Glitch in the God Complex (AmpCore #1)

27 - Never Wanted to be Special

Four days later, Piper walked out of the AmpCore infirmary under her own power.

The AIP had shown up the day before, a delicate, middle-aged woman with the bedside manner of a ghost, who'd examined Carstairs' instructions for all of five minutes before she set to work.

When she'd felt the initial connection, Piper's first impulse had been to run out of the infirmary as fast as her legs could carry her.

Then she quickly realised that she couldn't. The invisible, invasive fingers of the woman's amplifier entwined around her, freezing her in place, just as it had been when she'd had her altercation with Lanson. Nothing responded.

This connection was a lot deeper than immobilisation, however. She could sense an intelligence worming through every cell of her body, like a billion tiny pinpricks. The sensation was frankly, horrible, but she gritted her teeth through it until the woman began her ministrations.

Piper had been warned about the pain, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

She supposed, after about an hour of screaming and having her body forcibly put back together from the inside out, she must've lost consciousness. When she came to again, she discovered that nothing hurt anymore. A cursory examination by Carstairs and she was officially declared ready to get back to classes.

No time wasted at AmpCore.

Odiye and Arrow were waiting when she stepped out into the halls of AmpCore again. After days cooped up in the infirmary, even the flowing advertisements and bustling students made for a welcome sight.

"Hello, hello," she said, cracking a wry smile. Her limbs still felt tingly as she walked towards them. Her gaze flickered to Arrow.

They gave her a tiny nod. After the revelations in the medical bay, they'd agreed to keep the findings to themselves. Piper still didn't know how to grapple with the knowledge that, if all the machines and corporate records were to be believed, she wasn't who she thought she was. She didn't know who she could trust. The upper echelons of AmpCore must've already known, but people like Toran, Odiye and Holly, she could only guess at.

Her gaze shifted to Odiye. He looked thoroughly uncomfortable.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Believe it or not, good as new." Piper smirked, turning her hands over back and forth. "I think the good doctor fixed a few extras along the way."

"AIPs can be showy like that," Arrow muttered.

"I..." Odiye rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Sorry, Piper. I never should have let you go down there. To the Sharks. It was my fault."

She gave him a confused look. "How do you figure that?"

"You were my responsibility. I should have-,"

"Odiye, I'm not your responsibility." Piper sighed, taking a step forward and giving him a gentle punch on the chest. "No matter what, Mattise, Demir, or anybody else tells you. I chose to step into that arena with Ferra."

"He's right, Odiye," Arrow agreed, giving him a nudge. "There's nothing you could have done."

He didn't seem to quite know what to do with that. For a moment he just stared, but eventually managed a nod.

"Thank you," Odiye said at last. "For not blaming me. But I am sorry about what happened. Ferra is unpredictable."

Piper waved a dismissive hand. "I'll survive. And I'll keep clear of Ferra for a little while, eh?" She glanced up and down the corridor. "I guess Toran didn't have anything to say for himself."