Chapter 226 Restraints.

Chapter 226: 226 Restraints.

"About done saving the digital world?" I asked.

Rhea’s furry dog ears perked straight up. She whipped her head around, yanking the headset off with one hand.

"Miles!" she cheered, kicking off the workbench to spin her rolling mechanic’s chair around—which immediately revealed that she had ditched her cargo pants and crop top, currently lounging in nothing but an open, grease-smudged lab coat and a matching set of black lace bra and panties.

Her fluffy tail thumped rhythmically against the seat cushion. "Hey, hey! How’s it hanging?"

"Good as can be," I said, forcing my eyes to stay at her face. "You said you had the prop ready?"

"You bet that sweet ass of yours I do. Prepare to have your socks blown clean off. Behold!" she cried, fishing a chunky, custom-soldered remote out of her coat pocket and jabbing the button like she was detonating a bridge.

Across the shop floor, a heavy steel containment cylinder sitting atop a hydraulic worktable let out a sharp electronic chirp.

Vents around the base hissed, blasting clouds of white dry-ice fog across the concrete. The reinforced steel shell slowly cranked upward before splitting into four interlocking petals that folded flat against the table.

A recessed spotlight flickered on at the center of the pedestal, illuminating a heavy, six-sided cube the size of a grapefruit.

Each facet was covered in jagged, interlocking geometric runes that pulsed with a deep, arterial red light, looking like they’d been freshly carved with a ritual knife and filled with blood.

The body of the cube looked like ancient, pitted black, the glowing channels flickering inside the dark stone like trapped embers.

I let out a low whistle, walking over to the table. "Very nice. Though I have to ask—was there a mechanical reason for the pneumatic shell and the fog machine?"

Rhea rolled her eyes, hopping out of her chair. "Duh! Presentation, Miles! It’s all about the dramatic reveal!"

Fair enough. I reached out and lifted the cube off its cradle. It was surprisingly lightweight, balanced nicely in my palm, and had a rough, weathered texture that felt thousands of years old. It screamed cursed MacGuffin.

"Seriously impressive work," I said, turning it over to inspect the glowing carvings. "Where’d you pull the runic alphabet from? Sumerian?"

"Huh? Oh, those don’t mean squat. I totally made them up," Rhea said dismissively, sauntering over to my side with her thumbs hooked into the waistband of her panties. "I just freehanded some shapes in the CAD software that looked spooky and wizard-y. Milled the core out of high-density ballistic resin, took a laser cutter to the faces for the channels, and then beat the crap out of it with a ball-peen hammer and a belt sander so it looked antique."

"Clever. And the glowing blood veins?"

"Knew you’d appreciate that touch," Rhea preened, leaning in to trace a fingernail along one of the pulsing grooves. "It’s a thermochromic polymer mix I whipped up. Reacts to ambient heat—so the second someone grabs it with their bare hands, the whole thing flares up like it’s waking up!

"Naturally, I also wired a micro-heating element into the core so we can crank the glow up remotely for the cameras. Oh, and the faces rotate on magnetic bearings like a Rubik’s Cube, just in case Psyren wants to fidget with it during her speech."

"I’m genuinely blown away," I told her, and I meant every word. Rhea was a wizard with a fabrication table, and this thing would easily pass muster on high-definition news broadcasts. "You knocked this out of the park."

"Hmph! Obviously," she huffed, though she practically wriggled in place, her tail wagging so fast it blurred. "You’re looking at a certified genius."

"That I am," I chuckled, reaching out to scratch firmly right behind the base of her furry ears.

Rhea’s breath hitched instantly. Her eyes fluttered shut, a low, needy whine vibrating in the back of her throat as she leaned her head hard into my palm, one foot kicking slightly against the concrete.

"Oooooh, fuck, Miles... did I really do a good job?"

"The best. This prop is going to carry the whole opening act," I said, setting the cube back onto its padded cradle.

Rhea let out a breathless giggle as I pulled my hand back, her eyes dark and shining as she looked up at me. "Mmm. Well! Since you’re down here anyway... I actually finished one other prototype I wanted to show you."

"Yeah? What’s on the docket?"

She backed away a few steps, biting her lower lip with sudden, uncharacteristic coyness as she led me toward the far wall. Stopping beside a heavy steel tool locker, she slapped a palm against the keypad.

The door hissed open on struts, revealing fifty feet of sleek, braided silver cord coiled neatly on a rack of heavy iron hooks.

My magnetic sense instantly hummed in recognition. The alloy composition was wild—dense enough to give me total remote leverage, yet woven into a flexible, micro-linked mesh coated in a smooth, skin-safe polymer.

"What are we looking at?" I asked.

"New restraint cabling I’ve been tinkering with," Rhea murmured. She lifted a length off the hook, wrapping the ends around her fists and pulling it taut with a sharp, satisfying snap. "Super pliable, soft on the wrists, zero pinch points. And because of the way I braided the ferrous core, you can use your powers to constrict or expand the weave down to the millimeter. Once you lock it on, it’s infinitely adjustable."

"Is that right?" I said, feeling a slow grin tug at the corner of my mouth. I crossed my arms, letting my gaze travel lazily down the open front of her lab coat. "And what exact tactical scenario did you design this for?"

"Oh, you know," Rhea purred, starting to sway on her heels, her hips rolling in a slow, deliberate figure-eight that made the hem of her coat flare out around her thighs. "Field work. You could use it to hogtie some pesky heroes.

"Use it as a grappling line. Or... gosh, Miles, if you wanted to tie someone up nice and tight so they couldn’t move an inch... the possibilities are just endless."

"Oh, really?" I let my hand rise an inch, sending a subtle pulse of magnetic force radiating across the gap between us until the silver cord began to vibrate in her grip. "Have you run any stress tests on it yet?"

"Not... thoroughly," Rhea whispered, running the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip as she peered up at me through her lashes.

"Can’t have you deploying untested gear in the field. Guess we’d better run some diagnostics right now."

I gave my wrist a sharp twist.

The silver cable whipped out of Rhea’s hands like a striking viper. She let out a delighted gasp as the cord looped cleanly over her shoulders and cinched snug around her waist, yanking her off her feet and sliding her straight across the smooth shop floor into my chest.

I caught her easily, wrapping an arm around her back and dipping her low as I loomed over her. Her warm body pressed flush against mine, her heart hammering like a jackrabbit against my ribs while her tail wrapped tight around my forearm. God, I was crazy about this girl.

"Lose the coat," I rasped against her ear.

Rhea shivered, her fingers already fumbling with the lapels. "Yes... master."