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A battered MT towered above his truck, tottering slightly, but with its cannons centered squarely on him. "Tres-pa-lt!" it spat out. He heard a heavy stomping coming down the street towards him, and turned to see another MT. "-LT!" the first ordered and started forward. It's foot snagged on the wall of the truck bed as it stepped over the vehicle, and it staggered, crumpling the side of the bed.

As soon as it's cannon dropped Dav turned and dove back through the doorway, skidding to a stop behind one of the heavy presses. The presence of the decrepit security MTs, in hindsight, could be the explanation for the lack of scavenging. When this part of the city was abandoned, whatever company had owned them must've abandoned them as well. As long as they didn't intrude on the populated areas, they would be ignored, following their last program for year after year. It was just his bad luck to have stumbled across them.

The wall split open with an ear splitting roar, shells chewing holes through the floor, and he felt the press shudder as stray rounds found it. He sat still for a few seconds, stunned. He thought that he'd be safe inside because there should've been a directive in the MT's program to keep it from damaging facilities in the course of its duties. He shook off his stupor and ran for a press further in. If he'd been in the Pi, the MTs wouldn't have even made him blink. If he hadn't been the one getting shot at, he would've found the karmadic redress amusing. He started edging towards the hatch, hoping to hide out until the MT lost interest and wandered off elsewhere.

He was halfway across the open floor when the wall to his left buckled inward and the second MT stumbled through. Twin ammo belts fed into the six barreled rotary canon slung between its arms, which began to spin up as its cameras locked on him.

Dav scrambled back towards the cover of the presses as bullets cratered the floor behind him. Cement shards sliced into the backs of his legs as he dove around a press, smacking face first into the shins of the first MT, which had torn its way into the building unnoticed amidst the cacophony.

His dive had apparently taken him below its field of view, because it continued forward, and Dav had to roll to keep from being stepped on. As soon as the MT cleared the shadow of the press, the second MT targeted it, and Dav had to scramble to avoid getting hit as chunks of shrapnel began to rain down. He reflected ruefully that you could almost always count on the ED-909 series to be its own worst enemy. He and could see through the hole that the first MT had torn in the wall, and could see his truck. The cargo bed was mangled, but the cab and the wheels looked okay.

Even through the roar of gunfire Dav heard the screaming squeal of tearing metal, and the second MT skidded around the press, caroming off of a couple others, its canon still spinning, but one of the ammo and support belts broken and leaning. Sighting Dav, it swung the canon towards him, only to have the last support belt snap, causing the canon to swing up, tearing a line past Dav, up the far wall and across the ceiling. Some of the rounds hit something volatile, because flames leapt out across the far wall, and the concussion wave lifted Dav into the air, and threw him back towards the MT. He fetched up hard against a press, but staggered to his feet and ran for the hole in the wall while the MT was stumbling around, trying to keep its canon from swinging back even further and shooting itself. He was running towards the truck, and then suddenly he was flying _over_ it. Fortunately, he hit the wall behind it with his back. Unfortunately, he also hit it upside down, so that when gravity reasserted itself he met the ground headfirst

Something else in the warehouse cooked off, spraying him with broken glass as it blew out the passenger window, and nearly taking him back off his feet as he tried to crawl into the cab. His vision was obscured by blood, and he could feel more running down his legs. He slumped over the steering column, starting the engine by touch. The warehouse was a white-hot blur behind him, the road a rapidly dimming tunnel before him. The road assist program tried to keep him on the road, but he felt the truck swerve and jolt as it dodged debris, bouncing up onto the sidewalk, and off the sides of buildings.

"Cherry," he whispered, and felt childishly upset when she didn't reply. His vision and shrunk to tiny silver pinpricks, and sound was filtered through three feet of wool stuffed between his ears. He felt it when the truck hit the transit access, and the TC computer took over from the road assist, but only barely. He slowly realized that Cherry hadn't spoken to him because she couldn't. He hadn't opened a link to her. His fingers fumbled at the console; he couldn't see the controls. He was sure that his eyes were open, but all the light in the tunnel seemed to had gone out.

"Heya Pookums, how's it hanging?" Cherry asked brightly.

"Cha-..." Something soft and thick filled his mouth, keeping him from talking. He reached up to try and pull it out, and realized that it was his tongue.

"Dav?" Cherry sounded worried. When all that he did was groan incoherently, her tone became positively panicked. "Dav, what's wrong? Can you talk?" Her voice suddenly shifted back to normal. "Overriding tube transit traffic computer. Direct system slave established. Hold on Dav-"

He didn't hear her, his world having become absolutely dark. Then it started growing cold.

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It fight like he was in the ocean, submerged deep beneath the waves, tidal forces slowly rocking him back and forth. He felt a bit of disquiet at the thick liquid he felt filling his mouth and nose, crawling through his lungs and stomach, but then he relaxed and simply abandoned himself to the sensation. It was gentle, soothing, like a lover's hand trailing across his body and pulling him close. Then he realized that he could feel a hand on his face, gently stroking his cheek. "Davy, baby, are you listening?" Cherry's voice was soft, and seemed to be coming from directly behind his ears. "I did it! I came to you! I'm here for you now."

"Cherry," he whispered, and he felt her face touch his, and her tongue moved inside his mouth. He felt more than her hands, he felt her entire body press against his.

"You were so badly hurt," she keened, and he felt her pain like it was in his own head, little stabs of electricity leaping around his skull.

"Cherry," he whispered again. It had been so long since he'd last seen, last had the comfort of her touch, the succor of her voice. So long, and it had all been his fault, his stupidity, his pride. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"I thought that I was going to lose you." Her arms clutched tightly around his sides, her fingers pressing hard into his back.

He wondered why he had never apologized to her before, why he had waited so long to say something so simple. "Never knows best, hey." His throat was tight and he could feel tears trying to fill his eyes. Why was he so sad? He finally had her back. He should be happy. "Never knows best. I should've believed you. I'm sorry" His voice was barely a whisper, on the verge of breaking. I'm so sorry Sharon."

Her body went stiff against his, and the electric prickle of her pain turned into a harsh buzz behind his eyes, and then she was gone, so suddenly, and so completely that there wasn't even a stray eddy to mark her departure. He tried to call out after her, but the buzz behind his eyes grew into a roar, and he found the ocean around him growing dark as he sank even deeper.

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The next time he awoke Dav found himself naked and shivering on a metal grate, thick, clammy fluid dripping off his body. He was still trying to orient himself when he felt strong hands close on his arms and legs as a firm, but gentle hand gripped his chin, a bright light shinning into his eyes. His first instinct was to struggle, but as soon as his muscles tensed he felt the touch of cold metal against his neck, and his body immediately relaxed. A soothing voice spoke somewhere above him. "You're in the hospital. You've spent the last three days in a nanogel tank. You were brought to use with severe physical trauma. You had multiple cerebral tears from your head injuries, which were causing blood to pool around your brain and was causing critical inflammation."

The world was starting to come back into focus, resolving into the comfortable pastel colors of a hospital recovery room. Orderlies were holding him down, but they stepped back as the muscle relaxant took full effect. The voice belonged to a doctor who was busily running a bank of instruments over his body, peering into Dav's eyes and ears as he talked.

"How long have I been here?"

"Three days," the doctor repeated patiently, running a scanner over Dav's chest. "You also suffered heavy damage to the musculature of both your thighs and calves. There will be some stiffness until the nangens finish their work. The swelling in your brain has been reduced, and the tears repaired. You will be released once... a few other things have been taken care of."

"Like what?" Dav asked as one of the orderlies picked him up by the shoulders and the other toweled him off. The relaxant was already starting to war off and sensation was returning with a tingling rush to his limbs. When one of the orderlies handed him a thin robe he was able to clumsily close his fingers around it.

"There was a hack to your nanotank while you were getting your brain patched up. Some of the nanogens were altered. We can't figure out how or why, but there doesn't seem to have been any harm to you. The police however want to ask you a few questions."

Dav froze with one arm hanging out of his robe. "When?"

"There is an officer waiting outside. You seem recovered enough to handle and interview, so he'll be in as soon as your dressed."

As if on cue there was a load knock on the door. The doctor shrugged, and motioned for one of the orderlies to open it, while Dav hurriedly finished putting on the robe. "Is he ready?" a male voice asked perfunctorily. Without waiting for an answer the officer stepped into the room. He had his hat on, his sidearm holstered loosely at his hip. He cast a disdainful glance around the room before finally looking at Dav, then over at the doctor. "You got anyplace to sit?"

The doctor inclined his head towards a side door. "There's a waiting room through there."

"All right, let's go," he drawled at Dav, gesturing for him to go first. There were a few chairs along the walls and a freestanding table in one corner. The officer gestured for Dav to a seat, and then hooked the table over with his foot, spinning a seat around and straddling it as he sat across the table from Dav. "Cigarette?" he asked, pulling one out for himself, then offering the pack to Dav.

"I don't smoke," he said, taking the cigarette and dipping it to the offered lighter, and then just held it between his fingers. The officer took a drag on his, then gave Dav a quizzical glance as he let the cigarette burn down. He suddenly sat up straight, dropping his own onto the table. "Captain O'Connell?"

Dav blinked in surprise. The officer looked too young to be anyone that he'd known. "We've met before?"

The officer inclined his head towards Dav's cigarette. "They still tell stories about 'Vendetta O'Connell.' Never knew better?"

"Never knows best," he corrected absently. "So that's what they're calling me these days?"

"The ones that like you."

"They still talk about me that much?"

"No, but what they do say tends to stick in the mind. Anyway," the officer paused, trying to get back on topic, "someone hacked into not only the hospital systems, but into the control system for your nanotank, altering the programming of several billion nanogens. Whatever those alterations were, the perp erased them when they withdrew from the system. The doctors weren't able to tell if anything was actually done to you, but that was second degree felonious computer trespass. Do you know anyone who might've had reason to do that?"

"I might be able to come up with a couple of people with the skill, but none with the intent. It would've been easier if they'd straight up tried to kill me. I could've spent all day giving you a list of names."

The officer nodded. "Probably no one from the police force. If they wanted you dead, they would've been a lot more direct." He paused, taking a glance down at his datapad. "TC registers you as leaving the Tawara old warehouse sector at 23:47 on Thursday. Shortly thereafter emergency services had to move in to contain a fire that is still smoldering as we speak. It also disturbed a small nest of proto units which did their best to eat a squad of fire suppression MTs. Given that it looks like something tried to take a chunk out of you, we're thinking that your presence there was not just a coincidence."

"I didn't know about the proto units. I wouldn't have gone in on my own if I had. I was working on a missing persons case, and had the bad luck to stumble across two malfunctioning ED 909 security MTs. They tore apart a warehouse coming after me, which started the fire."

"Who are you looking for, who are you working for?"

Dav looked across the table at him for a moment. "I'm not inclined to answer either of those, nor do I see their relevance."

"Fair enough. When you were leaving Tawara, control of your truck was usurped from the TC by an A.I. model THX-331 A249IC27S, which then directed your vehicle here. That's an... unusual degree of autonomy for an A.I. to exercise."

Dav only had to pause for a second before answering. "Considering my line of work, I have programmed it with several fail safes to execute in case of emergency. Before I passed out I was able to activate one of them to get me to the hospital. Otherwise, by the time that the TC figured out that there was something wrong it would've been too late."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and one of the orderlies entered, whispering something to the officer. "Hmm, the plot thickens," he said, after the orderly had departed. "I've just been informed that when they tried to retrieve your personal belongings, it was discovered that several of the patient effects lockers had been broken into. Your clothes were left behind, but what the hospital has listed as stolen is: a heavy needler, data crystal, and an unidentified electronic device. Any of that something that someone might've been particularly interested in getting their hands on?"

"The device was a specimen analyzer I was using to try and find traces of my missing person. The crystal I just happened to have on me."

"Hmmm. The coincidences just seem to be piling up around you. I have everything that I need from you for now. Don't try and drop out of sight. I have a feeling that we're going to want to have another chat with you."

"I'm in the public directory, and I certainly don't want to get caught up in any sort of uproar. 'We' only see a set of coincidences. Someone else might see the start of a conspiracy, and I really don't need another 3vee movie made about me."

"You never know, it might help. The reason that you still have friends on the force is because you donated the proceeds from the first back into the pension fund."

Dav waved a hand. "It was a lousy movie anyway. Besides, it brought me publicity, which was some additional insurance that I never get 'accidentally' shot over a parking ticket."

"Good insurance to have," the officer said as he flipped his datapad shut and stood. "I'll let you get back to healing." He leaned across the table, extending his hand. "And try to keep yourself out of any more coincidences," he said shaking Dav's hand firmly.

The doctor came back in a few seconds after the officer left. "You should probably get a shower and then into bed. Your first nanogen purge is scheduled in six hours." Two orderlies came in behind him, and Dav was grateful for their presence, because his legs seemed to have gone weak again, and he needed the assistance to his feet.

He needed to talk to Cherry, but he didn't dare take the chance of making the call now. She'd saved his life by getting him to the hospital, but in doing so had attracted dangerous attention to herself. His explanation had been reasonable enough, and should've defused suspicion, but they would have to be extra careful from now on.

Fatigue caught up with him unexpectedly, making his stumble. He would send her a message in the morning. She'd saved him, she knew it would take him a bit to get back in contact. He was sure that she'd understand.

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Dav closed his eyes, resting his forehead against the cool tile of the bathroom wall, entertaining absolutely zero inclination to see what his body was currently expelling. It burned some too, although not to the point that he regretted undergoing the nanogen treatment. Much. The nanogens had to be completely purged from his system before the hospital would release him, because they had the annoying tendency to become seeds for tumor growths otherwise. With the proper medication, the kidneys became the best means for stripping them out of the body, but it made urination more than a little unpleasant.

He was definitely ready to get out of there though. His bills mounted higher with every hour, and he doubted that he'd be as glad for his survival after he saw the charges for the nanotank immersion.

He celebrated finishing up in the bathroom by downing three glasses of water. The filtration drugs also made him thirsty as hell. All that he had to do now was get the all clear from the doctor, and then he could go. If nothing else, he wanted to get a new change of clothes. The hospital had been kind enough to wash what he'd been brought in wearing, but they wore torn all to hell. He'd also be glad to see Cherry again. Accessing the hospital net was expensive, and his privacy was questionable. She'd sent him a single message that looked like a status report from a home A.I. Between them, it was a code that something was up, and they'd need to keep quiet for a while. She hadn't sent him anything since, which worried him a bit, but the police hadn't come back to either arrest him, or tell him that his hanger had burnt down, so he figured that whatever it was wasn't too bad, yet.

The doctor took his time getting back to Dav, long enough that the water he'd drunk had plenty of time to finish flushing his system. He collected his remaining effects, which fortunately included the key to his truck. The vehicle itself was a mess. One side of the truck bed had been crushed down, the wall almost completely torn off. The side windows were cracked and broken, and dents marred the entire body. The engine started up with a satisfactory rumble though, and the road assist program hiccuped a couple of times as it booted, but a quick diagnostic showed no immediate problems. Something however, nagged at the back of his mind. Perhaps he was simply being paranoid, but he shut the computer down and then restarted it.

The line was only on the screen for a split second, and even though he was looking for it he still almost missed it. During the startup, following the line, 'Connection to Transit TCC:' the readout flickered between 'engaged' and 'disengaged.' The onboard computer assisted in manual driving, but for the transit tubes, where thousands of vehicles from personal cars up to Core transports mingled, control was turned over to the Transit TC comp to insure that nothing got squashed in the press. The failure of the system to engage should've sent red flags up all over the system, because once he entered the tubes, if control wasn't transferred when the road assist program switch off, he would've gone barreling out of control into the middle of high speed traffic. The glitch could've been the result of all the damage that the truck had taken, but it would've been a hell of a coincidence, and he was well over his limit on those

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In the end, he ended up hitching a ride back to Hirson on a supra train. It got him home four times faster than the transit tunnels, but ate up all the kaseys he had left. His mangled truck stood out in amusing contrast to the mostly high end, luxury vehicles that filled the rest of the transport car, and he caught several venomed glares through a few untinted windows in the other cars, but he let them slide off. He had bigger things to worry about. He was going to have to hock some Core parts in order to keep himself solvent, and that was always something that seemed to come back and bite you on the ass.

The hangar was quiet when he finally got out of the truck, and as the silence stretched on, he began to worry. "Cherry?" he called out.

A nearby screen flashed, a line of text appearing. 'Currently running all systems in low profile.'

"Oh," Dav said after a moment. "Hell."

In the modern world, A.I. programs were ubiquitous, but they operated under sever restrictions. Autonomous computers had been one of the contributing causes of the Great Devastation, and even now, the personalities controlling long lost war machines would unexpectedly awaken and the juggernauts would rampage again. Even with their commanders' long dead, there was been no way to negotiate the independent machines. This had been the endemic problem of the last great war; because of them, the Great Devastation had been dragged out years longer than it might otherwise have lasted. To make sure that such things never happened again, stringent restrictions were placed on the operations of A.I.s, limiting the permitted capabilities of their programs.

Some of the things that he'd done with Cherry weren't just illegal, but outright felonious. When he'd first done it, he hadn't cared less for what laws he was violating, and when he'd finally come to his senses, he'd cared for her too much to bring her back down. However, Core pilots were notorious for playing fast and loose with A.I. restrictions, even though rogue A.I.s were responsible for many of the MT rampages that provided them work, and thus they easily came under suspicion for Limiter violations. Low profile was the mode that Cherry entered when she came under outside scrutiny, limiting herself to appear as nothing more than a standard A.I.

"What's the surveillance level?"

'Low. Following the initial intrusion surveillance became passive.'

So they weren't currently under high suspicion. The surveillance would only be tripped if the behavior that had aroused suspicion in the first place was repeated. "The police had a couple of questions about what happened after I passed out, and my truck was redirected to the hospital. I told them that I triggered a preprogrammed commanded, but I guess I wasn't quite as convincing as I thought." He sighed. He'd been home less than a minute and already the problems were piling up. "Call up the balance sheets. I need to see how far in the red my little vacation has gotten us."

'I took care of it. I sold the shield arms.'

Dav stared at the screen for a moment, stunned. "The fuck you did. And you only triggered passive surveillance?"

Even though she spoke only in text, he got the impression that she was upset. 'I was careful. I posted them during a high activity part auction, employed a bidbot to administer their sale and delivered them just under the deadline, so that the buyer just wanted to get their parts and go.'

"_You_ delivered them?"

'I slaved the truck computer. Since the whole auction was electro-signed all that I had to do was hoist the parts over. There was no reason for the 'driver' to get out of the cab.'

"Corr," Dav swore. He put his head in his hands. "Do you know how dangerous that was? All it would have taken was-."

The screen flashed angrily. 'The cost of your hospitalization would have put us more than 60,000 KCs into debt, which would have triggered default on your Core loans and repossession of your Core and related computer equipment. _That_ I could not allow. Next time, I won't bother to authorize the full medical treatment, since even when dying of head trauma you know so much better than me!'

Dav was momentarily taken aback by the sheer vehemence that Cherry projected with just text. "Look, Cherry, baby, I'm sorry. Things have just gone straight to shift, as I'm sure you've noticed, and I don't quite have my temper under control." He sighed. "Once the spy eye pulls out of your network, I need you to start nosing around the hospital systems. Someone pulled a hell of a stunt on the nanogens they were treating me with, and on top of everything else, I'm starting to think that maybe Nemo wasn't so paranoid after all. Do a full check on the truck's systems. Someone tampered with its computer big time."

The screen remained blank. Apparently she was still angry with him. "With the sale of the arms, what's our current balance read out?"

'-24,012 KC.'

"I see," Dav grunted. "I'm going to hop onto the 'net and see if I can't hunt down some nice, easy 'tracts to try and fix that. I'm sorry that I snapped at you earlier. You know that I would never do anything to hurt you," he said with a grin that faded as the screen remained blank.

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***Author's Notes*** Well, it's been a while, and I've been busy, but I've got quite a bit to update. No action in this chapter, but there will be in another chapter, or three. I promise, when it gets her it'll be really cool.