I swim in the spark the same way I swim in water.
It’s not even a plan, that’s how inevitable what comes next is.
Because I’ve been here before.
I’ve been strapped to a plate in a weird Looking Glass room three times now and they all end the same way.
Me spooling up power to break shit or win a fight.
But this time, I’m gonna kill a god.
Because I’m no longer Jasina Bell, down-city whore.
I’m piloting the answer to all Xi’s prayers.
I’ve got one card.
Master’s Bargain. And his name is Finn Scott.
A voice wails out over some kind of system speaker, forcing Xi to shut the hell up about his new Bio-Synch Halo upgrade asthe PPD interface in front of me—the mind of Finn Scott himself, flashes bright green.
COGNITIVE PORT INTERFACE:ONLINE
DIMENSION STABILITY CORE:ONLINE
MULTI-THREADED COGNITION MATRIX:ONLINE
PHASE-REINFORCED NEURAL SHEATH:ONLINE
And then, a very simple question.
INITIATE COMBAT MODE? Y/N?
Let’s fucking go.
I smash ‘yes’ with my mind and Finn Scott breaks free of his holding pattern—moving before I even know what ‘yes’ feels like.
One breath, and he’s gone—vanished from the center of the stage and reappearing like a blur. A crash to my left. A body to my right. The first man doesn’t even scream before his chest caves in. The second folds backwards, spine in the wrong direction. The third tries to run but gets pulled back by something I can’t see—Finn’s hand? A spark leash?—and he crumples like wet paper.
A shrieking sound—glass under pressure, warping—and I realize it’s not coming from me. It’s the other girls. The circular harvesters they’re strapped to are cracking. The spark cords are still draining them, even though their augments are dead. No outlet. No balance. The spark is boiling. The glass is spiderwebbing out beneath them like ice under a heavy foot.
My own harvester plate hums louder. The spark running through me is scorching now, flooding into Finn like water from a faucet. I feel him draw more—pull harder—like he’s chasing the next threat, but there isn’t one.
I scream, but it comes out silent. A whip of pain lashes through my legs. My vision goes spotty. I hear myself gasping, but it’s far away, like I’m underwater. Every time Finn strikes, my spark drains. The cord connecting us isn’t a line—it’s asiphon. My power flows into him in big gulps, faster than I expected. Too fast.
One plate of glass shatters, a girl’s body falls like meat. Then the second and the third.
Gods are shouting, cheering, laughing.
Finn turns to them.
I see through his eyes.
I feel his helplessness. His hate.
And I make it my own.
Xi is our target. The object of all this loathing. And Xi knows it. He’s not in control. He’s not cheering, or shouting, or laughing like the others.
