Chapter 29 #2
“Primary objective…” He faltered. His head jerked, as if shoved by an unseen hand. “Primary… must retrieve Crawford.”
“No,” I said, watching him. “You’ve been fighting that order since we walked in. Part of you doesn’t want to take her back to Dresner.”
Rage flashed. Real. “You… know nothing.”
Speakers crackled and shrieked. Then Selina’s voice filled the space.
“Xavier Hale. I know you’re fighting Dresner’s commands.”
His whole body went rigid, back arching. He dropped to one knee, hands at his skull.
“No…” The word tore out of him. “Not that… designation.”
I took the opening, drove my knee into his face. He sprawled on the wet grating. I followed and pinned him.
“Your name is Xavier Hale.” I hammered his jaw. “Oblivion took you. Conditioned you. But you’re fighting.”
He bucked with unnatural strength and threw me off. I skidded, boots scraping for purchase inches from the edge.
“I am Blackout,” he said, voice strained, threadbare. “I am… operational.”
He lunged. The coordination was breaking. Order giving way to chaos. Human.
Selina’s voice came again, stronger through the speakers. “Xavier, you’re pushing back against Dresner’s programming. Specter did the same.”
His left arm seized, clawing his right wrist as it reached for the knife at his thigh. His body fought itself—one part trying to finish the mission, the other refusing.
“Stop talking!” he shouted up at the ceiling, voice raw.
I slammed him into the railing. The knife popped free, skittering across the grating.
We dove. He reached it first, and slashed. I jerked back. The blade opened my sleeve and found skin. Warmth spread through the fabric.
We separated, both dragging for breath. The knife flashed in his grip as he paced on the span. Behind him, a stairwell dropped to a lower platform.
“I have to… have to… say the words,” he said, voice sliding between flat and human. “Director’s orders.”
Cold slid down my spine. The sequence that had almost erased me.
I gave ground toward the stairs, pulling him from the booth, from Selina. His movements grew more erratic. He was trying to stop his own mouth from tearing me apart.
“Mangrove,” he began, then clamped his left hand over his lips, fighting himself. “Amar—”
I didn’t wait. I drove into him, and we tumbled down the metal steps in a brutal tangle. His knife carved a line across my ribs. Pain sparked and burned, but I kept going.
We hit a control bank at the bottom. Red lights flared. Gauges spun. An alarm wailed like something wounded.
The noise seemed to hurt him. He clutched his head, thrown off his attack.
“Xavier!” Selina’s voice blasted from above. “Your sister Maeve is still looking for you!”
The change came fast and violent. He convulsed. The knife dropped, clattering away into the channel.
“M… Maeve?” A ragged sound. “Who is… my sister…”
I kicked the knife off the platform. He staggered up, coordination shot. His gaze drifted in and out, clearing and clouding while programming fought the memory Selina had yanked to the surface.
We circled on the lower deck beneath the booth. Spray hissed from torn lines, turning the floor into a trap. The alarm keened, underscored by leaking steam.
I struck first, aiming for his throat. He blocked, but the movement lacked the earlier snap. A knee to his midsection drove the breath out of him.
He recovered at a speed no normal man could touch, grabbed my neck, and slammed me into a steel column. White sparks burst. I blinked them away.
“You will… be terminated,” he said, but it sounded recited, dead.
He reached for another knife at his ankle. Cold steel kissed my skin.
He stared into me. Something moved behind his eyes, a fight I couldn’t see. The blade wavered. His hand trembled.
“Incan… descent…” His mouth formed the first syllables of the sequence that would break me.
Then his left hand shot to his own throat. He squeezed, choking himself. His face twisted with effort.
“I won’t… won’t… let you use me to hurt them,” he forced out through his own grip.
I shattered the hold, slamming an elbow into his forearm. The blade nicked me and fell. He staggered, one hand clutching his throat, the other reaching for me in blind reflex.
His flailing arm clipped a pressure valve and tore it. Steam hissed out in a punishing jet.
He straightened. For a heartbeat something cleared in his eyes. Recognition—not of me, but of what I was. Another weapon turned against itself.
“Please,” he said, voice clean for once, “make it stop.”
Those two words hit like a punch. Knife still in my hand, I froze. I’d been there—mind turned inside out until nothing felt real.
“How?” I asked, blade up but slowing. “How are you holding it off?”
His face buckled. Xavier surfaced. “Maeve,” he said, and the name sounded ripped from bone. “Always Maeve.”
I understood. Selina had been my anchor. His was a sister they hadn’t managed to cut away.
The moment broke. Programming slammed back in. His eyes went flat. He lunged for my throat.
The damaged valve tore free.
Scalding steam exploded between us, a white roar swallowing everything, even the alarm. Heat seared through my sleeve. My arm came up to cover my face.
Through the blast I saw him stumble at the edge. For a second, our eyes met. Clear. Human. Afraid.
Then I dropped with him.