Page 71 of Rebels Rising

As we approached the door that would lead us to the woman I loved, I paused. Sensing I needed to say something, he stopped with me and waited patiently for me to speak.

‘You care for her, too,’ I said, only to receive not reaction. I didn’t expect one anyway. ‘More than you’re willing to admit.’

‘She is important to our cause.’

‘She is important to your woman,’ I amended. ‘Which means she is important toyou. This is now personal for you, too, whether you like it or not.’

I wasn’t sure why I’d decided to confront him about it, but the burning need to ensure she was surrounded by people who were loyal to her, who genuinely cared about her won out. There would be no moving forward until we could all be honest with ourselves. He may not love her like I did, like Prince Brommyt and potentially even Cadmus did, but we were all a part of her unit.

Even when she tried to push us away, we would remain steadfast by her side. She deserved nothing less.

He didn’t respond, choosing to ignore my words and their truths in favour of walking inside the cockpit. I followed him inside, leaving the discomfort from the interaction outside. I pulled up short at what greeted me.

Dave Junior was in the corner, pretending to snooze but the single eye peeking open gave him away. The pilot was tapping away on the holo-screen, the controls lighting up under the contact of her fingertips. The weapons specialist was poised and prepared to fire, but his wide-eyed gaze was set firmly on the people seated around holo-table in the centre of the room, eachone of them with their heads bent, eyes closed, and emanating a telltale blue glow.

Artemis, Adara and Reece were whom I expected to see in such a state, but Bromm and Cadmus were the reason for my shock. While everyone was aware of Bromm’s collapse and his recent awakening, the fact that the two of them were somehow a part of the Cyborg Club was news to me. Blindsiding news.

‘Take your position by the wall, Tormik,’ Xander ordered, and I snapped back to the present to obey.

I positioned myself so I could see all angles of the room and the door, but that also allowed me full view of the holo-screen and its contents. Currently, there were images displaying our ship and the surrounding areas as the scanner picked up on potential dangers. In front of us was a large, cloud-like congealment of rocks that was undoubtedly the asteroid field stretching for miles ahead of us like a wall of doom. Behind us, a fast-approaching ship larger than our own was gaining ground at an alarming rate. It was clear that whatever time we’d thought we had was up sooner than anticipated.

My eyes connected with Xander’s as he took the last remaining seat around the table beside his girlfriend, the gravity of our situation digging deep grooves into the lines of his face that I had no doubt was mirrored on my own. Adrenaline coursed through me as my body prepared for the coming fight, and I my gaze finally rested on Artemis. She looked deceptively frail with her head bowed over the table, hands reaching out to the men on either side of her, and a part of her was. The part of her that still longed to belong, to have family and friends and lovers alike. To be surrounded by people who cared for her just as much as she cared for them. And she had that here, whether she realised it or not. She was building her dream, and pride rose to the surface as I gazed upon them all.

She may not have needed me to protect her body, but she still needed someone to protect her heart. Whatever happened, I would protect it at all costs, even if she didn’t want me to. That was my real assignment.

CHAPTER 22

Reece

The web was aptly named. White lines of varying luminosities spanned out in a vast web-like tangle. I didn’t know why I expected anything different, especially considering she’d described the place before, but I had. Perhaps I thought the lines would be more delicate like a thin trails of spun silk, or perhaps I had imagined the lines to have some sort of organisational structure like an arachnid’s web.

Hell, for all I knew, there was a giant, eight-legged creature just waiting on the outskirts for its prey to wonder close enough to pounce. Obviously, that wasn’t the case, but I couldn’t help that my mind had conjured up the worst.

The other thing I discovered upon my entrance was that I was, in fact, completely alone. We knew it was a possibility, but I had held out hope that Adara at the very least would be visible to me here, thanks to our nanites coming from the same batch.

The biggest downside to being alone, besides not being able to communicate with the others that I knew were in here somewhere even if I couldn’t interact with them, was the soul-sucking abyss the web was weaved in. I wasn’t corporeal like Artemis said she, Bromm and Cadmus were here, but if I recalled correctly that hadn’t happened until they’d been connected through the transmitted nanites.

A curiosity over the whole situation hit me hard. I wanted to delve deeper into that mystery to figure out how that was not only possible butwhythe nanites had made it so in the first place. When I removed myself from the situation, the whole thing was mind-bogglingly fascinating.

Regardless, that wasn’t what I was here for. I had a job to do and we had planned for this eventuality. I was sure Artemis already knew Addy and I would find ourselves alone here and had let us hope just in case.

I remembered my instructions and as soon as I thought of what I wanted to do I was in motion, the web responding to my desires without any further effort from me. Lines whipped by at dizzying speeds only I wasn’t physicallyhere so I felt nothing. Images and sounds jumped out at me from all around, disappearing as soon as they came until I finally came to a halt at what looked like an oversized holographic keypad. I scowled at it until I realised I needed to put in the pin, and though I didn’t know the code I started inputting random numbers.

Suddenly, the web took over once again and the codes began rapidly inputting themselves until they came to the correct combination, unlocking the blockage in the pathway and allowing me entry.

Okay, that was awesome.

The web picked me back up again and zoomed me down the line until we reached another roadblock with the same result. Again and again it happened until, finally, I came to my destination.

Reminiscent of the holo-screen in the ship’s cockpit, one appeared in front of me displaying exactly what Eloria was doing back in reality. I watched as the holographic images depicted the enemy ship closing in on us while we were inching dangerously close to the asteroid field. If we weren’t careful we would end up being squashed by both.

I got to work, utilising the web’s natural helpful inclinations to achieve my goals. I noticed others were working alongside me as well, the screen showing multiple actions taking place. It was helpful in the way that I could see what they were doing to weave my own actions around theirs. Addy, Bromm, Cadmus and I were tasked with layering shields over the top of one another’s to provide extra protection from all angles. It took a moment to connect my mind with the ship’s programming enough to create something so physical, however, and I felt that my tangible body back in the cockpit was sweating profusely with the effort. It was a strange sensation, my mind almost being in two places at once. Or perhaps that was exactly what was happening. My mind was focused more inside the web, but if I tried I could still sense what was going on around me back in the real world.

I struggled to wrap my head around it and eventually gave up trying. Not everything needed to be understood to be fully experienced and appreciated. This was one of those cases.

All in all, I was pretty damn proud of myself for how quickly I was picking up on this whole cyborg deal. I’m sure it was a lot easier with the help from Arty, her experience and expertise allowing us to fine-tune our understandingof what we were capable of in a manner in which I was sure she hadn’t received herself. I was more than grateful that we all had her.

Suddenly, an incoming alert popped up on the holo-screen. It was hard to see, hidden behind the images tracking the distance between the ships, but there was no way I could have missed it. The shock of what I was seeing dragged me right out of the web and I slammed back into my body with a jolt. My arms windmilled as I attempted to catch myself but it was too late. I crashed to the ground, limbs akimbo.

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