[ Five years for him. Just a few hours for her. The incongruity shows in both their reactions, just as it did the last time she'd visited the City. (Or perhaps it's because he's Hei and she's Pai. Hard as he'd worked to make her rely on him on the battlefield, unpredictable and human as he was, and as far as she came towards emulating almost-human behavior for his sake -- much farther than Hei had thought possible in the beginning -- her transformation as a Contractor had wired her differently from Hei. Where a secret part of him snarled and kicked and resisted at the bloodshed around them, Pai took in the dissolution of their life as a cool intellectual inevitability.) ]
[ She says, You were invited here too?. Such a quiet little voice -- yet Hei's heart is pounding so hard he feels his ribcage shudder. She doesn't know -- how can she? -- that having her here pulls his brain inside out. The emotion might make another man sloppy. But Hei just shoves all the questions aside and checks the secondary areas around them. Just because you've spotted one surprise -- the surprise of a lifetime -- doesn't mean there isn't another. In fact, the first one might still be a deliberate distraction, a setup for a fatal sucker punch. ]
[ But nothing seems out of place. Nothing sets off his now elevated radar. Breathe. Hei looks at Pai again, half expecting the second examination to reveal he's been hallucinating. He isn't. It really is her. ]
[ He wets his lips and exhales, trying to get his voice past the thud-thud-thud in his chest. ]
Not invited. [ A swallow. ] I've been living here [ trapped ] for a year now.
action;
[ She says, You were invited here too?. Such a quiet little voice -- yet Hei's heart is pounding so hard he feels his ribcage shudder. She doesn't know -- how can she? -- that having her here pulls his brain inside out. The emotion might make another man sloppy. But Hei just shoves all the questions aside and checks the secondary areas around them. Just because you've spotted one surprise -- the surprise of a lifetime -- doesn't mean there isn't another. In fact, the first one might still be a deliberate distraction, a setup for a fatal sucker punch. ]
[ But nothing seems out of place. Nothing sets off his now elevated radar. Breathe. Hei looks at Pai again, half expecting the second examination to reveal he's been hallucinating. He isn't. It really is her. ]
[ He wets his lips and exhales, trying to get his voice past the thud-thud-thud in his chest. ]
Not invited. [ A swallow. ] I've been living here [ trapped ] for a year now.