Poe reached out to grab my arms, holding on to me, making sure I don’t fall. “Stop that! You shouldn’t be moving. You need to lie back down.”
I shook my head. “You know they aren’t going to just let me walk out of here.” The warmth I had been feeling fled. I looked at her green cyborg. “I’m guessing you guys have some holding cells around here somewhere. Take me there.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, his emerald eyes narrowing. “You are not cleared to be moved.”
I gritted my teeth. “Whose authorization do I need?”
“Mine and I refuse to give it. I didn’t save your life to have you throw it away because you are being stubborn. Besides, if you attempt to do anything again to hurt the ones I care about, you’ll find out that I’m not as sweet as I appear.”
Poe gasped. “Dax!”
The green cyborg simply shrugged.
I slid out of Poe’s grasp and laid back down on the exam table. “No more plans to hurt the cyborg rebellion, I promise.” I gave a half-hearted smile. “Doesn’t mean I won’t find trouble, though. Trust me, it’s better if you put me in a cell. It will let the other cyborgs know I am being punished.”
“No,” Dax stated without a hint of give in his voice. “Yes, you made bad choices. Choices you will have to face, but now is not the time. You need to rest and heal. Science Model’s orders.”
I closed my eyes, knowing that Dax wasn’t going to do as I had requested. “Have it your way.” I met his warm, green eyes. “Thanks again for saving me.”
“You’re very welcome. Don’t make me regret it.”
I swallowed past the lump that had formed in the back of my throat and replied with the only thing I could say. “I’ll try.”
Viper
I stood in the doorway of the lab, the female’s bright pink hair standing out against the silver exam table. Her frame didn’t stir. If you asked me why I was here, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. The threat of the female had been neutralized; by her own hand apparently.
The implant in her head that had allowed her to control me had been illegal black-market tech. Dangerous and unreliable, it should have never been implanted, no matter the circumstances.
My hands clenched and unclenched by my side. I wanted to order her to explain to me why she would do something so stupid. It had nearly killed her. If Dax hadn’t been the brilliant cyborg he was, the female would have perished on the exam table.
I watched from the doorway as Poe hovered over her friend, a tiny, pale hand clutched in Poe’s grip. She carefully brushed pink strands off the female’s face.
Oz, not female,my circuits quipped. The name bounced around my processors like microscopic pings inside a motherboard. Once I uttered her name out loud, she would become someone real and not the female that had hurt me. I worried I wouldn’t be able to hold on to my anger once I said her name. But I intended to try. I needed to keep myself safe behind all the lines of code I had built. I couldn’t let my guard down, not while the lingering effects of what she had done burned bright in my processors.
Which made it all the stranger I was here instead of as far away from her as possible, unsure, and curious as to why I couldn’t just walk away.
Someone cleared their throat. My gaze drifted away from the female to see Axios standing in front of me. I guess my presence here had been detected after all. My circuits were grateful it was Axios standing before me, not Poe or Dax. I honestly don’t know what I would say to them.
That I hated her, yet I can’t move from this spot? I highly doubted that would go over well.
Axios’s blue eyes were filled with curiosity. “If you are wondering if she has woken up yet, the answer is yes. She had a brief conversation with Poe and Dax before she fell into an exhausted sleep. Her body is still weak from her ordeal.”
Don’t ask. Keep your mouth shut, Technology Model.Chastising myself didn’t work and I asked anyway, the words flying from my mouth before I could stop them. “What did she say?
Axios’s gaze drifted to the female’s still form then back to me. “She told them that what she did to you was unforgivable even if she believed it had been for a good reason. That she was what the humans call a fuck up and she expressed her frustration that they had saved her. She told them they shouldn’t have.”
Shock rolled through my circuits. I hadn’t known what I had expected but it wasn’t that. Was the female playing some type of game, trying to make us feel guilty so we wouldn’t punish her? Anger pulsed through me. It wouldn’t work. The female would answer for her crimes no matter if she was Poe’s friend or not. She should be on her knees thanking us for saving her after her dangerous stunt, not questioning our mercy.
My mouth twisted into a scowl. “So she is trying to gain our sympathy, believing us to be fools, thinking we will lessen her punishment.” I scoffed. “Poe should have explained to her that that course of action was useless. The cyborg rebellion won’t be swayed. She is lucky shelivesat all!”
Axios let out a sigh, shaking his head. “I do not believe that was what the female was attempting to do. Her vocal pattern was stressed, her heart rate accelerated. Both are an indication of extreme anxiety and fear.”
“For herself,” I spat out from between clenched teeth. My fists curled by my side. I couldn’t believe for one second the female cared about what she had done to me. She wanted us all to be fools, to turn our backs long enough she could stab us in them.
Axios’s blue eyes flashed, his gaze darting to my fists. “I cannot confirm with hundred percent accuracy that she is not trying to save herself, but she did ask Dax to take her to a cell. The female seems to understand the need for punishment even if Poe disagrees.”
Another round of shock coursed through me. My eyes sought out her frame, so still on the cold metal. My hands uncurled and I put one foot across the doorway only to yank it back. I wasn’t curious about her. I didn’t want to see her pink hair up close. To learn the exact shade of pink she had dyed it, to see how it would look gathered within my purple fingertips.
I shook my head furiously. Maybe the female had done some damage to my processors after all since I couldn’t seem to shake these strange unwanted thoughts. “Why wasn’t she taken to a cell?”
Axios shrugged. “Dax wouldn’t clear her to be moved. He must be worried that the female’s life is still in danger.”
“It is,” I growled low. “From me.” I twisted on my boot heel and stormed away, ignoring the crazy urge to turn back around to keep the female constantly within my visual systems.