I spend the next week filling orders for Warram and its employees and I have a big delivery next month—two hundred kilos. It’s big enough that Medvedev wants a more experienced person to lead the exchange despite that I’ve handled the last three without issue. Maybe the Boss has a new kid he’s trying out for officer or something. It has to be politics.

A ping interrupts my thoughts. I send my door camera feed to my display panel in the living room. Paolo’s worried face looks around to find . . . something while he waits. “Hey Paolo, I’m going to click the door, let yourself in. I pull my .38 and point it to the door as he didn’t send me a message before hand.

“Whoah! Quimica!”

“Close the door Paolo.” He pushes it shut and still looks at me with surprise and fear. “Sorry man, still jumpy from last week and I’m not used to people that want to just drop by. I thought maybe you had a gun at your back or something.”

“Que curioso. You live a most interesting life Senora. I just come up to say Beverly wanted to talk to you about the Health Club and something about a mission?”

I respect that my plant manager would deliver a message from his girlfriend that he didn’t understand, and Bev for keeping things close to the chest. “She waiting at the Laundry?”

“Si. Also, a miss Fontaine is waiting in the lobby.”

I jump out of my seat, dash to the coat closet to put on my harness and a coat. “Could have led with that muchacho.” I look in the mirror next to the elevator and make sure my hair is appropriately mussed before seeing my Mentor for the first time in months.

I grab Paolo and shove him ahead of me and irritate the close button in the elevator while also spamming the ‘L’ button. I’m practically bouncing in my normally fast elevator. Is she here for business? There’s no way she’s just in town to see me. I get the feeling that Medvedev sent her away, so if she’s back it’s because something’s wrong. Oh shit, is it me that’s wrong?

I can’t get through the maintenance access door fast enough. When I see her in the lobby, she’s got her hip cocked out and sipping from a can like she’s advertising a soda. Her dress shirt is white and her utility belt is barely noticeable. The coat she must have swung over her should when she walked in is carefully draped over a nearby chair.

I start running and throw myself at her like a feral animal. She steps aside and catches me with one arm in a little spin. While I wrap my arms tightly around her torso and bury my head in her collar.

“I fucking missed you, jerkface.”

She starts laughing, I missed that too. “I couldn’t tell. Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve last seen you. Medvedev has been difficult and I’m not quite ready to kill everyone yet.”

I scoff, “I’m getting close, if you wanna team up.”

“I heard. Two last week and half a dozen last night.” She starts petting the buzzed part of my head and it’s almost enough to distract me from what she said.

I step back and look up at her, still touching her sides, unable to let go yet. “Last night? I bet the idiots tried to abduct me again.”

She nods and keeps petting my head. I lean into it automatically. “That’s in line with what I read. I also read that two died from a necrotizing contact poison, and two others from some inhalant that filled their lungs with fluid.”

“I must have overdone it on the chlorine gas. Or the asbestos aerosol. Not sure I care.”

“Empress’ toe fungus, kid. That’s some gnarly shit. Who gave you that idea?” Does she sound impressed?! What the fuck Marcella?

“A friend I made, daughter of a gun runner I make explosives for, suggested that they don’t respect me and won’t see me as a threat until I go so over the top they wonder if it’s worth taking a contract on me.”

“Not terrible advice. It’s what I did, and what I’ll likely do in the future since people have forgotten why the dark is afraid of me.” Her face sours as shadows seem to seep from her pores.

“Hey, sis? That’s pretty freaky. Could you not in my lobby?” It takes a few seconds, but she looks down at me and blinks furiously before shaking her head.

“Sorry Kimber. I’m really fed up with Warram Criminal Enterprises right now. Care to show me this new upstart Nova Chem Company Town?”

She wants to see what I did!! My smile hit so hard my cheeks are already tired. “Yes! This is my new residence and hospital facility. The building connected with the pedestrian skyway is going to be company dorms. Wanna talk while we head to my Laundry? One of the foremen wants to talk to me about a job.”

“Aww, my little protegee is posting jobs. They grow up so fast.” She fake wipes a tear.

I punch her in the hip, grab her hand and pull her outside.

“Sooo, about this gun runner, why haven’t I heard about this?”

“Uh, I got a hyper velocity fifty cal sniper from them and a pair of sweet pistols and I make magically enhanced gunpowder for them. Well, I did until last week. She dropped by to discuss letting her facilities make it in higher volumes for a modest fee. Oh, and this all started after I became Warram’s resident alchemist, about the same time you left me and stopped having time to talk.” Guilt trip, guilt trip, guilt trip.

Marcella groans. “Yeah, I didn’t forget about you, but I forgot what time meant for a few months, and then I thought it had been too long to just reach out.” She shakes her head again. “Yeah it’s dumb and I’m sorry. I’ve missed you too Kimber, and mostly at dinner when we used to bicker.”

“Seriously, who puts catsup on cake, you weirdo.” I smirk and hip check her.

“I thought it was meatloaf!!” She shouts to the sky and I can feel the love as she gives me a noogie while dragging me in a headlock. I missed this too, as uncomfortably smashed as my face is.

“Is what you’re doing in Reno interesting?”

“Not really. I guess it could be if it weren’t so tedious. I’m trying to set up a refuge corporation for women and children who want a different life than being a gang-banger. There’s been some heavy pushback from political entities with a lot of money riding on the Orphan Market up north and while their Orphanages are City funded, the end result is taking advantage of wayward kids and using desperate women to facilitate it all.”

“Making any progress?”

“Some, but every time I remove a corruption cog in their pushback machine, people freak out and push back harder. Apparently I could use your advice on creating a System endorsed entity outside of Reno’s jurisdiction to get a foot in the door.”

“I told you how I did it. Is it not working for you?”

“Something’s not tracking with the professionals.”

I shrug. “My situation is odd. I run an unaffiliated company, but work as a settlement alchemist for Warram. Maybe you need to be a Citizen or at least a provisional Citizen?”

I look up to see if she understands and see her looking at me like a stranger. “What’s that look for?”

“You’re 17 and not tier 1 yet. How the hell did you get a Citizenship?”

“My gun runner friend listed me as a preferred vendor and when we met she found out that I was an aether user and petitioned for a government discount for Earth Aether users on my behalf. The Imperial Council’s decision was provisional Citizenship to access the aether rations on the Exchange.” Her expression changed only slightly, her mouth dropping open. “So I get some neat discounts on Exchange deliveries and transfers now.” She’s not even looking at where she’s going now. “Marci, you look like a fish.” I poke her in the face.

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“Hey! You shit. And why did your life get interesting after I left, when mine only got more frustrating? What I’m trying to do is important, but the things that are happening to you are outrageous.” She pauses for a few minutes before asking. “Can I see your ‘sweet’ pistols?”

“Absolutely!” I draw the ballistic weapon, “This is my hyper-velo .38. Spell bronze rounds with my proprietary smokeless powder.” I hand her over and wait expectantly as she inspects it.

My mentor jostles the grip in her palm and gets a feeling for the weight and the balance. She looks at me expectantly. I nod and she plugs a street sign three times before re-inspecting the weapon. “it’s rare to see compensators on a pistol, but these are exquisite. The wrist torque and target creep are minimal. How much did you pay for this?”

“For that and a thousand rounds, 50 credits. Got it as a part of a deal with the gunpower I sold her. Apparently it doesn’t have a retail model like my pulse pistol does.”

“This is worth way more than that. You gun runner must really like your gunpowder. Do I need to meet her and tell her not to take advantage of my protegee?”

“Sis, I love you, but she would squash you like a bug.” She grumbles a lot but doesn’t press the issue.

“Any other surprises I should know about? Can you read minds? Teleport? Anything?”

“I rediscovered a moldable explosive and modified it so that it can only be ignited via aether burst.”

“You made magic C-4?

“Something more crude, but yes. More stable than its TnT base because I can use sand that wasn’t available 200 years ago. I’m hoping my friend might want it, but if not, the mercs on the Marketplace will love it. So will I since I’m the only person on Earth making detonators for it.” I grin widely.

“Well shit, maybe I should be taking jobs from you.” She chuckles for a moment before I talk again.

“Want to distribute my magic cocaine to Reno?”

“Fuck no! Wait, what makes it magical?” For a second, a brief second, she almost had morals.

“The high is stronger and the come-down is more mild. The drawback is that the aether content can increase the addiction.”

“Damnit Kimber, that actually seems lucrative. And it’s no wonder half the Health Club is being hired for your delivery. Buyer out of Huston got a taste and wants to see how his market responds.”

“Hells, the whole of Middle and South America is going to come out for me if I start making that much. Maybe I can kill enough of Medvedev’s goons to get him to re-negotiate my contracts.”

She grunts in agreement. “How much control do you have over those contracts?”

“Depends on the reliability of the person, really. A person with a strict code? Less room to negotiate. Medvedev? His contracts might as well be written on toilet paper. Not literally, they’re still contracts, but I could break the two that I have from the threats that he’s levied.”

“Why haven’t you yet? With the murder attempts, I figured you’d be harder to find.”

Big sister is fishing for info. “I don’t have an escape plan. Zia recommended against brash action without one.”

“Smart. I honestly hadn’t pegged you for being that in control of your emotions. That’s impressive.”

“Alright Marci. Why are you actually in Vegas?” I accuse after the awkwardness of the last exchange.

“I saw your name come across a couple of lists last week. Then last night I get a summons with orders to bring you in this afternoon? You’ve pissed off some people Kimber.”

“Alright, I’ll be spending our time until the meeting trapping my warehouse then.”

“I should technically be discouraging you from this approach, but anticipatory vengeance is a good call. Maybe vengeance in waiting? Either way, kudos.”

“So nix on the security for the delivery then?”

“Nah, that was a line I was fed. They’re moving to take over drug production.”

“That would be fun and interesting to see. I don’t have any good ways to disappear, Marcella, are you leading me into a tough spot?”

“Accompanying you. Even odds on them trying to pin me to the wall as well. I don’t know how we get out of this without fighting, but I’m game.”

“Same. I’m glad you didn’t bail on me.” I ram her with a hug right in front of my laundry building. “I spend so much time trying to be a bad-ass capable person, but half the time I just want someone I trust to tell me what to do.”

“There’s your problem. Trust. What if I betrayed you?”

“With your hardon for betrayal vengeance? Our System contract would kill you, full stop.”

“That strong, eh?” She pauses a few seconds, “can you see contract strength?”

“Only if it’s in front of me, and even then it depends on the two parties involved. And even that is conjecture as it’s only come up twice. If you’re fucking with me, this isn’t an amusing line of questions.”

She sighs heavily before responding, “Kimber, I love you like my dead sister and that’s hard to think about. I’m struggling with the idea that I would burn the fucking city down to get you free of this shit. Realizing I’m game to merc people I’ve known longer than you’ve been alive is a sobering revelation.”

I monkey hug that beautiful woman for a few moments before straightening my shirt and walking into the warehouse and whispering “love you too.”

***

“Oh shit, hey boss.” Bev says at both of us. “I mean, Miss Fontaine.”

“Bev, seriously? Where’s Haley?”

“Haley’s been a jealous asshat and doesn’t get to work for me. It backfired a little as the Health Club doesn’t want to play anymore.” I shrug, “The price was worth it not to hear her naysay me constantly.”

“I apologized and Hailey tried, but . . .” Marcella holds her hand up to interrupt Beverly.

“I trust Kimber more than someone who wouldn’t do the job I tasked her with. I was paying people to pay attention Bev. I’m not going to black list her or anything, but it’s a red mark on her record.”

“That’ll ruin her, Fontaine.”

My mentor shrugs, “She let emotions get in the way. Not just for a moment, but for months. I should have strung her up by her entrails when Kimber got shot, and only the fact that she ended up killing the man that did it saved her life.”

Beverly searches the tall black-haired woman for any sign of sympathy, finding none, she sighed. “Does my reputation suffer for backing her?”

“I probably wouldn’t ask you to lead a mission, but your ability to follow orders has never been in doubt.” Marcella walks over to my Ansible repeater and orders another soda.

“Good, I’d hate to have any misunderstandings.” The muscled behemoth looked at me the whole time she said it.

“Message heard Bev. What did you want to talk to me about?” I also skim the Exchange menu, but I don’t get beyond the ‘Past Favorites’ area before selecting a plate of sushi and a more recent choice, Sake.

“I, I found the area one of Paolo’s friends is in Venezuela, and it’s fucking trouble. That on top of the Reno offer and the timeframes, I don’t know if I can get a job organized on time.”

“You want a Venezuelan this time?” My mentor asks.

“Bev wants to take my Plant Manager with her. I asked what it would take to get one of his friends here.”

“Uh, yeah, hate to tell you this, but permanent positions up north are off the table until we can get a settlement or a corporation set up.” Marcella volunteered and I watched the hope fall from Beverly.

I suddenly feel very inadequate for the place I’ve tried to give my team. Sure, the muscle mama has plans for her life that are her own, but damn, is my place so bad? You know what? This is not a situation I created, and for them, not one I can solve if they want to move. But it feels like failure!

“Crap. Does that mean I planned a Job for nothing?” Bev asks.

I shake my head, “I promised Paolo that I’d try to get his friends. This is a step in that direction. I still need whomever he selects to work when they get here, but talk to Paolo about it. He rarely tells me the truth of what he’s feeling.”

She pauses a few moments before nodding at my recommendation. She whispers something to Marcella before continuing out of our area and into the office.

“I literally pay her, what the fuck?”

“Kimber. Lay off a little. She’s been tied to Hailey a long time. I just gave her a lot more work to do if she wants to keep rising in the Health Club.”

“I guess I get it. I keep wanting to tie myself to someone. You, maybe-kinda Zia, and maybe-kinda the boss of Merc Arms.”

“MERC ARMS!?!” No chance no one heard Marcella yell that. “You’re close with the CEO of Merc Arms? I swear on the Empress’ next child, that you’ll be the death of me. I have so many questions, but maybe I’ll just hit the ‘I believe’ button and let it go.”

“Probably safer.”

She breaths heavy, then sighs before addressing me, “We still have business later. We’ll talk about friends and any girl interests you may have after okay?”

“Yes please? I def want an evening of sister time. Speaking of interests, have you talked to Danielle?”

She grins like a predator, “She has been appropriately scandalized for my taste. Perhaps we can carve out some time this evening.”

“Blarg. Sister, having sex. SO GROSS.”

She smiles at me and squashes me with her arms. “You’re adorable.”

Normal Kimber from two years ago would have run from this feeling. Today Kimber wants to roll it up in parchment and save it in the freezer for whenever I’m desperate for love. Sometimes this new level of hormones is awesome, much of the time it is pure crap. From what I’ve read on the Astorian Sat Net, this is perfectly normal for an enhanced teenager.

“I’m glad you already went to see her. Like, I look too much like you for that not to be weird.”

“Did my girlfriend eyeball my teenage sister? The Scandal!”

“Waaaait. You’re dating?!”

“You fucking think she’d wait a year for my dumb ass? No chance. I’ve been engaging and dedicated I’ll have you know.”

“Uh huh. Sex greater than sister, I see how it is.”

“Now wait just a minute you waffling little turd. I’m done with this conversation. We need you ready for your trial in two hours.”

“Trial!? You said it was a meeting!” I gasp and shout.

She shrugs, “It’s a type of meeting.”