Title: Transhuman
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Characters/Pairing: Garcia-centric, team - gen
Genre: Science-fiction/Drama
Summary: In a dystopian future, hacker Penelope Garcia finds herself being hunted by a corrupt organization. Fearing for her life, she must search for help in the strangest of places.
Author's Notes: Betaed by Windy City Dreamer.

Chapter Two

"Derek" didn't reveal anything beyond his name, and yet Garcia found herself instinctively trusting him. For one thing, if he were with the Corp, it would have been much easier to just let the two goons catch them, rather than putting on a charade. The much simpler reason though, was that she liked to see the good in people, even if she had the sinking feeling that there wasn't really that much good left in the world. It had all been leached out by the Corp. Sucked dry. It heartened her to think that there really were a few of the good guys left. That maybe the rest of them were just hiding.

Kevin was unsure, but not quite to the point of paranoia. He trusted his companion's judgment. That kind of trust was a good thing to have after running together for so long. They'd be long dead without it.

'Are you sure about this?' he asked, as they ran down the corridor after Derek. Their new traveling companion seemed to know where he was going. Nonetheless, Garcia kept an eye out; she didn't want to be led straight into a trap.

'Have you ever known me to be wrong, Captain Suspicion?'

Kevin wrinkled his brow. 'That is by far the worst nickname you've ever given me. Much worse than "Mr. Jigglypants."'

Ahead of them Derek had stopped at a door. As they caught up, he gave them an odd look. 'With the way you two yap on, I'm surprised they haven't caught up to you yet.' The words were not intended to be malicious, Garcia knew. If anything, he sounded amused.

A quick look around told her that Derek was taking them north, out of the slums, and into the more exclusive neighborhoods. If he had a place to go, then it was a risk that was almost worth it; no-one would look for them there. The richer parts of town were where you found the white-collar criminals, the people who embezzled millions from their own companies. It wasn't the kind of place where you'd find a couple of people that accidentally cracked the Corp database.

The dichotomy between the slums and the snobs, as some referred to them, was pretty well defined; the Gibson river snaked through the city, dividing it clean in two. "Coming from the other side of the river" was equally as insulting to both parties. This close to the bay, they were a little less than two clicks from the West Bridge. Garcia knew a couple of people that lived under the bridge; one of them had given her and Kevin two days worth of hot meals after she'd wiped his Corp record. Where he'd actually gotten the meals, she'd never ask. It was better not to.

'I have a bridge pass,' Derek revealed, pulling the slim card from his wallet. 'Can you tweak the access level?'

Garcia frowned. 'Yeah, but…snobville? Are you sure?' Though she knew it was the best option at hand, she still was skeptical. She hadn't left the slums since the death of her parents, almost twelve years prior. Even before being on the Corp hit-list, she and Kevin had shared a derelict apartment in the south end of the slums. From there, they'd run a moderately successful operation. And that's where the trouble had started.

'How did you get a bridge pass anyway?' asked Kevin curiously. The passes were not exactly something handed out by the dozen. There was paperwork to be filled out, backgrounds to be checked. Once it had all checked out, though, the bearer had unfettered passage between the snobs and the slums.

'I know someone,' replied Derek shortly. He didn't elaborate, which only served to pique Garcia's curiosity. It was that curiosity that kept getting them into trouble so often.

'"Someone" who?'

The "someone" Derek referred to could only be a Corp employee; while it was easy enough to break through the software, getting a card was another matter altogether.

'I'm not about to go blowing their cover. You know what the Corp will do if they find out they've got a rogue employee.'

Garcia nodded. The fate of those that betrayed the Corp was well known, even by those who tried to limit contact. It was so brutal, so deterring, that it kept most citizens in line. The fact that Derek was even willing to disclose that he had a source was surprising to Garcia.

Derek and Kevin kept watch as Garcia popped open the lid of the laptop. On a good day, she could break basic Corp encryptions in under five minutes. A bridge pass was as basic as it got; the cattle tended to stay in their own field.

Of course, not all cattle were alike.

'Done!' announced Garcia, with far more elation than the situation warranted. It had taken her six minutes and forty-three seconds. Stress was taking its toll. The pass would now allow three persons to cross the bridge; Derek Morgan (the name already imprinted on the pass), Paula Saxon, and Keith Elbridge (the names on Garcia and Kevin's latest batch of ). The false names would serve them well enough until the Corp caught on. They were just lucky that photo recognition software was inefficient at best.

To Garcia's surprise, instead of leading them to the metro station, Derek instead veered towards the car lot. Even on the other side of the river, not many people had cars. It wasn't about the expense so much as the efficiency of the Greater Lassiter Metropolitan Railway Line – Glamrail, as it was colloquially known. The Corp had gotten one thing right. People who drove cars either left the city a lot, or valued their privacy, and for Derek Morgan (if that was indeed his real name) Garcia had her money placed firmly on the latter. Apart from his name, he hadn't revealed anything about himself, but then, that was more than they had offered. It wasn't as though time was in the greatest abundance.

The car was a navy blue, not too expensive looking, but not too cheap either. It was the kind of car you didn't give a second glance to; on the other side of the river, anyway. Any car left hanging around in the slums was likely to be stolen or vandalized. The lot, brimming with security, was the only safe place to park. Mostly Corp agents parked there, but there was the occasional missionary, or the average citizen who needed to go into the slums for one reason or another. As long as you had a bridge pass, no further questions were asked. The Corp was far too busy persecuting the lowest common denominator to care.

Garcia clutched the laptop bag to her side as she slid into the passenger seat. Even in the relative safety of the car, she wasn't letting it out of her sight. Her whole life is on that thing. Pictures of her childhood, of her parents. All the programs she's been working on. That single file that got them here. If she lost that, then everything they'd given up would be for nothing. She had a back-up at one point, but that had been destroyed the last time they'd been on the run from trigger-happy Corp agents.

'I'm Penelope,' she said abruptly, as Derek shifted the car into second gear. 'But most people call me Garcia.'

'I'm Kevin,' Kevin added helpfully from the back seat. 'Most people call me Kevin.' It wasn't as though telling him their names could do any harm. After all, they were already on the run.

Derek nodded, his attention split between driving, and tapping out a message on his cell phone. Garcia found herself terrified for one fleeting second, as she remembered the fiery deaths of her parents. It would almost be ironic if they had survived running from the Corp for so long, only to die in a blazing car wreck.

'You shouldn't text and drive,' she said softly as he put the phone away. He seemed almost stunned at the insinuation that he was anything other than an impeccable driver.

'It's dangerous,' piped up Kevin unnecessarily from the back.

Derek smirked slightly. 'I'll try to keep it to a minimum,' he said as he turned left into the bridge lane. It was midday on a Tuesday; no-one was crossing, which meant they had a short wait until they found out whether or not the access modification had worked. Garcia held her breath as Derek scanned the three , and the pass.

The tiny light flashed green. The boom barrier rose.

They were through.