The last human standing, a scrawny, pock-faced young man with a cruel grin on his face, tried to sneak up on me as I watched the monk and the troll struggle. He had his stun baton held high, ready for a downward blow. My hot plasma knife snuffed in the impact with the monk, I powered up the staff and angled it so its field of effect intersected the baton as it fell. As the weapon passed through the field, its direction changed at an acute angle, wrenching it from the man’s grip. Unfortunately, the baton hung from a lanyard around his wrist that kept him from losing it entirely. By the time I got to my feet, he’d fumbled it back into his grip and was driving the end of it toward my midsection. So I let him.
The impact of the baton’s end in my stomach wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t that hard either. He’d expected the weapon’s electric charge to do most of the work. Hot tip for those who may consider it: you cannot electrocute a technomancer. Electricity flows through our bodies more freely than blood. I just looked at him as he continued to press the stun baton into my abs, not realizing it wasn’t working.
“Hmm,” I said wryly. “Kinda tingles.” Then I reversed the flow of current, increasing it fifty fold to overload the baton and cook half his arm in a high-voltage shock that sent sparks and him flying—and probably stopped his heart.
I turned in time to see the troll regain his feet, the Felis monk still wrapped around his back and throat. The troll charged frantically at the nearest wall, spinning to try to squash his attacker between the wall and his scaly bulk. The monk, at the last second, dug two clawed fingers knuckle-deep into the troll’s right eye and yanked, causing the brute to spin all the way around and slam face-first into the wall. The lynix leapt free at the moment of impact.
I winced. In my head, Paige let out a, Goddamn.