Page 271 of Fatality

I circle my leg behind me, putting every ounce of strength into the lunge.

My arms wrap around his waist for a tackle.

His fists hammer into my back, I grit my teeth and keep driving forward. As he stumbles back from the impact, I hook my leg behind his ankle.

He loses his balance, the moment his foot catches, I dump him onto the floor. His body crashes into the concrete with a metallic slam.

I roll away and spring back to my feet and settle into my stance.

I can't fucking be late, I need that device.

I can’t let her be alone tonight.

If I die, Riven will probably kill me a second time just because she can.

“You can't win against technology, Evren.” He pushes himself to his feet. “You're going to die, and then I'll go to the Upper Layers, find that... girl you seem so obsessed with, cut her open, and make her exactly like me.”

He smirks, his voice dropping into something disturbingly calm.

“Or,” he continues nonchalantly, “I can just beat her up until she can't speak or even fight back. Then I'll tell her that it's your fault before fucking her with my entire arm. My hand will pierce through all of her organs until it comes out through her throat.”

For a long moment, I just stare at him without moving.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Neo and Varek snap their heads toward us.

How does he know about Riven? He's a hacker so he probably hacked my comm through my number and went through my messages with her.

He's talking about her.

About my little troublemaker.

Like that.

He's threatening her with something so vile that even I wouldn't imagine doing it to someone who has nothing to do with this.

I slowly lower my hands, drop my head forward and take a deep breath.

“What?” I ask, deadly calm.

I lift my head, my hair falling over my eyes.

Before he can even open his mouth, I move.

One second I'm staring at him, the next, I'm behind him.

I drop into a crouch, drive my hand through the bundle of wires behind his knees, grip them, and rip them free.

He stumbles forward and crashes to his knees with a cry of pain.

I close the distance.

I turn, putting us back to back, and snake one arm around the wires and tubes that serve as his neck, just beneath his still-human head.

His hands fly to my forearm, but with my free hand I seize a fistful of his hair and yank his head back.

“S-Stop!” he gurgles.

I don't answer.