Page 4 of I Dated a Holiday Hero
She wheezed. “What do you want it to do?”
“Destroy actives.”
“What kind?”
“All.”
“This thing can’t fly and isn’t submersible. You need them to wander in front of you, like sheep.”
She coughed and wiped blood off the tablet. Her ribs were braced with half her shirt being tied tight around her torso. She was as supported as well as she could be.
The researcher growled. “It worked in Uradda.”
“And they have lost all their actives. How sad is that?” She grinned.
She wasn’t allowed to touch the vehicle, so she only had the designs to go on. “So, I asked before, what do you want this to do?”
“Stun blasts.”
She looked and said, “Wrong power supply. You need a higher range of power output to short out nervous systems. This will just give them headaches.”
There was a thud in the distance, and she kept asking questions while the researcher asked, “Who is coming for you?”
“I dunno? Maybe my family.”
“You... don’t have family.”
She didn’t look up from the designs. “I was adopted into a very large family.”
More distant thuds and shouting.
“A very large, angry family.”
There was a soft huffing, and claws tore the researcher’s neck out. When the man took form, she had been prepared to greet her cousin, but she blinked and squeaked. “Patron?”
“Fifty-Five? Or is Hever appropriate?”
He was standing with white hair, wearing a dark green suit with a blood-red trim.
He reached out to touch the blood on her cheek, but a sharp voice rapped out, “Hever! What did you get yourself into?”
“I am sorry, Doc.”
Torenne arrived at her side. “Zera said she heard your breath slurping around.”
“Yeah, well, I broke a rib, and it went for a walk.”
Torenne said, “Sit up, this is going to hurt.”
“Bring it, bitch.”
Torenne grinned and pressed her hand to Hever’s side. The entire area was on fire, but then it settled. The hand was next.
When Torenne ran her hands through Hever’s hair, they were close. Torenne chuckled. “Chocolate and honey?”
“Yeah, feel free to make fun of me. They took my scent nullifiers. I will put my cuffs on as soon as I am home again.”
Torenne worked on her head wound. “Is that what those are? I just thought you wore jewellery.”
