Chapter Twenty-Five

The Banshee didn’t take long to appear, floating forwards, the dim light of its repulsors baffled by the thick hanging anti-ballistic cloth.

It stopped at arm’s reach, several of its own arms ending in hands that gripped guns and blades, one a hook and chain, which I really didn’t like the look of, and I nodded to it.

“We made a deal last night, you and I,” I said. “I took this as a spoil of war, as my loot when I killed the goblin that had it. You wanted it, and I agreed to trade you for it. Do you have the mod I asked for?”

There was a long minute of silence as we watched each other, and I started to panic, thinking that maybe, just maybe, I’d handed the only really sentient specter over to the highest bidder, and now I was about to pay the price.

Another arm slowly extended from under the cloth, and I let out a sharp breath, seeing the mod that it clutched there, the familiar bands and spinal sections of a standard mod, but hundreds of them where I was used to seeing dozens.

It held it there, where I could see it and I held the device, the harvester… and we both looked at each other, unsure of what the hell to do next.

After a long minute, I sighed and shook my head, muttering ‘fuck it’ under my breath, before starting forwards.

The banshee shifted its guns, tracking me, and I held the device up, moving to the halfway point between us, then laying it down on the floor and backing away.

Only once I was back to where I’d started from, did the banshee move, and this time it was slowly, slinking forwards. It reached the mass of electronics and reached down, dipping closer to the ground as more hands reached out, lifting the mass to where it could look it over and still see me.

It examined it for little while, before my keystone pinged.

Damaged.

That was all I got, and I nodded. It was after all. Some of it was from us examining it, and some no doubt, was from the goblin.

“It was damaged when I took it from the goblin,” I said aloud. “I also examined it, trying to figure out what it was, before we met and you requested it back.

Why?

“Why what?”

Why trade with me?

“Honestly, because I need mods, and you might need something I can get. You can reach me now, communicate with me.”

Why?

“Well…” I hesitated, then rubbed the back of my neck, thinking fast. “Maybe you need mods? Maybe you want electrical components? Some of those are pretty shit, boxes of those parts…” I sighed and moved in closer, walking right up close to the banshee, knowing that the fucker could kill me at any second.

“These ones, you see the rust?” I asked it, pointing at the damage. It nodded.

“Well, I could get you boxes of new ones of these. Whatever you’re using it for, the power that this can pass through, it’s not much, you understand? It’d drain batteries really quickly, right?”

Again a nod.

“Well, if you replaced these parts with new ones, and replaced the copper here with fresh, rather than corroded?” I reached out and touched sections. “Then you’d get the same effect for half the power cost, right?”

Why do you help?

“Honestly.” I shrugged. “I wasn’t expecting you to be able to speak and deal with me, I thought you were going to kill me. Now? I think you need some help, and I’m willing to give it.” I held one hand up quickly, causing the banshee to back up a little, the guns locking onto that hand reflexively again.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not helping for free, I need credits, I need mods I can trade for credits… and I need to stop specters from starting nests in certain areas…”

Mindless Ones.

“Yes!” I agreed, nodding. “The mindless ones, they keep causing problems, killing people, stealing mods…”

Need. Instinct. That is all.

“Right, well, I need to stop them doing that, uh… is there a way to get them back?”

Back?

“To make them self aware again, to make them sane, or to be able to speak, like you can.”

No.

“Not at all?

Mindless are lost, nothing remains. Recovery not possible.

“Okay… what about you, what do you need?” I asked it, and it hesitated, before slipping the remains of the harvester back up under its robes.

Will consider.

That was it, and the fucker started slowly drifting backwards, before freezing and then reaching out with one hand, offering me the spinal mod.

I took it, fighting an almost irresistible urge to laugh at the absurdity, noting the fresh blood that still coated the mod. It gestured, a spiral with one hand, and I swallowed hard, slowly turning.

It did something, considering the speed and ease, it might have just lifted the fucking mine off me, hell, I guessed as it retracted it, that it might have never fully activated, but I wasn’t sure.

Instead I nodded my thanks, then I backed away, moving up and back into the light. I walked as long as I could before the nerves got the better of me and I started to jog, as the aircar flashed across to me, landing and opening the door for me to jump in.

A few of the goblins stopped work, watching as we vaulted into the sky, but by then it was too late for anyone to ask questions, to wonder why we were there, and certainly to link up our departure, with the flickering of lights that started to work again.

We all looked at each other, stunned that the whole thing had come off so easily, before Reign started to laugh, and the others joined in.

“I’m sorry,” she said after a few seconds, covering her mouth with the back of one hand while grinning at me. “The look on your face though, honestly, you were on the verge of terror!”

“Fucking right I was,” I admitted, feeling no shame in that. “Did you see how big that fucker was? It’s one thing to face it in a fight, to hold my gun and know that I might win or lose but whatever happened was down to me as much as luck, but that?”

I shook my head.

“Seriously that scared the absolute shit outta me. Its easily three times the size it was when we saw it in the tunnels, and the carapace?”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“It was familiar, but…”

“It’s from an archaeon!” I said. “Seriously, that fucker rebuilt itself using parts from one of those… hell, the banshees might all be the archaeon! They might be rebuilding themselves under the city right now, and that thought friggin’ terrifies me!”

“The… damn I remember them, the vids, the talking head panels…” Todds muttered, shaking his head. “They scared the shit outta me when I watched that stuff, but they’re all dead right? We and the other cities destroyed them?”

“Supposedly,” I said. “But they were a mix of neural circuitry and full on processors. You think that looked like it had much in the way of flesh involved in its construction? Take the head off, put it on a new body, or hell, just have it hide, make a mockup of one and remote control it around the battlefield?

“People were hitting them from range, massively overdoing it with the ordinance, they could have buried themselves, have a drone up that they could sacrifice and—”

“Have you two heard yourselves?” Reign snorted. “Seriously, there’s enough mad shit going on without conspiracy theories! What about the one about the boss of m-corp and the alien probe? Want to throw that one in as well?”

“I don’t think I’ve heard that one.” Gessh replied, sounding bored.

“Supposedly the aliens came and tried to probe her. She liked it so much she kept them on staff and gets probed all day every day, but that’s not the point here. The point is, we’ve just pulled off two things that couldn’t be done, right after taking down that cooling tower, and we’re fucking rich, alright?” She looked from one of us to the next, grinning giddily.

“Seriously, I’ve got more disposable creds than I’ve ever had in my life, I’ve got my mod out, and a new one in that not only makes me more in tune with the world around me when I want to be…” She reached down and squeezed my hand in hers, smiling. “…but it’ll also let me tamp the world down when I need to focus, to block it all out when I have to make the perfect shot.

“We’re rich, we’ve not got a mission we need to do, not like we’ve had, pretty much every day since we all met.” She looked around the inside of the car and smiled. “Let’s just fucking enjoy it, alright? Let’s take the day, we’re nearly back at OUR home… shit, sorry Todds, we’ll drop you at the nearest mag-train or…”

“I’ve got an air-cab coming.” He grinned at Reign. “Don’t worry!”

“Well, anyway, we’re nearly home. You go back and bang the shit outta the babysitter.” Reign grinned at Todd as his face colored.

“She’s twenty-three and works for a service, it’s not like she’s the neighbors kid or something!” he cut in quickly, defensively.

“Yeah, a ‘special service.’” Gessh laughed, as Reign interrupted and spoke over everyone.

“I’m going to go and have a damn long shower—on my own Kabutt, you can wait half an hour—and then I’m going to work out some much needed frustrations alright? I suggest you all do the same, relax. Spend some money…”

“On sound proofing,” I interjected and Luna laughed from the front.

“Hey, we’re not the ones with the problem,” she said and I winced.

“Please, for the love of the gods…” I mock begged.

“It’s already on order.” Gessh assured me. “Luna has no shame, I on the other hand… well, I’m not ashamed of it, certainly not, but if we recruit more people? I don’t want the mental image of them getting off on us getting off, you know?”

“Any reason works for me, just stop those sounds!” I sighed as Reign took my hand in hers, then leaned in and whispered in my ear.

“Let’s see who can outdo the other,” she suggested, and I grinned.

“There’s two of them.”

“You’ll just have to put in twice as much effort then.”

“You too,” I countered, and she laughed.

“Believe me, I’m going to break you,” she assured me, and I settled back, grinning to myself as the aircar started to sink from the sky, the buildings around us seeming to flow past at dizzying speeds as windows and chimneys, solar panels and landing fields blurred past.

Dondo landed us in the enclosed front parking area, the fence surrounding the warehouse shivering and clattering in metal celebration under the down blast, as the engines cut off.

There were a brief few seconds as the hull settled on the landing gear, and the doors opened with a creak, then we were all piling out.

“We working tomorrow?” Todds asked me, offering a fist and I bumped it, nodding.

“We’ll sort the details a bit later,” I promised, “But for now view it as today…” I squinted up at the wine dark sky, lit by flashes of neon and the blur of aircars flashing back and forth. “…today is a day off, and we’ll start tomorrow morning…”

“Lunchtime!” Luna called.

“Uh… did she mean we get together tomorrow lunchtime, or did she mean…” he asked and I sighed.

“Who fucking knows, mate. Honestly, it’s like I’m babysitting at times. I’ll be in touch tomorrow either way, but take the day and relax.”

“Will do, boss.” Todds grinned, started to walk away, then turned back and nodded to me. “Umm, boss?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks, man,” he said. “I know there’s a lot going on, and some shit, yeah you still really need to explain, like that fucking banshee and more, but honestly? Thank you. Since you came for me in the pit, things have gotten a hell of a lot better for me and my family.”

“Anytime.” I smiled at him, then waved him off, turning to the warehouse, and walked inside after the others. “Dondo.” I nodded to him. “Thanks for acting as driver for us.”

“No problem.” He grinned as Luna grabbed him by the collar, and tugged him in the direction of the stairs. “Hey, you know I need to go to work soon, right?” he said to her, and she snorted as she kept leading him up to her room.

“What, the big bad gangbanger has a bedtime? Or does he have to be standing at the front desk for a check in from his boss?” She joked.

“He is a crime lord, you get that right?”

“I have needs, and you’re going to service them, you get that right?” she replied, and Dondo sighed, then grinned, vanishing into the living quarters section with her.

Reign was already gone, and I could hear the flow of water in the pipes, suggesting she was in the shower.

I had a few more minutes I guessed, before I hit the shower, and I checked on the arm, looking it over again, nodding to myself that it was pretty much perfect, before locking it in the transport container with my suit and the spinal mod.

No fucker was stealing this.

That done, I headed upstairs, quickly made sure the bed was clean and the room tidy, then stripped and hit the shower. Standing there, the water cascading down me, spray gels dissolving any dirt and working to relax my muscles, I sighed in relief.

I’d done it.

I’d done as much as I could be reasonably expected to have managed in any kind of a timescale since losing the others.

We had a new team, one that was ready to back me, and offer sanctuary to Richie and Sync. We had a base of operations, a setup that could grow with us, and hell, we had the local crime lord literally over the road.

As long as I could keep him on board with us, well, break ins were fucking unlikely.

Add to that once he understood that fucking with the APS meant pulling back a bloody stump with no body attached? He’d be a much more manageable neighbor as well.

Hell, with the way things were going we might be able to fold the guild in under us, raise some more funds and see about…

I’d been so engrossed in the play of the water and my reflection over recent events I’d missed the door to the cubicle opening, and so the first I knew of Reign being there, was the hand that slipped around me, holding me tight as she slid in to join me.

I turned—the shower really wasn’t built for two, I had no idea how the half-orcs managed anything in here, but still—and I looked down into her beautiful green eyes, feeling her body as it pressed against mine, her warm, dry skin flooded with waters, growing wet as I reached out to her, pulling her in close.

We kissed, soft, gentle and almost hesitantly at first, and then rougher, more demanding and hungrily. I slid one hand down from the small of her back to rest on her firm ass, squeezing, as she moaned into my mouth.

My other hand slid to the front, cupping one small, firm breast as my thumb gently teased her hard nipple. Her right hand slid across my belly, then lower, wrapping around and gripping me, pumping me long and slow, making me groan in return as she broke off the kiss, and flicked her hair back.

“So where do you want me then, soldier?” she asked, her voice husky. “On the bed, or right here, on my knees, for the first round?”

“Yes,” I agreed. “Fuck yes …”

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