Then again, maybe I didn’t need to survive some insane things to be here. Wasn’t loving Dax enough? It had been enough to gather enough courage to find the cyborg rebellion to meet him. It had been enough to stand up to Reaper and Viper when they had come for us. It had been enough to face everyone here and accept that some might not approve of me because of what had happened.
Being here with Dax was more than enough.
“Come on, let’s sit back down.” I tugged the edge of Dax’s lab coat. “Brone looks pretty lonely sitting there all by himself.” I looked at Torque. “You are welcome to join us.” Torque wasted no time, rushing to sit down at the table next to Brone.
Dax and I sat down and I snuggled up against his frame, enjoying the feeling of being next to the man I loved and surrounded by the cyborgs who had fascinated me. Conversation flowed among the tables and warmth radiated through my body, happy and content to just be part of the crowd.
“Dax!” Someone shouted, and I scanned the room looking for the owner of the voice. A curly, dark haired female stood in the doorway, a huge smile on her face as she waved at us from across the room. The girl wasted no time, rushing towards our table to pull Dax into a firm hug. Her hazel eyes glittered. “I’ve missed you,” she breathed.
Dax’s cheeks darkened. “I missed you too, Miss. Caia.”
My stomach fluttered, my mind racing. Who was this girl?
The girl turned her attention towards me. “You must be Dax’s female.” She flung her arms around my neck, squeezing me in a tight embrace. “I am so happy to meet you,” she declared before pulling back.
“Um,” I bit my lip, not knowing what to say.
She slapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh my stars, forgive me! I didn’t even introduce myself before I went in for a hug!” She held out her hand. “I’m Caia. Iris and Aria are my best friends and after Aria got taken, it seemed safer for me to hang out here. So here I am!” The girl didn’t pause to take a breath, the smile never leaving her face.
Her enthusiasm was contagious, and I found myself smiling back. “It’s nice to meet you, Caia.” I shook her hand. “I’m Poe.” I gestured towards the table, “Care to join us?”
Caia’s eyes darted back towards the doorway. “Um...I should probably get back.”
“Caia!” A panicked sounding voice called out as heavy footsteps echoed out in the hall. A frantic cyborg rushed into the room, her eyes flashing as she searched the room until they found Caia. Her eyes narrowed as she marched towards the table as the room fell silent.
Caia’s eyes went wide. “Hide me,” she squeaked as she ran around the table to hide behind Brone, using the giant Tank Class like a shield.
“Don’t use me,” Brone hissed. “She is going to kick my ass!”
“Please Brone,” Caia pleaded. “Help me.”
“I’m going to die,” Brone grumbled but he stood up, placing his frame between Caia and the very pissed off female Service Model who had stormed over to the table.
“Move, Tank Class!” The female cyborg ordered.
I had no clue who this was, but I wasn’t going to let her bully my new friend. I stood up and moved to stand beside Brone, crossing my arms over my chest. “I don’t think we have met, I’m Poe.”
“I don’t care who you are human. Get out of my way.” She commanded.
Her tone caused Dax to jump to his feet, adding his frame to the blockade we had formed in front of Caia. “Don’t talk to my female like that,” Dax hissed, his eyes narrowing on the female cyborg.
“Science Model,” she growled.
Dax didn’t even flinch. “Reaper may have trained you, but the calculations in my head confirm that you are no match for the three of us. We will fight and you will lose, Hester.”
Hester. The female cyborg has a name. At least I now knew whose ass I was about to kick. Well, Brone and Dax would probably do most of the ass kicking, but I was more than happy to cheer them on.
“The way I see things is that you just marched in here and threatened my new friend. So, we aren’t moving until we know you won’t hurt her.”
The female cyborg bristled. “I would never.”
“She wouldn’t,” Caia confirmed as she stepped out from behind us. “She just seems to think she controls what I can and can’t do.” Caia bit out, her arms crossed over her chest.
“It’s for your own protection!” Hester countered as she took a step towards her.
“Protection from what? My friends? Who is going to hurt me here, Hester? If I’m not safe at the cyborg rebellion headquarters, then where?” She jabbed a finger in Hester’s direction. “You promised you would stop this!
Hester’s shoulders fell. “I came back to our quarters and I couldn’t find you,” her voice broke on the last word.