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The digital scream became more clear, more precise, until Gabriela could distinguish the sound as her own manic screaming.
“Pull her out.” Soma demanded.
“She’s not finished yet.” She heard Boris protest.
“She has enough to know what she is dealing with. Finish it now.”
“I am! I am! Sukin syn.”
Gabriela could feel her body convulsing and jerking against the restraints of the net chair. She could feel her foaming saliva trailing down her cheek.
Boris’s ugly face hovered into her vision. “Fuck!” He cried out. “She is flatlining. I told you it was too soon!”
“Stay with us, Gabriela. You got to stay with us.” Soma pleaded.
A sharp pain emanated from her chest, and her body began to ease. For a moment she thought she was dead, that the last thing she was going to see was Boris’s face. But a cough wrecked her body, followed by a deep breath.
“It was me.” Gabriela choked. “Geraldo was right.”
“Get her out of the chair.” Soma demanded.
Boris took the restraints off and helped her sit up.
“I need my meta deck.”
The Russian turned back to his desk and handed it to her. She placed it over her face and came face to face with Soma, who hovered over her. “What did you change in Taurus?”
“We don’t have time for this. They found our decoy, and she is going to lead them to us. We need to get out of here ASAP.”
“You told me that you threw them off!” Boris roared. He stood up and ran his hands over his head as he paced back and forth.
“We have time, but we have to go now.”
“Go? Where am I to go, huh?” He demanded. “I can’t just ghost into the Either like you.”
“I don’t care where you go, Boris, as long as you leave, and now.”
Gabriela swung her legs over the side of the table and took an uneasy step.
“Where do we go?” She asked Soma.
“You need to follow me. There is an auto taxi waiting outside for you. It will take you to my employer. They will get you out of the city.”
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“An auto taxi is too risky.” Gabriela waved her hands. “They can track where we went.”
“You will be long gone by the time they do. Come on.” Soma’s avatar floated to the door and beckoned for her to follow. “We don’t have much time.”
Gabriela followed him, stumbling as she tried to climb the stairs. The lights in the hallway hurt her eyes, and she had to lean against the wall as she walked.Once she made it to the lobby she doubled over and vomited.
“You okay, honey?” The receptionist asked softly as she put a soft hand on her back. “It can be jarring at first, but you probably don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“I know.” Gabriela righted herself and looked into the woman's green eyes. “I remember.”
“Oh.” Was all the woman said before she reached into her bra and pulled out a baggy of pills. “Take these, they are uppers. It will help. I promise.”
“Do it.” Soma instructed.
“Thank you.” Gabriela took two of the pills and popped them in her mouth, dry-swallowing them.
“Come on, Gabriela. We need to go. Now.”
“I need to go.” Gabriela stumbled towards the door. The woman took her by the waist and helped her to the street where the auto taxi was waiting.
She opened the door and helped Gabriela in the cab. “Thank you…”
“Nichole.” The woman smiled. “It’s my real name, but most people call me Candy.”
“Thank you, Nichole.”
Nichole gave her a warm smile. “I hope remembering was worth it.”
“Me too.”
Nichole gave her a small wave before she shut the door.
The drugs started to kick in by the time they reached their destination, somewhere in the Lower City. Tents and trash were piled up along the walls of a massive building that reached high into the Upper City.
“Where are we?” Gabriela asked when the cab stopped.
“This is the base of Bioloxys.”
“Why are we here? If your employer is Bioloxys, then why go through all this trouble?”
“Bioloxys isn’t my employer. My employer is in the warehouse over there.” Soma pointed to a rundown industrial building.
Gabriela followed Soma. Dirty faces peered out from the tents as she walked past. The smell of human waste and trash burning was almost overwhelming.
“This is what the city really is, isn’t it?” Gabriela asked.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s built on shit and broken hope.” She explained. “The Upper City drones on while the Lower City rots.”
“I suppose so. It’s part of the human condition; to ignore what’s uncomfortable, and worry only about oneself.”
The door to the warehouse was guarded by a few vagrants. They flashed weapons under the dirty rags they wore.
“Stop right there.” One of them demanded.
“Tell them you are here to see Angel.” Soma whispered.
“I’m here to see Angel.”
“And who are you?” The man demanded.
“Gabriela Fohren.”
The men moved away from the door and motioned for her to enter.
The aisle of the warehouse was full of men and women, rushing around frantically, all armed.
“What is this? Gabriela whispered.
“These are the Son’s.” Soma explained.
Loud, heavy footsteps echoed over the noise of the rest of the building occupants. A woman, so heavily augmented that her body was made entirely of chrome and mat black robotics, even her face was clearly a high end face plate stepped towards her. She smiled.
“Gabriela Fohren?”
Gabriela nodded.
“My name is.”
“Angela Tenshi.” Gabriela interrupted. She knew who this woman was, every officer did. Yui was a war hero, an icon, and a terrorist. “The Iron Angel”
Angela smiled. “My reputation precedes me.”