[ IP ] Interface Zero


 `` Do you ever regret it?'' 
 
 `` Is this really the time? We've got a job to do.'' SK scanned ahead, waiting for the other shoe to drop. It always did with Halo, but her performance made up for the talking. Her body also helped, a trim model put out by a private engineer, its performance and shape tuned to perfection. 
 
 A call came down the pipe for wet-work, and after checking the regular channels, he took it. Some slag over in the Red Light District had found himself on the wrong side of someone with power -- a death sentence ticking down to a hammer click and muzzle flash. Standard contract rules applied, so the job would get done, even if it took him several tries to do it right. 
 
 `` The job, I get. It's the only way to make cash down here. But why go full droid when you did n't have to?'' She'd brought it up before, a pretext to talking about herself. If he were n't certain of her capabilities, the barrage of questions would make him wonder if she were afraid. Fear on the job got you killed, and SK planned on living a long, prosperous life. 
 
 Coming down to this part of town meant dealing with the garish nature of a three-square mile mausoleum of vice. Neon and holos crawled across the exposed metallic flesh of every bar, whorehouse, and drug den. Each place belted out their specialties in hopes of starving out competition, even though good escorts would n't dare run down here. The verbal brawl and detached crowds made for perfect cover; no one wanted to find themselves on the wrong side of a barrel over a misunderstanding. 
 
 `` We each have our reasons, let's leave it at that.'' Flexing a hand, SK let his aiming scripts run in the background while he brought building layouts and the target's info up on his visor. The guy was a low-level pusher, his main product a variant of speed put on the market after years of military use. It was good shit, the kind he'd use if he still had a body to feel the high. But that was the past. 
 
 `` No, seriously, I want to know. Why'd you do it?'' Lowering her hood, Halo winced a smile, the chrome of her face curving as though it were flesh. It was crazy what engineering could accomplish these days, even if the distinction between meat and metal was clear as ice. 
 
 The building was a old bar, shut down thanks to bad location and a few unfortunate brawls. Rusting sheet metal clung like moths to spots across its structure, the front door laying useless on the stoop. `` Cut it, we're here.'' 
 
 `` C'mon, it'll be easy-peezy. The guy's as good as dead.'' 
 
 `` You never know.'' There were few things SK missed about his meat body, but right now he'd give half his stash to get a gut feeling about the place. Something was off, and that old rumble in his stomach would tell him when to cut and run if things went sideways. 
 
 `` Let's get it done, then you'll tell me.'' 
 
 `` I never agreed to that.'' Another one of her award-winning smiles cut the tension, and both of them stepped inside. The place looked as bad on the inside, the litter from wastrels and hobos piled up against walls and around doorways. They moved up, rising into the decaying mass of architectural dreams. 
 
 `` Here.'' Sliding up alongside the door, SK picked up the sound of breathing from inside. A moment later, they were both in there with the shallow breath, its owner sleeping on a cheap fold-out cot. Halo dragged a sword free from its scabbard -- ready to finish whenever. There was no feeling bad for the guy, it was his own fault for pissing off the wrong person. At least they could send him off in his sleep. 
 
 She drove the sword down, a quick movement placed over the target's head. It was n't perfect, but the resulting brain death was a piece more merciful than most other mercs would grant. Cleaning the blade, she dropped it back into its home, and turned to him expectantly. `` So?'' 
 
 `` Shit.'' 
 
 `` I *really* want to know.'' 
 
 `` Fine. I did it for the job. I was getting shaky -- weak -- and this way my limitations would n't matter any more.'' 
 
 Halo crossed her arms, taking up a line of incredulous thought at his response. Of course she would n't see it. For her, a droid body was the only think that kept her this side of a shallow grave in the gutter, but SK was n't sick or tricked into it. He chose to be this, letting his humanity drift away on the tide. 
 
 `` I'm not lying. Sure, there's the upside of not dying, but it is n't like I'm running from it.'' Saving your mind to the Cloud was only for the rich, smart, or powerful, but SK was never one for rules. If some cop came snooping around, he could always drop out. At worst, he'd be in a temp chassis with 24 hours lost to the ether and a whole lot of questions. 
 
 Going through the marks belongings, Halo threw something to the ground and cursed. `` We're screwed.'' 
 
 `` What?'' Looking at it, the tension fell back in like a ceiling collapsing down on them. A badge, bound in leather with a small gold-plate bar-code, told him everything he needed to know. The guy was a spook, probably undercover with a forged file. If it was a fix, he felt like a fool for missing it. A hollow hum drifted into his sensors, the sound of a helicopter on its way. SK was confident in his skills, but confidence could n't block a mounted fifty-cal. 
 
 `` I liked this body.'' Halo was n't smiling any more, her fingers running across the shapely form of her chest. 
 
 `` Me too.'' SK took a moment and then purged, his hard-drives frying under a self-delete protocol. The room snapped in around him, and his thoughts began to haze into a void of nothing. Halo dropped to the ground, her mind suffering the same corruption his was. *Was death like this, or was it easier? * 
 
 Either way, he'd find out who screwed them tomorrow, with or without Halo's help.
