Gadget by Viola Grace Page B

ravening beast.
    “My name is Gadget, and I am here to transport you off this platform.”
    “Are you here to kill me?” He was wary.
    “No. I want you alive and safe. Once parted from this platform, you will be assessed and your best placement will be determined.”
    “What?”
    “Your criminal history is only circumstantial, the ties to organized crime are trumped up. I have done my research, and it has been determined that if you want it, you will be offered placement in the Guardians.”
    His hair was dark slate, and he ran his hand through it. “I thought you were here to kill me.”
    “I am not, but I would like to escort you to my ship where you will be placed in a stasis pod until we can arrive at a world with a Guardian base. Are you amenable to that?”
    He looked around and scowled as his gaze went past her. “Who is that?”
    “That is Shatter. He is a Guardian and my mate. He was worried about my coming here to transport you.” She smiled.
    “You are a mated woman, and he lets you wander into dangerous situations with strange men?” The man moved close to her.
    She smiled brightly, letting power flow through her, sparking from her fingertips. “I have a job to do, and I can take care of myself.”
    He flinched, and he could see the eerie light that her skin was giving off. “I can see that.”
    “May I put restraints on you for form’s sake?”
    He placed his wrists together and extended them. “For form’s sake. I can break out of them if I wish.”
    She grinned as she snapped them into place. “I know. I can short out your nervous system if I wish.”
    He winked. “I guessed as much. May I read in stasis?”
    “No, but I can allow you access to the virtual library with Nyal history. Is that acceptable?”
    He smiled shyly. “Thank you. I like to read. My name is Horris, by the way.”
    “Hello, Horris. Come with me. You are about to start a new chapter in your life.”
    Shatter inclined his head in greeting but kept himself protectively close to Gadget. She quickly ran a link through the Fairy and scanned the inner workings of the platform. There was a clump of life signs ahead, and there shouldn’t be.
    “Horris, how did your family take to you being restrained?” She tried to keep casual and altered their course to go around the gathering.
    “They were upset. Of course, the elder is the one who gave the orders, so my getting caught was a problem. As long as he had plausible deniability, he was fine. The moment I objected to my being used as a bludgeon, they locked me up.”
    “That is what I thought. Be on guard, Shatter. We are going to have visitors.”
    There was a hot gleam in his eyes, and he stepped forward.
    Horris extended his hands. “May I help?”
    “One cuff only. You are technically my responsibility now, and I am getting you to my ship alive and well.” She undid the right cuff.
    He grinned. “Thank you for your concern. It is refreshing to have someone watch out for me for a change.”
    Shatter spoke. “Gadget is protective of her people. I get the feeling that she is going to slowly fill the entire ship full of men who all do her bidding.”
    Gadget grinned and kept moving with Horris and Shatter.
    A dozen men rushed them in the corridor, weapons drawn. They didn’t say a word, merely approached Horris in a wave.
    Gadget finally saw Shatter in action. He placed his hands, wrist to wrist and pushed outward. A blast knocked all the men off their feet and the interior walls of the platform cracked.
    Horris waded in and Gadget powered up her stun effect. She felt the hot caress of a blade on her thigh and calf, and she hissed, striking the man in the face and watching as he jerked in agony before he passed out.
    She had four more strikes of that kind before she would be drawing on her own power, but they wouldn’t be needed. Shatter and Horris had flattened the rest of the dozen.
    Gadget limped out of the tangle of bodies and joined her companions on the other