I put my hands out and tried to slide up the wall, though it was difficult. It's not like there were hand holds or anything like that. It felt surprisingly smooth for all that there was a layer of dust on everything.

I had a vague sense of unease as I looked at that dust that'd been disturbed by our recent activities. I worried there might be a little bit of radiation attached to that dust that we might be breathing in, though I didn't worry about it for too long.

We had the decontamination chamber we could go into, and it'd been a whole sequel trilogy of a lot of fun the last time we went into the decontamination chambers after spending so much time in that nuclear hellstorm that was formerly one of Varis's fortress buildings.

Still, the worry was there. It was something that had been pounded into me again and again when people talked about going into a radioactive hot zone. It was the radioactive shit attaching to dust and debris, and even the occasional black rain storm, that was the real problem. The thing that would give you cancer in a few decades, or maybe in a few months if it was powerful enough.

"Bill," she said, putting her hands on her knees and staring at me like I was doing something naughty. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to get up so I can go for a stroll," I said, hitting her with my most confident grin.

I could tell from the long suffering look she hit me with that she wasn't buying my bullshit. Well, that was something I was used to at this point. It seemed like a woman giving you a look that said she wasn't buying your bullshit was universal between hominid species.

Like I imagined that race of cat people who had to be protected because of a bunch of perverts on the galactic net wanting to do unspeakable things to them got that sort of look from their ladies.

"Bill, you're injured," she said.

"It's just a flesh wound," I said. And I think I've discovered something neat about the whole mental link thing."

"You think you've discovered something neat about the whole mental link thing," she said, repeating my words, but in a monotone.

"Well, yeah," I said, hitting her with a grin. "I seem to be healing a whole sequel trilogy of a lot faster than I have any business healing."

"Are you sure about that?" she asked.

"Well, I'm about to find out, at least," I said.

I managed to push myself up only a little bit, and she was right there. I noted she even stepped in the blood. She grimaced as her hands went under my arms. As she lifted me I found a new area that was in pain. Apparently I'd hit my arms a couple of times on the way down. I wondered if something was dislocated.

"Honey, I know this is an odd request," I said. "But I think I dislocated my right shoulder. Could you be a dear and holy fucking tapdancing Christ on a bicycle!"

That last bit came out as a scream. It echoed off of the debris all around us. I saw red for a moment, and then it turned to white. That white stayed there long enough that I worried I was losing my vision entirely, but then it slowly started to return. There were still stars dancing in front of my eyes as blood vessels pumped with more pressure than my eyes usually saw, sure, but it was returning at least. I hadn't gone blind.

"Warn a guy before you do something like that," I muttered.

"And hear you whine about how it's going to hurt?" she asked.

"Do I at least get a lollipop because I was a good boy while you fixed my shoulder?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"It's a thing from Earth. We give children candy if they're good about getting their shots."

"I see," she said, staring at me. It was another flat stare. The kind of look she gave me when she thought an Earth custom I was talking about was ridiculous.

"Let me guess, the livisk just tell their children it's enough to have a chance to behave with honor when they're taking on the pediatrician?"

"Something like that," she said, still hitting me with an odd look.

"Anyway," I said, "I'm going to try and put weight on that leg that was just broken. If you could be a dear and stand there in case it turns out this is a much worse idea than I think it is…"

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"It is a much worse idea than you think it is," she said.

"Well, I'm going to give it a try."

"I never doubted that you were going to give it a try," she said. "But I'm telling you it's a bad idea right now, so that when you inevitably fall into the pile of messy blood I can hit you with a look that says 'I told you so.'"

"See? Thanks so much," I muttered.

"Don't mention it," she said, grinning.

I leaned back against the wall. It was a comfort now, for all that the wall was part of the reason why I was so fucked up in the first place. I took a couple of deep breaths to prepare myself, for all that I wasn't in any great pain right now.

I might not be in any great pain right now, but I knew there was a really good chance I was going to be in a sequel trilogy of a lot more pain when I put all my weight on the wounded leg that had just been set.

"Here goes nothing," I said, and I stepped forward, putting all of my weight on my right leg and bracing for impact.

I'd heard about people being in so much pain that they blacked out, but this was a situation where I was in so much pain that I whited out. When I came back to reality there were more white sparks dancing in front of my vision, and then I realized some of that sparkling was the silver sparkling on Varis as she stood there close, waiting to catch me.

"What was that you said?" she asked.

"What's that?"

"You screamed out 'prince,' for some reason when you stepped on your leg."

"Did I?" I said, trying to think back and drawing a blank on exactly what I'd done when I put the weight on my leg. I looked down. For a surprise, I was totally able to put that weight on my leg.

"I don't remember saying that, but it's a little something I've been workshopping. Do you like it?"

"Is this a reference to that singer with the purple skin everybody on your world seems to revere so much?"

"Prince didn't have purple skin," I said, shaking my head. "And his music should be revered. Who else is capable of literally summoning purple rain at a massive ancient sporting event for his halftime show?"

"Yes, I've seen the bootlegs we got off of the frontier galactic network overlap. I agree it was impressive, but I don't see why you would use his name as a curse."

"Actually, it would probably be more accurate to say princeling or something like that. The empress has a few sons, doesn't she?"

"She has at least a couple dozen," Varis said with a shrug. "But I still don't see what that has to do with ancient singers."

"Maybe it's a bit of a walk," I said. "Princelings are sons of a bitch. The biggest bitch out there in the galaxy right now."

Varis stared at me for a long moment. I figured this was one of my jokes that was a dud. Another thing I was discovering was the same in a relationship with an alien babe as it was with a total hottie back on Earth? She was totally over my sense of humor most of the time.

But then I sensed amusement coming through the bond. Finally, she chuckled and started to shake her head.

"Sons of bitches. Now that's a turn of phrase that means the same thing in Livisk and Terran."

"Yeah, I know," I said. "The swear words were one of the only things I actually learned in my Livisk class back in the academy."

"And yet you're completely fluent in it now," she said.

"What can I say? I'm really good with tongues," I said.

"Oh, are you?" she asked, stepping forward and pressing against me.

Suddenly I didn't care about anything else going on here. I didn't care that we were in a situation that could very possibly end in our certain death. I didn't care that there were still parts of my body that were pulsing with a dull pain that didn't seem nearly as intense as it should've been considering everything I'd just gone through. I didn't care about anything but Varis pressing her incredible body against me.

If there was one thing in this universe I liked more than seeing Varis in her impossibly tight uniform? It was having her press her body in that impossibly tight uniform up against my body.

That was something I never got tired of.

"You seem to be feeling a little better."

"How can you tell?" I asked. "Is the link giving you an update on my physical status or something?"

That would be a new one. So far, the link had mostly translated emotions and vibes, and the ability for the two of us to work together as a deadly pair in battle.

Assuming one of us hadn't just suffered a series of grievous injuries because we were a dumbass who refused to show up to a situation that obviously called for power armor in said power armor.

Being able to sense injuries would be another new development. Along with the ability to heal faster than I had any business healing when we were linked.

"I can feel how healed you are down below," she said, grinning at me.

I looked down, and I realized that yeah. There was a pretty big indicator I was ready to go.

We'd been in a life or death situation for the last half hour or so. I didn't have a chronometer I could look at to figure out exactly how long this had been going on, but there were certain parts of my body that were certainly feeling well enough to do certain things with Varis that probably wouldn't be prudent considering everything going on all around us.

"As much as I would love to do that," I started.

"Yeah, we don't have time for that," she said.

Though, she did reach down and cup my favorite bit of anatomy for a moment. Which had my eyes going wide. It also had me jumping, but for a wonder I didn't feel any pain at that jump. As I jumped, she stepped back and looked at me. Which sadly also had her pulling her hand away from that favorite bit of anatomy that was making itself known.

"So you seem to be able to put your weight on that leg despite the fact that it was broken just a moment ago. I thought I was going to have to fashion a splint or something out of some of the debris all around us."

"Yeah," I said, looking down and putting more weight on it. It didn't feel great, but it also wasn't causing the blinding pain anymore. No, just the kind of pain that would normally have me taking a quick rest, but it's not like we had the time for a quick rest. I looked back at her.

"So healing. That really isn't anything you've ever seen before when people talk about battle pairs?"

"It isn't," she said, her mouth compressing to a thin line.

"It's a damn shame Arvie isn't here to hear all this," I said, grinning and shaking my head as she offered me an arm, and we started off through the ancient destruction all around us.

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