Hybrid Read Free

one-year-old.”
    Dom crouches down to her level. His gorgeous silver-flecked eyes appear hollow, their usual warmth gone, relegated somewhere else. “Stop wallowing. I won’t be here soon, so you won’t need to throw a tantrum every time I’m near. Focus. You have to focus. If anyone can do this, it’s you.”
    Sai recoils a little. His words feel like a slap. Part of her wants to hug him, like the hugs she got when he accompanied her on those horrible GNW missions, but the other part of her wants to run and put as much distance between them as she can manage because the line of trust they had is shattered.
    “I’m not your responsibility anymore,” Sai snaps. Using mainly upper body strength, she levers herself up over the bed and wills her legs to obey, focusing completely on how they should be when standing. There’s a slight buzz and a click in her head and suddenly she is standing, with just a hand on the bed to steady her.
    “What the...” Sudden drowsiness threatens to send her crashing to the ground again. Dom scoops a hand under her elbow and guides her to sit on the bed instead of revisiting the floor.
    “Focus long enough for it to learn. There will be trial and error, but adrium isn’t stupid. It’ll learn if you let it. With some intelligence to guide it.” Dom shrugs and rolls his shoulders.
    Sai snatches her elbow back from him. His face blanks over, expressionless.
    “I wish I could take this back.” He gestures helplessly at her legs, gaze lingering momentarily, and pauses as he looks back up at her. “I really am sorry, Sai.”
    She can hear the sincerity in his voice, but doesn’t feel the emptiness until he’s already gone. “Damn legs,” she mutters, pretending the cold in the room isn’t the sudden loss she feels at Dom leaving.
    “That they are.” Mathur lays a hand on her shoulder. “But we will have you up and phasing in no time.” He glances at her pale face. “Or at least, in a few weeks. You do realize your own healing can help speed the process up a bit, right?”
    Exhausted and wondering why she didn’t think of healing herself first, she clings to his words instead. “Do we have a few weeks?”
    “Of course, little one,” Mathur says, his face crinkling into that fond smile he wears so well. His expression softens as he watches her maneuver herself back into bed, much more independently than the previous days. “We just won a victory, after all.”

Sai glares at her legs as she dangles them over the side of the bed. It’s taken a few days, but her reflexes are getting better, even though some things are still sluggish. Like deliberately swinging her legs back and forth. The reaction time is always a little off from what she wants.
    She sighs and wiggles her toes, happy with their response. Her mobility is severely limited, and it irks her. They need her in this fight, for what she has the power to do, and the longer it takes her to adapt, the less time they have to prepare. She doesn’t blame Mathur for making himself scarce the last few days because her temper may be a wee bit erratic, but it might have been nice to have someone to talk things over with.
    Even now the floor is impossibly far away, but the more she stands, the less it will exhaust her.
    With a grimace, she lowers her shiny new feet gently to the ground and barely notices the now-familiar click in her head as her legs shift to support her. They not only look smooth, but feel it in her head. Yet at the same time, it’s a totally alien sensation. Sai admires them for a second, steadying her breath, and then she moves, slowly walking to the bed on the other side of the room. It’s only a few steps, but it drains her energy and it’s all she can do to cling to the bed and stay upright, careful to avoid any buttons or levers that might lower it accidentally.
    “I told you she wouldn’t take this lying down.” Iria’s bright voice suffuses the room, and Sai groans at the pun.
    “Really?”