Taz raised her arms to shield her face as one by one the
mosquitoes burst in a ferocious display of blood and guts.
She managed to find her feet as they fell lifeless to the
deck. For a moment, all was silent.
She blinked and pointed at Up, and then at the insects’
corpses. “Up! How – how did you -”
“Make them violently explode?” he said, casually
buckling up his utility belt again.
“Yeah,” she said, still staring at him.
He was out of breath. “I raised my heartbeat – using
breathing exercises.”
She nodded slowly.
“Their puny bodies must not have been able to handle all
my blood! Bug was right – I just needed to learn how to kill
- with my heart.”
She had no idea what he was talking about. But it didn’t
matter. She felt like laughing.
“I killed them all, Taz! I killed them all! I’m still a
killer!” He threw his hands up in the air, his excitement
plain, and catching, his voice rising. “Oh, I’m still a killer!”
“That’s great!” she shouted back, and he opened his
arms and she flew into them without a second thought,
something amazing bubbling up inside her as he lifted her
clear off the ground and swung her around as he hadn’t
done since she was a cadet at the Academy. “Oh, Taz!”
He set her down, his hands still on her waist, hers on his
shoulders. “You know, Up,” she said, and she couldn’t stop
her eyes from smiling. “I used to think that I was the proof
you didn’t need balls to be tough.” He looked down, but she
continued. “But now I know – you! You are the proof that
you don’t need a tiny skin sack of the testicles to be one
tough son of a bitch!”
“Thanks, Taz,” he said, and there was a light in his eyes
she hadn’t seen there in years. He gripped her arm, and she