Page 13

The cryo-chamber hisses and puffs gray clouds when I open the door. Frigid air spills into the room. I toss Quris’ hand aside and step back. I can’t even get close to the doorway without shivering. How a Titan has managed to endure that, I have no idea.

“Come on. I won’t hurt you,”

I say. “We’re taking a tunnel out of here. I’m Sefina, a friend of Menace’s.”

“Fracture,”

a voice shudders out. Clouds coalesce. Fragments find one another and slowly reassemble into a Titan shape.

He lifts his head. Vibrant silver-blue eyes meet mine. “And I know you won’t, sentinel. It is good to be among friends again. Not many of your kind left.”

His words and movements are slow, but he rises and climbs out of his cell like every joint aches, and he hasn’t moved them in years. “Do not touch me, or I will kill you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” I snort.

“I mean, the temperature of my body will kill you.”

“I copied.”

I’m disheartened at the idea that I might be the last of my kind. Even this Titan I’ve never met senses we’re a dying breed. My parents are gone, and my siblings disappeared during the final rush to get the resistance fighters off-world. The last time I saw anyone like myself was when Quris’ men captured me.

Traitorous CSP. Fuck all of you. I wonder if they’re all dead—the soldiers from his crew. Jo— Johnson? Jonathan? Jared? I can’t remember their names. But I’ll never forget their faces.

“Sefi—”

Menace groans.

When I turn around, I see the radiant bodies rushing our way from down the hallway—a squad of Solcrue, no doubt by their shimmering pulse. “On the lift, hurry!”

Fracture hoists himself onto the platform, making it wobble. He keeps his distance from Menace and Sythius as I take the controls.

A squad of Solcrue enters and fires at us with flaming green bullets. I duck as gravel rains from the cavern’s walls and then bank us down the passageway far faster than they can run.

Fracture’s body smokes like dry ice, leaving a foggy trail as I sprint us along the corridor.

Flashbacks hit me in waves, bringing back images of that final race on Earth Minor to get the last Titan techs and officers to the NightWave, then staying behind to keep the underground CSP squads and Solcrue from preventing takeoff. And then Cerzsl captured me with his grav-gun.

“How do you know where you’re going?”

Sythius asks.

“Saw a map on the desk while Quris was deeply in torture mode. Everyone hang on.”

The cavern blooms with fire from the timed grenade I learned to build from Bomber in the tunnels.

“I am—impressed,”

Sythius remarks from the far edge of the platform. “But I guess I never got to see you when you were a guard on Earth Minor. I only knew you in servitude.”

Menace snorts at his remark, then groans. “Never underestimate a pissed-off female.”

“Good advice.”

I guide us into a cavern filled with hot springs and crags of red in deep mine shafts. I skirt us through the stifling zone and into another passageway.

Solcrue hate heat. I try to put as many barriers as possible between us while heading toward the Bone Valley outpost Sythius confirmed has the range extender.

The heat seems to thaw out Fracture. He weakly gathers Menace in his arms and assesses his Brother. “You are severely damaged. Why did you not heal yourself?”

I am equally curious.

Menace grimaces and holds his stomach. “How many years of fighting can you handle without winning a battle before you start to wonder what the point is of fighting?”

“I think you are more upset over Mintaka. You forget that we feel what others feel.”

“It’s not just her.”

Fracture gives me a worried look. “Do you have any supplies to help him? You carry a lot of gear.”

I set the bag down. “Take whatever you need for both of you. We can do more intense repairs soon.”

Fracture tapes Menace’s larger openings shut so he can move his arms. Then, Fracture pops something back to place inside Menace’s shoulder, which makes his face screw up, him cry out, and his body arch.

Fracture’s eyes light up with communications code. Menace waves a hand dismissively like he’s not upset, so I return my focus to the tunnel system.

Sythius climbs over the platform and steps into the lift’s pilot’s box. “I had no idea they felt so much pain.”

I give him a knowing glance. “The media never portrayed them as anything but machines. But the Rogue that flew the last of the resistance off of Earth Minor definitely did.

“They didn’t want us to think our guardians were weak. Most of the Creators wanted them to understand human vulnerability, which is one of the reasons they were given the ability to feel. The corrupt, like CSP and our enemy, have just used it to their advantage.”

Sythius swears and braces himself on the guard rails.

“Don’t tell me you’ve tortured Titans to get free,” I say.

“No, but I didn’t help them either.”

He shakes his head. “I might stab people in the back to save my own hide, but I don’t have that much Solcrue blood in my veins.”

I guide us up a long ascent path toward the final network of tunnels near the outpost. “Good because if you ever hurt one, you and the bullets in whatever gun I can get my hands on are going to have a very intimate conversation.”

Behind me, I sense Fracture shifting his weight.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

“Faster would be better. Menace is fading.”

I push the throttle into the red and race over the bumpy path toward the fading light of dusk at the end of the tunnel network. Several short minutes later, I’ve got us as close as I can to the outpost without risking their soldiers taking notice. I abruptly slide the lift to a stop and set us down in an alcove. Night has fallen over Ellipsis, and only a handful of stars are visible through the opening.

“An exit to the tunnel system up a rocky slope will take us topside near the outpost.”

I get down and walk to where Fracture holds Menace. Turning to Sythius as I draw a flashlight, I probe him. “I don’t suppose you can see in the dark.”

He jumps, staggers into me, then grabs my shoulders. “Don’t scare me like that. Shit, Sef! No. I can’t see in the dark.”

“I can see you,”

I jeer at him. “Your heart is racing.”

Sythius makes a hesitant noise. “You’re shitting me.”

“Nope. I can see Solcrue, humans, and Titans.”

I click on my flashlight and help Fracture get down with Menace.

“For real?”

Syth asks.

“Yes.”

I sling my bag back on my shoulders. In the light, Fracture is smooth and seamless, more so than any Relic model if not for the cragged lines all over his body.

Together, the three of us get Menace up the slope and climb out of the brush into the night.

“Sef…”

“For the love of stars, Sythius. What?”

I notice a strange emptiness on his face in the flashlight’s beam like I just wrecked his entire world. I can’t say I’m sorry about it after what he put me through.

“No games,” I snap.

He nods. “If I had known all of your skills, I wouldn’t have done what I did.”

“No. Probably worse.”

I draw a gun from my thigh holster and lift it while I scan the woods for lifeforms.

“Why do you know about the range extender?”

Fracture asks him.

Sythius lifts a shoulder and averts his eyes. “Would catch a good price to Solcrue officers. Heard about it while I was working at the outpost we’re heading toward.”

“He was a bounty hunter like my captains. We used to run into one another a lot,”

I say as we weave between bushes and trees in the night’s cooler air.

Sythius nods. “Got betrayed and lost everything. My ship. A hand.”

He takes off a glove and shows Fracture and loopy Menace his cybernetic replacement.

It doesn’t surprise me someone was mad at him enough to do such a thing, but part of me does twist up, seeing the cybernetics because I’m familiar with how much pain a single stab can cause. Knowing he lost a limb crushes the last of my hatred toward him. Surviving this galaxy is messy. I’ve done things I’m not proud of because I was in immense pain. It’s not fair that I judge him when I’ve done the same.

“Lieutenant Thorsh sold me out. So I took a cargo job no one else wanted, which ended up being somewhere no one else wanted to go—here. I’ve worked here for months without pay, living on shitty rations, and getting zapped like a human for every mistake,”

Sythius mutters.

“Really? But you look Solcrue.”

Fracture is sluggish and clearly low on power, so I pick the closest defensible space I can find and motion to a cave in the mountainside.

“They consider me dirty.”

Sythius kicks a loose rock and swears. “So unless I’m selling something they need but otherwise can’t get, I’m worthless to them.”

The mood of our group sours, and I feel like I need to say something. “We’re not worthless. None of us are.”

Sythius adjusts his weapons belt and stumbles as he blindly marches by Fracture’s other side. “Honestly, Sef. I don’t know. I thought being an animal would keep me safe. Kill others before I’m killed kind of thing. But being on the other end of that is pretty shitty. And that’s how Solcrue are.”

Menace growls. “The second I think you’re going to stab any of us in the back, I’m going to tear your throat out with my teeth. And don’t push it. I’m starving.”

Fracture’s eyes light up, then Menace’s, telling me they’re conversing. I don’t harass them this time because I think it’s not something I want to hear.

In the distance is a string of white lights that I wager must belong to the outpost. “As long as you prove you’re going to contribute and fight to be a part of this family, then you can stay with us. Respect has to be earned and loyalty proven, and that means sacrifice. That’s what it takes to not die alone.”

Sythius hisses at me then looks away. “Alright.”

I lead our small group up some rocks, into a cavern behind a trickling waterfall, and into the depths of a damp cave. It will work for a few hours.

I set my pack down and hand Sythius a medical kit. “You can help by replenishing Fracture.”

He takes the kit with hesitation and digs through it for available boosters.

“How did you get your hands on a coilgun?”

Fracture asks me.

“Have a klepto friend.”

I jerk my head toward Sythius as I pull out every nanosolution booster in the kit, as well as the synthskin repair patches and a set of tools I need to connect the broken pieces inside Menace’s body. “Need something stolen? He’s your guy.”

“Need someone dead? Talk to Sef,”

Sythius adds without looking at me. I don’t think he’s in the mood for attention.

“How did you two find each other down here?”

Fracture asks as Sythius hands him an injector.

“He found me in the hallway while I was trying to find a way to get to Menace. He tied me up, and I broke free by kicking his junk into the next solar system. After a brief heart-to-heart, he came back for me with the coilgun.”

Sythius gasps. “I didn’t—”

I arch a brow and scowl at him. “Then what were you doing? Trying to kill the person you wanted to take with you when you left this galaxy behind? That makes sense.”

He works his jaw around like he’s chewing on something, even though I know there’s nothing on his tongue but lies and denial.

I seal the slices in Menace’s body with dermal repair gel. “You did because you wanted to and don’t want to be alone anymore. You just suck at being honest.”

Sythius shrugs like he isn’t sure how to respond.

“You didn’t punch me the second time you saw me. That’s progress,” I say.

“Don’t touch her again,”

Menace slurs and tries to push himself upright. “I will kill you.”

I push Menace down. “Hush. You’re in no position to make threats. You healed me. Now it’s my turn.”

Menace’s red eyes languidly find mine.

“Lost too much nanosolution, I know.”

I draw a pouch from my bag and guide it to his lips. “Sythius grabbed the last of what he could from Quris’ body after he got some vicarious revenge for his hand.”

Menace mutters as I dig through his chest to repair the mechanical ribs and reattach the main components from intercostal muscle pistons to filtration systems for his lungs. Then I work my way down to his torn abs. I’m not a cybertech, but I understand mechanical concepts enough to fix the major parts. I hope his nanocytes can do the rest.

“I tried to kill Cerszl. You know him as Creator Quris. I see by his augments, I just messed him up, which is nice to think about but not good if he needs to be stopped from hurting more people and Titans.”

Injecting Menace with his first booster as I finish his abdominal repairs, I watch him visibly relax. “I just wanted to be sure it worked this time. I didn’t realize he had an ultromotor, but Sythius knew. So I’m glad he found me again. It’s just odd for a Creator to have one. I always thought they were human.”

“And the grenade?”

Fracture asks.

“It was either all of us leave or none of us,”

I reply. “I had no intention of letting Quris get a hold of me or anyone else again.”

“Ruthless,”

Sythius remarks. “You could’ve let me in on that plan.”

“Didn’t trust you yet.”

“I am sorry to learn of Mintaka,”

Fracture says, taking a blanket out of a pack and wrapping it around his bare waist.

“She was our first and only female stealth model,”

Menace groans, holding his head. “Creator Quris used her against us and us against her. We told her to sacrifice us if that’s what it took for her to live.”

The idea touches my heart. Titans are all so inherently protective of women that it’s evident even in the most ruthless of their species.

“So few females ever made it to certification. They were always and only ever CyberPilots. But Quris was an evil Creator.”

Menace sighs. “I often wonder what she would’ve been like if she’d made it to the battlefield. But at least the other Creators discovered what he was doing and blocked him from Titan.”

“I’m sorry,”

I say quietly. “Not all humans are good.”

“Not your fault.”

Menace steadies my hands as I place the last bandage over his stomach. “Sefi—”

I crawl up to him, see the weariness framing his eyes, and give him two more boosters. I’ll have to wait to administer the last until his nanotoner has had enough time to convert the current volume of new solution.

He catches my hand and draws it to his chest. “Why did you kiss me?”

“Do I have to be able to explain it?”

I ask. “There are a lot of reasons.”

“You don’t want me,”

Menace tells me. And yet, he doesn’t let go of my hands. He doesn’t really want me to walk away. He just feels like he doesn’t deserve love.

“There’s a little left,”

I pull the bag of Quris’ nanosolution from my pack and prop Menace up in my lap. I help him finish drinking the last of it, then pull out a blanket from the pack and drape it over Menace’s body because he’s in the worst shape of all of us.

“How did you end up with Quris?”

I ask Fracture as I clean the slice on Menace’s forehead and place a nano patch over it. The medicine quickly melts into his synthskin and seals the cut.

Menace quietly watches me as I sweep his dark bangs aside and inspect the repair. His hair is much softer than I expected. Meeting his gaze, I give him a hesitant smile, feeling suddenly more vulnerable than I ever did in the hands of a horny hunter or a gluttonous junker. And I think it’s because life is finally starting to feel like it means something to me on a personal level.

Fracture shifts in the loose dirt and rock, making scraping noises as he repositions to lean back against the wall. “I was fighting on a Sunflare’s hull when the sound of a Brother in pain made its way into my coms through another Brother. I went to find him and was then captured.

“Quris kept me in the cold because of how much it slowed me. I couldn’t run or fight that way. He only had to catch one critical piece in his electromagnetic force field, and I couldn’t escape without decommissioning myself. After three years under his rule, I’m starting to think I should have.”

“Don’t say that. You’re here with us now because you didn’t give up,”

I say, still gently playing with Menace’s bangs. It’s such a contradiction to feel something so soft and delicate on a metal man who just endured torture, one who can kill a pack of mutant wolves with a simple blade.

I look up at Fracture. “You went after your Brother because that’s what Brothers do. That’s what family does, even when we know the risk might end up destroying us.

“If we don’t make it, we just try to be a pain in the enemy’s ass for as long as possible because that takes their attention away from everyone else who can build the resistance and give them a chance to break free.”

Fracture’s pale blue irises brighten. His body begins to seal up like Menace’s. I think the nanoboosters are working. “I see why you like her.”

Menace rumbles a sigh.

I look down at him and see him drumming a finger on his chest.

“Don’t blame him,”

Fracture remarks. “Rogues are more perceptive of emotion, but all Titans can sense what others feel if their coms are unlocked.”

“I may just switch off forever since none of you will leave me alone,”

Menace snarls.

Sythius rests back against a boulder. I think he’s a bit overwhelmed and maybe frustrated with his behavior toward Titans the way he hugs himself and hides in a shadow.

“Are you okay?”

I ask him.

Sythius leans his head back. “Great. I’m just realizing how out of the loop I am. I know Solcrue systems but never really studied humans because they weren’t a threat. But now I wish I didn’t feel so lost.”

Fracture turns to him. “I can catch you up. Menace gave me a backup of his memories in case he did not survive so I could take revenge for him and operate in his place.”

“That’s cold bro,”

Sythius remarks. “Titan or not.”

“It is how we continue. Menace would not have died permanently until all of us who carry his memories were gone.”

Sythius squirms and raises his eyebrows like he can’t imagine it.

I leave Fracture to catch Sythius up while I roll Menace onto his side so I can repair his back. He has three punctures that aren’t sealing. They’re too wide and deep.

“Deep breath, Menace.”

He draws in, and I dig through each slice as gently as I’m able, knowing it causes him pain. Menace’s muscles quiver like he’s fighting to not lash out. We have no numbing agents for synthskin, not that it would matter when the damage is so deep.

After reconnecting the parts I can, I squeeze some nano gel into the cavities and tape his wounds shut.

Menace grunts and shivers, so I adjust the blanket over him. “Sefi?”

I give him one last inspection for anything I missed, and then I stuff my bag under his head and curl up behind him. My body heat isn’t much next to his, but it will help him use more of his energy for healing. “Yes?”

Menace tries to look back at me, then winces and stops. “Why didn’t you just leave me when you broke free?”

“I didn’t want to.”

“But…”

“You didn’t leave me even when I was being a major pain in the ass.”

“My duty is to protect you, not the other way around. And you were assigned to guard humans, not Titans,”

he defends.

I think back to seeing him on the metal panel he was strapped to and hearing his cries of agony. It wasn’t just from physical pain. Menace felt alone and forgotten, and guilt had overpowered his desire to live.

Sliding an arm around his muscled torso, I pretend like I’m checking bandages so he doesn’t question me, then I simply don’t let go. “Get used to it, Menace. Hate me if you have to. I’m going to protect you, and I’m going to care for you.”

He lets out a soft laugh, then groans.

“Easy. I’ve got my sensors tuned to the approaching path. You just focus on healing.”

He lets out a weighted breath. “If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought you and Mintaka were twins.”

“Unless her name was Sadina, Secora, or Isanora, then we’re not related.”

Menace is quiet, and I wonder if he’s drifted off to sleep.

“Menace?”

I prop myself up and lean over his massive shoulder to check his eyes. They’re filled with the red light of programming code. He doesn’t respond; he just closes his eyes.

I lie down and start to pull my arm back when Menace catches my hand. He draws it around his body again, pressing it against his chest with a warm palm. It’s such a simple gesture, but it lets me know he needs the attention and likes it, even if everything about him would normally make me run in the other direction.

“Thank you, Sefi,”

he whispers. “We can take back the world in the morning because of you.”

“It’s a team effort,”

I say. “We humans can’t do much on our own. But together, we can achieve the impossible, like build starships, rebellions, and immortal hunks like you.”

His lungs shake with what I think is a laugh. Menace calms. “We can die, Sefi.”

“Not in a safe world. If we can give you that, you will live forever.”

“What if we don’t want that?”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

He draws my hand away from his chest. Warm breath falls over my fingers before they’re met with the soft texture of his lips. “What’s the point if we don’t have the only thing that makes it worthwhile?”

“I guess you’ll just have to find that at some point somewhere.”

Menace turns over and covers me with half of the blanket. He finds my chin with his fingers and maps my face. “I am usually the one others turn to for the impossible tasks.”

“I know what it feels like to be left behind. I wasn’t going to do that to you,”

I tell him. “The monster you are is one out of necessity. No one can or should blame you for adapting. That is a biological trait that ensures our survival.”

Menace pulls me against him. His eyelids droop, and he finally rests.

I don’t think he knows how much it means to me that he trusts me to keep watch. To have a Titan relinquish their guard post to a human says a lot and makes me feel like maybe there is hope for me. Maybe I’m not a complete failure after all.

Menace’s sleeping face exposes his exhaustion. I kiss his cheek and tuck myself closer to him. “I am so sorry for what they did to you.”

I say it even though I know he can’t hear me. But it’s eating me up inside how anyone could turn on our most stunning creations.

Until my spark is dark, I will fight for you, Titan Menace. This I swear.

I am your sentinel. You are my charge. I will forever stand guard through wind, fire, and iron rain. No matter my pain, you will be safe.