Canary moved with a fluidity that was insulting. Every time I thought I had a read on her with my Sharingan, she shifted, her weight flowing like water. My eyes were recording the muscle memory, storing the exact tension in her hamstrings and the angle of her wrists, but my physical body was starting to lag.
"Focus, Vex," she said, stepping in with a lightning-fast jab-cross combo. "You're looking at my hands. Look through me."
I parried the jab, but the cross caught me square in the ribs. The air left my lungs in a sharp wheeze. I stumbled back, landing right over the primary power conduit I'd mapped earlier. This was the spot.
"Ring," I projected, my vision blurring from the impact. "Needle. Now."
A microscopic sliver of green light—thinner than a human hair—extended from the band of the ring, piercing through the polymer mat and the reinforced floor plating. It was a gamble. If the insulation on the Zeta-conduit was too thick, I'd just be wasting willpower. If I hit the core, I might fry my nervous system.
Contact.
A jolt of raw, unrefined electricity surged up the construct. It wasn't the clean, soothing energy of a Power Battery; it was jagged and hot. My arm jerked involuntarily.
"Vex?" Dinah paused, her eyes narrowing. "You okay?"
"Just... catching my breath," I grunted. I forced my jaw shut to keep from crying out as the Ring's secondary storage began to fill.
0.8%... 1.5%... 2.4%...
The sensation was like having liquid lead poured into my veins. On the observation deck, Robin tapped his wrist-comp. He'd noticed a localized power draw. I had seconds.
"You're shaking," Dinah said, her tone shifting from instructor to concerned hero. She took a step toward me.
I couldn't let her touch me. If she felt the vibration or the heat coming off my skin, the game was over. I lunged forward, not with a refined move I'd copied, but with a desperate, heavy-handed tackle. It was the perfect "frustrated kid" move.
She caught me, easily redirecting my momentum to pin me against the mat, but the distraction worked. I severed the construct needle.
"Power levels: Main Battery 6.4%. Secondary storage: 5.2%," the Ring whispered. "Warning: Secondary energy is volatile. Discharge recommended."
"Enough for today," Dinah said, releasing my arm and helping me up. "You've got the instincts, but your endurance is trashed. Go get some water. We'll pick this up tomorrow."
I nodded, wiped the sweat from my face, and walked toward the showers. My heart was hammering against my ribs, and the red glow in my eyes was fading back to a dull, exhausted brown.
I'd just stolen enough juice to keep the Ring alive for a few more days, and I'd copied about 30% of the world's best hand-to-hand fighter's repertoire.
As I passed the observation deck, Robin looked down at me, his face unreadable behind the mask. He knew something had flickered on his sensors. He just didn't know it was me.
I headed to my room, the stolen energy humming under my skin like a caged animal. I needed to stabilize it, and I needed to do it before Batman decided to conduct a "deep scan" of the newest guest in the Cave.