"No, I really can't get enough," Erika grinned. "And yes, I have."
"Well, I can think of one thing we can do. The test results for Erika's parentage came in...brace yourselves," Jane said.
Erika closed her eyes and held Yasmine tightly, hoping that this wouldn't change anything despite it already having threatened to.
"Bartholomew Mulgrave, age 43, New York, New York, blah blah blah...is a 50% genetic match to Erika Chambers," Jane sighed. Then silence purveyed the room as Erika stared off into space. "How are you feeling?" Jane then asked, her face sunken with worry.
"I...don't know, okay?" Erika wondered as she started crying. "What am I
supposed to feel?"
"Whatever you need to," Jane said matter-of-factly.
"I need some air. No, more than air. I'm taking courier jobs again," Erika said.
"But the baby-!"
"Will be fine, I promise. I just, I need my own thing right now. Away from all this craziness, and away from the IBRS before they take over the contract and try to make me into a prisoner. If I don't keep running, I- I feel like I'll shrivel up from fear, grief, anger...so much. This is how I feel alive.
How I've stayed alive."
And as she ran at increasingly high speeds (but kept the BioJack link online for Jane and Yasmine to at least know where she was, in addition to a Neo Varangians helicopter that would keep her safe for a few more hours), with a lot more screaming and grunting than usual, she couldn't entirely be mad at Yasmine. Yes, she killed Beetle, the man who Erika never got to tell was her biological father...but Erika understood why, and hated that she did. It would be so much
easier to hate Yasmine, then terminate the pregnancy and slip away as a shadow, one of many in the courier line of work who would die, anonymously and alone, at the end of a needle or the bottom of a bottle if they were lucky enough to avoid a bullet.
Unlike Connor. And Michael. And hopefully not Shiloh.
She was in Japantown nearly an hour later when a woman in red armor came up on her feed, probably drawn by the sound of her crying, and asked in an electronically distorted voice, "Are you alright?"
"N-No..." Erika sighed. "Wait, who are you?"
"Deirdre," the masked woman said. "I'm...or I was, a courier, like you. I know how hard that life can be." Not any easier than punching cat burglars, would-be murderers and attempted rapists, Shiloh thought inside that armor as her knuckles throbbed through the gloves.
"No, that's not it. I'm pregnant, and I don't know if I want to be with the father," Erika lied in order to protect Yasmine's identity.
"Well, is he or she still around, and more importantly wanting you back?" the would-be heroine asked, knowing there were many women with such equipment in this town.
"Yes, but..."
"Oh, don't worry, I'm not trying to tell you what you should do, one way or the other. It's your body, and your life, my friend," Deirdre said, and placed Erika's head on her shoulder. "But I've seen too many people not have a choice, and have to raise a baby alone, or give them up for adoption, or get cut open by baby farmers who then turn around and sell them on the black market." This was a choice that, unbeknownst to Erika, Deirdre- nee Shiloh- was contemplating placing upon herself as a last resort with the last remnants of Bartholomew Mulgrave, with the genetic material that Shiloh didn't know would make Erika's half-sister or brother if allowed to grow within her.
"I...uh...I'll really think it over, so that whatever decision I make is the right one," Erika said.
"I'm sure you will. Now, stand. Us couriers always stand. And run until you can't any more..."
"...because your body is a weapon, and the key to using any weapon is practice and focus," Erika said. "I remember the spiel. Every dropper gives it to new runners."
"There's something else I've learned. No matter how many times life- or Yasmine Legato, in my case- knocks you down, you have to get up. I will die on my feet fighting her with every last breath, rather than live at her feet. That is a promise. Now promise me that you'll find someone who loves someone as gorgeous as you in the way you deserve, whether that person is your baby daddy or not," Deirdre said, cradling Erika's chin.
"I promise," Erika said, closing her eyes and letting a tear loose, feeling touched by Deirdre's sympathy even if she couldn't hate Yasmine. Then Deirdre was gone.