For all the hell that came with it, Piper had to admit that the amplifier felt good.

The weight of it in her hand gave her a strange sense of security, like a child being reunited with their long-lost teddy bear. She could feel the currents of power winding through her body, following the contours of her bones – of the implants that were tangled around them.

She took up her position in the room in the lower levels their little band had co-opted for her training. They'd started with the Newtonian Principe, Holly's speciality and one she would need to have thoroughly mastered if she wanted to show the academy instructors that she was worth keeping around.

Hours of extra theory had led up to this moment now, in this dark little hideout beneath the chaos of Hadrian, hundreds of meters above her head.

Arrow and Holly set up a plinth at one end of the room, and on it placed a heavy metal canister – an empty one in case she flung something around a little too violently. Toran sat off to one side, perched on a table and watching proceedings with obvious amusement, while Odiye strode over to her side of the room.

He looked almost as nervous as she was.

"Are you ready?" he asked simply.

Piper let out a weak laugh. "Don't have much choice, do I?"

"Just remember what we talked about," Holly called from the far end of the room, stepping back from the canister. "Feel the forces in the room. Feel the weight of the object, and combine the two. It should feel instinctive."

"I remember."

Easier said than done.

"You can do this, Piper," Arrow interjected, moving around to stand opposite Toran.

She nodded, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet and gripping the amplifier tight. The copper coils felt warm on her palm is she let herself connect to it. The world seemed to shimmer; power rolled through her body and she grabbed it, gathering it together into a reservoir for her and her alone.

Then she raised the amplifier. Piper felt it twitch and tried to concentrate on the gravity in the room. It was all about feeling that force and pushing back against it. Push hard enough and you could knock down a building.

Right now she'd settle for knocking the canister off the plinth.

She nodded to herself, letting her senses flow out through the amplifier until felt like she was touching the metal container, feeling every contour, plate and bolt. Then she took a deep breath and pushed.

The canister flew one way.

She flew the other.

Piper let out a yelp of surprise as a backlash of force hurled her several feet through the air until she crashed to the ground in an ungainly heap. She blinked in surprise and coughed, the wind knocked out of her by the impact.

"There it is!" Toran laughed uproariously.

Piper sat up, glowering at him. She rubbed the back of her neck with one hand and cast a bad-tempered glance at the amplifier wand.

"Not bad," Arrow said, though she could see them fighting down a laugh.

She scowled. "What happened?"

"You must remember to prepare for the reaction. Equal and opposite," Odiye chuckled, extending a hand to help her up. "But do not worry. You are not the first to do that, and you won't be the last."

Feeling her cheeks flush, Piper clasped his hand and let him pull her to her feet. She shot Toran a dirty look and dusted herself off. Flexing her neck from side to side to loosen up, she took up her stance again, trying to pull the instructions out of the whirlpool of information that had been emptied into her over the last week.

At the other end of the room, Holly had her amplifier out, sweeping the canister back into place with infuriating ease, keeping her mouth shut but unable to contain a faint smirk. Piper huffed out a breath and pointed her amplifier at it again.

Holly scampered out of the firing line.

"Take your time!" Odiye said quickly, moving up alongside her. "This is all new. You will not be able to do it all so easily, you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, practice makes perfect!" She shot him an irritated look. "Are you going to let me practice?"

"He's right, Piper," Arrow put in. "Just slow down."

Odiye gave her an apologetic look. "Let me show you?" He reached out with both hands, and then paused. "May I?"

Piper squirmed inwardly, but she caught Toran's infuriating grin out of the corner of her eye. It was enough to motivate her.

"Okay," she said moodily.

He shuffled closer, first clasping her wrist with surprising delicacy. One his other hand hooked around and pressed against her hip. She couldn't contain the involuntary judder at his touch, but if he noticed it, he didn't let on. His fingers pressed her hip bone lightly. Piper felt her cheeks redden, acutely aware of just how close he was, filling her nose with the scent of his damned corp cologne; some kind of herb and mint she couldn't identify.

It smelled really good.

"Pivot back slightly," Odiye advised, his face a mask of focus. She did as he said, shifting her left leg. Once she was in a position that satisfied him the pressure on her hip disappeared. He shifted, lightly forcing her hand up until her arm was almost straight, amplifier pointed at the canister.

"Brace," he told her. "Bend your knees. The Newtonian principle is about balance. You can absorb the reactions, but only if you're ready."

"Alright."

Then he stepped away, taking the scent with him. Piper cleared her throat; she spotted Toran and Holly exchange an amused glance and that was enough to bring her focus back. She exhaled long and slow, just as they'd taught her, and let the power flow.

An invisible fist whumped out across the empty space between them, and the heavy canister flew off the plinth as though it had been struck by a shockwave. It launched several meters and struck the back wall with a clang that echoed through the empty space.

This time she prepared for the backwash. Gravity retaliated. She could see the wave of force racing towards her from the impact point. Piper braced herself, and as the wave hit her, she caught it with the amplifier, cramming all those strands of violent force into a safe place for just a few seconds.

The energy had to go somewhere though. She followed the steps Holly had outlined, breathing heavily as she tried to concentrate on three things at once. Bit by bit she let the angry newtons of force rippled out of her, pulsing through the air and making chairs and table shake.

When it was over she was still standing.

"That's more like it!" Arrow exclaimed, clapping their hands together appreciatively.

Piper exhaled a shuddering breath and allowed herself a short, shrill laugh. She tottered unsteadily for a moment, then set her feet, marvelling at what she'd just done.

She'd just thrown an object without touching it. She could actually wield the insane power that AmpCore claimed to possess. Some of it, at least. The amplifier's glow subsided and she let the point drop.

"Well done, Piper," Odiye told her.

"Not bad," Toran chimed in, sliding off the table and standing up. The smirk didn't leave his face, but some of the amusement faded out of it. There was a hint of genuine surprise there. "A little sloppy on the backlash, but better than landing square on your arse."

"The control will come with time," Holly said as she repositioned the canister, casting a sidelong scowl at the Skiltron representative. "We all did the same first time we tried."

She planted the container back onto the plinth and gave Piper a pointed look. "He's not wrong though. The catch needs to be seamless. If you're trying to shore up building works, or throw an object at an attacker you can't stop, brace and think about catching the backlash. One movement needs to roll into another."

"Yeah, I remember the theory," Piper snapped, her sense of elation evaporating. "I just don't think I'm quite there yet."

"You'll get there," Odiye said, and his grin was the widest of any of them, smugger than she'd ever seen him. He looked like he'd just put one over on a casino and taken the house. "Ready to try again?"

His enthusiasm infected her instantly. Piper shot him a wolfish smile.

"You bet."

*

They spent another hour in that room.

By the time she was finished the back wall was a dented mess where the battered metal canister had been slammed into it over and over. It had taken Arrow a few quick flicks of their wrist to repair the balked plates of metal and in barely a minute the wall looked good as new.

Piper watched enviously, reminded in no uncertain terms that she was still just revealing the tip of the iceberg.

The others filtered away, leaving Odiye to escort her back to her dorm. She was exhausted, with leaden limbs and tired eyes, but for the first time since she'd set foot in this place, she actually felt like she'd achieved something.

They walked side by side in silence, their footsteps echoing dully off the walls. The unwelcome glare of the ever-flowing corporate advertising streams bombarded her from both sides, an unwelcome reminder of the sheer weight of reality. It pressed down on her like an anvil.

But Piper knew when to swallow her pride. As they reached the door of her room, she stopped and turned, breathing in deep before she straightened up, facing him and looking him in the eye. He shuffled back slightly, unsure.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine, Odiye, I just..." Piper hesitated, the words squirming in her throat. "I just wanted to say, thanks for helping me."

For a moment he looked taken aback, then he smiled, warmer than she'd seen in a long time. He nodded. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

"But you didn't have to." She gestured to their surroundings. "And doing the right thing doesn't always seem to be in high demand in this place."

"Maybe not." He shrugged awkwardly. "It is just, I remember what you said. You said you didn't do anything; that this wasn't your fault. That was true. I don't think you should be punished."

Odiye managed to look her in the eye, and she felt a twang of something in her deepest marrow. She suppressed it, reminding herself who he was, and exactly what the stamp on his shoulder meant. He might have acted the nice guy – he might even have meant some of it – but he was one corporate diktat away from slitting her throat. He wouldn't even have a choice in the matter.

Piper swallowed down those new, uncomfortable feelings, and the old ones came rushing back. She smiled weakly and averted her gaze.

"You know, I've got to ask..."
"Your family?"

"Yeah. My mum, Arden, and Kirk. I want to see them. Shit, you still haven't told me if Kirk's even alive."

"I believe he is."
"You believe he is?"

"They haven't reported any bodies matching his description." Odiye gave a small shrug. "I don't have any more information than that but... well, there's an old saying, no news is good news."

"That makes me feel all better." Her amicable demeanour faded quickly. "I want to know where he is. I want to talk to him. And I want to see my family. You said there would be time."

"I know." He nodded, his face pinching with discomfort. "And I meant it. I-," Odiye hesitated; looked at the floor. "I don't have the authority to let you just walk out into the city, Piper. You have to know that."

"I'm not the one making promises."

"I know, I know." He nodded, jamming his hands into this coat pockets and suddenly looking like a toddler who'd been caught stealing cookies. Eventually he managed to look up again. "It's been too long. The rest of us have comms and vid-call privileges once a week. You should too."

Piper blinked. "Wait, what?"

"What is it?"

"You can only speak to your family once a week?!"

"Yes. Those are the rules."

"Odiye... what...?" She shook her head in disbelief. "What the fuck?"

"Those are the rules here, Piper," he repeated. Odiye looked at her wearily. "I told you, we don't live some life of luxury down here. AmpCore can do amazing things, but it comes at a cost. Total commitment, to the academy and the corporations. You've only been here a week." He started to walk away, but stopped, looking back over his shoulder.

"You still have a lot to learn about my world, Piper," Odiye said quietly. "It's not as different as you think."

And then he was gone.

||