The reception they received at the bar in question was positively arctic, but Piper hardly blamed the patrons for that.

Despite the corporate cordon, the gang warfare and the new bloodthirsty killers rampaging in their midst, the people here still found a way to have fun. Remarkably, they still found several thriving bars, clubs, game lounges, and even a few places calling themselves restaurants. Piper wasn't about to chance her internal organs on it, but it was still impressive.

That fun, however, decidedly did not extend to members of the corporations. Even with Mattellus's big armoured body leading the way, she saw the sneering looks and heard the muttered insults from the clientele. Glares followed them with every step.

It made her feel sick.

You're one of them.

The accusation coiled around her like a greasy vine. She saw herself, for the first time, as Kirk must have seen her all those months ago. The shock; the hate in his eyes when he realised she was choosing AmpCore over him.

It was more complicated than that, she told herself, but the look lingered in her mind. Her AmpCore uniform itched on her skin and she felt her implants prickle up and down their length as she walked.

An awkward quiet descended, conversations between the place's regular patrons swiftly fading into murmurs. She suspected the corporations had been the topic of plenty of them. Following Mattellus, they moved through the hostile air, walking up the bar, where a rugged middle-aged woman with a single fat braid of hair eyed them like rats. She leaned on the messy bar-top with her elbows, clasping her hands together and curling her lip in disgust.

Mattellus stomped up to the bar; nodded left and right to his soldiers. The four guards formed an outward-facing square around Piper and her companions, their heavy rifles held clearly in evidence across their chests. Once the cordon was in place, Mattellus moved back, motioning Piper forward.

"It's your party," he muttered. "Good luck. You're going to need it."

Piper rolled her eyes and stepped up to the bar, slinging herself up into the one of the stools. Odiye and Arrow stood awkwardly behind her, exchanging uncertain looks.

"What?" the bartender chuckled, her smile revealing more than one metal tooth. "My chairs not good enough for corporate asses?"

"They grew up in the Heart," Piper said quickly, shooting a glare back at her companions. "Will you two sit?"

Odiye cleared his throat, having the good grace to look embarrassed as he slid into the seat to her left. Arrow took the one on the other side, discomfort on their face as they perched on the edge, as though too much contact might infect them with something.

The bartender's grin softened into a smirk as she looked at Piper. "And what about you?

"I'll take a beer."

The woman chuckled and reached beneath the bar for a bottle. She cracked it open with a hiss and placed it down. Piper clasped the bottle-neck between her fingers and took a swig. ColdTwist Lager. Typical pisswater in the docks, but the taste sent a nostalgic feeling shimmering through her.

"So, you're good cop, eh?"

"Something like that."

"Pff, you're all corp."

"I wasn't always," Piper said. "I lived over on Cartwright Residential until a year ago."

"Oh, you did?"

"Yeah."

"Well, ain't you moving up in the world." She leaned closer, her smile vanishing. "You know that's... worse, don't you? Joining up with these spivs by choice?"

"I didn't join by choice." Piper's tone hardened and she laid one palm flat against the surface of the bar, letting heat leak out of her implants. "I'm stuck with it, though, so I figured I'd make the most of it."

The smell of scorched wood began wafting through the bar and the woman's eyes widened when she realised the source. She quickly stepped back from the bar. Piper turned her hand over, revealing the glow beneath her skin, and a black-scorched handprint.

"Yeah, pretty weird shit, isn't it?" She took another gulp of beer and leaned back in her seat expectantly.

"You're AmpCore." The bartender's voice tightened up, her brash demeanour quickly disappearing. One of her hands edged back towards a cupboard behind her.

"I wouldn't," Odiye warned, revealing his amplifier. "We are not here to hurt anyone."

"We just have some questions," Arrow added. "Then we'll leave."

The woman considered her options for a moment, looking from the agents, to the heavily armed security behind them. Her shoulders sagged slightly and she folded her arms.

"What questions?"

"We heard people have been going missing around this block," she said. "More than usual, at least."

"Oh, and the sainted corps are here to save us. Ain't that a twist." The bartender rolled her eyes.

Arrow's eyes narrowed. "Do you want help," they hissed, "or not?"

"Arrow, easy." She looked back to the bartender, trying to strike a more diplomatic tone. "Look, I get it. You don't owe the corps a damn thing. I don't blame you. When I lived here they didn't do shit for me. All this," she gestured to herself, "is one big accident that I never asked for. Blind fucking luck. If you really don't want our help, then we'll turn around and walk out that door. You just have to ask."

Piper caught Odiye's aghast look, but ignored him. It was bad enough the way people looked at her here. She was not about to become just another corporate boot pressing down on people who were already crushed under the weight of the world.

"I know what it's like," she continued when the bartender didn't answer. "I know how it feels. I'm with them now because I can do something. I'm not going to save the world, but maybe I can fix yours a little bit."

"Nice speech," the woman said eventually. She bit her lip, her eyes flicking uneasily to Mattellus. "Yeah, we've been losing people. Started a few days ago."

"Where?"

"Seems to be worst out at the old Caxton plant. Place is a fucking warren at the best of times. Easy for bad things to hide out there."

"And do you have any idea what's happening?" Odiye asked quietly. He returned his amplifier to its sheathe and clasped his hands together on top of the bar.

She shrugged. "I haven't gone poking around out there myself. But a lotta folk pass through here. I hear things."

"What kind of things?"

"Nasty bedtime stories, if you ask me."

Piper cocked an eyebrow. "Any good ones?"

"Heard the same glitch from a few people now," the bartender elaborated. "Talking about ghosts, if you can believe that."

"What, like a codewraith?"

"No, I mean old-school, boo-shit-your-pants ghosts. Like those dumb fuckin' story books people used to shovel into their kids faces."

Piper blinked, flexing the fingers of her hands. She looked at Odiye who gave a helpless shake of his head.

"Ghosts," Arrow repeated. "Did they describe these ghosts?"

"Not very well. Apparently they saw people just get yanked away." The bartender clicked her fingers. "Gone. Like they went up in smoke. No trace, no nothing. Sounds crazy to me, but I'm not about to go beating around that place with stick to prove it. Ghost or no ghost, sounds like something nasty is cutting people up down there."

"Well then," Piper sighed with a wry smile, placing the beer down on the bar in front of her, "I guess today we're ghost hunters."

*

The Caxton smelting plant was a vast industrial sprawl, half-functioning, half-dark, and all mess. She could hear the din of machines in the distance, and see the haze in the air from the furnaces along the northern section of the facility still firing. The southern part was a different story, with huge smoke-stacks lying dormant, the security fences around the perimeter either rusted or cut away by the more enterprising citizens of this part of Hadrian.

The smell of the shanty towns hit her first. All industrial chemicals, corroded metal and cheap cigarette smoke mixed with the tang of strong spirits and cooking oils. Then they emerged into the tangle of ad-hoc structures that festooned the derelict complex like barnacles, filling the long industrial loading canals and conveyor tracts, each one wide enough to drive three trucks through. She could still see the faded corporate paint on the walls and floor, marking out sectors of the plant.

Following the directions the bartender had given them, they walked straight down what passed for the high street of the place, passed ramshackle store-fronts and crackling neon signs. Old-style generators grumbled in the dark, and Piper spotted dozens of dodgy looking wind turbines and solar collectors scattered across the upper levels.

"Life finds a way," Arrow murmured.

"What's that?"

"Oh, just an old saying." They smiled thinly. "Doesn't seem to matter how bad things get. Life finds a way to carry on."

"If that's what you call this." Piper shook her head bleakly. Her time living on the docks had hardly been a picnic, but it paled in comparison to this. These people didn't even have the energy to give them the usual cold reception a corporate spiv might expect.

Frankly, the residents barely noticed them.

They marched on through until they reached a small hutch with a hastily painted medical cross on its rusting flank. From the sallow-faced 'doctor' within, they got their directions to the sight of the latest abduction.

No one had found any bodies yet.

The directions took them deeper into the dark warren of the Caxton foundry, into places that neither the corporations or the hardy shanty town residents laid a claim. It was dark, Hadrian's blazing neon skyline creating an eerie twilight. Ignoring Mattellus's protests, Piper led the way, feeling ahead of her for any sign of their quarry.

There were no data streams to follow down here. Dead buildings formed canyons around them, creaking in the wind, the sound of the shanty town fading with each step she took. She kept her amplifier ready, waiting for something to leap out of the shadows at her.

But by the time they reached a crossroads in a clump of storage silos, they'd run into nothing. Not a scrap of malicious code or so much as a metal hangnail.

"This was supposed to be the place, wasn't it?" Mattellus grunted.

Arrow nodded. "According to the good doctor."

"Well, I don't see shit."

"They pay you extra for those insights?" Piper sneered.

The guard snorted. "Make your jokes. There's nothing here. These rats sent us chasing phantom code."

Piper was about to tell him where to stick his theories, when something twanged against the creeping fingers of her amplifier.

Something human. Something familiar. Something AmpCore.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Piper felt anger sizzle in her implants as she twisted around. "Karga? You gonna sit in the dark all night?"

"Ding, ding, ding!" chuckled Lenor as she shadow of the building up ahead. "Tell her what she won."

She wasn't alone. Including her, there were five AmpCore agents now, including Lanson, and a pair of older practitioners stamped with Skiltron and Wayfinder logos. That gave her pause.

Then she saw a sixth figure languidly stroll out from behind a thick supporting girder on the opposite side of the junction, amplifier in hand, power dancing across his frame.

"Ah, hell." She shot warning glances at Odiye and Arrow, who both quickly moved to flank her, amplifiers shining. Opposite them, Vinder walked out to take his place at the front of the group of AmpCore students.

"What is this?" Mattellus demanded, making a chopping motion to his guards as he stomped out to face down Vinder. "Mr. Tovas? What are you doing out here? You're supposed to be-,"

"What? On lockdown?" Vinder shook his head, his eyes drifting disdainfully over them all. "You think I'm going to be kept on a leash by a glorified teacher like Mattise?"

"Son of a bitch," Piper muttered when she realised what was happening. "Guess you were right, Mattellus. We were chasing phantoms, just not the ones we thought."

"You set all this up?" Odiye looked at Vinder like he'd just sprouted a second head. "Why?"

"Because you are a problem. You're Mattise's little pets and you're working with Toran. That's more than enough for me."

His eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you insane? Something is out here massacring people, and you are here settling a personal vendetta?"

"What better time?" Lenor chimed in. "You think anyone in AmpCore actually cares about a few lowlifes being fed to the evergrind? No, no, Tambo. This is all just a good excuse to... clean up a few messes."

"Why would she help you?" Arrow narrowed their eyes.. "She was pretty clear about her dislike of the corporations."

"Oh, what, the bartender? I wouldn't blame the poor woman too much." Lanson grinned and tapped the logo on his uniform. "She's got kid with an... ongoing condition. I cleared some debts; offered to top her up for a couple of months and, presto," he clapped his hands together, "she became very happy to help."

"You really are a spectacular little bastard, Lanson, you know that?"

"Oh, spare me the moral high horse, would you? I simply applied some leverage, as we all do."

Vinder nodded, stepped out from the group. His amplifier rose and he smiled cruelly. "And I'm about to apply a little more."

"Piper." Odiye nudged her, making a tiny upward motion with his head. She followed the motion, and her jaw clenched tight when she realised the Gammaton guards had positioned themselves up in the gantries and windows of the surrounding structures. Visors flickered into life, their sights forming pinpricks of light in the gloom.

"Mr. Tovas, this has gone more than far enough!" Mattellus thundered as he stepped towards the young man. "I have to insist-,"

Vinder's wand pulsed.

There was a sickening crunch and Mattellus started to scream. Then his head twisted around 180 degrees, the armour seals of his helmet shattering and blood leaking from the joints as he collapsed, dead before he hit the ground. The rest of the security detachment stood frozen in shock, rifles half-raised, indecision rooting them to the spot.

That split-second of hesitation was enough to get them all killed. A hail of bullets from the Gammaton security detachment smashed visors and ripped through bodies, the armour-piercing rounds punching through easily from close range.

Piper just got her barrier up in time to scatter a half dozen rounds that would have torn her open on the spot. Her companions did the same, but in the ricochet one rounds sliced across Arrow's arm, leaving a bloody rent beneath the torn fabric of their jacket. They dropped to one knee with a hiss, wand boiling and implants flaring.

"Hold your fire," Lenor snarled, her voice cutting through the gun smoke, high and clear.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Piper spat. Power thumped in her veins as she took a single step forward. Her eyes flickered left and right to the shadow above them – the lithe figures of the Gammaton personnel, their holo sights glinting. She could feel their target locks fixing on her like limpets.

"If you want to die here, that's your choice," Vinder replied coldly. "But I'm going to give you one chance to come out of this on the right side." He looked Piper in the eye. "You're strong, Piper. You might be of some scummy stock, but you're useful."

"Oh, well let me just bow down and lick your fucking boots!" she laughed. "Is this seriously your recruitment pitch?"

His face twisted with irritation, but he controlled himself. "You didn't kill my sister. This doesn't have to end bloody, if you're smart." Power began heating the air around him, creating a faint blur of haze. "Come with us, peacefully, and agree to sit on the sidelines while we do what has to be done. When this is all over – when AmpCore is back under control – you can go back to your lives."

Piper glanced left and right, first to Odiye, then to Arrow. She could see it in their faces; feel it in the metal skating across their bones.

No.

So she turned back to Vinder, letting her own power ripple out to crack the concrete around her. A nearby light sparked and blew out, shards of synth-glass tinkling across the ground between them.

"Vinder," she spat, "I would drink every acid-fucking drop of the Hadrian before I would help you. So do your worst."

"Told you," Lanson snorted. "Stubborn bitch from day one. Never should have let her in the doors."

"No one can say we didn't try." Vinder shrugged.

The atmosphere crackled as every implant in the narrow defile began snarling and snapping with power, building like a pressure cooker. Piper picked out targets; she could feel the air around her chilling as Arrow began subtly manipulating the local weather volume. Across from them, a wall of force swelled along Vinder and his comrades.

Then she felt something. Something that didn't belong.

Piper twitched, trying to split her focus.

Cassie, you feel that?

I do.

What is it?

Empty.

At that moment the others seemed to feel something too. She saw the indecision roll across the faces of Vinder and the others in a wave.

"Something's out there," Odiye whispered, moving closer to her.

She nodded, trying to pinpoint it. Empty really was the word. Somewhere in the dark in front of her, a dead, inert mass moved at a fearsome pace. Despite the standoff, Piper closed her eyes and concentrated.

Her senses flailed, trying to gain purchase on the thing. All she could say for sure was that it was coming right at them.

"Vinder!"

The panicked yelp yanked her back to the crossroads. She opened her eyes; looked across at their adversaries. Lanson was looking down, his eyes wide with horror.

It all happened in a heartbeat, too quick for her eye to truly follow. She got the faintest glimpse of metal near Lanson's ankles before something yanked hard. He managed a single, sharp scream.

Then he vanished into the darkness. 

||