AN: Julia Nunes' To the Damsels: Run is still playing in the start of this if you want to continue the soundtrack :)
Chapter Ten: Katie's Personality Core
Katie stayed silent. She waited until the footsteps had died into the night before rising and making her way to the edge of the roof, keeping low and crouched. Ryder rolled over and crawled to lean next to her. Together they watched the two long shadows of their pursuers continue to prowl the campus.
"Are those the other shells?" Ryder asked. "They're not very under cover."
At this, Katie sighed and dropped her head on briefly onto the small safety barrier before she nodded.
"Kitty's Hacker must have alerted them."
"Well, that's pretty expected isn't it?"
"I should have been able to implant memories into the Hacker and Shell so that neither remembered anything. I didn't get a chance to finish the disconnection."
"Why didn't it work?"
"When Kitty fell, the beam lost connection and I lost control of it."
Ryder recalled yanking at Kitty's leg at the end of the fight.
"So, this actually is all my fault."
He turned away from the roof edge and collapsed to lean against the barrier.
"Kitty's free, Ryder. And now we can recognize the other Shells. You did well."
As she spoke, Katie placed a soft hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Ryder raised his head from his slumped shoulders and sighed slowly.
Their silence was broken by the sound of a car screeching to a halt. They both turned to look over the edge again and saw a shiny black Range Rover in the parking lot in front of the auditorium. Out of the car jumped two large men dressed in smart black suits.
He felt, rather than heard, Katie swear bleakly under her breath. Fearing her response, Ryder turned to her and asked, "Who are those people?"
"Those are agents from the Syndicate."
The two men started to walk, as a unit, towards the school buildings and closer to where Katie and he were hidden in the roof. Katie sucked in her breath violently before grabbing onto Ryder's jacket sleeve and pulling him away from the edge. As he landed heavily he kept his eyes trained on Katie's face, hoping for some clue. Her expression twisted in panic for a split second before she was able to control her face and adopt her calm exterior once again.
"Wait? So why are we hiding from them?"
He watched Katie suck in her cheeks as she appeared to contemplate her options.
"Oh, come on Katie."
Katie nodded quickly but answered hesitatingly as her hands twisted in her lap. "Because …if they catch me they will take me back to the facility. And once they're finished using my information, I honestly don't know what they're going to do with me."
"Why?"
"I went a little …against procedure to come find you. Those agents down there are androids too, they plan to trap the hackers so that they can't disconnect and then torture the body for information. After days of this the hacker dies while still trapped in the human body. The people won't remember it exactly but you can't help but be changed once a soul has died within you. When I thought you were a Shell, I wanted to capture you and deprogram you myself. I didn't want you to have to go through that."
"But I don't get it, why does this mean you're scared of them?"
Katie leaned her head back and leaned it on the surface behind her. She didn't look at him as she spoke the next bit.
"The Syndicate was going to download a different personality into my body; someone more like those guys out there but with the information I gained from you. I didn't …I don't know, I just couldn't deal with that. I hacked the computer system and switched the file so that I got downloaded instead. I …snuck out to come find you. I'm ...faulty equipment."
"So, now they're after you?"
Katie brought her eyes back to look at him and nodded solemnly. "I think the disturbance from when we released Kitty's Hacker probably alerted them to my switch."
"I'm going to help." Ryder said as he stood up assertively.
"No. No, Ryder." Katie said warningly as she rose to join him.
"Everything that's happening is because you wanted to help me; you can't stop me helping you."
"I can knock you out until the fight is over," she said, taking a step towards him.
"But you won't." He smiled confidently as he met her eyes.
As they stood in silence they both heard footsteps passing near to their building. Ryder's breathing quickened but he refused to break her gaze.
Katie was the first to give in. As she stepped back, Ryder spoke again. "You know I'm just going to run in and do something stupid to try and save you; don't you think things will go better if that something is part of your plan from the beginning?"
Katie paused for a second and then reached into her pocket and pulled out the device.
"Press the first button. Keep it trained on them. Do not lose the connection. When the light goes green, press the second button to disengage and get them to safety. Stay hidden. And if anyone finds you? Yell."
Katie pressed the device into his outstretched hand. Instead of pulling her hand away, however, she kept it there and just started down at their hands lying, one on top of the other, separated by only the small metal disk.
"We need to disconnect the Shells, get the people to safety and then disable the Agents. And, Ryder?" She stopped as she drew in a slow breath. "Once that's over, it's probably best that I leave straight away."
Instinctively, Ryder's hand clenched into a fist and grabbed onto her hand around the device.
"What?! Why?" he blurted out.
"Ryder!" Katie hissed as she inclined her head to where multiple groups of trained hunters were within earshot. She ran her free hand through her hair as she regarded him with a mix of confusion and anger. "What did you think was going to happen here? That I was just going to slip into your life here? Join in with school and football and glee?"
"Well, not exactly. But why not? You have nowhere else to go." Ryder hissed back.
"You think I don't know that? But even if we do disable these Agents …what makes you think they won't just send more? I can't stay here."
"And what if they send more anyway, and you're not here? This isn't about them, it's about you. Katie, I love you." He used their joined hands to pull Katie closer towards him.
Katie visibly deflated then. "Well, you shouldn't.
"I lied to you all of the time we were talking online, I almost killed you the first time we met and I continue to put you in danger every hour we spend together. Do you even realize how messed up we are? You shouldn't want to be with me."
"Anything you did doesn't change the kind of person you… "
"But I'm not a person; I'm barely a part-person. Ryder…your love is real. Mine isn't. I'm not. All the things I told you about myself. They were made up by some Syndicate programmer sitting behind his desk. They couldn't be real; I didn't even have a body at that point."
She looked up now and Ryder saw her eyes glistening with un-shed tears.
"I didn't realize how different we were until last night, when I accessed your brain; I saw your hopes, your fears, your dreams, a lifetime of memories. I didn't realize how much of you I would see because I didn't realize how much there was."
"Sometimes I feel like a regular teenage girl, but then I remember where I came from. I was programmed for you, to connect with you, to get close to you. I was designed for a purpose, I shouldn't want to be with you. And then I remember I can fire force blasts out my hands."
She gestured down at her body.
"I don't have a heartbeat, Ryder. Did you notice that? I feel like I should. I always assumed I would when I was talking to you. Nothing feels right yet; I'm not sure who I am."
She looked up at Ryder and he felt like she was willing him to understand. In her eyes, Ryder suddenly saw shades of Unique.
"You feel like your truth isn't the one everyone else sees," he breathed.
"I'm not even sure my truth is what I'm seeing."
They heard the sounds of yelling beneath them. Katie pulled her hand away from him and moved so she could see what was happening. They both crouched to lean over the partition again. In the middle of the car park the two agents were grappling with the Shells from earlier. Near them, the trees surrounding the area rustled and moved and Ryder could make out two more shadowy figures; he suspected they were more Shells. As they watched, these figures emerged and jumped to attack the closest agent, who had his back to them.
Ryder did a quick head count. Four Shells. Two Agents. Two of them. So …did that mean four against four?... or six against two? ... or two against two against four?
Hurried on by the mob below them, Katie turned back to him and started to talk with a renewed sense of panic in her voice. Ryder reached out and grabbed onto her shoulder. He felt like he could physically fighting the gap that was widening between them.
"Being with someone, it's about finding all their inner thoughts and secrets. And the longer you spend with me, I'm convinced, the more you'll notice parts of me that are missing."
Ryder shook his head vehemently. "No, Katie. Maybe you're not perfect but there's nothing wrong with you."
"Not wrong Ryder, missing. Everything I have in my head was put in here by someone else, to get close to you. I have to go and fill it with more things. You might think I'm enough for you, but don't you understand? That's not enough for me."
"When you're done, will you come back?" Ryder's hand tightened where it sat on her shoulder. He looked at her imploringly, it would hurt him to let her go but he didn't know how he'd deal if he would never see her again.
Katie brought her hand up to her mouth as her face twisted against an internal pain. "We have that connection; you can feel it, right? That's us, they can't program that. Yes, I'll be back."
She opened her mouth to continue but let out only a choked sob, instead she placed her hand at the base of his neck. This time Ryder was prepared, he moved forward to meet her and their lips met forcefully in the space between their bodies.
And she filled his senses. Like looking into the sun, Ryder felt everything fade away, hopelessly dim in comparison. His heart pounded and his head spun. His chest heaved and his lips burned. The contact of their lips sent shocks down his limbs and he found himself both wishing and fearing that he could feel like this forever. Katie moved backwards slightly as she readjusted her feet and Ryder was able to let a small gasp of air into his lungs before her free hand was pulling at his shirt to bring him closer.
It was slower this time and Ryder was able to appreciate the softness of her lips as they united. He shuffled forward, still in his crouched position, and reached out to grasp at her waist. He slid his hand down the soft curve the connected her shoulder and hip. He felt her muscles tense and un-tense underneath his hand and below that was the firmness of the sturdy metal parts that kept her alive. He paused to relish the delicate balance the Katie had between strength and softness before using his hand to pull her even closer to him.
Even in this, she was a paradox; as her waist yielded, giving him control, her fist at his chest claimed power over him. She held all the strength and yet gave it all up, as did he to her.
He felt the hand at his neck slide further up and lace into his hair. Ryder leaned in now, letting their lips separate as their foreheads connected. He brought his own hand up to support her face and felt the wetness on her cheek. He tensed his jaw as he tried to hold back his own tears.
She smelled of salt and honey and moonlight and Ryder couldn't understand how this wasn't real.
AN: I swear to god, this wasn't all just one extended "I'll be back" joke. I actually didn't occur to me until I had typed it.