary doors smacked against his back. Hard. He grunted with that pain. But that collision propelled them a bit farther.
He held his female with one arm and reached out with his other hand. The sand shredded his palm as they landed. The door slid over him.
Drift shifted, covering his fragile little human fully with his much-larger form, and he braced for impact.
There was a roar, and scorching heat rushed over him. His body armor melted. His skin and flesh disintegrated. He gritted his teeth. The agony was excruciating.
“I love you, my female.” He had to tell her that one more time. Because his frame was beginning to dissolve. And once that layer was breached, he would be dead. His nanocybotics couldn’t save him. “I love you.”
Her fingers covered his. There was an 89.2356 percent probability she lacked the ability to speak. She was face down in the sand. But he processed what she was relaying.
She loved him also.
That communication filled him with a happiness as acute as his hurt. His female loved him. And she was alive. He had protected her.
If he died now, he would do so processing those two things.
But he wouldn’t die now. The fire-laden assault had ended. His frame was warped but intact. That would be repaired.
He braced himself upward slightly, stifling his moan. The agony was processor-straining.
His female lifted her head, spit out sand and gulped air. “Alive?”
“We’re both alive.” He confirmed that miraculous fact.
“Thank the Fates.” She turned within the circle of his arms to face him.
Her chin and nose were streaked with blood. Her palms were pitted with granules of sand. But she otherwise appeared functional.
“There’s blood dripping down the sides of your face.” She gingerly touched his cheeks. “Are you damaged, my cyborg?”
“I’ll repair.” His frame was already straightening.
“I should have hidden pain inhibitors inside my boots instead of daggers.” She pressed her forehead against his. “That would have been more useful.”
“There’s a medic pack on the ship.” He laved the length of his little human’s nose with the flat of his tongue, coating that damage with his nanocybotics. That should ease her hurt and hasten her repair. “The daggers were utilized.”
“They were utilized.” She twisted her lush lips. “But that fuckin’ Invader still messed up the Plan.”
“We modified the Plan, and it?—”
A planet-deep groan severed his words. A series of cracks shot out like gunfire during a battle.
Drift covered his female once more, pressing her face into his chest.
“I love you, my male.” Her voice was muffled, yet he heard and reveled in her sharing.
A boom nearly downed his auditory system. And an intense gust of wind and sand flowed over him. His pain amplified. He clenched his jaw and waited.
The manufactured squall dissipated.
His damage from the second impact was minor.
He elevated his form sufficiently, allowing his female to breathe freely.
“What. Was. That?” She huffed.
He had his projections. “It was a sign we should go.” He pushed himself to his half-booted feet, ignoring the hurt that movement caused him.
“My Drift?” His female stared up at him. Her distress was palpable.
He must look horrific. “I’ll repair.” He grasped her arms, careful not to touch her ravaged hands, and lifted her to her fully booted feet.
Her thigh-high footwear had protected her knees and lower legs.
“There’s nothing left of the back of you.” Her bottom lip trembled. “I can see your frame. The agony you must be feeling?—”
The emotional damage contained in her tone threatened to flatten Drift a third time.
His female wasn’t disgusted by his appearance.
His hurt was causing her emotional damage .
His world spun around him.
And those pain suppressors she regretted not bringing?
He was the being she wanted to give them to.
His fragile little human had been battered and scraped by the blast yet all her concern was directed toward him , a cyborg manufactured for war.
He was her focus.
As she was his. Always.
“I’ll repair.” Drift repeated that truth. His voice was gruff. “I’ll carry you.”
“We’ll take the mounted transport.” His female stepped around his form. “That would—Fates.”
She gaped at whatever her visual system had detected.
He turned.
And then he stared also.
The manufactured mountain no longer existed. A smooth transparent field of fused-together stone and sand was in its place. It resembled a solid lake, and it reflected the sun’s rays.
It also exuded levels of energy that exceeded safe perimeters for his little human.
“The mounted transport isn’t functional.” He projected it had been melted along with the rest of its surroundings. “I’ll carry you.”
“You’re hurt, my male.” She trudged in the direction of their modified freighter. “I’ll walk.”
Drift followed his stubborn female. “There are pain inhibitors in our ship.” He didn’t need them, but she might not process that. “The quicker we arrive there, the sooner you can administer them to me.”
They passed the dented door panel. Other debris was strewn to the left and right of them.
“You would receive the pain suppressors faster.” His female’s forehead furrowed with processing lines. “But I won’t cause you more pain.”
She increased her speed slightly.
“Look at the front of me.” Drift waved one of his hands at his barely holding on body armor. “My damage is minimal here.” That was the side of him he’d protected because that was the side of him she had been pressed against. “Carrying you won’t cause me more pain.”
His female frowned. “You carrying me after all you’ve been through doesn’t seem right to me.”
“It’s right.” He wanted that physical contact. He craved that assurance that she was safe and alive and his to safeguard. “There’s nothing righter than me holding you. We faced death this planet rotation. And we survived.”
“Not everyone survived.” Her grief pulled at his soul.
“Your team faced their fate with bravery and strength.” Drift wrapped one of his arms around her as they moved. “It was a good death, a death they chose.”
“It was also a quick death.” Her voice was soft. “Luam will be sharing a beverage with his mate and his son this sunset.”
“He’ll be holding the beings he loves.” Drift wasn’t 100.0000 percent certain what happened after a being died. But his female projected her friend would be with his female and offspring. And he would utilize her intel.
“As you want to hold me?” His female lifted one of her eyebrows.
“As I want to hold you.” He nodded.
She didn’t say anything.
“Touching you…soothes me.” The tension building inside him would dissipate. “It decreases my perceived pain.” All he processed was her, her softness, her scent, her presence.
“Okay, okay.” His female stopped walking. “Carry me, then.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “But don’t strain yourself. No setting any speed records.”
“No setting any new speed records.” Joy coursed through him as he lifted her into his arms. “We broke the record this planet rotation for fastest speed on booted feet over a short distance while carrying a being.” Drift ran with his female.
She laughed. “I do love you, my male.”
“I love you too, my female.” His mirth meshed with hers.
He raced forward with her.
They soon passed land transports moving in the other direction.
Cure occupied one of those small ships. He was accompanied by a human female in a white jacket.
There’s nothing left of the site. Drift relayed that intel to the medic via a private transmission line.
We intercepted communications. Cure’s tone was flat. The Humanoid Alliance plans to excavate the location.
What are they seeking to find? Drift frowned.
I have no projections. The medic surprised him with that admission. Cure’s default was to be certain about everything. But whatever they’re seeking to find, we’ll ensure they won’t locate it.
Contact me if you require assistance. Drift’s portion of their mission had been completed.
The weapon was destroyed. His focus was fully on his female now.
I’ll do that. Cure ended the transmission.
“Were there medics in those land transports?” Drift’s female looked up at him.
“There were medics and one determined cyborg.” Drift nodded.
Drift’s female blew out her breath. “Part two of the Plan has been activated.”
“I project it has been activated.” He processed the source of her emotional damage. “Cure will protect your friend.”
“Like you protected me.” His female covered his hands with hers.
“Like I protected you.” He smiled down at her. “But slower.”
His female laughed.
He clasped that joyous sound to his heart.
And he ran faster, carrying her toward their ship.