Marcus 582: Book Three of Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined

by Donna McDonald

  She watched him fill his pockets with her components as he stepped away from her and prepared to leave.

  “There’s no time to remove the processor and ripping it out would destroy it. We’re going to have to get rid of it the old fashioned way, I’m afraid. It will have to fry itself inside you. I hate to lose the technology, but such is the cost of real science. Look on the bright side…after this you’ll no longer be a cyborg. I know how much you hate them.”

  He lifted the remote again, only to lower it when he heard a voice at the door yelling her name. Like something from an old action vid, her tormentor flattened himself against the wall. Marcus burst in and immediately ran to her. At the door, her torturer slipped around its edges and snuck outside into the hallway without being seen.

  She tried to point to him, but it did no good. Marcus wouldn’t look at anything but her.

  Head—she mouthed silently, before the dizziness completely overwhelmed her. She closed her eyes and melted with relief into Marcus’s arms.

  Chapter 16

  Marcus felt on Rachel’s scalp until he found the button to open her panel. When it gave way, he peered inside and swore. She was passed out now…and no wonder. The only thing left in her cybernetic compartment was the bad guy’s processor. Panic raced through him.

  Could the processor alone provide enough life support functionality to keep her brain alive? Could Rachel possibly die because all her chips were missing? He had to know the answer and quickly. He fumbled in his pockets until he found his handheld. His hands were shaking as he connected to Kyra.

  “Marcus, is everything alright?” she asked, answering immediately.

  “Doc, they took her all her chips. All that’s left is her processor. Is Rachel going to die?”

  Instead of answering, he heard Kyra yell for Peyton and go off-screen for a tense moment. When she came back, he saw the seriousness of the situation before she spoke. His gaze dropped to the woman in his arms. This couldn’t be happening…not to Rachel…not to him.

  “Marcus, listen to me closely. Peyton and I are on our way. Eric is going to get there first. Do what Eric says no matter how crazy it sounds. I have to break this connection in case Eric needs to call either of us. Just…keep an eye on her breathing.”

  The com went dead and something inside Marcus did too. He closed his eyes and fought tears of frustration. All the time he’d spent watching her had been for nothing. Here she was dying and he’d been off seeking revenge. All those months he’d guarded her, he should have spent that time teaching her how to be more aware. His ego had been too wrapped in him being her protector. He should have taught her how to fight for herself. Rachel was his biggest failure. She was so young…so beautiful. It wasn’t right for her to die yet.

  Because there was no one there to witness his meltdown, he bent his face to Rachel’s and wept. Now she’d never know he loved her…that he’d fallen in love with her the moment she’d defied Brad Smith to help save them all. When Eric ran inside the still open door, his friend found him with tears running down his cheeks. Marcus didn’t even care.

  “They stole all her chips, Eric. I think she’s dying. Kyra wouldn’t tell me…but I could see it on her face.”

  Eric’s eyes flashed. “No. Rachel is not going to die. You’re going to pull my logic chip and put it in her.”

  Marcus glared at him in disbelief. “And watch you die instead of her? What the hell kind of answer is that? No one should have to die to fix this shit. She’s not really a cyborg anyway. She didn’t sign up for this life. Her survival shouldn’t hang on some missing technology from cybernetics she never wanted.”

  “Stop losing your shit, Marcus. No one is going to die, especially me,” Eric declared. “Look—I’d pull the chip myself, but it’s physically impossible. You’re going to have to do it. Remember when we got emergency training on how to revive a dying cyborg with the chips of one damaged beyond repair? Well, this is not exactly that kind of situation, but it’s close. I have a spare logic chip and we’re going to use it.”

  Marcus glared. “You’re lying and I’m not sacrificing you, Eric. Don’t ask me to choose between two people I care about. What if I lost both of you? Then I’d be completely alone.”

  Eric knelt until he was eye-to-eye with Marcus. “I know this is hard for you, but you have to calm down and listen. I realize you’re scared about losing her, but that doesn’t have to happen. I’m double wired. I always have been. I’m a cyborg times two—two panels, two processors, and two damn logic chips which control life support function for the brain. I can operate on either one or just one. They replicate to each other back and forth, which is how I rebound from things quicker than the rest of the team. But technically I only need one logic chip to survive. Rachel needs one before brain damage starts to occur. This is the only way, Marcus.”

  “Kyra and Peyton are on their way. Kyra can do it when she gets here. I’m not a technician.”

  Eric shook his head and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I know Kyra is coming, but she isn’t going to get here in time. They’re too far away and Rachel has been waiting long enough. Doc made me run all the way here from Nathan’s condo because she knew I was Rachel’s best chance.”

  “What if I pull the wrong chip?” Marcus demanded.

  “You won’t. The largest chip is the logic chip. Just don’t mess with the others. And after you pull mine…well, you’re going to be alone for a bit while my functions transfer. While I’m out, you’re going to have to install the logic chip in Rachel immediately. Afterward, use your onboard power to send a slight charge to the processor to jumpstart the reboot.”

  Marcus swallowed. “I can’t do all that, Eric…I can’t hold both your lives in my clumsy hands. Why would you ask me to do this? Haven’t we been through enough?”

  Eric squeezed Marcus’s shoulder and shook it hard. “You can do it and you damn well will. We are not going to let Rachel just lie here and die in your arms. She’s going to live and tell us who the bastard is that did this to her. Then we’re going after the sonofabitch and take him down. Now damn it, Marcus. Pull one of my logic chips and put the fucker in Rachel.”

  Eric reached up and felt for his component panel on the side nearest Marcus. He tilted his head until the open compartment was nearly in front of his friend’s nose. “Just do it.”

  Marcus drew in an angry breath and focused on his cyborg side trying to get calm. He took two deep breaths. “In case this goes to shit, you probably should know I love you like a brother.”

  “Are those badass tats just for show? God, you’re so mushy. I’m going to have to pull your man card. I love you too, dumbass. Now grab your balls and pull the freaking chip.”

  Marcus swore and reached into Eric’s component compartment. He yanked the largest chip from its metal slot. Eric made a strangled sound and slumped forward while Marcus’s stomach made the same motion. Had he just killed his friend?

  With trembling fingers, he slid the chip into the corresponding slot inside Rachel’s component compartment, swearing the whole time. By the time he got that task finished, he was breathing like he’d scaled a fifty story building, the main thing he had been designed to do.

  He looked at Eric’s crumpled, half-sitting form. He looked at Rachel’s completely inert one.

  “Please…please let this work,” he prayed. He pressed a fingernail and out popped a titanium spike. He had never used them for this purpose, but he sent the smallest electrical charge he could through it. Gently, ever so gently, he touched the electrified spike to Rachel’s processor. He yanked away at the zing that passed back from her through him. Rachel’s body seized in his arms. He had to hold her carefully to avoid the spike hurting her until he could manage to retract it. The little spikes allowed him to scale all kinds of surfaces, but they could also tear through an enemy cyborg’s prosthetics. He was not meant for delicate tasks.

  Rachel’s painful groaning started up an ache in his whole body. He fought
tears again. A couple of tense minutes went by while he was frozen and unable to move himself. Eric’s hunched over position finally broke through his frightened stupor. Reaching over, he grabbed Eric by the back of the neck and gently lowered him down until his unconscious friend was stretched out beside him. Rachel still lay in arms, only occasionally making sounds like a hurt animal.

  At this moment, more than ever, he hated all cyber scientists. Two people he cared about could be dying because of their damn cybernetics, while he was helpless to stop it from happening. Incapacitating emotions ruled him, which made his cyborg status a joke.

  Listening to Rachel’s painful groaning and Eric’s stark silence caused him to feel the worst case of helplessness he’d ever endured. It was as bad as being kept in an electrified cage and made to watch his fellow cyborgs be dismembered piece-by-freaking-piece. His tortured past blended seamlessly into the present moment. His processor was spinning so hard out of control he wasn’t even able to track the time that passed while he worried.

  Profound relief caused him to start trembling when Kyra Winters, a repentant scientist at least, rushed through Rachel’s door in a dead run.

  Going straight to work, Kyra didn’t even speak to him. She dropped to Eric’s side and started checking his still open panel. Then, sighing, she closed it before crawling across Eric’s body to get to Rachel. Marcus noted Kyra didn’t meet his gaze while she investigated his handiwork on her.

  Rachel stirred and moaned under Kyra’s prodding. To his shock, Kyra lifted her head and smacked Rachel fairly hard across the cheek. Rachel’s eyes reluctantly popped open and her gaze slowly focused.

  “Hello. Who are you?” Kyra demanded.

  They both stared as Rachel struggled to formulate an answer. Her hand rose to her throat and rubbed the spot where the resonance implant used to be installed.

  Her voice was nearly non-existent, not much more than a rusty whisper, when she finally did get some words out. “I am Eric…no…I…am…Rachel 235,” she croaked.

  Marcus watched Kyra visibly melt. She sat back on her butt and hugged her knees, sniffling into the arms she wearily crossed over them. Kyra sat that way for a full sixty seconds before finally lifting her tortured gaze to his.

  “You saved her, Marcus. I was so scared you wouldn’t be able to do it all. And even then…sometimes it doesn’t work. I knew I wasn’t going to make it in time to do it myself.”

  Marcus stared down into Rachel’s calm, but confused face. He stroked her cheek and frowned when she moved away from his touch.

  “Who…are…you?” she asked.

  Marcus felt fresh tears stream down his face. He’d never felt less like a cyborg since he’d been restored. Facing Rachel’s blank stare, he was only a man terrified of losing the most important person in his life. He answered from his heart.

  “My name is Marcus Kells, and you are Rachel Logan, the woman I love. Don’t you remember us?”

  When she shook her head against his lap, it was the sweetest of tortures. He didn’t lose Rachel to death, but he may have lost her to something worse. He closed his eyes and ordered himself to find some damn control over his emotional responses. Rachel was alive. He needed to quit feeling sorry for himself and be grateful for at least that.

  Taking in a deep breath, he opened his eyes and looked beside him. “Was Eric bullshitting me or is he really going to be okay?”

  Kyra rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hand. She groaned and laughed.

  “No. He wasn’t bullshitting you. This is how he was made, but not for this exact purpose. I would have thought he’d have come around by now. It shouldn’t be much longer. We need to get everyone to my lab. Nero is meeting us there with replacement parts for Rachel. I should have her restored in a few hours. Discovery of what happened will have to wait until I can investigate what was done to her. I’m going to change out her processor to increase her safety factor. I won’t leave any technology in place that makes her susceptible to being someone’s puppet.”

  Marcus nodded and gently closed Rachel’s panel. He straightened her hair to hide the access button again. By the time he’d finished, she looked almost normal. The whole time he touched her, she just quietly studied his face.

  Beside him, Eric finally stirred and then sat up with a start. Eric grabbed his arm and squeezed hard. “Did you find your balls? Did it work?”

  Marcus smiled sadly and nodded. “Yes, I found my balls. It worked, smartass. Are you happy now?”

  Eric laughed and nodded. “Yes, I am.” He looked at Rachel. She was lying in Marcus’s lap just quietly looking at them both.

  “Hey pretty lady. How are you feeling?”

  They all watched her shake her head again.

  “She’s having trouble speaking again,” Marcus said.

  Eric frowned at the news. “Well, damn it. You never got to hear her sexy voice, did you?”

  Marcus chuckled, causing Rachel’s head to bob in his lap. But at least this time, she cuddled back into it. It was enough for him to know their connection was surfacing despite all the trauma.

  “Her smile tells me everything important I need to know. I don’t care if she ever speaks again so long as she’s still alive to smile at me.”

  Eric snorted at his poetic speech for Rachel’s benefit. Marcus grinned and dropped his gaze to Rachel who was staring up at him in awe. He smoothed back her hair. “You really are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. I lost my shit when I thought you were going to die.”

  All eyes went to the door when Peyton stomped through it, more furious than they’d seen him be in a long time.

  “The damn top-of-the-line AI unit was taken out with a virus transmitted on a secure wireless channel, one not supposed to be common knowledge outside of Norton. He’s not damaged at all, just going through a complete reboot. The freaking bot is not going to have any clue afterward about what happened in the last few hours. What the fuck is going on? It’s just like what happened in Nathan 180’s building. All security records have been erased for the time all the shit went down. Creator Omega is either a very shrewd security programmer or he has created geeks who are.”

  “He’s come the closest of anyone in actually making new creator source code,” Kyra admitted sadly, letting her husband pull her to her feet. “And worst of all—I think the UCN knows who he is and exactly what he’s doing. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out they’re funding his efforts.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We’ll find him with or without the UCN’s help,” Eric declared. “When Rachel gets all her memories back—we’ll find him and we’ll stop him from ever doing this again.”

  Eric reached out a hand and helped Rachel stand up. She wove a little, but didn’t seem surprised when Marcus put his arm around her to keep her steady. “If you need a lift, I’ll happily carry you.”

  When Rachel shook her head and looked alarmed, Marcus laughed at her reaction.

  “All bets are off today. I’m not going to beg to help you. I’m just going to do what my heart tells me to,” he warned. “And don’t be pulling away from me or I’ll do it right now. I haven’t recovered from you almost dying so don’t ask me to let you out of my sight. Baby, that’s not going to happen for a long, long time.”

  Marcus grinned when fire lit her eyes. “It’s because I love you,” he said flatly. “I should have told you before. I love you. I have for a long time.”

  The fire faded and was replaced by confusion. He grabbed her chin. “It will all work out—one way or the other. You’re alive. I’m alive. And my smartass best friend in the whole world is still alive to torment me. That’s all I care about right now. We’ll worry about the rest tomorrow. Okay? Just let me help for now. I don’t want the world to see me losing my shit again.”

  Her nod against his fingers made him feel lighter. Her hand coming to pat his cheek was reassuring. It really was the little things in life that made it worth living.

  “Eric, when you’re fully functional again,
I want you to install the most badass security system in this apartment that has ever been made,” Marcus ordered.

  “I may have to invent it then,” Eric declared. “This one was my best.”

  “Invent it then,” Marcus declared. “Rachel and I are freaking tired of looking over our shoulders every five seconds for bad guys with stupidly advanced tech toys which shouldn’t even exist.”

  He grinned when Rachel’s head nodded against his shoulder in agreement. He kissed her hair and let himself feel grateful for what they had.

  Chapter 17

  Kyra focused on the task at hand, glad now she had taken a binary snapshot of the processor and its code before proceeding. Nero had dropped off her supplies and returned to his work, not happy with her decision to install the yet untested com code processor in Rachel. But she was following her instincts…and her inclinations about how cybernetic controllers should work. She’d have to take a look at the old processor herself later…or maybe tomorrow. Eric was sitting in the kitchen and waiting to get his spare chip back. That would have to come first.