The click of the water canister opening sounded loud in the windowless room. Sean flinched from the noise, and then from the jarring pain that snapped through his face as he unconsciously clenched his teeth and remembered why that was a terrible idea. Sean bit down hard on his tongue to cut off the cry that wanted to leave his lungs. The pain wasn’t enough to distract him from what was happening toAlexei.
Sean knew he’d always see this moment in his nightmares—the glint of the canister, the way the water looked, pouring over Alexei’s covered face to soak the towel. How Alexei twitched against the rope and handcuffs tying him to the chair, pushed so far past exhaustion that he couldn’t fight the simulateddrowning.
Looking back, Sean would see the edge for what it was, that second of incandescent fury fueled by the hours of hell they’d endured at the hands of the enemy acting as the spark. Sean didn’t recognize what the buzzing in his brain meant until he heard something clatter on the floor. The sound was enough for one of the laughing bastards to eventually look over his shoulder at Sean, a slow dawning horror filling his face. Sean clenched his hand into a fist, surprised when the rough arm of the chair didn’t scrape another layer of skin off his rawknuckles.
Oh,he thought hazily as he watched his fingers pass through the synthwood.I’mfree.
Sean moved on instinct, reacting without knowing what he was doing in those few precious seconds where Cillian’s men didn’t know what the fuck to do with a metahuman who’d escaped his bonds. He just trusted in his years of training toreactand lurched forward on shaky legs, feet sinking through the ground as his phase power sputtered back into existence. Sean fell through the man holding the water canister, managing to solidify his hands just in time to grab Alexei’s cold, wetshoulders.
Then he expanded his power through Alexei’s battered body and didn’tletgo.
The whine of a neuro-jammer gun filled the basement room, the electric bolt passing harmlessly through them. Sean breathed through his nose in quick, painful gasps, trying to get enough air into his lungs to last as he carried Alexei’s limp body forward, falling through the floor and the wall into the foundation of the building. The sudden utter blackness felt too much like sensory deprivation after everything they’d gone through. Moving through it was like swimming through molasses—how much of that was the location and how much of that was Sean’s fractured concentration and near-burned-out power was anyone’sguess.
The only thing that mattered was the man in his arms as Sean maneuvered them through the earth and foundation as fast as he could, finally breaking into sunlight. Sean had to close his good eye and duck his head, arms shaking from holding onto Alexei as he phased them fully onto the street. After so long in dimly lit darkness, the bright daylight nearlyblindedhim.
Sean’s lungs burned and he struggled to ignore his own discomfort as he pulled them free of the solid ground. Alexei was deadweight in his arms, head lolling limply against Sean’s shoulder. Sean hadn’t phased the Faraday cage nor the towel when he’d freed Alexei, but shedding the power inhibitor hadn’t been enough towakehim.
Sean was worried about water in Alexei’s lungs, worried that while it hadn’t been long enough to drown him, dry drowning was still an issue. Considering the extent of Alexei’s injuries, Sean knew getting him to a hospital was priority number one. That was easier said than done, especially since Sean couldn’t seem to find his voice to shoutforhelp.
“Oh my God, whathappenedto you?” someone exclaimedloudly.
Sean blinked open his eye, vision swimming from exhaustion and stress, as he stared numbly at a pair of joggers who stood several feet away in shock. Legs shaking from standing for the first time in what felt like days and holding onto Alexei, Sean turned his head as much as he could, trying desperately to get a sense of theirlocation.
A cold wind blew off the expanse of water to his left, broken up by the large docks protruding from the mainland. In the distance, the tall, layered seawall barriers were open to let the tide through unhindered. Tall buildings lined the other side of the busy street, a mix of waterfront hotels and eateries. The waterfronts of most major cities had restrictions on outside holographic advertisements to protect the view, winning the fight against consumerism through long courtbattles.
But after trauma, nothing looked or felt familiar. Sean didn’t recognize where they were, brain sluggish in the wake of freedom, waiting to pull him under with the pain of backlash he knew wasinevitable.
“Call the cops,” the guy said as he approached. The accent was thick and easier to place than thecityview.
Boston,Sean thought numbly, swollen fingers clutching at Alexei as he struggled to keep themphased.
The stranger approached, hands held toward them in a calming manner. “You should sit down. You look like you’re about topassout.”
Sean didn’t know what expression he had on his face, but considering how bloody they looked, it wasn’t surprising that complete strangers were treating them with kid gloves. He opened his mouth, jaw hurting as he did so, but try as he might, no wordscameout.
Not even the warning he desperately wanted to shout when he caught sight of Cillian and some of his crew racing across the street from anearbybar.
The stranger reached for Sean, his hand passing through Sean’s body. Brown eyes widened as his gaze snapped up to Sean’s face. “Whatthe—”
The sound of guns going off made Sean flinch, mouth parting on a wordless cry that never came. The man who’d been trying to help them jerked as bullets cut through his body in an unforgiving spray, passing harmlessly through Sean and Alexei. He fell through Sean and Alexei’s form and collapsed on the pavement, back peppered with bloody bulletholes.
Sean stepped backward, getting clear of the body, pain lancing through his head as he worked to keep them phased beneath the onslaught of bullets aimed their way. His ears rang from the guns going off and the sound of people screaming. Cars swerved in the street, one or two crashing into each other, their drivers victims of straybullets.
Panic made it difficult to breathe, clawing at the inside of his chest. The harsh passage of air over the holes in his gums pulled at Sean’s attention along with all the other painful injuries afflicting him. Cillian kept coming closer, flanked by his followers, the look on his face one ofsheerfury.
“I dinnae know how ye escaped, but yer in no condition ta be goin’ very far,” Cillian said as he raised his gun. “Runnin’ ain’t goin’ tasaveye.”
If they had neuro-jammer guns, they opted not to use those weapons this time around. Truthfully, Sean wasn’t sure he’d be able to stay phased long enough to escape getting hit by one. Already he could feel the heaviness in his limbs growing faster as his mind fought his body, the migraine-level ache afflicting his head getting worse with every second thatpassed.
“Best ta put ye outta yermisery,aye?”
Sean didn’t have any strength left to run, and Alexei’s weight pulled him down to the ground. The demarcation between their phased bodies and the solid earth was miniscule. Sean closed his eyes and curled his body around Alexei’s limp, unconscious form, trying to protect him even as the migraine ripping through his head threatened the shaky, fitful control he had over hispower.
The first bullet didn’t hurt, passing through them both before ricocheting off the ground, but there were plenty more where thatcamefrom.
In the end, Cillian had more bullets than Sean had minutes left before the backlash of breaking free of the Faraday cage overwhelmed him and he reverted back tosolidity.
I’m sorry,Sean thought desperately, the scream trapped in his lungs, in his throat, voice locked away by trauma.I’m so sorry,Lyosha.
