Twisted Metal Heart - Eve Langlais Page 0,13
a real answer. “Will it hurt?”
“Yes.” No softening of the blunt truth.
“Are you her assistant or boss?”
Rather than reply, Alfred tugged at Titan’s shorts and pushed the hem mid-thigh, exposing his stump. “I’m going to start with the leg. That one is easier to attach while it bonds because the metal cup will fit over the stump.” Alfred flipped open a compartment in his lower torso and pulled free a harness. It fit like a belt with straps with snaps.
“I thought Riella said it wasn’t removable,” he said as Alfred attached it. Titan couldn’t help a bit of disappointment. The arm Riella showed him had appeared seamless.
“It takes weeks for the meshing to complete. The harness ensures the limb doesn’t go through undue stress while it occurs.”
“If it works. Riella said it might not because I don’t have the gene.”
“Even if you did, it might not matter. Some implants never truly work to their full potential because they don’t bond with their host.”
“Bond?” His nose wrinkled. “There’s that word again. I already know metal and flesh don’t go together.”
“Usually. But if the implant does choose to attach itself and become a part of you, it will be more firmly adhered than the original limb and you won’t need the harnesses.”
“Not exactly a selling point,” he grumbled.
“Are you always so pessimistic?” Alfred snapped. “This is not a cheap toy. Do you know how many people would kill to take your spot?”
“Probably as many as I’d kill to have my arm and leg back!” he snarked right back.
“Do you know how many I’d kill to have legs?” Alfred swept a hand below his waist. “None. Because this is better. Your new limbs will be an improvement on the old ones.”
Doubtful. He couldn’t see how something metal could ever be the same.
“Are you and Riella doctors?” he asked as Alfred palpated the end of his thigh stump, his fingers covered in rubbery gloves.
“In the simplest of terms only. There are tools that do most of the work. They just need guidance,” Alfred replied.
He suddenly got taller, his bottom half rising so that he didn’t have to reach to put the harness around Titan’s upper body. The fabric felt soft against his skin. He noted this set of fabric straps had more to it than the leg one.
“Who else lives here?”
“If you are contemplating attacking, then you should revise that plan. We are better defended than you think.”
A bold claim, given Riella and this Alfred both appeared by his side without a guard.
“How long have you lived out here?”
“A long time.” Alfred might not give long answers, but he did keep replying.
“Are you her father?”
A piercing gaze met his. “How about instead of asking question, you explain why you were out in this stretch of the Wasteland?”
“Just checking shit out,” Titan admitted. He’d already embarrassed himself with Riella when he’d explained he’d bought a rumor and thought there might be truth to it. In his defense, every rumor usually had a grain of truth somewhere in it.
“Traveling on foot is not recommended in these parts,” Alfred observed as he tugged at the harness.
“I didn’t start out like that. My bike got crushed by a sand viper.”
“You must have woken it.” Alfred shook his head. “Did no one ever teach you not to travel alone?”
“Groups only slow you down. I prefer traveling by myself.”
“You don’t belong to anyone.” An odd way of phrasing it.
“I’m a free man.” Whatever that meant. It usually involved running away from the Enclave. Although, the past few years, he’d been hooked with a crew. Even had a home of sorts. An old building buried mostly underground. A safe place with people he cared about. People who would get worried about him.
“No one is entirely free. Obligations always exist, even self-imposed ones,” Alfred noted.
“Did you get that piece of advice from a book?” Titan didn’t bother to rein in the sarcasm.
“There is knowledge to be garnered from the words of others.”
“Assuming that person had something of worth to say.”
Alfred inclined his head. “True. But who judges the value of another?”
“Really, Alfred, philosophy again?” Riella huffed, entering the room.
Titan went to sit up, only to find one of his hands missing. He’d still not adjusted to his new reality.
He made it to a sitting position to find her by the bed eyeing the harness on his leg. It went over the shorts and around his waist. She leaned over to eye it, which put her face a little too close for his