Glitch in the God Complex (AmpCore #1)

55 - Pretty Pictures

 "I can't go out there with you," Rain said, shaking her head. "I've already stuck my neck out too far on this if my superiors every found out..." She sighed. "Just be careful, will you? I don't want to read about you on the newscasts tomorrow."

Kirk tried not to eavesdrop, but he couldn't tune it out. He tried to busy himself with packing, but the debate just wouldn't stay out of his ears.

"You could go out there," Delgado shot back. "You could do more than just point me on my way and slap me on my ass on the way out the door."

"Chloe, I work for Kaysar-,"

"Yeah, I know who you work for Rain. That's the problem." A sudden softness crept into Delgado's voice, like nothing he'd heard before. "Rain, c'mon. This is your chance to get away from all that corporate shit. Just like the old days. You and me knocking those bastards down a peg or two."

"No."

Kirk winced. The tone was brittle and angry; guaranteed to push Delgado.

"That's it?" the detective snarled. "Just 'no'? Don't you understand what's happening out there?!"

"I've helped you enough, Chloe! There's a fucking arsenal on that table."

Kirk glanced around to see the two women staring each other down, anger crackling in the air around them. Delgado was a little shorter than the corp woman, but he'd seen how well she could handle herself if it came to a fight.

"You got your own corporate kill squad," Rain continued. "Do you have any idea the risks I've already taken? Meeting you? Bringing you and these ... gangsters to my god damned home? Giving you guns?! If my superiors found I'd be lucky just to get fired. They could make me disappear on the spot. I could end up melting away in that damned river."

"Then why are you working for them?!"

"Because Hadrian needs the corps, Chloe, whether we like it or not!"

"The corps are the problem."

"People are the problem. We impose order on people that they can't live without. It isn't pretty but that's life."

"Christ," Nevay murmured softly as the argument continued. "I wish those two would just fuck and be done with it."

He rolled his eyes and didn't bother answering. Based on everything he'd seen, Nevay Jennings was probably the last person on planet Earth that he would recommend as a couples councillor.

Instead he tried to busy himself with making sure he was actually ready to go digging into the deepest darkest secrets in Hadrian without getting killed. The bullet-proof vest that Rain had provided him with was lighter than it looked, but it still made him feel awkwardly bulked out, like an ill-fitting second skin.

He tugged his jacket down over it, wriggling for a couple of seconds to get it to sit comfortably, and then slipped a small flick-blade into his pocket. It was shinier than the one he'd lost during his time with Cutter Jennings, a little longer too. He knew how to use a blade as well as anybody.

Kirk knew, however, that if they wanted to have any chance of succeeding in this mad venture he'd need more than a knife. Between Nevay, Delgado and Rain he had a fair amount of gear to choose from, and in the end adopted for a Ramfold Amaments jolter. It looked like a bulky pistol, with a cuboid-shaped barrel and a sturdy grip. Well aware that he was no marksman, Kirk decided that something short range with a wide spread would suit him just fine.

That, and the bolts of electrical charge it fired ought be a lot more effective against any codewraiths than the average bullet. Given where they were going, it seemed like a prudent choice.