They won’t put chains on me, and they won’t put their hands on her again. I allocate all remaining power to my motor functions and force myself upright. Static cuts across my visual interface and distorts my optical feed, but I reach down and grab the first wire, ripping the barb out. It leaves a scratch across my chest plating. I drag the second wire free, then the third, and finally the fourth in rapid succession. The attackers stumble backward as I rise to my full height, unfurl my wings, and propel myself into the sky.
The men pull out guns and start shooting at me. The bullets bounce harmlessly off my steel body, and I note the pinging sounds as they ricochet in different directions. One of the stray bullets hits one of the attackers in the leg, and he howls in pain as he falls, clutching the wound. I don’t feel any satisfaction about it. I just need to neutralize the threat.
I sweep down from above and go for the closest one first. He raises his gun, but I’m already above him, slamming into him with enough force to knock him flat on his back. I pull the punch at the last second, so I don’t crush his ribs, and his head hits the rock hard enough to knock him out. I grab his gun and bend the barrel with my hands, then toss it into the sea.
The second one tries to run, but I catch him in three wingbeats, grab him by his jacket, and lift him high. He screams and fires his gun wildly into the air until I shake him once andthe gun falls from his grip. I drop him from five feet up, and he lands badly, curling into himself and groaning.
The third man displays more tactical awareness. He backs toward the water and keeps his gun trained on Jessa’s unmoving body. He attempts to use her as leverage, threatening her physical safety, and that doesn’t sit well with me. I land ten feet away from him, waiting as he trembles and points the metal barrel at her head.
“Stay back or I’ll–”
I close the distance and strike his wrist hard enough to shatter the bones before he can pull the trigger. He screams and drops the weapon. I grab him by the throat and lift him in the air, then heave his body back toward the center of the beach. He crashes into the dirt and remains motionless. I crush his gun under my foot and kick the useless metal aside.
The fourth attacker is already down, the stray bullet lodged into his leg. He shouts profanities as I take his weapon and fling it into the ocean.
The man who targeted Jessa backs away toward the cave entrance while reaching for an unseen object inside his jacket. I launch myself forward and drive his body into the side of the cliff, holding my strength back at the last second to avoid snapping his spine. He crumples down, disoriented and struggling to draw breath.
All five men are now scattered across the shoreline, either bleeding or unresponsive.
I kneel next to Jessa, pulling her carefully into my arms. Blood runs from a cut on her forehead. I look up and map the trajectory of the ambush, determining that her attacker suspended himself from the cliff wall to avoid detection before dropping right on top of her.
“Jessa, you need to wake up. I failed to secure the perimeter before we exited the caves, and I apologize for the oversight.”I pull her against my chest while I assess the probability of a concussion. “Please… Please be okay.”
I should’ve scanned our surroundings for thermal signatures the moment we stepped into the open air, but instead, I directed my focus toward acquiring the extraction helicopter. I prioritized rushing the end of the mission, so I could put distance between us, treating her presence as a hazard that needed removal. I allowed my internal conflict regarding our emotional proximity to compromise her physical safety. She’s the most important, far exceeding the value of anything in that vault, and my failure allowed these men to harm her.
“What happened?” She stirs awake. “My head is killing me.” She reaches up to touch her bleeding temple.
I help her sit up, supporting her back with one hand. She looks around and spots the attackers in various states of injury and incapacitation.
“Oh my God, did you... Are they...” she stammers.
“They’ll survive. They ambushed us.”
I stare at the blood drying on her skin and feel guilty.
“I failed my primary objective to keep you safe. You took damage because of my lack of vigilance.”
“No. I’m hurt because they hurt me. This isn’t on you. They literally dropped from the sky.”
She cups my cheek with her hand. I know this is the last time we get to touch each other before our paths diverge permanently. She shifts onto her knees and leans forward, pressing her lips to my face. I remain still, diverting power to record the temperature and pressure of her touch, committing the data to my memory banks.
“We need to tie them up before they come to their senses,” she says, pulling back.
I help her to her feet, and she rummages through her backpack until she finds a length of rope. She gives it to me, andI drag all five men across the beach, arrange them back-to-back in a tight circle, and tie the rope around their torsos. Three of them are out cold. One is bleeding, and the guy who attacked Jessa has regained consciousness and tracks my movements with a hostile glare.
Jessa approaches and pulls off their masks one by one.
“You... aren’t you Garrik Tremaine’s grandson?” she gasps when she reaches her attacker.
“How do you even recognize me?” he spits in the sand next to her foot.
“I studied everything about Hollowmere,” she says. “Including the Tremaines. Why did you do this?”
“Because it’s not fair.” He sounds bitter. “My family has been serving the Holloways for generations, guarding a legit treasure, and we’re paid a sad salary. We deserve more.”
“The Tremaines didn’t guard the treasure,” Jessa replies. She speaks calmly, though I detect a sharp elevation in her vocal frequency that indicates rising anger. “You just kept the grounds. The castle is in complete disrepair, and no Holloway ever registered a complaint about it. You received payment equal to the labor you provided.”
“You’re an entitled cow who doesn’t understand the real world,” the man sneers at her.
