This is kind of an A-B chapter unfortunately, but since I'm going away I thought I'd put this online now.

Illumination

Fluke sat bored in the back of one of the broadcast rooms, there to examine the new interns on a test run. If only there were some interesting stories today, then he might be more invested in the whole exercise.

No sooner had he thought that than one of the assistants approached him. "Sir, there is a serious issue at the station in this building. Should we switch the broadcast to urgent story?" It took no thinking about. Problems like this were what the news was all about and people would complain if they didn't acknowledge it; plus, it would be a great opportunity to see the interns squirm as their test took an unexpected turn.

"Have we got a reporter out there already?" he asked in a quiet voice so as to not disturb the current broadcast unnecessarily.

"No sir, we'll send someone immediately but for now we have access to the security feed in the area."

"Good enough. Switch it." At his command the assistant nodded and ran off to alert everyone to the situation. There was a momentary pause from the young newscaster as the words in their auto prompt changed to suit the story and the screen beside them began to show live feed directly from the station, cameras hijacked by the BBC. The image zoomed in on one of the platforms where the tracks had failed and people were rushing back into the station. Fluke, now on his feet, tuned out the intern's voice in favour of studying the scene closely; he cursed as he spotted a very distinguishable person running through the crowd after a less notable girl. He called an assistant over to him.

"Tell the editing team to take Hatter out of the broadcast before it gets online. Quickly!" he added as the assistant hesitated. Trust him to get the one that didn't know Hatter was real.

"Well?" Fluke asked, standing before his mercenary subordinate who had been released from several hours of unavoidable police questioning about the incident; night had fallen already. "Did you get her?" Her gaze shifted to the floor. "You didn't."

"It wasn't that Hatter didn't try!" Kia piped up, trying to defend her. "The girl just disappeared!"

"That doesn't change the fact that she got away," Hatter pointed out, causing Kia to fall silent once more. The mercenary turned back to Fluke. "There was something peculiar though; I managed to grab her at one point but then my hand went numb. I'm still not able to feel properly yet." She flexed her fingers unconsciously at the thought.

Fluke considered this, a frown forming on his face. "Maybe she had barrier tech?"

"It didn't seem like it," she replied, shaking her head. "At the very least, we have footage of her so we can run her face through identificati–"

"We can't," Fluke interrupted, no longer frowning but simply looking tired. "The footage was erased."

Hatter scowled. "Stupid interns."

"I agree, but I mean that it was erased."

The implication was clear to her, though Kia hadn't quite picked up on it. An outside force had removed any tangible evidence of the girl, making definite what Hatter had only suspected before. She was part of the group they were searching for and had others working with her to keep their presence minimal. "You really ought to improve the company security," Hatter suggested with a look that said 'I told you so'.

"Fine," Fluke conceded, though he had already decided to do so earlier. The system for the BBC paled in comparison to what he had for personal use anyway, so it was about time. He walked to his desk and flicked a small switch. The trio waited as they heard the momentary dialling tone of an AI connecting.

How may I help?

"Send a message to Hollow. He needs to fix the security here," Fluke replied casually.

Of course. Shall I phrase it better than that?

"If you want."

Of course I'm going to! Hollow won't do anything for you if you ask him that way. Is that all?

"Yeah."

I'll go then.The switch moved itself back into the off position after it stopped talking.

"Your AI is weird," Kia muttered, not intending to be heard but being heard nonetheless.

"What? Juke?" Hatter asked in confusion. "He's not that strange, is he?"

"I think she means his free will, Hatter," Fluke explained, judging what Kia was thinking from her face. "She's only ever used public AI before. Kia," he turned to the girl in order to explain, "Hollow programed Juke years ago as a security system, though he's evolved into more by himself. We call similar programs Cogitative Intelligences, since they develop independent thought unlike any other General Intelligence. Evanz made one too, which you're probably familiar with; the commercial support system for Tower that was released a little under two years ago... I can never remember its name. Anyway, you understand why it's important not to reveal the existence of CI to the masses right? Yeah, you do." He didn't give her time to say anything, moving on immediately to the next topic – his hasty exposition ought to be enough to keep the civilian quiet for a while. "So, Hatter, it doesn't seem like the trains will be opened for a few days. Do you want to stay here?"

"Yes," was the reply. "We'll need adjacent rooms though, because of this." She raised her right arm briefly before dropping it again, in order to remind him of the handcuffs.

"What are you telling me that for?" Fluke scoffed. "You know how we set up things already."

"Yes," the mercenary replied slowly, as though she though he was being stupid. "We need Juke, so would you call him please?"

A grin spread across Fluke's face as he realised his miscommunication. "I forgot I hadn't told you yet. Juke is installed on your new comms."

Hatter scowled. "These are the kind of things you need to tell me when you give me them!" He laughed it off.

"Alright, alright. Now run along; I have work to do."

Kia trailed after Hatter out the door, hearing the irritated mumbling of the mercenary that meant she'd given up trying to argue with the blond. Eventually she remembered what they were supposed to be doing and tapped her earrings, activating the CI and announcing the room requirements clearly. Juke led them to the next Level up (using the normal lifts, much to Kia's delight) and past a set of small apartments. A fair few of the BBC staff stayed there, it seemed, rent taken out of their paycheques. Juke opened a larger door for them though, separating the pair from the marginally more public area and sealing them into Fluke's mansion, wherein there were several guest rooms side by side.

Hatter opened the door to one and walked in, Kia following behind out of habit and curiosity. She walked around the room, leaning in close to things before moving to the next object with a quizzical look.

"Are you... smelling everything?" Hatter asked dubiously, eyes screaming 'you are a crazy person'.

Yes," Kia replied absently, not noticing the surprise on the mercenary's face as her joke turned out to have been right. "But it's weird, because nothing really smells of anything at all."

"Is that a problem or...?"

"Nah, not really; it probably just means everything is super clean. Or are they never used?"

"No, we do use them from time to time, when we're in the area. It's convenient."

"It's useful for a bodyguard, then, huh?"

"Look, I'm not a bodyguard. I'm a mod."

"Mod?"

"Moderator. We take care of problems that shouldn't be publicly known, like bounty hunters and terrorists. Or we might remove public figures if it can't be done in a more socially acceptable way."

"Should you be telling me this?"

"...no."

There was a momentary silence as Hatter's face became sheepish, then Kia's shoulders began to shake as she held back laughter. "Guess you're slipping up because you're tired? Shall I go?" She was still doing her best not to mock Hatter but her tone of voice clearly indicated amusement, much to the mercenary's chagrin.

"Get out of here," she ordered, turning Kia around 180 degrees and pushing her out the room before the girl saw Hatter's flushed face. As the door slid shut the sound of laughter began, then was cut off as the entry closed entirely. Hatter put a hand to her head and sighed, shrugging off her coat and bandoliers and dropping them onto a chair, too exhausted to neaten them. She powered down the lights, room now visible only by the barest traces of luminance from the neighbouring scraper and the gentle glow of the constraint that belied its true fettering ability.

Hatter flopped onto the bed and raised her right arm up to study the cuff and chain. With the trains out of commission she estimated that she'd have to take care of Kia for another few days at the least before the tracks were fixed and safe for use. She sighed again and her eyes shut, cutting out all light as her arm dropped to the bed.

Originally I was going to call them Autonomous Artificial Intelligences, which sounds kinda cool. That would be written as AAI, which is fine onscreen - but if you say it aloud it sounds hilarious.