Holly sank her teeth into the greasy sandwich, tearing off a chunk of it and chewing with relish. She didn't know exactly what was in it, if she was totally honest, It was some kind of synthetic bastardisation of poultry, packed around processed veg, lathered with a thick, garlic sauce, all crammed between two slices of dark bread.

She had to admit though, it actually tasted alright, which was a bit of a shock to the system. Raised in the heart of Hadrian, Holly knew just how good food could get if you had the crypts. Maybe her standards had just fallen through the floor, along with the rest of her life.

As she ate, she kept a wary eye on the clientele in front of her. She had her back to a solid wall, tucked in the corner of the establishment while she observed, waiting for her quarry to materialise. Ripping off another mouthful of the sandwich, she washed it down with a glug of the sickly-sweet soda, sucking air through her teeth at the sharpness of it. Unlike the sandwich, the drink left a lot to be desired. It might as well have been a class of liquidised sugar for all she could taste. No wonder people out here seemed so wired all the time.

The people she'd been waiting for arrived just as she finished her meal. As she crumpled up the thin, stained paper wrapping, however, she realised quickly that her initial plan would need some modifications.

Two men came barrelling through first, clad in thick factory-style blast jackets, and lugging something in a big black body bag. From the way they strained, she was willing to bet there was something a hell of a lot heavier than a human body inside. The pair stopped briefly in front of the bartender, exchanging a few hushed, hurried words, before he nodded and ushered them through a door marked "STAFF ONLY".

Her interest only grew when three more gang members followed, staggering in through the bar's side door, all supporting a fourth. Holly's brows rose at the sight of the woman, the tanned skin of her face drained of blood, arms wrapped around her mid-section. Even from this distance she could see the crimson seeping through the gang members' fingers.

She waited, and watched, gulping down the last of her drink. She'd known to look for them here, but she hadn't been expecting to catch them right after a gunfight. Moving silently, she freed her amplifier beneath the table and sent out questing fingers across the bar towards them.

Before they could disappear through the door as well, Holly managed to get her hooks into the injured woman, in an instant raking invisible fingers through the body. What she found filled her with both excitement and trepidation. These were not gunshots, or even traditional blades. Even with just a cursory brush over the injured ganger she could see the ripping, hacking claw-like incisions, just like the people on the docks.

It was a miracle the woman's insides were still ... inside. But she had minutes to live, Holly knew it instantly.

That presented an opportunity.

Wiping her mouth, she waited for a minute until the initial commotion died down, then rose from her seat. She kept her amplifier out, but concealed within the pocket of her coat as she walked towards the bar.

Holly walked straight towards the door, flexing her implants as the barman spotted her. He took a step, aiming to bar her path, his mouth opening to shout a warning.

She squeezed one eye shut in concentration, until she found the man's vagus nerve. Then she gave it just enough of a squeeze to send him into a seizure, before he collapsed in an unconscious heap. To the casual observer, she hadn't gotten within ten feet of him, and by the time anybody noticed what had happened, Holly was already through the door and descending the stairs.

Frantic voices echoed towards her. She slipped her amplifier back into its sheathe, a calculated risk under the circumstances, but one she knew she needed to take if she wanted to get a word out before bullets started flying.

They almost didn't notice her at first. She stepped into the basement office, where the woman had been laid out on a table, with some kid who couldn't have been more than sixteen leaning over her. He was fighting frantically with horrific wounds well beyond his ability to heal. Even a skilled surgeon couldn't have fixed the horrendous damage to the ganger's internal organs.

The others paced back and forth anxiously, but eventually the man closest to her finally realised that they had a guest.

"What in the fuck?!"

Holly stayed still as he tore a pistol from the holster on his hip and levelled it, his eyes wide with shock.

"Hi." She smiled innocently.

"Who the hell..." one of the other gangers blurted, grabbing for his own gun. "Who are you? How'd you get in here?!"

"You can call me Holly," she told them. "I'm just here to talk to you. It's about your... encounter."

"Talk to us? I got a better idea." His finger curled around the trigger.

"Easy," Holly said calmly, raising her hands. "No need for that."

"Oh, no?" The young man took a step closer, the barrel of the pistol now just a few inches from her face. She winced and willed herself to remain calm as he looked her up and down. "You can dress how you like, but you can't scrub off the stink. It's all over you. You're a slimy little corp spiv."

"I never said I wasn't," she replied, "but right now I'm not your enemy, alright? I'm not with the corps anymore. They turned on me."

"Ain't life a bitch?" His face twisted with anger. "But why the fuck would I believe you?"

"Because I'm willing to bet whatever you just tangled with wasn't some rival gang, or a corporate kill team. You ran into something a whole lot nastier out there, didn't you?"

"Maybe we ran into another corp experiment, eh?" He shook his head bitterly. "Gonna need to do better than that if you don't want me to blow your pretty brains all over the wall, bitch."

"I can do better."

Her amplifier was out in a flash. The man tried to shoot her. His finger pressed hard on the trigger, but too late. Holly twisted her wrist and the mechanism locked solid, before the pistol simply came apart in his hand, its pieces raining down against the floor. His mouth dropped open in shock and he stumbled back. Holly smiled, and with a flick of her wrist she send the guns of the other gangers flying out of their hands with a crash.

"Fucking freak!" the first man blurted, and she could see him fumbling in his pocket, trying to unfold the knife in there.

"Call me what you like, I'm probably the only person who can help your friend before she bleeds out." She inclined her head to the injured woman lying in a heap in the corner, sweat and blood soaking through the makeshift bandages that the gang's wannabe field medic had wrapped her in. The mop-haired teenager had stopped his attempts to staunch the bleeding, now looking at her in terror.

"Jevi," the woman coughed weakly to the first man, her thick Latam accent sharp and unyielding. "I don't care if she's a spiv. Let her try, would you? I'm spilling my guts over here."

Jevi didn't look convinced. "Boss, we don't wanna be owing some corp."

"No, we don't, but I'm not gonna owe anyone anything if I drop dead in this piss-stained basement!" She let out a hacking cough, before mustering up enough energy to glare at him. "Now get out of the way, would you?!"

He looked from her and back to Holly twice before his face scrunched up with anger and he took a single, mulish step to one side.

Holly gave him a nod, and strode up to the table, waving the medic aside impatiently as she brought her amplifier to bear on the injured gang leader. Taking a closer look, she grimaced, and thanked her past self for paying thorough attention in her advanced Internals classes. This would be a tough task, even for a seasoned practitioner.

"After all that," the woman grated, "you better not be about to twist on us."

"You're in a bad way," Holly admitted, "but I should be able to fix you up."

"Should?"

"You look like someone took an angle-grinder to your internal organs. What the hell happened?"

"Fix me first, spiv, then we talk."

Holly smirked. "Fair enough. What's your name?"

"Alba," she replied hoarsely.

"Well, Alba, you'd better brace yourself. This is going to hurt."

"Story of my fucking life."

"Just, try not to move." Licking her lips, she took a deep, steadying breath, and then set to work.

*

One hour of screaming, snapping, swearing and grinding later, Holly sagged exhausted into a chair, her muscles and implants aching, sweat dripping down her face from her exertions. Her charge, Alba, lay on the table, equally drained by the experience, but with all her organs back where they were supposed to be.

"Woah," the kid murmured as he examined the new skin of his boss's abdomen where Holly had plugged up all the holes. "That's insane. How did you do that?"

"A lot of hard work and a shit-load of corporate tech stuffed into my bones." She twirled her amplifier lazily and grinned weakly. "It's not something I can teach you, I'm afraid."

"How... how does it work?"

"You'll have to ask the med-techs at AmpCore about that."

"AmpCore? So you're really one of them?!" His eyes were wide with genuine amazement.

"Kaiser, leave it alone, will you?" Alba groaned, gently levering herself into a sitting position.

He darted over to her. "Boss, you sure you should-,"

"I'm alright, I'm alright." Alba waved him away and slithered off the table. She kept a hold of it for a moment as the soles of her boots pressed against the floor. Breathing deep, she let go and stood straight with a grunt of effort. For a few seconds it felt like everyone in the room was holding their breath, waiting for her to collapse.

She didn't. Alba's jaw tightened and she winced, running fingers across the fresh streaks of skin.

"I'll say this for you AmpCore spooks. You live up to the hype." Then she turned to Holly. "Well, you said you wanted to talk? Here I am. What is it you want?"

"Couple of your boys dragged something in here before you," Holly said. "I'd like to see it."

"Alba," Jevi objected, "that thing belongs to the corps! That's why she's here!"

"She ain't wearing no badge, Jevi," Alba countered, looking Holly up and down with a critical eye. "You said corps turned on you?"

"That's right."

"What'd you do?"

"You know how it is." Holly shrugged as casually as she could. "Got caught in the middle of some heavy hitters. Had to pick a side."

Alba smiled knowingly. "And you picked wrong."

"Something like that."

"So, why so interested in our little souvenir?" She took a step towards Holly, her tone hardening. "Cos Jevi's right. I thought corps dealt with all those fucking things six months ago, but looks like we're a testing ground all over again, eh?"

"Testing ground?"

"Expendable training dummies for some spiv weapon spinner." Hate flashed in the ganger's eyes. "So I'll ask again. Why are you interested?"

"We had a deal." Holly felt herself bristling with anger, preparing to reach for her amplifier again. Even weakened by the process of healing Alba, she was still more than capable of killing everyone in this room if she needed to.

"And I'll hold up my end," Alba told her. "But I want to know just who I'm paying debts to right now."

Holly pursed her lips, then nodded. "Fine. I think the corps are the least of your worries. That's why I'm here. To test a theory."

"What theory?" Kaiser blurted shakily.

She gave him a grim look. "That the thing you've got shut away down here? It didn't come from this side of the river."

"You mean...?" Alba and Jevi exchanged nervous glances. "Hadrian South? No way. Those things are crazy. Have been forever."

"Nothing lasts forever."

"But how did it get here?!"

Holly smirked. "I'm pretty sure it took a boat. Now, are you going to let me see it, or not?"

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