HAWK

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: INCOGNITO (4/5)

Kas closed her eyes for a full three seconds before she opened them again. She'd hoped by washing them clean that the three villains would suddenly be gone, but if anything they came into sharper focus. They'd all been dressed in the same black skinsuits which covered them from neck to ankle.

Remi was in the far left of the tank. He looked so tiny inside it; his small body had curled up into a loose foetal position, though his legs were abnormally long for his size. Seeing him so childlike and vulnerable, it would have been hard for anyone unfamiliar with him to believe he was capable of such horrific violence, but Kas had seen his handiwork up close and personal enough times to know better.

Her eyes tracked right and fell upon Otto floating in the centre of the display. His stark white skin practically glowed under the cold ambient lighting. Kas saw the thin jagged outline of black teeth jutting out from his wide yawning mouth. It was a good thing he was unconscious, she thought, or he'd probably die from claustrophobia.

Then there was Vima. And damn it if she wasn't still as beautiful as ever. Unlike the other two, her eyes were wide open and gleaming like purple fires above flawlessly carved cheeks. Her long dark hair had fanned out in a perfect circle and imbued her with the aura of a goddess.

'If sent to Carcem,' Swanne declared as she gazed up at her captives, 'these criminals would spend the rest of their lives locked away in isolation. What a terrible waste. A waste of life... a waste of resources... a waste of opportunity. But here, they will be given a new purpose. Here, these three will have the honour of being the very first human bio-mechs.'

The workers broke into another rapturous applause while Kas's stomach twisted and filled her guts with bile. The thought of human bio-mechs was terrible enough, but the Black Chains...

'This can't be real,' she whispered. She saw Worm just a short distance away, sitting on her desk beside the X1 computer, her feet dangling over the edge.

'Are you ready?' Astrid asked.

Kas shook her head. 'Thirty seconds isn't enough.'

'That's the longest I can disable the lights for.'

'Can't you create a bigger distraction?'

'Like what?'

'You tell me!'

'I have an idea, but it's high risk. If it works, we will certainly tip Swanne off to our escape.'

'Will it give me enough time to get Worm out of here?'

'Yes.'

'Then do it.'

Swanne's speech faded out in Kas's ears. All she could hear was hammering of her own heart drumming the sound of its own death march. Her body was tense with anticipation, her skinsuit struggling to control her skin's desire to sweat from every pore.

A strange noise brought her back. It was a loud, whirring noise, like a huge jar being opened. Kas realised everyone, including Swanne, was looking up at the top of the tank. She followed their eyeline and saw the tank's lid, which had previously been the dais, was cracking open like the iris of a camera, exposing the pink fluid within to the air.

'What's happening?!' Swanne shouted. 'Astrid! Close that now!'

But the tank's lid was fully open.

'Get ready,' Astrid said to Kas.

'For what?' she replied.

And then she saw it.

It whistled down from the ceiling at such a speed that Kas briefly thought the ceiling was collapsing. The articulated snake's jaw spread wide as it descended on Swanne, and in a flash, it had wrapped itself around the governor's body and was suddenly lifting. Kas watched open mouthed as Kymeira jumped up and bit onto the snake's neck, but the snake was just a machine and it felt no pain. It raised them both high in the air like twin prizes at a fairground game and suspended them over the tank.

'LET GO OF ME!' Swanne screamed.

So it did.

There were plenty of gasps then as the governor fell with a loud splash into the tank. Pink bubbles populated the container while a panicked Swanne thrashed her arms and legs.

'Go,' Astrid said.

The lights went out.