Lightning Bringer: (Lighting Seeker Book 2)

AI Scramblings

Several things happened at once. Kriss who had been white as a sheet moved to the door without a glance back at her daughter. Dash only had a moment to press himself against the doorway before Kriss bolted passed, unable to get out of the room fast enough.

The booming voice of Mortem filled the hall, echoing along the metal walls in a bite. "Hey! Lightnin' yer supposed to be in bed!"

Dash ran out into the hall, a look of panic filling his face. "She's in here!" He followed Mortem into the room, a flustered look on his face. Mortem glanced down the hall the way Kriss had fled, confusion puckering at his thick bushy black brows before he turned to look at Vale.

He looked her over, an unreadable expression on his face as he took in her bound waist and bruises. "You look like shit," he said as his seven-foot form folded itself down onto the small metal chair in the room, swallowing it with his size. He had always been too massive for regular-sized anything.

Vale snorted, both at the look of him in the small chair and at his honest opinion. "Yeah, well I feel like it too." She glanced at Dash who stood in the doorway, unable to decide if he was welcome to the conversation.

Before he could make up his mind, Mortem waved his arms dramatically and waved him in. "Ye waiting for me blessin'? Get in 'ere." Dash stepped over the threshold and closed the door, keeping his distance as he leaned against the closed door. "Who was in 'ere?"

"Nurse," Dash lied easily before Vale could answer. Dash shook his head minutely when Vale shot him a questioning brow. "Just checking the bandages." Mortem nodded, seeming convinced.

"How'd I get here? Where are we?" Vale asked, her questions bubbling up now that the shock of seeing her mom had passed.

Mortem and Dash shared a look. Dash shoved his hands into his black pants pockets. "We found you," he said, oddly quiet.

Mortem growled, seeming to bristle, making his beard puff up like an irritated cat. "In a dumpster, on a sidestreet," he said like it was poison in his mouth.

Vale waited for more information but when neither of them spoke again, she cut into the silence needing them to be less strange. "Stop acting like I died. I'm fine." They both moved to protest but she held up her metal hand. "Seriously. I get beat up all the time. Why are you both acting like this is a brand new development? At least I kept all my limbs this time."

Dash gave a mechanical nod, shooting her an uneasy smile. Mortem muttered a creative string of curses under his breath.

"It isn't that you were injured..." Dash spoke carefully, his eyes on the ground. "It's that you lived." He shook his head and took her in like a puzzle that he couldn't quite solve. "You should be dead."

Dread washed over Vale. "You think they reprogrammed me." It wasn't a question and she could see the wariness on their faces. AI's could reprogram people who had proven too rebellious, a danger to the system. That was one of the reasons why getting caught was unacceptable. And she had just been kept alive, yet beaten and battered, but alive enough to be reprogrammed.

"It's somethin' we 'ave to consider," Mortem replied with a huff.

Vale nodded. It wasn't something that words could convince them of otherwise. "What do I need to do," she asked. It wasn't something as simple as answering a few trick questions. Mortem gave a nod towards Dash, asking him to speak.

Dash set his jaw and ran his fingers through his hair, a hard look crossing his features. "It's gonna hurt," he began, waiting for Vale to protest.

Vale crossed her arms, the gesture awkward with her bandaged arm, but the silence took too long to fizzle out while she waited. "So? You don't think I have a high pain tolerance?" she asked sarcastically while wiggling her metal fingers.

She wasn't going to be deterred. The longer it took for her to prove herself to be of sound mind, the longer it would take for them to trust her. And she couldn't take the idea of being isolated from anyone else.

An amused grin that looked more like a grimace cracked across Mortem's rough face. "Good." He stood to his feet, the metal chair appearing below him again, looking slightly dented after having the unfortunate job of holding him up.

He looked uncomfortable again, unable to make eye contact with Vale as he moved to the door. "You got it?" he asked Dash. The doctor replied with a silent nod as Mortem shuffled through the door.

After the metal door slammed shut behind him, Vale let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "What is wrong with him? And why did you lie about my mom?"

Dash was quiet as he moved over to a machine that Vale had neglected to see when she first woke up. A monstrous metal structure with glistening knobs and black, thick wires sat in the corner of the room. A stuttering growl emitted from it as Dash's fingers pressed the screen at its middle. "I can't answer anything until we get this whole reprogrammed thing sorted," he replied sounding truly sorry.

The machine seemed to growl in warning, sending a shiver down Vale's spine that she did her best to hide. She wouldn't be afraid. No matter what that machine was going to do to her. But even with all of her resolve, her voice was unsteady. "Dash?" He didn't look at her as he pushed the machine over, stopping it at the foot of her bed.

"I know this sucks," he said before looking up at her. "And I'm sorry that we have to be so freaking paranoid."

Vale gave him a weak shrug, wincing as pain snaked up her arm. "It makes sense."

"Doesn't make it fun though," Dash muttered, seeming as irritated at the situation as she was.

"What no snide remarks? No test questions to make sure I'm really me?"

Dash grew quiet, his fingers hovering over a mechanical lever. "I don't think the occasion calls for humor."

Vale sighed and leaned her head back to stare at the ceiling. "I wish it did. You being calm and serious is freaking me out."

"Geeze, and here I thought you'd like me to take the situation seriously."

Vale shot him an amused grin. "Things are bad when you are serious. So try and be an ass for the time being."

Dash touched his chest in mock anger. "Dang never pull your punches do ya." He placed several metal plates against Vale's temple. "Okay, I'm going to walk you through this. We are going to scan your brain. Basically, see if there has been any AI scramblings going on in there."

He reached behind the metal machine and pulled out a wrench. "But your arm will mess up the scanning. It's basically a giant screaming sign that says 'hey AI arm here.'"

Vale clenched her jaw as Dash pulled the bolts that held her arm in place against her shoulder. Sweat beaded her temples as familiar sharp pains ripped through her shoulder, a reminder of the last few times it had to be removed or re-added.

The pain made her miss Sky, the quiet boy who had been so gentle when he had given it back to her after it was damaged that first time they met. "You gotta be awake and clear-headed for this next part, or else I'd give you something for the pain," Dash said, pulling her back to the present.

Vale nodded past the lump in her throat. She felt suddenly lopsided and empty when the arm left her body. "I'll be fine," she said as Dash moved back to the machine. "I've been through worse."

Dash gave an unconvincing smile as his hand hovered above the screen on the machine. "Deep breath," he ordered.

Vale breathed and a moment later, her world went dark as fire erupted across her skull. She had been wrong, this was the worst pain she had ever felt, and she had to clamp her mouth shut to keep herself from begging Dash to let her die.