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Wax maybe should have put another few shots in them as they fled, but the man looked pretty ragged from the fight. Breathing deeply, he slumped back against the wall of the tunnel. They’dcome close to losing this fight. Real close.

Wayne stumbled to his feet, aching all over, and used his healing to seal those coin wounds. But they remained sore. He was forced to stop healing to save the last bit of juice in his metalmind. Rusts.

Wayne turned and lurched over to Wax, his clothes a bloody, muddy mess. Wax’s, impossibly, were pretty nice—barely marked by the gunk on the floor.

“Hey!” Wayne said. “How the hell aren’t you covered in mud? I saw you roll through it.”

“I Pushed off a bullet when I did,” he said. He put a hand to his shoulder and groaned softly. “Nice job, with the distraction.” He met Wayne’s eyes. “Did you mean any of that?”

“Nah, of course not,” Wayne said, looking away. Ruin, he felt exhausted. And creaky. Like a floor what had been walked on so much, all the boards wobbled.

“Wayne…”

“Not the time, mate.” He settled down on the floor. “Rusts, I feel old. I’m not supposed to feel old. I’m the spry one!”

Wax settled down next to him on a dry part of the concrete. “You’re thirty-nine, Wayne. It catches up to you.”

“You infected me, you did,” Wayne grumbled. “I never felt old when I was workin’ with Marasi!”

“I infected you,” Wax said, “withbeing old?”

“Damn right.”

“That’s ludicrous even for you.”

“No it ain’t. You done started to think yourself old, and it drilled into my head too.” Wayne tapped at his skull. “Ideas is infectious, Wax. More than diseases.”

They caught their breath for a few more moments. Unfortunately, they couldn’t linger.

“They know for sure we found this tunnel,” Wayne said. “If there’s some kind of lab at the end of it, they’ll be clearing it out as we speak.”

Wax nodded and heaved himself back to his feet. He reached out a hand to help Wayne up.

“We need to talk,” Wax said. “About you. The way you’ve been feeling lately.”

“Sure. Okay. I like talkin’. But later.”

Later wasalwaysbetter.

Together, they pressed forward. “I got the woman pretty good,” Wax said. “Do you think that killed her?”

“Depends. How’s your luck been lately?”

“Awful,” Wax admitted. “But at least we know we’re on the right trail. Otherwise they wouldn’t have tried so hard to stop us.”

“Yeah, sure,” Wayne said. “I’m glad we’re done with the canyon, but the hardest part is yet to come. The mesa, which is gonna gobble you up. Remember to choke it from the inside.”

“I’ll do my best.”

50

Marasi drew up a quick plan—which was the only kind they could afford. Moonlight and TwinSoul stayed near the window, ready to break in. Marasi worked her way up to the front of the building to place a grenade by the door. The slowness bubble would work through the wall, trapping the two guards who stood inside. As she charged her weapon, however, Moonlight ducked around the side of the rectangular structure and scuttled up to Marasi.

“Guards just moved,” she hissed. “They’re getting gas masks from a bin near the scientists.”

Rusts. She couldn’t let them release the gas.

“We go in now,” Marasi hissed. “Back me up if the grenade fails.”