Indie hit the floor. Electricity rippled over his limbs, crackling as though in manic glee. His body jerked and twitched as his eyes rolled back. Saliva and foam dripped from his gaping mouth onto the steel walkway. At the end of the hall, just before the guard station, a security door slid shut. The boom of its locks clicking into place echoed through the dark.
The floor, walls, and ceiling glowed around Marin, their skeletal circuitry coming to life. Like a wave crashing onto shore, power shot out from the girl and into the surrounding metal. As the floor awoke underneath Auri, pain barreled into her head. Sharp talons raked through her skull, twisting, prodding, and commanding submission.
The cyborg half of her complied, but her human half warred against the intrusion. She was being ripped in two. Blood burst from her nose, splattering the floor. Control seeped away, all her strength and freedom bleeding out in Marin’s direction. Her body went limp and she sagged forward.
Darkness swept across her robotic eye, but with her human one, blurred through the tears, she gawked at Marin in horror. The girls’ nails scraped against the floor. Smoke whispered up between her fingers, the scent of burned synthetic flesh making bile rise in Auri’s throat. Marin’s body shook in pleasure, her head bent toward the ceiling, her eyes black as the darkest night. Blue lines ran up from her hands, staining her skin, her neck, her face.
Auri tried to say Marin’s name, but her jaw had locked in place.
The prison doors rattled as if chanting their praises. With a bang, a door flew open. She expected to hear the clang of alarm bells, but only the hum of electricity echoed through the sealed hall before it went deathly quiet.
Auri blinked. When she next opened her eye, Tsuna knelt beside her. The hacker’s mouth moved, but Auri couldn’t hear the words over the ringing in her ears.
Marin’s body had gone rigid, her mouth open in a soundless scream, hands still on the floor. It was as if her body had locked up after… whatever she had done.
“Move her hands,” Auri rasped, not sure if the words actually made it from her brain to her mouth. She didn’t want everything to start back up again. Auri didn’t know if she could survive another onslaught.
Tsuna’s thin brows furrowed and Auri repeated herself. The pain in her head turned white hot as she fought against the voice that commanded, Be silent!
Tsuna must’ve understood. She scrambled over to Marin, looping her arms under the girl’s armpits and jerking her upright. The sound of tearing flesh made Auri gag.
Where Marin’s hands had touched the floor, a blackened imprint marred the steel. The hall’s internal wiring dimmed. The hum of the overpowered tech quieted. Darkness stole into the space. The pain in Auri’s head lessened as her robotic parts regained control of themselves. A systems diagnostic swirled in the left corner of her vision.
Red emergency lights fixed into the floor powered on, giving the corridor an eerie glow. Meters away, Tsuna cradled Marin in her arms like she weighed nothing more than a sack of feathers. “Can you stand?” she asked Auri. Her voice was husky yet sweet at the same time.
Auri glanced at Marin. She still spasmed in Tsuna’s grip. An oily black substance seeped from her mouth and nose, dripping down her beautiful yukata.
“N-not much t-t-time,” Marin wheezed. Her vocal cords sounded scratchy. “Security cameras o-off.”
Auri staggered to her feet, one hand gripping a wall for balance. At the far end of the corridor, something hard slammed against the sealed door. No doubt the guards prying open the doors manually.
Auri’s childhood tormenter lay slumped on the floor, unmoving. She couldn’t bring herself to check his pulse, afraid of what she might find—and feel.
She winced as she forced herself toward the secret staircase. The instructions Malachi had given her hours before seemed muddled. She squeezed her eyes shut to concentrate. Every centimeter of her body shouted its aches. The human half of her suffered from Indie’s blows. The cyborg part trembled after Marin… whatever Marin had done.
Auri breathed deep, the extra oxygen clearing some of the fog. She opened her eyes. The barest hint of two seams ran down the metal wall near the hospital’s entrance.
Auri slid her pinky into one of them. She could only fit the tip inside, but that’s all she needed. Halfway down, her skin caught on a clasp. She pressed it with as much leverage as she could. A hiss of air billowed out as a panel of wall slid away. About twenty centimeters of it stuck up from the floor. A narrow staircase yawned, disappearing into the darkness beyond. Even going one at a time, it would be a tight fit.
Tsuna entered first, Marin cradled close to her chest. The black prison uniform hung off the woman’s slender frame, the V-neck draping almost seductively over one shoulder. Auri staggered in after them, her robotic foot catching on the lip of the door. She fell forward, just catching herself on the steps. The sting of the impact on her organic hand made her grimace.
“Are you okay?” Tsuna’s question reached Auri’s buzzing ears.
She thought she replied, but when Tsuna asked again, Auri realized she was still on her hands and knees.
The pressure of time bore into Auri’s back, tightening the muscles there. She needed to move. Now.
She hauled herself up with a groan.
“I wish I could help you,” Tsuna said, indicating Marin. The girl’s eyes had fluttered shut, though the lids twitched as if she dreamed. The oil-like blood dripping from her mouth and nose ceased but had stained her skin like Indian ink.
“I’m okay,” Auri rasped. “We need to get to the top.”
Their progress was slow due to Auri’s battered body. She knew she should tell Tsuna to go on ahead, but the woman didn’t suggest it, and Auri was too afraid to ask.
A bang made her jump. She whirled around to see the secret door reseal itself. Musty darkness descended with choking intensity.
“Keep moving,” she said. Her voice sounded detached, maybe even brave. But panic sat on Auri’s chest. She tried to keep track of the number of stairs they climbed, but her mind reeled as the faint alarms echoing through the prison reached her. Phantom fingers brushed across her cheek, her hand. Logic told her the sensation was probably from cobwebs, but her mind refused to listen. She widened her eyes to their limits, yearning for even a fragment of light.
As if answering her prayers, a flash of light appeared far above, as if a door had been opened and shut. After a few seconds of darkness, a beam clicked on, illuminating stairs a half meter above them. The beam bobbed as whoever held it approached.
“Who is that?” Tsuna whispered, stopping.
Warmth radiated from the woman’s skin as they stood close together. “It should be Malachi,” Auri whispered back. “He said he would meet us here.”
“When I saw Marin pass my cell,” Tsuna said, “I suspected Cai was the lunatic who’d staged this break in.” She shook her head, her hair brushing Auri’s face. “Marin and Cai are inseparable.” Her words lilted with a smile. She seemed unaffected by the horrors of the hallway they’d left behind and the suffocating blackness surrounding them.
The light drew closer. When only a few steps separated them, the silhouette of the other person materialized. At first Auri thought it was Malachi, the boots and pants similar to the ones he wore. But when she saw the jacket and colors seeped into the blackness, she gasped.
Tyson Peri stood two steps above her, wearing the fitted uniform of the DISC taskforce.