Glitch in the God Complex (AmpCore #1)

63 - Cheaters Never Prosper

extract_8810_messagelog-hardcache333101

networkIdent:[ACCESS DENIED]

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – They've found you. I couldn't stop it.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – How? How in the fuck? We destroyed every record! There's no trail left.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – The girl, Russell. There's even more to her than we thought. She snuck right into the head of a codewraith we thought was dead. Like she was communing with the fucking thing. Why didn't you just kill her when you had the chance?!

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – She was an unknown variable. We needed to know more.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Oh, well thank God for the scientific approach, eh? You're about to know everything you could want, because she's about ten minutes from kicking your door down. What the hell do we do now?

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Can you stall them? Slow them down?

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – I'm with them now, but I'm not sure what you expect me to do about it. If I make my move I'm as good as dead. I'll need backup.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Activate your tracker. Maybe we can put a stop to this before they make it here.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – And if we can't?

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Just be ready. Even if they do make it to us. Those interfering little shits have no idea what they're walking into.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – You want to fight them? We should scorch earth this fucking project before they can destroy it!

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Are you completely insane? Do you any idea how many crypts are sunk into this thing? Half of fucking Hadrian's got investments riding on us.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – You tried to kill her before and it didn't go so well.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Russell might have taken control of one measly wraith, but I've got a damned army down here. Let her try and control that.

extract_terminated

*

The atmosphere inside the van was ... a little weird. That was the best way Piper could describe it. Initially there had been a feeling of elation, a thrill at having successfully blasted out of AmpCore, the adrenaline of the chase through the tunnels before they burst out into the city.

Now, however, they were clear of AmpCore and its security, cruising through Hadrian's neon nighttime, and that gave them all a lot of time to let the truth of what had had just done really sink in.

Could any of them ever go back?

Toran and Ferra probably. Enough family swing to get a slap on the wrist if they all survived this. Holly would also probably come out of it in one piece. She was less sure about Arrow and Odiye, people from smaller corporations who had history as free thinkers. Not something AmpCore was going to want more of at the end of all this.

Her trip into the codewraith's broken brain had given her a decent idea of what to expect inside the facility itself. A veritable army of berserk machines, corporate troopers and AmpCore agents who were neck deep in all of it.