Page 219 of Villainous Rise

The door swung open and a nurse stepped inside. “Everything okay in here? His heart rate keeps spiking.”

I scrambled back and quickly put a respectable distance between us. “We’re fine,” I said.

The nurse raised an eyebrow as she checked Cipher’s IV and made a note on her clipboard. “Try to keep the excitement to a minimum, Mr. Smith. Doctor’s orders.”

Cipher settled back against his pillows. He looked completely unrepentant. “I’ll do my best but I can’t make any promises when Ms. Bishop is involved.”

As she turned to leave, Cipher held my gaze. The promise in his eyes was a beautiful, terrifying threat. He was going to devour me.

I couldn’t wait.

EPILOGUE

CIPHER

I stared at the prototype prosthetic on my workbench, thinking about the adjustments needed for the neural interface. My fingers—well, finger, singular—tapped impatiently on the metal surface. Two more weeks of this one-armed nonsense. Two more weeks of mortal healing times because even I couldn’t rush cellular regeneration without serious consequences.

“Just a few more calibrations and—” I reached with my right arm to grab a screwdriver, only to find myself grasping at empty air with a limb that no longer existed below the elbow.

“Goddammit.”

The phantom sensation was maddening. My brain still insisted I had a right hand, still sent signals to fingers that were no longer there. I glared at the stump, wrapped in its compression sleeve.

“You know what? I’m not even supposed to be healing this slowly,” I muttered to myself, grabbing the tool with my left hand instead. “If I just took a higher dose of⁠—”

The intercom buzzed, interrupting my one-sided argument with my missing appendage.

“Boss?” Number Five’s voice crackled through the speaker. “Helios is here to see you.”

“Send him in,” I called out, setting down the screwdriver.

The door slid open with a hiss, and William Evans, Helios, stepped into my workshop.

He was dressed in civilian clothes: jeans, a simple gray t-shirt, and a light jacket. My first thought was that he looked like hell. Sunshine had lost his shine. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, his golden hair was disheveled, and his shoulders slumped forward as if carrying an invisible weight.

“Cipher,” he greeted me, his voice lacking its usual warmth. His eyes immediately went to the empty space where my right arm should have been. “I’m glad you survived your injury.”

I shrugged. “Of course I did. Takes more than a catastrophic energy discharge to put me down.” I didn’t mention the three surgeries or the fact that I’d nearly bled out at the hospital. Again. No need for details.

“Let’s cut to the chase,” I said, gesturing toward a workbench where a black cuff sat on a charging platform. “I’ve made some modifications to one of the cuff prototypes I designed for Annie.”

Helios approached cautiously, staring at the device with equal parts hope and suspicion.

“Since I now know the cuff can hide Annie from Halcyon’s mind, I’ve modified this one to work on you,” I explained, tapping the surface. “So you don’t have to worry about that bastard worming his way back into your brain.”

The Hero’s eyes widened slightly. He reached out tentatively toward the cuff, stopping just short of touching it.

“You made this for me?” His voice was quiet, uncertain. “After everything that happened?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” I replied. “I didn’t make it for you.”

“Then why?”

“I made it for Annie’s peace of mind. She worries about you. Doesn’t want to see Halcyon crawl back into your skull and make you his puppet again.”

I didn’t mention the real reason I spent three sleepless nights perfecting the stupid thing. I wanted Helios fixed so Annie would stop thinking about him. Every ounce of concern she wasted on him was an ounce of attention diverted from me and I fucking hated it.

Fixing the Hero meant she could finally stop thinking about him. It eliminated a distraction.