The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Mopping Up and Taking Measure

The shadowy figure shifted slightly as Mordecai strode resolutely towards it, seeming to be hiding in the elevator shaft jutting from the roof of the building almost directly across from the one they had made their stand on.

"I see losing your psionic senses hasn't dulled your vision any," a soft voice husked from the shadows. Mordecai smiled slightly.

"If anything, they're a bit sharper," he replied to the shadowy figure. "How are you doing, Raven?"

"Considering that the psionic world is going to hell without you around to keep it in line?" The shadowy form stepped out of the darkness to reveal the Native American hardwire, a slight smile of her own curving her full lips upward. Like Katengaur and Sonja, the beautiful lone gunman was dressed for battle in all black.

"I'm doing all right," she finished. Then, before Mordecai could react, she stepped close to hug him tightly, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before she stepped back. Frowning down at her, Mordecai could see that Raven was clearly emotional, her dark eyes filled with tears.

"What's this?" he demanded softly and Raven, wiping the tears from her eyes with a gloved finger, smiled shakily.

"Sorry, Mordecai. Just glad to see you, that's all. We were all scared that the final battle with Mindfire had left you dead."

The big man sighed softly as he shook his head slowly.

"I might as well be!" he hissed tightly, reaching up to tap himself on the temple with an index finger. "Ravage launched a psi-bomb directly into my psionic cortex just before I burnt him out." He grimaced. "From what I've learned from the Normals that have been taking care of me and whom I've allied with, the damage was fairly extensive. Enough to take all my abilities completely offline!"

"Not for long," Raven vowed, stepping in close to put a hand on the big man's forehead. An instant later he could feel a wave of warmth wash through him, most of it centering in his head.

But it didn't last long; with a frown, Raven stepped back.

"Hmmm," she softly said with a frown. "By my scan, somebody's been in there before me. The big stuff's already been repaired, either by that person or by your own regenerative systems. There was some residual fissuring which I repaired but, other than that, you're in one piece!"

Mordecai frowned himself.

"Then why won't my abilities come back online?" he asked more to himself than to Raven.

The Native American hardwire shrugged.

"As far as I can tell, there's some sort of block that's been slid into place, something to keep your abilities offline until the repairs are completed. Which, as I just told you, has happened. So, unless this block is keyed to be deactivated by some event or by this person, your abilities should be coming back online now."

"How deep is it?" Mordecai pressed, not able to sense the block himself.

"Deep." Raven grimaced. "We're talking on the neuronal level here. Either the healer was real good, or it was done on an instinctual level. Nobody else would be able to put it so deep!"

"Instinct, hey?" Mordecai grimaced. "Damn! That's all I need: offline until my mysterious healer decides to come forward and pull my ass out of this particular sling!"

Raven chuckled wryly.

"Looks like you've figured a way around that particular impediment, my friend," She pointed out with a glance over the building's roof edge at the intersection now completely filled with police cars and ambulances. "Whatever technology you've uncovered, it certainly made short work of those Brotherhood movers."