Crack in the Kill Code (AmpCore #2)

39 - Nobody's Side but Mine

She couldn't deny that running into Holly had unsettled her. She's sort of resigned herself to the fact that the traitor had gotten away; run off into the sunset never to return. It'd have been simpler that way.

Now things felt complicated all over again.

Piper stalked through the docks aimlessly, not sure where to go or what to do. The whole thing had thrown her off, and killing that creature – whatever it was – meant she'd extinguished her main lead. Cassie had nothing to track now. They were back to square one.

Just can't catch a fucking break around here, can we?

Apparently not. Cassie paused, thoughtful. It was a strange sensation, having that other presence layered over her like that, and Piper could feel the swirl as her passenger collected itself before speaking again. You let Holly walk away.

Yes, I did.

Why?

Shit, I don't know. It just... just didn't seem fair. Seems like she's having a pretty shit time of it as it is, don't you think?

I suppose. But she killed your friend Ferra. Revenge is the normal course, no?

I think I'll have plenty of time for revenge, Piper replied wryly as they walked. Besides, people like Holly... she's just a symptom. Just another person that those fucking corporations used up and spat back out again.

You feel bad for her, Cassie said. It didn't sound like an accusation, but Piper couldn't help feeling like it was. She flinched, her impants reacting against the notion that she actually felt sorry for Holly Lockley. A traitor. Murderer.

But then, who was she to run around declaring that kind of moniker? She'd killed her fare share of people since she joined AmpCore and barely batted an eyelid in the process. That sobering thought make her stomach turn, and suddenly, she didn't feel quite so morally superior.

I guess I do, she relented eventually. In some ways. She was on the wrong side of the board in the end... and now she's got no side.

I see.

Do you understand, though?

I think so. The wider problems are not solved by hurting Holly Lockley, even though we have a personal vendetta.

Oh 'we' do?

I am part of you, Piper, Cassie snapped. There is bleed through of your emotion – your experience. I cannot help but feel what you feel. I do not have the means to interact with the world without you.

Ah. Piper nodded, and cursed herself silently. Sorry. I didn't think of that.

Well now you know.

An uneasy quiet bubbled in her mind for a little while after that. She walked on, her footsteps guiding her mindlessly to the lapping chemical waters of the Hadrian. Her fingers curled and uncurled with nervous energy. It had been some time since Piper didn't know what she wanted to do next.

In a sense, she really was free now. No corps on her tail, her lead to trace... whoever it was she was chasing all but gone. She walked down a set of stairs, passing though a long-torn open piece of dead electrical fencing splattered with warning signs. Ducking between the barbs and bits of twisted metal, she merged onto a long viewing deck, half its rails missing, the rest corroded and creaking in the breeze.

Piper sat down, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Her eyes fell on Hadrian South, scanning the ragged, fanged ruin of hopes and dreams. She felt the muscles in her neck tighten as she stared, the faint echoes of movement just visible across the water. It was obscured for a moment as the five-decked mass of an Outlander Transit haulage vessel chugged across her path, its steep flanks blinking with logos and anti-collision lighting.