“Ha!” Rauch spat. “See? It’s happening already!” He stuck his tongue out for a moment, thinking he might be getting somewhere with the knot, but it was just a place where the bandages had clumped together. “It’s not just the lies and the cheats you have to worry about! It’s every stray little thought that pops into that pea brain of yours!” He drew back into himself. He seemed to be phasing in and out, one minute doing whatever he could to goad Miller into any sort of reaction, and the next muttering to himself, as if trying to convince himself that his position wasn’t so bad. “You see. You’re pretending that you don’t, but you see.” His chin fell back to his chest as his fingers groped around, searching for a thread to tug. “Oh, but I could fix it. HQ showed me what to do. I could lock it in like nothing…and I know what’s wrong with Haggarty.”

Another lie. Miller refused to be provoked further. He contemplated the data bulb instead. “Maybe if we…”

“Psst!” the girl whispered, trying to get Miller’s attention. “Just thought you should know.” She pointed when Miller turned around, at Rauch’s holo, which showed Rauch – the real Rauch now, not the warrior-thing that had slaughtered Charles – driving a pike through Miller’s heart as Miller writhed on the tile…and strangling him in a fit of rage, and shooting him with a flaming crossbow, and dropping him through a hangman’s gallows, the force of his fall snapping his neck as the noose arrested his descent, body dangling in a winter sun.

“Bitch!” Rauch hissed, and spat at her. It came up woefully short. “I’ll get you too!” Sure enough, one of the images morphed to show the girl instead of Miller. The one with the crossbow, if that made any difference.

Britt checked on his restraints. He nodded his okay. Even so, he positioned himself between Rauch and the others, ready to intervene if needed.

Miller continued. “No idea.” He put a finger on his forehead and rubbed his temple. “We’ll just have to use the main.” He made his way over to the primary station. “It’s overkill, for something as simple as the kill-switch, but I don’t see what choice we have.” He swiped to lock in, but was again rebuffed. Not by the angry buzz and flash of red this time, but by the tonal double-beep which signaled someone else had beat him to it.

“Rauch.” He put his hands on the console. He didn’t bother turning around. “Out.”

“Who, me?” Rauch’s shoulders danced back and forth, still trying to outsmart the bandages, still doing so blatantly, in full view of everyone. “What makes you think it’s me?”

“I can see it in the bauble. It’s keyed to your signature. But you already know that. You must have swiped in before you…” he broke off not quite ready to put the death in words just yet. “…ah, before we tied you down. Out.”

“Love to, hoss,” Rauch made a point of emphasizing Charles’s nickname for the guy in charge, “but I’m a bit indisposed at the moment. Haven’t you noticed?” He threw his weight to one side, as if to demonstrate. “If you’d be so kind as to help me out of my predicament, perhaps I could help with yours?”

“Britt?” Miller still refused to look at him.

Britt checked Rauch’s holo. “Nope,” he reported. “He’s holding it hostage, and not planning on letting go any time soon. He thinks that maybe, if he holds the reigns, he can somehow save the bots.”

“Thought so.”

“Can we force him out?”

“Not easily. HQ has some overrides and could do it with just a couple of swipes, but we are not so lucky. So long as he remains conscious and proximate he can keep the rest of us out. The sync-up with his biosignature is just too strong. We would have to knock him out, or drag him someplace outside the network’s range, before it would let us kick him out.”

“How big is the network?”

Miller gestured to their surroundings. “Every meter.” His holo made it clear he meant the entire bunker, in case there was any doubt.

“Ah.” Rauch ranted and raved in front of him, letting them know in not-so-gentle terms how stuck with him they were, and making some rather illogical suggestions regarding the taxonomical classifications of their mothers. Britt sighed. “I’ll call HQ.”

“You really think that’s a good idea?” Miller asked.

“Yes…” Britt said, tentatively. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

Miller motioned towards the screen that was opaquing into existence next to Britt’s shoulder. “Your fairy has arrived.”

“HAHA YEAH!” Rauch screamed, as both he and Britt strained to catch a glimpse. “Both of you got it now! Can’t have THAT showing up in your little conference, can you! Not when you gotta tell ‘em about Charles! Not when you gotta go beg ‘em for help ‘cuz YOU couldn’t keep control!”

“He has a point,” Miller said. “You won’t have a prayer of managing that conversation, not with that thing bringing up the rear.”

Britt hesitated, thinking. “But…we have to. With everything that’s gone wrong…not just the override, not just the…the murder…the whole deal with the holoscreens, and the breach, we just have to.” His holo gurgled and heaved, a semi-formed mass of confusion. “Don’t we?”

Miller sat back against the console. He looked exhausted at having stood for so long on his own. “You know what they’d have to do.”

Britt’s slump mirrored Miller’s. “Yeah. I do.” He grabbed a chair and sat in front of Rauch, keeping one eye on him, and maintaining bodyguard positioning. “So, you got a better idea?”

“Don’t I always?”

He’s bluffing! Rauch’s voice rattled around in the background. It was starting to crack from the strain. He’s got nothing! That butt-munch couldn’t figure his way out of a plastic bag! Check his holo!

“As much as I’d love to knock this little piss-ant out of his wits, that won’t be necessary. There’s a manual override.” He shuffled over to a locker at the edge of the station and began rummaging inside. “Like I said, it ain’t easy. Because the interface requires such an integrated connection to the user, it is impossible to kick someone off without re-initializing the system. Which, as you know, can only be done externally. So we can either get someone at HQ to do it, or…” he pulled out something and held it aloft, “we can use this!” He appeared to be strengthening, rising to this new challenge. Or perhaps just glad to be working on something he knew for a change.