Chapter 37
CIPHER
I ducked a beam of energy and checked the time. Fourteen minutes, forty-two seconds.
Christ, this was taking forever.
“Is that all you’ve got, Cipher?” Captain Righteous bellowed. His voice was amplified by the gold and white monstrosity he called a helmet. “Your reign of terror ends tonight!”
“Reign of terror?” I muttered, side-stepping another beam. “Is that the best line they gave you?” The beam shattered the concrete behind me.
My patience had already been mostly nonexistent before this mandated circus act and what I’d managed to hold on to was quickly evaporating.
Before this prick, I’d been buried in my console, ripping through the Tower’s firewalls.
Usually, the Alliance’s security was child’s play, but Havoc’s main office was a different beast. Coded video.
Coded audio. A complete blackout. I had just isolated the encryption key to break into the feed to see exactly why Annie had been recalled to the Tower, when my time ran out.
All because I had to give the Alliance their fucking show.
Instead of listening to her conversation, I was stuck performing for the cameras.
“Your villainy won’t go unpunished!” the idiot shouted.
I dodged another beam, calculating trajectory and power output simultaneously. Captain Righteous was getting sloppy. Fatigue was setting in at precisely the rate I’d predicted. He was heavy on his feet, telegraphing every strike.
My mind drifted to Annie’s lips pressing against mine before she left. They’d been soft and unexpected. The ghost of her mouth lingered there still, a sensation I couldn’t shake.
I didn’t do goodbye kisses. Ever. That wasn’t part of our arrangement. That wasn’t part of me.
A blast clipped my shoulder, jerking me back to the present. The impact jarred my teeth, a sharp reminder that even idiocy could be dangerous if ignored.
Focus.
Besides, she was the one that had kissed me goodbye. I hadn’t kiss her goodbye. There was a difference. A fucking massive difference.
“Getting distracted, Villain?” Captain Righteous taunted.
“Just bored,” I replied, launching forward and forcing Annie from my thoughts.
Righteous was saying something about justice and honor. I wasn’t listening. I was calculating how quickly I could end this once the contractually obligated twenty minutes were up.
A notification flashed across my HUD.
Sparks
Are you busy?
Captain Righteous hurled another energy blast at my head. The trajectory was predictable and laughably easy to dodge.
“Respond: Not particularly,” I instructed my system while banking hard left.
We need to talk
Fuck. I might never have been in an actual relationship before, but even I recognized that particular code. “We need to talk” was universal shorthand for disaster. It was the precursor to demands and ultimatums.
That sounds ominous
I launched a counter-strike, a pulse of concussive force that sent Captain Righteous sprawling across the rooftop. He struggled to rise, his gold armor dented and scuffed.
I can meet you on the roof of the Tower. Security will stand down.
She didn’t correct me. She didn’t say “don’t worry.” And the roof of the Tower? Not somewhere more private? This was getting worse by the second.
Three minutes to finish this fight, two minutes for the obligatory villainous speech to the cameras, seven minutes to extract myself from the scene, eight minutes flight time to the Tower.
I’ll be there in twenty minutes
I’d give the cameras what they wanted, then get to Annie. And hope to hell that “we need to talk” wasn’t a threat to my plans.
I finished Captain Righteous with a perfectly calibrated hit and fired a final, showy blast into the HVAC unit behind him to give the news chopper their money shot.
“How long until the last Warden’s files are fully decoded?” I asked before launching into my speech for the cameras.
Seventeen minutes, twenty-two seconds flashed in the corner of my vision.
“Fuck,” I muttered. Not ideal timing, but it didn’t matter too much. Dread had the live feed I’d set up. If he was watching it, and I was certain he was, he’d see the files as soon as they were ready and take care of the issue himself.
Then I’d have the Tinkerer’s Hammer, kill Dread, and tell Annie that I’d eliminated the rogue. Everybody wins. Except Dread, obviously.
After I wrapped up, I immediately cut through the night air. The city blurred beneath me, lights smearing into streaks of color as I rocketed toward the Tower.
I hated the uncertainty and the way my stomach turned over. I hated that Annie had this power over me. Information was my shield. Preparation was my sword. With her, I had neither.
The Tower loomed ahead, its silhouette dominating the skyline. I slowed my approach, scanning for security measures out of habit.
Then I saw her, standing on the rooftop, illuminated by the blue and gold glow of the tower’s beacon. The wind caught her hair, pulling strands loose and whipping them around her face.
Something tightened in my chest, a sensation I was becoming uncomfortably familiar with whenever I saw her. A hunger. A possessiveness that had no place in my life.
I landed. Annie stood about fifteen feet away, her arms crossed over her chest. Even in the dim glow, the tension in her shoulders was visible.
“Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner,” I said, removing my mask once I was satisfied no one was watching us. “Had to teach Captain Righteous a lesson in humility.”
Annie’s brow furrowed, the serious expression giving way to confusion. “Captain Righteous? I’m not familiar with a Hero by that name.”
I mentally replayed the entire twenty-minute fight. “Shit. I called him by the wrong name that entire time.” I ran a hand through my hair, thinking. “Captain Justice? General fucking vague?”
“Captain Valiant,” Annie supplied.
I clicked my tongue against my teeth. “That’s the one. Too many self-righteous assholes to keep track of. So,” I said, taking a step closer. “’We need to talk.’ That sounds serious.” I kept my voice light, but my mind was sharpening, preparing for a threat. “Should I be worried?”
I watched Annie’s expression shift, her gaze dropping to her hands.
“You might not like this conversation,” she said softly. “So maybe.” Annie fidgeted with the sleeve of her sweater, twisting the fabric between her fingers. She seemed unsure how to begin, which only heightened my unease. Annie was many things, but hesitant wasn’t usually one of them.
I didn’t particularly want to hear whatever she was struggling to say. Her body language screamed bad news. Better to delay, to deflect. Better to control the flow of information. “So, did the secret meeting with Havoc go well?”
Annie swallowed visibly and looked away, her gaze going to the view of the bay behind me rather than meeting my eyes. “Not really,” she said after a moment. “And it’s connected to what we need to discuss.”
Well, shit.
“What I’m about to say isn’t fair to you,” Annie began, her voice soft but steady.
“I know that. But I have to say it anyway.” She took a deep breath, her eyes finally meeting mine.
“I need to know how you really feel about me, Cipher. Not what you think I want to hear, not what fits our arrangement. How you actually feel.”
Fuck. This was worse. So much worse than anything I’d anticipated.
I’d rather face a hundred accusations about my dealings with Dread than answer this question honestly.
My mind raced, trying to find the safest path forward.
But there was no safe path. Not with this.
If I told her the truth, it would give her power over me.
But if I lied? Well, I was very good at lying.
“I’ve already told you. My feelings are irrelevant. They don’t matter in this context.”
A flash of frustration crossed her face. “That’s not an answer.”
“What does this have to do with the message you received?” I countered. “You said they were connected.”
“They are,” she insisted. “I need to know where you stand. Where I stand with you. Please, just be honest with me.”
Annie was pushing into territory I’d deliberately cordoned off, territory that was dangerous for both of us. But mostly dangerous for me. Feelings were leverage. Feelings were weakness.
“I am being honest with you,” I said, my voice hardening. “My feelings are irrelevant. What part of that isn’t clear?”
Annie shook her head, her eyes never leaving mine. “That isn’t true. They’re not irrelevant.”
“To what?” I demanded, taking a step closer, looming over her. “To fucking? Because that’s what our arrangement is about. Sex. Pleasure. Not feelings.”
“I can’t continue our arrangement unless I know what your feelings are,” she said quietly, standing her ground.
She was threatening to end things? Over this?
“My feelings have nothing to do with the arrangement,” I snapped, anger rising to replace the shock. “And neither do yours, for that matter. That was the whole fucking point.”
I expected her to fire back, to match my anger with her own. But she just stood there, looking lost.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, genuinely confused now. “What happened that’s made you so determined to break the one rule we both agreed on?”
“What we’re doing is not just fucking and you know it,” Annie said.
“Don’t,” I warned.
“Don’t what? Tell the truth?” I looked down at her and realized exactly what I had done.
Even as I had shut down any talk about feelings in the lab, I had still bared my throat to her.
I had handed her the blade with my non-answers.
Now she was pressing it directly against my artery, demanding I bleed for her after I had been explicitly clear about our boundaries.
We had an arrangement rooted in flesh, dominance, and release.
I couldn’t offer more. I wouldn’t offer more.
My entire existence relied on absolute, unyielding control.
Admitting she was everything to me would be a catastrophic system failure, a weakness I was already paying for even as I tried to fight it.