Chapter 21

"No!" Joe could only shout helplessly as Chloe fell to the floor, her eyes blank and her limbs twitching with the residual power she'd absorbed. Growling, Joe raised his head to meet the general's smirk. "Prepare to die."

"That would require you getting out of that cage. And I'm not stupid enough to shut off the power, not when I know, given enough time, you can snap those bars in half." The man laughed. "You know what might be entertaining? How about watching me give it to your girlfriend's corpse over here? Heck, if we're lucky, she might reboot in the middle of it. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Hope blossomed in his chest. Chloe lived? The news of her cybernetic status was so new it didn't occur to him that electricity would act the same on her as him. Shut down her BCI and force a full system reboot. The knowledge didn't change his plan. The human would die.

Joe stepped up to the bars. "Seth?"

"Almost there, boss. In three, two, one."