Crack in the Kill Code (AmpCore #2)

49 - Honeytongue

The lobby was nuts. That was the only word that kept ringing around in Piper's head. A squadron of administrative functionaries and more neatly-attired guards waited inside, arranged in neat lines over certain doors to keep the guests where they were supposed to be. The floor was some kind of combination of red carpet and astroturf that seemed to respond as she walked, perfectly distributing her weight so that even in the unfamiliar heels she felt steady.

Her grip on Odiye's arm loosened a little, and she let her eyes wander, taking it all in. The walls of the lobby were panelled in rich, warm wood, and given the obvious expense of this place, Piper was willing to bet it was real wood too, rather than the synthetic veneers you got in most of the city.

With Arrow and Toran close behind, they ventured inside, passing obsidian colonnades on their way to one of the administrators. It was a woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, but Piper couldn't take any real guess given the synthetic sheen of the staffer's skin. She might've been twenty; might've been forty.

She took their names in a diamond polished accent, and directed them through one of the crystalline double doors behind her. The guards stepped aside with respectful nods and then they were through, stepping into the reception hall.

If the lobby was nuts, this was insane. Wood gave way to seamless smooth panelling, as though the whole place had been hewn from a single chunk of spotless stone. Holographic artworks mixed with corporate advertisements, shimmering up and down the walls in a constantly changing miasma that made her stomach turn. Along one wall, a long, polished marble bar was installed, with several young men and women mixing cocktails with military precision. Above them, a glass hole in the ceiling looked up into the interior walls, where four cliffs of glittering light enclosed them.

She couldn't see the stars.

The people matched the room, too. Dresses and suits that cost more than most houses in the evergrind taunted her, with exiguous women and immaculate men gliding back and forth between trays of drinks balanced by docile staff members. And yet, by Hadrian's standards, they actually seemed a little restrained. During her time at AmpCore, she'd seen what some people liked to resort to, with elaborate holographic sheens, wild colours and surgical enhancements of whatever took their fancy.

These people looked gorgeous, but controlled, like a caged tiger. Predatory smiles followed honeyed words around the room, and she could feel the shimmer of low-level invasive code bursts flitting back and forth as the great and the good of Hadrian's corporations tested one and other.

Of Mazvinar Karga there was no sign. Nor Conan Knox. She imagined that the heaviest of heavy hitters probably weren't coming through the front door.

A concierge greeted them, a smiling man with cream-smooth skin and an elegant bundle of blond braids gathered on the dome of his head.

"Good evening," he said, speaking in a voice so silky Piper actually felt the hairs on her arms stand up on end. "Your names?" His eyes suddenly shone milk-white and she tried not to recoil as she the sensors build into his retinas scan her.

"Operative Odiye Tambo, Code & Vector Incorporated Systems," Odiye answered smoothly.

"Operative Arrow Gibbs, Ardenne industries," they followed up.

"And this is...?"

"Operative Piper Russell," Odiye answered for her. "Independent contract status."

"What a rarity." The man's smile broadened, and his eyes flickered back to normal again – piercing green and flecked with gold. "Any suitors?"

"Keeping my options open," she returned dryly.