Page 33 of I Dated a Holiday Hero
“Attend to your friend. He has a headache.”
She glanced, and Worro was hunched over, and he was rocking from side to side, clutching his head. In the old days, when they were dating, she would have run to his side to help him, but she had gone through her recovery without him and had been bound from speaking to him. He had simply forgotten she existed.
Krix looked between them, his jaw flexed, and he picked up Worro and then grabbed Keera. With a burst of speed, he got them back to Z-Corp for medical treatment, with the defenders needing her side of things.
Keera let herself be examined. Her clothing was removed, and she was showered with filters to catch every trace of it.
Her family was notified that she was safe, but she was being interviewed at the time.
The defender Sgoth asked her what had happened, and she told him. “We were watching the lights; I felt a hit from behind, and then I started to droop. Hands grabbed me, and I was pulled to a portal base.”
“And what happened then?”
“I verified that there were no friendlies, shifted form, and clawed them all to death before starting to walk back to Aksalla.”
“Clawed them?”
“I am a polymorph like you. My possible career was curtailed when I was attacked by a serial killer and left shredded. Kritz and Zera made me an appearance generator, but I lost everything until Hera’s situation presented a solution, and I was repaired.”
“You were a defender?”
“No. I was still in training. I was Wildling.”
Sgoth leaned back. “I heard about you. Your partner went insane when you were injured, so he was retired.”
“I didn’t have a partner,” she muttered.
“You didn’t? The records said... oh, that kind of partner.”
“Right, well, he is after Hever, and I don’t blame him. She’s lovely and charming and happy.”
“And you are?”
“Done with the interview. They grabbed me to use me to get Hever to do something, and I killed them all. They grabbed me in front of my little brother, and that filled me with rage. There was no stopping after that.”
“No. I suppose not. Wait here.”
Worro was brought in a moment later with a minder at his side. She sat and waited.
Worro was in genuine pain, and then it suddenly stopped.
The minder was sweating. “Whoever put the lock on his awareness of you was very good.”
Worro gagged, and the minder handed him a sick bag.
Keera asked, “Should I go?”
The minder said, “No, his mind is full of you in horrible condition. He needs to see you whole.”
She shrugged and looked at him. Waiting.
