Free Tethered by Pippa Jay

recklessness?
    Zander raised an eyebrow and put his hands behind his back. “I take it as part of your role as bodyguard, you intend to ban me from attempting it again?”
    Actually that hadn’t occurred to me but...
    “Yes. I forbid you to try it again. Not without me supervising, anyway.”
    And that should be humiliating enough to stop you regardless.
    “But we’re still on for our match?”
    The eagerness in his voice made her smile. “You’re a persistent man, Zander.”
    “Persistence and patience are necessary traits in my profession. Besides—” A sudden whirring silenced him, and the inactive Manikins came to life. Zander’s seized him around the chest again, and the one Tyree had floored grasped her ankle hard enough to make her shriek.
    “I said hold,” Zander shouted, but neither obeyed. “Hold!”
    Tyree kicked out as her Manikin tried to drag her foot from under her, and finished sprawled on her backside with the automaton clasping both ankles. “Monitor, end combat.”
    The Manikin continued to drag itself up Tyree’s legs, pinioning her to the ground, its grip crushing her flesh hard enough to leave marks.
    “End combat. Monitor!” Tyree yelped as the machine reached her thighs, its weight pinning her down, and then Misted out to evade it.
    As it reached to grasp her again, she solidified and stamped repeatedly into its blank face as hard as she could. Designed to mimic a human assailant, the neck joint gave under the full force of a Su at maximum density. Unlike a real human though, a broken neck only impaired its vision as it reached for her throat. She tugged herself free and rolled aside. On her hands and knees, Tyree crouched in readiness as the crippled Manikin staggered to its feet, scanning blindly, head facing up to the ceiling. She spied Zander grappling with the other Manikin, its movements jerking as if not under proper control.
    Tampered with!
    But when, and by whom?She darted around her Manikin as it stumbled blindly in her direction. The same person who had sabotaged the Monitor system with the paralyzing sonics? Had this been the backup plan?
    “Monitor, end combat program!” she yelled, without much hope it would do so.
    This was bad. The Manikins could keep fighting until both she and Zander were too exhausted to defend themselves. She could Mist out and escape. Zander couldn’t, and the Manikins might kill him in the meantime.
    Tyree scuttled behind her damaged opponent. It whirled, trying to follow her by sound. She darted in, grasped the rounded head, and twisted hard. A horrible fracturing noise, worse than breaking bone, and the Manikin’s head came away from the damaged neck joint. With its guidance system crippled, the automaton hunched over and went into shutdown.
    One down...
    She dropped the head. Zander still held off the other Manikin but blood covered his chin and sweat showed dark on his clothing. Tyree jumped onto the Manikin’s back, but it spun and shrugged her off. She hit the wall hard. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
    “Tyree!”
    She sucked in a lungful against the pain in her ribs, and shoved up. Hooked one arm around the Manikin’s neck, and Misted out her hand to thrust into the wiring inside the neck. One swift tug, and the automaton collapsed with a fading whirr of sound.
    Their heavy breathing filled the silence as Tyree stared at the broken Manikins, sickened, heart pounding hard enough to hurt. Her chest throbbed. The mechanical debris bothered her more than if the assailants had been human. Manikins were unstoppable by normal means, and tireless. Drek, if she hadn’t come looking for Zander...
    “They haven’t given up.”
    Tyree jerked her head up, startled by the calm tones of Zander’s voice. Only her enhanced Inc-Su control kept her from shaking like a frightened novice, but he sounded as though commenting on their daily schedule. A blow had split his lip, though he’d wiped the worst of the blood trail away.
    “No,” she