Outwardly, at least.
Caius muttered a curse in Tuann before switching languages.“Who are you?How did I get here?”
“I found you,” Gus said, letting herself stumble a bit over her words.
Caius was known for his shrewdness.The slightest deviation in behavior would spark questions.Questions Gus wasn’t inclined to answer when his hands were wrapped around her neck.
Lucky for her, the Tuann didn’t have a clear understanding of the human psyche.As long as she acted within the expected framework, she should be fine.
Fear.I am fear.
Gus repeated the mantra as Caius bent her backward via the hold he had on her throat.She went with his flow, conscious of the incredible strength in his hands.If he wanted to, he could snap her neck with a twitch of his fingers.
The boy made an unconscious sound of distress from where he’d pressed himself against the wall.
“Are you with them?”Caius gave her a slight shake for emphasis.“Did they send you after me?”
“N-no.”
Surreptitiously, Gus brushed a finger against one of the dermal patches she kept on the back of her hand.Just below the knuckles.
Considered the weakest of the forty-three, with no real offensive skills beyond some basic hand-to-hand combat techniques, Gus had needed to turn to alternative methods to safeguard her life.She found them in poisons and the like.
There were five patches on each hand.One for every knuckle.
Each patch contained a different toxin.Some killed quickly.Others slowly.Still others made someone wish they were dying.
The patch Gus chose for this occasion held a sedative.Quick acting and reliable even against a Tuann immune system.
It was a creation of her own making.Tested on herself and refined over the years.
The patches themselves were something she’d picked up from Titan’s criminal underbelly.Undetectable and hardy enough that they wouldn’t burst by accident.But also, fragile enough to provide easy access.
Gus dug a fingernail into the patch, feeling the slight give and then cool liquid as the sedative oozed out.Swiping a finger protected by its own dermal patch through the sedative, she reached up and lightly touched the hand around her throat.
“Don’t lie,” Caius said.“Anandra told me what you did.”
Gus counted down in her head.
Three.
Two.
One.
Impatiently, Gus waited for the sedative to take effect.
Any time now.
Several more seconds passed before Caius’s hand finally went lax and slipped from around her neck.
He wobbled.“What did you do to me?”
He collapsed before she could give him an answer.
Gus turned to take in the commander’s unconscious form, rubbing her throat where he’d grabbed her.“That took entirely too long.”
She’d have to recalibrate the sedative’s potency.
