“I was pretty sure it was going to turn green and fall off just before it killed me. Oh yeah, of course they just sent me back to my room without even glancing at my gory finger. I lay there on the nasty hard thing they thought looked like a bed thinking about dying and fell asleep. When I woke up, I was all better. See? Not even a little discoloration left!
“So, I experimented. It sounds gross, but I gave myself a little cut. Then, I experimented with all the Void-tech in the room. It took a while, but I found it.” She started ticking things off on her fingers. “I guess that means I’m the Nyna, the medic, and…” she leaned close, and whispered in my ear, “your best lover.”
I kissed her neck and felt her shiver. “Later,” I whispered.
“All right you two,” Reaver scolded playfully, “we don’t have time for that right now. Tortengar still needs to die.”
“Too bad,” I said and Reaver, Beatrix, and Nyna giggled. “Let’s go kill Tortengar first. Then, we’ll talk about exactly how we’ll be celebrating later.”
I set us up in a diamond formation with myself at the leading point. It would provide protection from all sides. The fadeen were dead, but we didn’t know what other surprises Tortengar had in store for us. None of us could sense any, but our medic needed to stay in the middle, where she’d be protected.
The tower’s entrance glittered with shiny baubles and gold. An electronic keypad, also framed in gold, was mounted to the wall next to the entrance.
The tower itself was made of some kind of stone I didn’t think I’d seen before. It was gray like the walls but definitely wasn’t regular concrete. It had a reddish tinge to it and was warm to the touch.
“Damn,” Nyna said.
I turned and found her hanging upside down from the mech’s arm, legs hooked over a conduit running across its shoulder. She was wearing Spirit-Watcher and held an unusual-looking tool in one hand.
“If you move again, I’m going to pull your power coupler,” she growled. “Then, you’ll have to stand there and wait as you slowly run out of air. Or you can stop moving and let me fix you!”
The vast room and all those present went silent as if the universe was holding its breath, worried what Skrew’s next move would be. A moment later, Nyna nodded her head in satisfaction and continued to work.
“Skrew is scared,” a whispered voice said over the comms. “Crazy Nyna lady make Skrew dead. Afraid to breathe.”
I stifled a laugh and said, “Then quit moving.”
“But Skrew has itchy spot what needs scratching!”
That time, I did laugh, and so did Reaver. Though I couldn’t see Skrew’s face through his canopy at that angle, I was pretty sure he wasn’t participating in the festivities.
“Is he going to be able to continue?” I asked Nyna.
“Yeah,” she grunted, “but his minigun isn’t going to last long. It’s taken some pretty bad damage. Plus, this thing looks like it was built from spare parts by a cross-eyed flint-knapper with one leg. I’m surprised it’s lasted this long. I had no idea how bad it was until parts started falling off. Overall, though, he’s in good shape. By he, I mean the mech. Skrew’s, well, Skrew, you know? So, if that’s normal for him, then yeah, he’s… stop moving!”
The mech flinched before returning to its motionless, frightened state, mimicking the mood of its pilot.
“Gimme a few minutes,” Nyna continued. “I’ve almost got this last part back on.”
A few minutes would give me long enough to decide what I was going to do next. No doubt Tortengar would be at the highest point in the tower. With any luck, we’d be able to sneak up on him. He’d probably be busy trying to figure out how to unlock his escape hatch so that he could run away.
“Done,” Nyna said before she climbed off Skrew. “You can move now, but you’d better be careful with your gun. I’m not sure how long it’ll hold, and I don’t have the tools or time to make you a new one. Use that thing only if there’s no other choice. Got it?”
“Skrew got it,” he confirmed as he tested all four of his arms. The one that had been damaged earlier was sluggish, but it did move.
“So,” Nyna said as she walked toward the panel next to the door, “what do we have here?”
She studied it through Spirit-Watcher. Then, she got on her hands and knees and peeked at it from underneath. Before standing, she gave my groin a long look. Her face was only inches away. I smiled and let her take it all in for a moment before I nodded at the panel, a hint to get back to work.
She bit her bottom lip but returned to the panel. “I’m not sure I could get past this thing without breaking it,” she said. “Want me to try anyway?”
“Do it,” I ordered.
A few seconds later, she had the panel removed and on fire. “Oops,” she said, wrinkling her nose and grinning.
“You ready?” I asked Beatrix and Reaver.
Both women nodded and gripped their weapons tighter. Beatrix’s hammer began to glow brightly. Reaver took a position a few yards from the door where she’d be able to cover our entry if there was anything straight across from us.
I kicked the door hard, but it barely budged. The whole palace shook with the impact. I kicked again, and this time, the door began to creak and tilt until it crashed to the stone floor beyond. Instead of charging in, though, Beatrix and I stood there and examined the room.
It filled the entire base of the tower and was illuminated by a single, narrow beam of light from above. In
