But she was looking down, grimacing at the sight of his knee. He only had on pants. He had been pulled out of his envirosuit, and his shirt had been torn off leaving just the jumpsuit bottoms. But she could see through the fabric the brighter glow of the new breaks in his skin. The entire outside of his left knee had been bludgeoned, and there were new cracks going all the way around his knee, up his thigh, and down towards his calf.
It was hard to compare injuries between herself and Vytln. His skin didn’t bruise and swell, it just cracked and split. And while some cracks, he told her, would seal, others wouldn’t. And that’s what would leave the scars behind. So, since their injuries looked so different, she didn’t really have a frame of reference for what was really bad or not. But it certainly didn’t lookgood.
“Okay,” Haven frowned, lifting her eyes to the chains hooked to the magcuffs on his wrists. The cuffs were individual rings around his wrists that had an electromagnet that could be turned on and off. It allowed prisoners to be bound permanently without ever needing to remove them. The magnet itself was also strong enough to break bones if activated carelessly, so no one would be able to just pull their arms apart by sheer strength.
If her termites got in close, they’d be affected by the magnet. It was super strong but highly localized. So, they wouldn’t be able to help him there. And even if they could, they were off causing a bunch of chaos in the ship.
Haven bit her lip, trying to think of a way to break the chains and the magcuffs. She could cut through the chains with the metal cutter, but the magcuffs was too close to Vytln’s skin. He was heat resistant, but not enough to withstand molten metal. How would she-
The opening of the door surprised her. She wasn’t expecting anyone to be coming this way so soon. She had deliberately caused so much trouble that no one should have been able to come back to a guy they believed was fully subdued.
But it wasn’t a guard. It was Kldyn. Stomping inside with his envirosuit clenched in his hands like a jacket he didn’t want to bother putting on. He had an angry look on his face that lasted more than a few steps until he realized that she was there.
He came up short abruptly, staring at her like he was stunned.
“You… How did you…”
Haven glowered at him. Really? She had been counting on him taking the time to put that envirosuiton. Was this guy an absolute moron? Was his pride really so important that he’d refuse to put on that life saving suit when there were literally holes in his ship?
And therewereholes. She had been making them herself. Well, technically, her termites had been overloading the ship’s systems and forcing outer doors to open, but same thing really. Of course, doing so forced the emergency bulkhead doors to slam shut all across the ship to keep hull breaches contained, but she wanted that to happen. If those doors had to be opened and closed every time someone wanted to go somewhere, it would slow them down and give her more time.
Except this guy hadn’t even put on his suit, cutting down that time.
Kldyn overcame his surprise at that moment, dropping his suit on the ground.
“You!” He repeated, beaming excitedly. “You’re Vytln’s new littlebvtykhuh?”
Haven didn’t know what abvtykwas, but by the way Vytln tensed under her hands, she imagined it wasn’t anything flattering.
“Will you going away?” Haven tossed her hand at him. “I’m trying to doing something right now and you’re making it more difficult.”
She wasn’t sure if it was her gall or her lack of fear that made his jaw drop in stupefied amazement. But he truly wasn’t prepared for her attitude. Someone being so completely unafraid of him, unaffected by him, was insulting, but more than that, it was just insane. To the point it left him more gobsmacked than actually insulted.
But he gathered himself quickly, going for the hammer he had tossed aside. The metal was splattered with the same cooled, now black blood that also covered Vytln around his new scars.
Haven got to her feet, pulling the metal cutter from her belt. It wasn’t a big tool. She’d compare it to a good sized wrench. But it was strong and, more than that, it could do a lot of damage if aimed at skin. Even skin designed for extreme temperatures.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Kldyn smiled evilly. “It will be so much better for Vytln to watch me kill you right in front of his eyes.”
Haven lifted her metal cutter like it was a gun.
Kldyn saw it and started laughing. “That?Was it that little thing going to do, huh?”
Haven smiled and turned. Planting a foot on Vytln’s good, uninjured leg, she scrambled up his body, climbing first him, then the chain that held him.
“You-!” Kldyn charged after her, swinging upwards. Too late, her legs were already out of reach. All he managed to do was hit the chain.
And put his body right in range of Vytln.
Drawing back his head, he slammed it forward, gauging his horns into Kldyn’s gut. From that close, he could only hit with so much force, but it was enough to make Kldyn grunt and fall back a step, grabbing for his belly with a look of surprise.
Haven already knew that he wasn’t the type to put himself through any of the same the training, pain, and hardships that Vytln had to make him strong. In fact, she was willing to bet that, as the head honcho in charge, he was even more lazy in regards to his own strength.
That was what made her confident that, despite their clear differences at this moment, Vytln was more than a match for him.
Holding the chain with one hand, Haven lowered herself down low enough that she could cut through the metal links and still hold the chain above where she was burning. It wasn’t as fast as a knife through paper, but it was fast enough that Kldyn only had enough time to gather himself back together and raise his hammer. This time, aiming at Vytln.
The metal, heated and glowing, separated with all the viscosity of honey. The weight of the chain, of Vytln pulling it down, broke the weakened link apart and it all fell down. Spooling around his body. The superheated tip hitting the ground with a shower of metal slag and sparks.
