At the back of the group, Kirk limped along as fast as his shattered ankle would let him.

Holly had stitched together a quick fix to get him moving, the equivalent of an AmpCore splint to stop the joint from simply coming apart under his weight, but that was all she could manage right now. She looked haggard, the after effects of the strange pulse grenade still lingering. Every now and then he saw her twitch, an arm or leg spasming without her consent.

So he gritted his teeth for now. Hopefully once she'd had a chance to rest, she could reconstruct everything properly.

Nevay led the way, her normally volcanic demeanour subdued, which set him more on edge than ever. Her screaming, cursing and swearing he was used to, but she'd gone beyond that now. All that rage had tipped her over into a blacker pit of pure loathing. She clung to Doser's bulky police revolver, her hands white knuckled around the grip as she twisted back and forth, hunting for threats.

Despite their constant sparring, he could tell that Nevay had come to have a measure of affection for the detective. He could almost see his death weighing her shoulders down.

"You okay?" Treysi asked softly, dropping back alongside him.

Kirk winced as he tried to smile. "I'll live."

"C'mon, gimme your arm."

"I'm okay."

"What, don't want help from a girl?" She gave him a scathing look.

"It's not that," he hissed, and couldn't keep his eyes from flickering down towards her arm, the metal arms till caked with blood that was reaching out to steady him.

Treysi looked confused for a moment as she followed his gaze down. When she realised what he was looking at, she jerked back sharply, her eyes dropped to the floor as she turned away.

"Sorry. Wouldn't want to get any blood on your hands, eh?" she muttered bitterly.

"Treysi, no-,"

"I just did what I had to do."

"I know that!"

"And now you're fucking scared of me?"

With an effort, he hobbled to catch up with her, forcing a smile onto his face as he looked at her. "Treysi, I just watched you smoke a corporate kill-team single-handedly. Yeah, I'm scared of you, because I'm not a complete idiot. But I'm also happy you're on our side."

Her sour expression didn't loosen, but she slowed a little, matching his pace. Kirk reached out and clamped a hand onto her shoulder, feeling the solid metal of the joint moving beneath his hand has he leaned on her. Gradually he leaned a little more to keep the weight off his leg.

"Thanks," he murmured.

Treysi nodded, and he saw the glimmer of a smile flash on her face as they trudged on into the hazy early-morning light.

The corporate dawn raid had been well-timed to avoid attention, but it worked both ways. Out here the city was still waking up, making it easier for Nevay to find them concealed paths through the tight-packed streets of the AllChem district. He had no real idea where they were going, but he trusted that Nevay probably had a host of hidden boltholes in the city that would serve as a safehouse in a pinch.

They stuck to the shadows, ducking the occasional corporate drone that hummed stealthily overhead and dodging the corporate enforcement patrols that were beginning their rounds. With everything happening, Kirk had almost forgotten about the regular cordon around a whole swathe of Hadrian's dockside districts. He wondered how many of the local police and corporate troopers had any idea what was really happening out here.

He was willing to bet that the percentage was low.

"Where are we going?" Holly groaned as they slunk into yet another dark, cramped alleyway filled with half-functioning auto-trash compactors. She slumped against the wall, pressing her eyes shut.

"Somewhere we can get out of sight of those drones," Nevay replied, her voice flat. "What's up with you? The hell was that popper they cracked you with?"

The operative gave a weak shrug. "I don't know. Never felt anything like it. It was like someone shorted out all the nerves in my body. Everything misfiring at once. My head's still fucking pounding."

"Well, suck it up, spiv. We've got a little ways to go yet."

Holly replied with a bile-filled glare as she pushed herself off the wall to stand straight. He could see sweat beading on her cheeks and the taut muscles of her neck as she fought to remain steady. Still clinging onto Treysi's shoulder, Kirk hobbled forward, pulling her with him.

"Let's just get there," he said quietly, casing a glance back over his shoulder. "Corps are going to be sweeping these streets when they realise we're not lying dead back there."

Nevay's lip curled sourly, but she gave him a nod, her gaze twitching to Treysi for a moment, before she turned and continued on through the alley. Holly slouched off after her, steps unsteady as she fought the after effects of the bomb.

It took another half hour of creeping through AllChem's dark, rancid back streets before they reached a small, rickety-looking autoshop. The lights were on, and a couple of partly dismantled cars sat in the entrance, but he could see rust on the chassis of both. The place didn't even have a sign.

They followed Nevay to the small door leading into the sales kiosk bolted to the side of the structure. She breathed deep, and thumped the butt of the revolver against the dark metal three times. The sound echoed horribly in the quiet street, and Kirk couldn't stop himself from wincing. A few seconds later small rectangle opened in the upper section, sliding aside to reveal a pair of dark-rimmed grey eyes.

The brow above the eyes furrowed. "Bollocks..."

"Open the door," Nevay said quietly. The words came out calm, but Kirk could see the tension coiling up her body.

Fortunately, the person on the other side took the hint. There was a clunk of an old-fashioned retracting bolt, then the door swung open. A man stood across the threshold, moving off to one side and beckoning them in. He was lean and scrawny, a tanktop and heavy cargo trousers hanging off his skeletal frame. A half-smoked cigarette smouldered between his lips and he spoke without removing it.

"On you go. Nest's stocked. Don't stay long though – corps have been sniffing."

"Well, I wouldn't want that kind of trouble to land on your pretty head, would I?" Nevay sneered as she stalked past him.

The man sniffed dismissively, beckoning the rest of them through. His eyes widened a little at the sight of Kirk limping along, supported by a Treysi and her metal implants, but he kept any additional thoughts to himself.

The door banged shut again, sealing them off from the outside world. Kirk clung to Treysi's shoulder as they navigated the narrow hallway beyond – a thin metal passage that looped around the back of the autoshop until they reached another door.

When she reached it, Nevay turned to the left, and pressed a clenched fist against one of the wall panels to the left.

To his surprise, it was the wall panel that actually opened – a concealed entrance that led them into a cramped, cube of a room. A single tepid bar light came to life as they entered, illuminating the tightly packed shelves filled with canned food, clothes, spare engine parts, odd assortments of tech, and – of course – weapons.

"You okay?" Treysi asked as she lowered him to sit on one of the cot-like beds bolted to the walls.

"Yeah, I'm good – thanks." Kirk smiled through the jolt of pain as he sat down. He leaned back, letting his body relax just a little bit for the first time in hours. The ache in his ankle throbbed and he could feel cramps tightening his muscles.

Once they were all inside, Nevay sent the false panel sliding shut again. A dull quiet settled on them, with the faint hum of machines and the occasional rumble of a passing car outside the only sounds. Holly sagged down heavily on a metal chair, elbows on her knees, massaging her temples with both hands.

"Nice second home, Nev," Treysi joked nervously as she looked around, the light of her cybernetic eyes pulsing faintly as they devoured the detail. "Guess we just gotta hope the corps don't know about this one, too, eh?"

"Let's hope." Nevay nodded, one foot tapping thoughtfully against the ground. "Does make you wonder though, how did they know where to find us?"

And in a single fluid motion, she spun around and jammed the barrel of Doser's police revolver firmly between Treysi's eyes.

"Wha- NEV!" Kirk exclaimed, his voice leaping an octave in shock. He shot upright again, ignoring the lightning bolt of pain in his ankle as he surged forward. Then he froze in mid-lunge, torn between trying to wrestle the gun from Nevay, and the risk of her pulling the trigger before he could reach her.

Treysi went rigid, her eyes slowly rising to look at the bulky gun. Her mouth opened slightly, but words wouldn't come. He saw the pulse behind her eyes, shimmers of red lighting up her cornea, but whether it was just a panic reaction, or she was getting ready to attack, he didn't know.

"Nevay, think about this," he hissed, hands still raised.

"I have," she said, her voice like ice. "Couldn't just listen, could you, Kirk? No, you had to fuckin' white-knight your way through the world and look where we are. My people are dead. Targe is dead. Doser is fucking dead. All cos you had to save your little damsel in distress."

"I didn't do anything," Treysi whispered. "Please, I didn't tell them-,"

"Oh, belt up. I didn't say you meant it." Nevay pressed the pistol harder against the young woman's head. "I'm saying, I don't think you control it. We were hiding out in that comfy little bolthole for months, then a few days after we bring you in, the corps come crashing down on us. Riddle me that, my little cyborg."

"I killed those people," she answered. "You'd be dead without me."

"She's right, Nev." Kirk edged a little closer. "Don't do this."

"You're a fucking bullet magnet," Nevay snarled, shooting Kirk a warning glance, "and if you take another step I'll blow her brains out."

"I thought that's what you were going to do anyway?" Holly finally interjected, though she sounded petulant, like a tired teenager. She leaned back in the seat, looking at them through bloodshot eyes. "Either shoot her or don't. We don't have time... don't have time for this."

"Mierda, you got somewhere you gotta be?" Treysi didn't dare move, her eyes rooted to the gun pressed against her skull, but she bared her teeth in frustration.

"Holly. Lockley!" Kirk looked at her in disbelief. "Are you seriously gonna just sit there and let this happen?"

"Jesus, Kirk, what the hell do you want from me," she spat. "Maybe she's got a point? Did you ever think of that? How the hell did the corps know where to find you?"

"Well, you're a new face in the gang and you used to work for those fucking spivs. Maybe we should put a gun to your head and see what comes out?!" He lurched in her direction unsteadily. "Makes more sense doesn't it? You screwed up and got kicked out of the club. Maybe Nevay Jennings is your ticket back in."

"Nevay Jennings wouldn't get me god damn leftovers," she sneered, before casting a pitying glance at Nevay. "No offence."

"Some taken."

Kirk squeezed his eyes shut for a second, trying to wrap his head around what was happening. After all they'd been through to rescue Treysi, he wasn't about to let Nevay shoot her dead in front of him.

"You really think the corps are tracking her?" he asked, this time fighting to keep his voice level.

"Shouldn't be too hard to prove it," Nevay chuckled bleakly. "We can just hang about here for a couple of hours, and if the spivs come knockin', I'll have my answer."

"And you'll be dead."

Her voice leapt into a shrill, raw scream. "You think I didn't make my peace with that about a hundred fucking corpses ago, Kirk?!"

That was when he saw it for the first time.

Despair.

An emotion he never thought he'd read on the face of Nevay Jennings, but there it was. Brash, foul-mouthed, brave, abrasive, indestructible Nevay Jennings had finally reached her limit. Underneath that barbed-wire exterior she was just a human being like everyone else. The corps had massacred everyone else in the compound, and in the process wiped out the one thing she'd been clinging onto since the death of her uncle.

Her eyes flickered to him, the metal replacement unreadable, the biological one shining with barely contained tears. Her jaw was locked tight, her whole body trembling, one finger curled firmly around the trigger. Kirk held her gaze, the moment of quiet giving him a chance to finally collect his thoughts.

"Nev, think about it, please." He raised his hands, grimacing as she shifted his footing to face her fully. "This... thing we've been chasing, he's cutting people up and putting them to work against the corps, right?"

She looked back to Treysi. After a moment, she nodded.

"Then, don't you think if they could track her, they'd be tracking everybody else in that place? Why would they come after just her?"

"Then how did they find you?" Holly piped up.

God, he could have swung for her there and then. Not that the question didn't need answered, but he had a suspicion that Nevay was actually half-right. If his guess was correct, however, they needed Treysi now more than ever.

"Somebody murdered Scay, and that's what set the corps onto us. But Scay was just the kick up the arse. They didn't find us on their own. Someone tipped them off."

"What, you think we had a fucking squealer? One of my people?"

"No!" he blurted quickly. "I think you're looking in the wrong place. The corps aren't tracking Treysi. But someone else is."

His words finally seemed to shake Holly out of her weary malaise. She rose up out of her chair, squinting at him.

"You think...?"

"Makes the most sense doesn't it?"

"The fuck are you talking about?"

"The leader – the cyborg I met," Holly said. "He's the one tracking her. He killed Scay and gave the corps our coordinates."

Nevay's finger tightened around the trigger. "If you're tryin' to talk me out of this, you're doing a shite job."

"Nev, if he's tracking her, you think it might work both ways?"

That made her hesitate. She eased back just a fraction, the gun barrel lifting from Treysi's skin by a few centimetres. She looked at Holly. "You think that's what's happening?"

Holly shrugged. "It makes sense."

"And if there's a signal, you think you can find it? Cos our place was stuffed to the gills with scrubbers and it still got through."

"I can try."

Nevay breathed out, long and deep, and turned back to Treysi. "Sit down," she said, motioning with the gun.

Swallowing hard, Treysi backed away and lowered herself into the chair, eyes fixed on the gun that remained pointed at her.

"Then try," Nevay continued, "and if you can't find anything, I'm going to put a bullet in her skull."