They pulled apart a little, and gazed at one another like lovers. Callie had a clear look at Elena’s face and saw her say, “Oh, Sebastien.”

Then Elena punched Sebastien in the back of the head. It was an awkward blow, because how could it not be, from that angle, in that position? You couldn’t deliver any real power that way. But Elena didn’t need to hit hard. Apparently Sebastien hadn’t realized the rings on her glove were weapons – that was part of why Callie liked them, they were subtle – and a moderate impact was enough to trigger their electric shock.

Elena struck Sebastien right on his brain-spider, and he jolted, stumbled away, sputtered for a moment, and then dropped like all his bones had been teleported out of his body. (There was probably an Axiom weapon that did that.)

Callie got on her radio: no worries about Sebastien listening in now: “Open the hatch all the way.”

Uzoma complied, and the aperture expanded. Callie could slide through… and get yanked sideways by gravity and fall twenty meters and land on her head.

Elena was kneeling by Sebastien, checking his pulse, it looked like. Callie wanted to put a bullet in his head just to be sure, but it was hard to justify that when he was unconscious and immobile. Not hard to justify to herself, really, but hard to justify to Elena.

“Elena!” Callie called, and Elena looked up, eyes widening. “I came to save you. Wasted trip, huh?”

“How are you in the ceiling?”

“Uncomfortably. I’d like to get out of it. Uzoma, Sebastien is down. Can you do something about the gravity in the observation deck? He won’t notice.”

“I can try.”

“Hold onto something, Elena.”

Elena nodded, looked around, and found a rail to hook her feet under. A moment later her hair floated up around her face and she lifted a little off the ground. Sebastien floated up lazily, unmoving.

Callie grabbed the edges of the tunnel – she still had gravity here, it was bizarre – and yanked herself out, launching straight for Elena. She twisted her body and got her legs under her. She bumped gently against the wall, close enough for Elena to reach out and grab her hand. They pulled together, and Callie kissed her hungrily, with passion and relief.

“What was that for?” Elena said when they pulled apart.

“You just electro-punched a mind-controlled wannabe god. You rescued yourself. That’s hot.”

Elena wrinkled her nose. “Remember when I punched myself in the face back in the reconditioning chamber? This was the exact same thing, except Sebastien’s head was in the way this time. You’ll have to teach me some better moves.”

“With pleasure,” Callie said. “Let me get the gravity turned back on again.”

“Wait!” Elena glared at Callie and sailed through the room toward Sebastien, getting her arms under him. “You’ll crack his skull.”