Daniel watched the mutant mouse eat the chip hungrily, just taking the time to get a feel for what the entanglement did.

The best description was it was a soul bond. Just like with Ivey, the mouse would be permanently in his awareness, but unlike with the Ivey, he could feel the mouse’s emotions, and if he extended himself, he could see through her eyes.

The chip was huge when a mouse looked at it.

Daniel knew if she got hurt, he would feel it himself. In fact, through the connection, he was aware of how uncomfortable that solid internal core was for a mouse.

Not that there was anything he could do about. Whenever she moved, the core annoyed her.

The mouse blurred again and this time, with his extra sense, he felt the movement of her from one spot to the next. The chip packet made a crackling noise, but the mouse was already back on his lap with a new chip. She was so fast.

He chuckled.

“I am going to call you Priscilla,” he told the mouse, running a single finger down her back. The fur was soft but was thin despite the enormous bulge where the core was. “We are going to work together to escape this tower, and then we will get you a family.”

That made the mouse excited.

“And when my mana recharges, then Animal Communion.”

Daniel wondered what he would get from the mouse. Hopefully, it would be speed. He wanted to smash heads in, and Priscilla’s command of speed was so much more than his own. Mind you, the other abilities would fit nicely. He could see the utility of invisibility, but he was not sure that what worked on a mouse who easily fitted into his hands would apply to someone as big as him. The magic resistance or counter abilities would also be useful, but speed would let him dodge magic just as easily.

The mouse got another chip, and he kept patting her.

Strength and personal power. There might be a view that pumping up everyone around you was the way to go, but Daniel did not believe that for a second. Fighting a zombie one on one taught him the truth. Power was the only way to stop monsters like that. Concentrated force was the answer, because one person as strong as a zombie could beat it. Four at half strength would end up as just as many splatters.

He patted the mouse.

“You and me, Priscilla, are going to rock this world.”

She kept eating, totally unconcerned. Now that she was free of the trap, Daniel doubted that anything could actually catch her. Maybe his wall of plants could seal every exit and confine her if she was not paying attention. Part of him wished he had the firebolt skill to share with her. That would scare the crap through everyone, the mouse zipping from one spot to another. Pow. Pow. Pow.

Daniel smiled.

He initiated Animal Communion, once more just starting the spell and then backing off. Getting the communication going between his core and the interface remnants. The process was faster this time and then he pumped everything he could into the spell.

The power went to work. Sharing and shifting knowledge for a moment, their two cores were linked. He wanted her speed, and she desired the magic that had both saved and trapped her so easily. The two chunks of information blasted out between them.

His mana bottomed out, and he wondered academically if this had added to his core or just repurposed some of the unused capacity. Curiously, he checked. The core had not expanded and he could not find any trace of what had happened. Oh well. The proof was in the observable changes.

“Little girl.” Carefully, he moved her to ground next to him. “I want to test this.”

He started his speed and leapt to his feet, but Priscilla triggered hers, running up his leg to his shoulder before he finished standing.

She was a show off.

He took a step.

She ran down his leg to chip packet and then back up his shoulder, her prize held happily in her hands.

He took another step, knowing to anyone else that he was a blur, then a third.

Previously, that movement would have left him feeling puffed, but this time it had no impact.

“You upgraded me.”

Why it was not visible on the core was a mystery, but whatever she had done had made a tremendous difference.

Yes. Priscilla matched his excitement, happy that she had helped him. Then he felt a hint of mischievousness across the bond.

She blurred and was over at the wooden trap that he had used to drag her down from the higher floor. Priscilla glowed green, and the wood closed up. She then zipped around him, moving too fast for him to see, and he only knew what she had done because of his connection to where she was. Suddenly, she rushed up and settled on his shoulders.

He peered at her. She had another unbroken chip in her paws and nibbled on it.

“We can do this.”

Smiling, he walked down along the corridor and monitored the nearby floors to make sure nothing had gone wrong. The light coming through the windows intensified as the sun kept rising, or maybe a cloud moved out of the way.

Absently, Daniel checked on Ivey and the bound zombie with Animal Sense. To his surprise, there was movement, and Ivey was leaving the room. He leapt to his feet and jogged around the corner. Ivey had the door open and was examining the hedgehog of spines he had put in place.

Her face lit up when she saw him. He grinned back, glad to see her. She was dangerous.

“You didn’t hold back, did you?” she observed, touching the spikes on the outside of the door.

“It was not much effort.” He partially lied, but Ivey was not fooled.

“Thank you.” She came over and gave him a hug and then a peck on the lips before looking brightly up at him. “We can let Dave go.”

“Okay.”

“What? You won’t fight me?”

“Why would I?” Daniel answered with a shrug. “He is clearly not feral. We need help, and if he steps out of line, I will put him down.”

“What happened to you?” Ivey asked curiously.

“I realised some stuff and might have got an upgrade.”

“What type?”

He initiated speed, opened the door, and ran to the zombie. Touched the bindings and they fell apart, but even as that was in the action, he sprinted back to his initial spot before releasing it, sucking in a big breath—but he was not breathing that heavily. More like he had gone for a brisk walk rather than had been moving at Flash-Gordon levels.

“Speed?” Ivey asked wonderingly. “How?”

Daniel grinned and touched his shoulder.

“Ivey, meet . . .”

“Gross,” she squealed, jumping away.

“Priscilla,” he finished lamely, patting the mouse lightly on the head. The mouse preened.

Ivey took another step to increase the distance. “What is it?”

“Priscilla.” He held out a hand, palm up, and the mouse dashed to it, deviating to a spot behind him. When he looked at his hand, she held another chip. Subtly looking behind him, sure enough, on the hotel floor was the packet. She had secretly been dragging it along with them. “My pet mouse.”

“Why wouldn’t you get a dog?” Ivey asked in confusion. “Or a cat if you are one of those people.”

“I am a dog person,” he said defensively.

“Thank god. But a mouse?”

“She was the most powerful creature available,” he told her, deciding to be open. “Plus, I figured I needed help with spying or battle and Priscilla is perfect at the first.”

“Why?”

Priscilla was no longer on his shoulder.

His mind triangulated where the mouse had gone.

Then he looked up in horror.

Ivey screamed. Priscilla was perched on Ivey’s shoulder, still holding the chip. “Get it off me.” She slapped Priscilla.

The mouse was crouched on the other shoulder before the hand landed. Ivey’s eyes were filled with disgusted horror, and Priscilla was sitting comfortably, like she was in her den. She lifted the chip up to her mouth and started eating.

Daniel stifled the laugh.

Ivey slapped the new spot.

Missed.

Priscilla was suddenly on top of Ivey’s head.

Still happily crunching away.

Ivey tried to brush her away from her head, then shoulder, then out of her hair. Then squealed louder as Priscilla slipped under the T-shirt. Ivey aggressively slapped, pushed, and attempted to dislodge her.

With no success.

Whenever she hit, she was too slow.

The smile reached his lips. Ivey’s eyes hardened, and she was looking straight at him. Her hair was completely dishevelled and her T-shirt pulled out of her jeans. That had been to let the mouse out.

If Priscilla had wanted to?

Priscilla, with only half the chip left, was back to eating happily on the original shoulder.

“Get—it—off—me!”

He stepped forward, half expecting Priscilla to run, but the mouse let him scoop her up.

The door to the zombie room opened, and Dave emerged. It was still mostly dark in the corridors, even if it was getting light outside. In the shadows, Dave looked big, hairy, and dangerous.

“We will talk later,” Ivey told him frostily. “And discuss ground rules for that.” She pointed at a mouse that was radiating amused satisfaction. “Dave, Janice, it is this way.”

She stalked off with Dave following her, his big furry hand holding his daughter’s wrist delicately. Amazingly, the zombie patted him on the back as he passed. He had done the same thing to his mates before, when their partner had put them in the doghouse. Silent commiserations, as anything verbal would just make it worse.

Daniel watched them till they were around the corner. “That was very naughty,” he said and then, activating speed, he jogged to catch up. From the emotions he was receiving, she was completely unrepentant.

He caught them well before they reached room seventeen, stepping deliberately in front of the zombie or, rather, Dave.

The man, to his credit, made no aggressive movements and just pulled to a halt. “It might be better if you wait out here.”

“Raraf.”

Then a nod.

Casually, Daniel stepped back to guard the door.

“They are awake,” he told Ivey as she brushed past and pushed into the room. Hopefully to explain the whole Dave situation. He stood next to Dave and his daughter.

“Did you have a good chat?” he asked

Nothing.

“You know I will die to protect the kids.”

“Raraf.”

“Because that is what real men do.”

“Raraf.”

“We need to get stronger.”

“Raraf.”

Daniel looked speculatively at the zombie; the noise being generated was not just roars.

“You are not stupid, are you?”

“Raraf.” And the zombie showed his fangs.

Daniel smiled and turned away.

“Dave?” he called out. The zombie looked up from where he had knelt to hug his daughter. Because why not? “Be careful about smiling too much.” Daniel tapped his own teeth. “Fangs and all.”

Dave smiled at him, a broad grin that showed off all those sharp teeth. Then the mouth snapped shut, and the zombie winked.

Then Dave’s attention returned one hundred percent to his daughter. Daniel walked into their rooms and despite them being fresh yesterday and the holes to the outside he had created, there was a slight smell of too many unwashed people.