Glitch in the God Complex (AmpCore #1)

42 - You Won't Like Me When I'm Angry

"Meet me on my terms, and no-one else has to die."

Piper watched the message in a state of shock. Her heart thumped against her ribcage like a sledgehammer and the images of Kirk and Arden wouldn't leave her mind. She could feel the surge in her implants and battled to control it. The plate beneath her left foot began to twist and balk as barely controlled force leaked out of her.

"Piper..." Odiye said softly, stepping closer. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not." Piper squeezed her eyes shut. Trying to think.

You can't stay here.

Get out of my head, she thought desperately.

I'm the only one on your side.

"He's telling the truth, isn't he?" she managed after a moment, looking at Toran, trying not to let the power in her implants make her tremble. "Corps are making these things again. AIs – codewraiths. Just like you did before the Schism."

"I didn't do anything," Toran snapped back. "And we don't know for certain." His eyes flickered grimly to Lenor. "At least, not yet."

"It's the only thing that makes sense, Toran," Arrow put in. "The wraiths couldn't get across the water – they can't think on that level anymore.

"Then maybe you should run along and go digging into our mystery fabricators," Ferra suggested.

"You think I care about the wraiths right now?!" Piper exploded, twisting to face her, pointing at the screen. "We're going out there. We're not letting this happen."

"Woah, there," Toran said. "Piper, you can be as angry as you want, but there is no way in hell that the people that run AmpCore are going to send you out there. It's never going to happen."

"Why not?"

"Why not?!" Toran gestured to Lenor Karga. "Piper, the reason you are here, at AmpCore, is because the people that fund and run this place consider you a unique asset. They're not going to hand you over to Cutter Jennings because he's threatening to kill two people they don't know or care about!"

She took a step forwards, squaring up to him. "I know you and Skiltron might not care about their lives, but I do, and that's what matters."

He shook his head. "You're going to need a lot more than personal feelings to convince anybody this is a trade worth making."

Piper wanted to hit him. She wanted to lash out, blast a hole in the nearest wall and tear Hadrian apart. But somewhere deep in her gut she knew Toran was right – whether he agreed with it or not. The greater powers didn't care about her, or Arden, or Kirk.

Seeing Kirk's face again had brought all her old feelings boiling up to the top of her cauldron again, setting off a chain reaction in her mind, linking him to a thousand ups, downs, twists and turns. The sound of his violin sang in her mind for the first time in weeks. She could taste the savoury, greasy satisfaction of a dockside kebab again, feel the rush of dodging the corporate inspectors and dockside security.

A fresh wave of shame hit her like a smack in the face. The academy had sucked her in so thoroughly that she'd almost forgotten the reality of her old life. The simple, uncomplicated life without crazed machines, murdering corporate thugs, illegal implants and unnatural powers.

"He's right. That's why I came, Piper," Holly interjected, having caught her breath. "It's Demir and the others – they've locked down the academy and they're already looking for you. You've probably got an hour before they track you down. They don't care about your friends, and," she glanced at Ferra, "they're not going to take their marching orders from Cutter Jennings. They'll firebomb the docks into a wasteland before they'll let him hold them to ransom. If you want to help Arden and Kirk, you're going to have to do it fast. And without academy sanction."