She walked out the door and headed for the elevator.
Drin walked with her.“Were you an escort?”
Ava smiled.“Still am.Just not taking bookings.”
Vikor muttered, “What?”
Ava was still laughing when she, Techor, Klauz, and Remark made it to the lab floor.The gauntlet of security scans was intense, but finally, they were in the bulletproof section.
“Ah, gentlemen, thank you for joining us.Sgoth, Voss, please hold Remark.I will be quick.”
Arcady stood nearby with a containment unit, and Kritz was staring, ready to assist.
Remark was gripped on either side and said, “What?”
Ava walked toward him.“You get to go first.Don’t worry, all of your little buddies are getting the same treatment.Full recording on?”
Arcady said, “Full recording on.”
Ava pressed her hands to Remark’s head and started to chant softly.When she felt the dark presence loosen up, she pulled it out, and Arcady brought the containment unit forward.She spit it out.“Bleah.Gross.”She healed the wounds in Remark’s mind and made sure that shadows couldn’t get back in.
She turned to Techor.“Come on.You are up.”
He lunged for her, trying to land a strike.She grabbed him by the throat and held him on the floor as she chanted and pulled the shadow into her skin to spit into the next containment unit.Whispers of healing and he was good to go.She patted his chest.“Nice try, judge.”
She got up and beckoned to Klauz.He walked to her and knelt.“Thank you, chef.”
The next shadow ball was big, but he wore it well.She spit it out, and Arcady sealed it.
“Jienne had a crush on him, so there was an easier path to him via lust.Hence, her needing to quit.She’s humiliated.”
Ekron knelt, making Sgoth’s and Voss’s work easier.It was harder to get up from that position.He fought, but she kissed him, and his mind went blank so she could finish the extraction.When the shadow was out and his mind was sealed, she stood up and went to Drin.“You, too, Drin.”
“Oh.Okay.”
The shadow was there, and it had tentacles.She worked the shadows out of Drin and flooded her mind with light.That got a few hidden tendrils.One more flood of light, and the healing began as the shadow was contained.
Drin touched her head.“Oh, hell.I can feel where he was, like wounds.”
“Great.Hold your boyfriend down.”Ava was exhausted.
Vikor looked at her and knelt.Drin grabbed his horns from behind, and it was effective.His shadow wasn’t large, which meant he hadn’t been a prime target.She removed it, checked his mind a few times, and then flooded him with light.Ava patched the holes left behind and sighed.“Okay.Got it all.”
Drin blinked.“You knew we had been affected.”
“Oh, yeah.He didn’t play that long unless he could leave something behind.Your consortium is a buffet of delight, but now, your minds have a non-stick armoured coating.”
She grunted and straightened.“Well, I checked Jienne already.She’s clear.He always liked an empty conduit.She will get some reinforcement tomorrow, but for tonight, she has had enough people fucking around in her head.”She heaved a sigh.“Back to the hub.”
Drin was going from one partner to the other.“They are all good.Why did you do this?How did you do this?”
“Ah, as for that.Once, a long time ago, I wanted someone to do this for me, so now, I do it for others.It’s a side hustle, as it were.”
Drin whispered, “How did you get away?”
“Well, dear Drin.I had to die.”She smiled and then walked out of the lab, swiping her way out, door by door.When she got to the elevator, she leaned against the wall.
Kritz was going to find ways to kill the shadows with projectiles or frequency weapons.Good for him.
