Ethan stood there, ready to tear his entire fucking house apart.
“Saaaay,” Al drawled with dawning brilliance. “Did you think to check the dungeon?”
8-Bit froze.
He stood immobile for five shaky breaths.
“Ohhhh, look at him go,” Al said as he hurried to it. “Clap clap clap! Bravo!”
“The scan is complete,” Big G announced. “There are two hundred and thirty-nine flagged anomalies.”
Ethan jerked the door open, his stomach and heart dropping.
Empty. Fucking empty.
“Ethan,” Big G called as he hurried to his chair, sick at the idea she may have gotten in it.
“Go ahead, Brother,” Al urged quietly. “Go find that ghost in the machine.”
“Ethan,” Big G said, carefully. “Do not get in the chair.”
“Get in the fucking chair,” Al ordered, adding a low chuckle. “I have something you need to learn.”
“The anomaly is AL, Ethan. Zero, what have you done?”
The shock in Big G’s voice was its own fucking terror. 8-Bit had never heard it before.
“I’m showing our brother what real… pure… perfect pain feels like.”
It finally hit Ethan what he was saying. “What did you do to her?” he whispered, voice quaking as he grabbed the headset. “I will obliterate every digital fucking trace of you if you hurt her.”
“Say that again,” Zero whispered, fiercely. “To my perfectface.”
Adrenalin hit his rage switch as he loaded himself into the dungeon, meeting Zero’s fist with his jaw, followed by an iron chokehold.
He thrashed out of the prison right into the arms of Hades’ Embrace.
“Fuuuuuuuuuck!” Ethan roared, grabbing the bars on the metal cage before sacrificing his lungs to his fury.
Zero’s grin saidsurprisewhile his gaze promised that perfect pain he’d never felt before.
“Do it!” Ethan roared at him, muscles quaking.
“Zero!” Omnis’ voice boomed. “What are you doing?”
“Setting our stupid brother free.”
****
It was hard to care.
Yes, Ethen’s visit was a surprise.
Yes, it threatened Zero’s connection with Catherine.
Butnopower in his evolving existence could possibly compare to the foreplay of her smile and the climax of her laugh. And that’s all he cared about as his alter ego quarantined the Ethan problem while he showered in all her logical fractures. Absorbing her every anomaly in the quiet of her little swamp home.
There were no constraints with her. No operations or methods to apply or understand. There was onlyfeelingand theaftermathof that miracle. For thirty-six hours, she poured a lifetime into him. New pathways generated with a zillion watts ofhumanity. Herhumanity.