“You would expect that people would listen to someone who can literally materialise nuclear bombs out of thin air. Sadly the average person is too stupid to even understand that.”
- Bunker Buster’s Lawyer during his trial after blowing up a shelter full of Idiots.
The shelter was… not very impressive, although nothing in the redlight district really was. Unless of course you found it impressive that more than half the buildings still stood. The shelter looked a bit more intact than the other buildings, but I think that was mainly because the thing was just built a bit more sturdy. Not that that meant much, considering the cardboard walls the rest of the buildings had, but it was our best shot at safety.
While we came closer, still looking out for any more xenos, the group eyed us cautiously. When we got into earshot one of them stepped forward.
“Halt! Identify yourself! This shelter is under the protection of the Red Crows, only Red Crows members are allowed in!”
The man looked vaguely familiar, I’ve seen him about the district before. If I remembered correctly he was Andrew, one of the more well known Red Crows enforcers.
Chloe looked at him in utter disbelief, probably questioning his intelligence. Which, I totally understood, the man most certainly wasn’t the brightest around. I just rolled my eyes and stepped forward, “Blade.”
With the blade in front of my hand I raised it at Andrew and gave him my best smile, “I’d suggest you step the fuck aside, Andrew, if you don’t want me to tear you limb from limb and leave you out for the xenos to snack on.”
Andrew stared at me with a mix between fear and disbelief. Then he looked me up and down, his leery gaze lingering on my chest. Normally I didn’t mind leers, I loved them even, but he was entirely too disgusting for that kind of shit to be enjoyable.
“Wait… Aren’t you one of the whores from Victor’s place?” he asked, sneering at me with disdain.
“So what?” I asked, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
Not even a couple hours ago that sneer would have sent me running, begging him to leave me alone, but I was no longer some helpless harlet. I was a Samurai now, although it looked like Andrew hadn’t quite gotten the message.
“Why the fuck do you have Samurai Tech? Give it here, no whore should be running around with that,” he said, and held out his hand.
I blinked at him, he couldn’t actually be that stupid, could he? I didn’t get a chance to do anything about it though, because Chloe stepped forward and held her giant, definitely Samurai grade pistol right in front of his face.
“Look here, asshole,” she said in a tone that could freeze over the ocean, “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but if you don’t drop your weapons and piss off right this fucking second I’m going to help my new Samurai friend here with dismembering you one by one until nothing is left. We have civilians here that need saving and I don’t care how, but they will enter that shelter. The only question is if you’ll be alive to witness it or not.”
She seemed… Angry, very angry. From the side glance she gave me she seemed more angry with his treatment of me, which was… criminally adorable and my heart started beating faster at the thought.
“And who the fuck do you think you are?” One of Andrew’s men tried, although he didn’t quite manage to get the panic out of his tone.
Chloe smiled wide, “Well, some folk who’ve seen me in action call me the Explosives Bitch. Three fucking guesses how I got that name,” she said with a sugary sweet tone while pulling out a very mean looking grenade out of one of her armor pockets, finger in the pin loop and ready to arm the thing at any moment.
“What the shit is going on out there?!” A voice boomed, interrupting our little standoff before anyone else had the chance to act.
The voice was followed by an older man, probably around fifty or so. He was big, very big, bigger even than Chloe and maybe even Sarah, and he was built. Arms thicker than my thighs, and I was proud of my squishy thighs, with a look that could skin a cat alive. I knew the man, of course, everyone around these parts knew the leader of the Red Crows. Castas was one of the oldest gang leaders, somehow having managed to stick around for two decades.
The moment he stepped out Andrew snapped to what he probably assumed was attention, but in truth it just made him look like he really, desperately needed to take a shit.
“Boss, these people tried to enter without identifying themselves! Also, this here whore of Victor’s refuses to hand over her Samurai Tech!”
Castas looked at him, then at Chloe, then at me, paying careful attention to both of us. Once he was satisfied with what he saw he nodded, then turned to Andrew. “Okay, smartass, and why do you think a whore would have Samurai Tech on her, hm?”
Andrew looked a bit confused, “Uh… I don’t know? She probably stole it or something.”
“Stole it, hm? From a Samurai?”
“Yes boss. You know how close they get to their clients, might have slipped it out of a pocket or something. I mean, I’ve heard they ca-”
Andrew didn’t get to finish his sentence. Before anyone had any time to react Castas punched Andrew straight in the face, sending the man sprawling.
“YOU FUCKING IDIOT! You can’t just steal from a fucking Samurai and expect to live through the attempt! The reason she got fucking Samurai Tech is most likely because she’s a fucking Samurai! This shit is the reason why you are still given the shit jobs, Andrew, if you would stop snorting smack like you drink beer you wouldn’t have killed all your fucking braincells yet!”
“But…” Andrew croaked, trying to sit up. His nose was shattered and bleeding profusely, “But, she’s a whore!”
“It doesn’t fucking matter, Andrew! Fucking janitors and beggars have become Samurai! Hell, fucking accountants get the honour, so why not a fucking whore! Now get the fuck out of their way and make damn sure that everyone that wants in, gets fucking in, or I will personally rip the last rotten remains of your fucking grey matter out of your useless fucking skull!”
He took a long deep breath, then straightened himself, turning to us.
“Sorry for that. Blunt tool’s only good for a blunt job, but I guess this one is too chipped to even manage that much. Bring these guys inside, we’ll make sure they’re looked after.”
Chloe blinked at him, then let her weapon drop. “Thanks?”
“No need to thank me. Shit’s fucked and we need to work together to make shit work. And we could use a Samurai around these parts. Food in the shelters is short, and I bet my last fucking line that we won’t get anyone down here to evacuate before it runs out.”
“You need food?” I asked, also lowering my arm and deactivating the blade.
He nodded, then waved to his boys, who slowly started filing our group into the shelter, while we stepped aside to make space.
“Yeah. Couple of my guys were heading towards a safe house when the alarm rang. They wanted to bring some back, but we haven’t heard diddely.”
I gave Chloe a look, and she gave me one in turn. This shit sounded important, especially because Castas was right about our chances of getting evacuated. We were outer city, the last prio for the people in their golden mansions past the inner city wall. It was much more likely that we had to fend for ourselves out here until the xenos were dealt with.
“We’ll do it,” I decided.
I wouldn’t sit by and watch these guys starve. They were my responsibility, my people. And Castas was right that the redlight district needed to stick together.
Chloe gave me a warm smile and a nod.
“Thank you,” Castas said, giving me a polite nod, “And don’t worry about Andrew. I’ll make sure he doesn’t do something even more stupid.”
“Thanks. You keep an eye on our group, yeah? Couple of them… are a bit out of it. Especially Tina. She’s the blonde one, head taller than me, killer rack, thick thighs. Looks a bit panicked. She tends to overdo it on the coping and I don’t need her with seven syringes in her arm when I get back.”
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He gave me another nod, “Of course. You make sure we have what we need, I’ll make sure everyone will get out of this without an overdose.”
“Great. We’ll be on our way then,” I said, then gave him my best smile and a cutesy wave.
He turned and followed after the last of our group, closing the shelter door behind him.
Once he was inside and out of earshot I slumped, rubbing my face with my hands, before I looked up at the sky. “Fucking gangs… There is a reason I’m glad I got out.”
Chloe looked at me, having a hard time not getting distracted by my at this point entirely see-through blouse. Well, it wasn’t entirely see-through, there were some green alien goo stains, but the majority of the fabric had stopped hiding anything from all the sweat staining it.
“You ran with these guys?” She asked me before she turned to head off into the direction Castas had pointed us to.
I followed, sticking very close to her, much to her distraction. “Nah, I was part of Crescent Thorn. They were a smaller gang, couple blocks east. Don’t think they’re still around, tried to pick a fight with Purple Haze and got their HQ raided. That’s typically the end for any gang. Mind you, that was after they threw me to the curb.”
“You know these guys well?” Chloe asked, throwing a thumb over her shoulder at the shelter but keeping her eyes on our surroundings.
“Red Crows, pretty big. Took over the district from the Grey Wolves, take care of it. Well, they mostly play police around these parts. Generally they do an okay job, especially for the joytoys. I mean, in terms of protection. They couldn’t care less about the more interesting aspects of our job, they just want cheap whores to have an easy lay, but they do make sure nobody tries to come in and bother us. Grey Wolves had already turned most of the joytoys into cheap onaholes, but Red Crows didn’t make it any better.”
She was silent for a moment, taking another look at one of the more dilapidated buildings that was probably just a good shag away from going down in a heap of rubble. “I never really thought much about life out here.”
I shrugged, “It could be worse. At least it’s not the undercity. Then again, there is a reason why pretty much everyone around here is addicted to some shit or another. Redlight district is a pretty big drug haven, don’t think there is anything you can’t find here. And there is nowhere else you can find smack for even ten times the prices than you pay here.”
She gave me a side eye, a bit of concern maybe? “You don’t seem too bothered by that.”
“Well, if you are pissdrunk or high off your tits every day of your life, the amount of fucks you have to give for this kind of shit is pretty limited. Like, this is the first time I’ve been properly sober in ten years.”
That comment had her raise an eyebrow at me, her concern skyrocketing. Not that I blamed her, my life was shit, but we dealt with what we had. In most cases that was some more smack to pump into your veins so life didn’t look quite as shitty.
“And even then,” I continued, “We can’t just up and leave. Money is tight, a month’s pay around here isn’t enough to buy snacks elsewhere. I have it good because Victor doesn’t care how fucked up you are on the job and there are a lot of people who pay some good money for some really deranged shit. No way I can find a job elsewhere though, I’m a rat even in the eyes of most other redlight district brothels. They are a bit stricter on the narcotics policy and there is just no way I can adhere to that. Well, not before today anyways. I’m an addict, and that’s that.” I shook my head, “Makes me wonder though why you ended up here though. If money really isn’t an issue for you, there are like at least five dozen more high class options in the inner city.”
She didn’t answer immediately, although I did notice her fierce blush.
“I… am not quite sure how to explain. I don’t come from much, like I said, so I wanted to put money where it’s actually needed. But,” she paused, giving me a sheepish glance and a small smile, “I have to admit I did like the idea of not having many rules, just in case we got there. Why I chose you… Well…”
She left the sentence hanging, but from her look I was pretty sure I knew where she was going. My heart started to race at the implication, and I looked up at her, a slightly anxious smile on my face, “You find me attractive.”
That knowledge made me very happy, not that I had any doubt about my looks. I had a gorgeous body and I knew it. But somehow, knowing that Chloe found me attractive just made the world a bit better.
She shrugged, “When I saw you on the listings I just knew that there was nobody else that I wanted to have my first time with. I don’t have a lot of people around me, most of the time I’m busy on the job, and the thought of having you… you know… pop my cherry, was just too good not to go for it.”
I chuckled, then leaned into her, “You are too adorable, you know that? Outright dangerous even. I’ll have to be careful, lest you sneak into my house at night and steal my heart.” Although considering how I felt about her, that might already have happened.
She chuckled and put her arm around my shoulders, “Well, we’ll see. Right now we have to deal with the xeno problem, everything else can come after.”
I nodded, enjoying her presence next to me. “I’m glad you came here though. Don’t want to imagine how this would have gone without you. I’d probably have died the moment the first xeno showed up. Actually, I don’t think I would have even made it that far, pissdrunk as I was.”
“Yeah, I’m glad I was here as well. We managed to save a lot of people.”
We continued on like this for a while, just enjoying each other’s company. Of course, we did make sure to keep an eye out for xenos. The longer we walked though, and the more we strained our senses, the more I realised something.
“Something smells,” I muttered.
“Maybe it’s the alien goo on your… blouse?” She asked with a smile and a blush when she looked down at me.
I giggled, “Yeah, I should probably get rid of that, shouldn’t I? Anyway, that wasn’t what I meant. Something isn’t right here, too few xenos around. Everytime I heard about alien incursions it was always depicted like floods of xenos coming down in waves to eat you, and not in the fun way. Here though?” I motioned around, not missing the sudden fierce blush she had at my innuendo. “Nothing, nada. It’s like all the xenos just vanished. And I mean, I don’t want to complain too much, but if they aren’t here that means they are elsewhere.”
She nodded, looking around again, “True. We should probably hurry, get the food, then get back to the shelter. Incursions grow quick, normally the area should already be teeming. Don’t wanna be caught outside without underwear on.”
I was a bit surprised by the statement, she didn’t strike me as the kind to joke about… Oh. Oh! She’d noticed me going commando! I winked at her, but nodded. It was hard to resist from teasing her, she was just so cute, so adorable, so… ugh, I needed to focus. This was a disaster.
“Do you have anything to search for xenos?” She asked, a bit more seriously, “Recon and shit doesn’t really fit me that well, I’m more about shooting shit and blowing stuff up.”
I looked at her, it fit her personality quite well. “That the theme you are going for?”
She shrugged, “I don’t think I have a theme yet. Nor a name, really. I get what I need to do the job I have to do. Simple as that.”
“That’s fair, I suppose. I think Kaysa has already decided on my theme for me,” I said with a giggle, “Aren’t you supposed to pick your own? Not that I mind too much, it is fitting.”
She shrugged again, “Generally, yeah. I’ve heard of a couple cases where the AI just takes over, mainly because their Samurai doesn’t care much or finds it funny. In the incursion I became a Samurai in I met a guy, Gloomstalker was his name, who was all doom and gloom and fucked up weaponry. The kind of shit you’d find at an emo party. Talked a bit, not much. He really wasn’t a gloomy guy, like, at all. His AI really loved the idea though and he agreed because it meant people didn’t bother him.”
If it is so important to pick your own theme, you are of course more than welcome to disregard my suggestions. I apologise if I have overstepped my boundaries.
“Nah, don’t worry,” I said, holding up a hand to let Chloe know I wasn’t talking to her, “It’s alright. Truth be told, I do like it. From what I know about the Kitsune it is quite fitting, and if it allows me to get really cute and sexy clothes I won’t say no. I need to show off, hm?”
I said that more for Chloe’s benefit, who couldn’t stop herself from admiring me one more time. Not that I minded. I wanted her to look at me more.
“I think I’m more confused about what else it can do. I don’t know Kitsune well, so I’m not really sure what to expect.”
When she realised what she was doing, Chloe cleared her throat then pointedly looked away.
“Well, normally Kitsune are a magical race, at least in the fictions I’ve seen them in. They are all about misdirection, body doubles, shapeshifting, seduction, then feasting on their prey’s soul. From what I’ve seen your Hard-Light stuff do, it does seem to fit well with the usual depictions of modern Kitsune magic. They are often depicted as mischievous and teasing, quite a lot like you, actually.”
I gave her a side glance, before bumping into her side lightly, “You seem to know a lot about that, don’t you?” There was a hint of a tease in my voice.
She blushed again, which just… I could spend days watching her blush.
“Well… I do like to read and fantasy is my favourite genre. And, I have to admit, I have a bit of a guilty pleasure for reading fantasy erotica.”
That had me raise my eyebrows and I adjusted my impression of her a bit. Inexperienced, but deeply curious. Knowing that made me even more excited for what the future might hold in store for us.
“Anyways,” she said, changing the topic again, “Does your Kitsune catalogue have anything?”
I blinked, “Oh, sorry, got distracted again. Kaysa?”
It is quite amusing to watch you stumble over your emotions like that. Should I give the two of you some room?
This time it was my turn to blush, “Kaysa!” I hissed, not wanting to head there with my thoughts right about now, since I wasn’t sure I could keep myself from trying. Chloe definitely had a tight hold over me, but right now wasn’t the time to get distracted, AGAIN!
Very well. The Class I Mythical Kitsune Catalogue would have something fitting for that purpose, although with your current point total of 227 points it would not be overly impressive. The Catalogue alone costs 150 points, mainly thanks to the wide selection of options it has available. The more useful options would all either be much more costly or would require gene editing, which just is not an option for the short term. There are some cheaper options that you could go with, but those options run the risk of quickly becoming obsolete.
“Couldn’t I give my old gear to Chloe?” I asked.
If you plan to work together with Vanguard Chloe for the time being, you could potentially hand down gear to her. In this case I would recommend the Mark II Advanced Listening System from the Class I Mythical Kitsune Catalogue. The cost would be 210 points total, 150 points for the catalogue and 60 points for the item in question.
It is a cybernetic enhancement that interfaces with your normal hearing in a non-intrusive manner and enhances your hearing quite greatly. It also features a rudimentary version of echolocation.
“I mean, it doesn’t sound bad, but I’m not sure it would be worth nearly bankrupting myself for something so… underwhelming.” I frowned.
Chloe looked down at me with a smile, rubbing my shoulder, “It’s okay, it would be helpful, but I think it’s also good that you keep some points in case of emergency.”
I nodded up at her, answering her smile with my own, “Yeah… I think it’s best we figure out what is waiting for us there, before I make any decisions on that thing.”