POTENTIAL 0
ANGRY

THEN

The laboratory was mobile, contained primarily in Site A (code name: SHOEBOX) and Site B (code name: MAINTENANCE CLOSET), with the hardware stashed at Site C (code name: BEHIND BOILER). Lab hours were from 1-3 AM, with additional resource reallocation objectives pursued throughout the day.

Most of the work on the drone was theoretical at that point. She’d be able to procure one easily enough, jack a console controller, handle the surgery herself. She’s got the diagram sketches inside Site A. But it’s not going anywhere if the engine doesn’t work.

It had taken a long time. She had to print out photographs in bulk at Mercury Express, and that was after downloading them off cameras and hard drives and deleting them one by one, whenever she had time to herself. Mami would freak if she figured out what her ward was doing: the best thing. The only thing.

Isn’t the cliche that parents would do anything for their kids?

She opened the shoebox, removed the photo stacks, did her best not to look at them. Her dad’s buzz cut and stubble. Her mom, holding her all wrapped up in a soft blue blanket. Dangling over the ground while she held herself up by their hands in a floral dress. Her baptism.

The last stack was the supplementals. A printout of a police report (“1 dead, 3 injured in gas station shootout.”). Medical bills left unpaid at the end. The old apartment lease.

All science required a leap of faith. She’d done test runs, and had confirmed some relevance, but... at the end of the day, she didn’t know what would happen. Whether it would work. Whether she’d still end up living with Mami, or whether she’d delete herself out of existence. (Still a better result than not proceeding with the experiment.) Whether all of it would end up being useless nonsense, leaving her stuck having destroyed every link, everything that had remained— but the ache in her chest at the thought was further evidence that it [i]had[/i] to work.

She picked up the first picture and stared at it for a dangerously long time through the night vision goggles. They’re at BeachWorld for her sixth birthday and she’s got her hands proudly behind her back, her face scrunched up in a grin, her parents on either side of her. Dad had saved up for months to afford the tickets. She’d never felt more loved in her whole life.

They would have wanted this for her. The picture is proof. Their love is the proof. Their love is the key.

In the dark, the pepper grinder roared to life.

***

NOW

“Put her down.” Is that her voice? Sounds like she put gravel in her mouthwash this morning. When she wipes her face on her bodysuit’s sleeve, the gunk that comes off is black and oozing. Not ideal.

The rifle whines to life. Three shot burst to the head. Sara throws her weight into the hardlight shield that sends the bursts ricocheting around, knocking herself off balance. She barely pulls herself up in time to knock away the next burst.

“Put her down.” Why is she still talking? Her throat feels like it’s been fucked with sandpaper. Her nostrils flare as her lungs claw for breath. “Now.”

Autofire mode. Intended to overload her volatile hardlight. It works, but too bad for Maria that’s exactly what Sara was planning on. The brief pulse and flash of the overloaded shield exploding outward forces Maria to change her visual filter settings in case @SARAHPHIM is trying to close the distance. Instead... well, all around them is debris and a ruined shopping district full of Product Display Cubicles. There’s literally no way that Sara can limp away after that display, and after the feedback to her engine during the overload, she’s got to hope that she can painfully crawl into position to get the drop on Maria without being found early. Because in that case, it’s all over for her.

And no kid deserves to watch someone get gunned down in front of them. Doesn’t matter if it’s a gutted shopping center full of middle-classers or a gas station at ground level. No kid. [i]No kid.[/i] Deserves that.

[Are you watching closely? On a [b]7[/b], Sara gets an opportunity to strike and exposes a weakness or flaw, but it doesn’t last long and she’s definitely still entangled.]