Chapter 7 · He froze. "What?" he said. "I—" I pushed

He froze.

"What?" he said.

"I—" I pushed up, out of his lap. My hands didn't shake anymore. They were steady. Perfect. I looked at the blood on him, then at my hands. "I fixed you? Why did I— why did I do that?"

His face did something complicated. Like I'd punched him without raising a fist.

"You saved me," he said quietly. "You just... you traded for an upgrade. To save me."

"Why would I save you?" I asked. And I meant it. I genuinely couldn't find the reason. There was a hole where the reason should be. A cold, clean hole. "You're corp. You're the guy with the keys. We're not... we're not friends."

"No," he said. His jaw was tight enough to crack. "We're not."

He stared at me like he wanted to reach out and didn't dare.

"You don't remember," he said. It wasn't a question.

"Remember what?" I stood. My legs worked better than before. Stronger. I rolled my shoulder and felt the new override click into place, smooth and lethal. "Whatever. It worked. We need to move. They're at the door."

I walked to the rusted service hatch, peered out.