The last place I want to be. Doc's place. Stuck in the same hospital bed that I spent so long in when I got here. Once again, stuck laying here doing nothing. Doc says I'm going to be on bed rest for a few more days. Apparently one of the bullets did get through my vest. Alongside the menagerie of fractured bones that McNamara saw fit to give me. I got an earful from the Doc when I came in for help. Apparently I was being too reckless. It was worth it, though. I can't count the amount of fruit baskets that are sitting by my bedside. Apparently people think I'm a hero for standing up to the man. Even more so that I got our people back.
Apparently the crew wasn't much more than roughed up. They got lucky and the PD was keeping a close eye on them to the point that the worst they experienced was getting shoved around in the interrogation room. Even with McNamara's clout, I doubt he’d have been able to pull off any kind of crap in front of the Chief like he usually did. I don't think they're too pissed that it was me that got them in trouble and bagged. Mostly because I got the shit kicked out of me while rescuing them. They probably figured that part was funny enough, too.
Saba? Saba seems keen on sticking around. She's swung by a few times to poke fun at me and talk about her cousin. Said that she’d be happy to work with me again, too. Though I guess she’d have to go through Springbok to be able to join up with the team. That’d be a battle for the ages. And I’d be out of a job if she managed it. Even if she got the shit beaten out of her just as equally, she's already out of bed, with the only real sign leftover from her battle being her arm in a cast.
Bobrovnikov managed to skip out on being associated with us in any way. Nobody saw him with us while we were in the precinct. Last I heard, he's enjoying some vacation time with his wife further out east. Hopefully on a nice beach resort, and not some crappy rundown hotel. He passed along some contact info, so I can get a hold of him in the future and catch up at the very least.
Out of the rioters? Surprisingly, the only person who sustained any major kind of injury was Baldie. Apparently someone shined a spotlight on his forehead and it blinded some of the Black Wolf guys that came in to try and find me. They decided to shoot him in the skull with a beanbag as a reward for his efforts. Everyone else dispersed after they deployed the tear gas. Everything went solidly to plan to that end.
The crew themselves? Back to their old ways, as well. Spot's been working on the Beast. Flash has swung by here a few times with a black eye or two, being ever the fan favorite at the clubs. Magpie's been one of the ones bringing me fruit baskets and arrangements. She's been acting a little differently, and I can't put my finger on it. Springbok? She's being Springbok.
As for the metroplex? I don't really have a line in at the moment. I don't know what's changed, or even if things have changed. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter. Novonachalsk, from what I've learned, tends to be a giant uncaring, unchanging monolith. Maybe some small things can change in time, and maybe I was a catalyst for one of those small things, but it's going to be a while before I see it. Not that it matters much to me.
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Almost forgot that data drive I lifted out of McNamara's terminal. Almost wonder what Black Wolf Security is doing to honor Novonachalsk's former number one officer. Hopefully rolling his body into a ditch somewhere. I know better, though. This is going to be treated like some terrible act and he's going to get buried with honors. I slap the thing down on Springbok's workstation.
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“Well, that's a greeting from someone who just got discharged from the hospital if I've ever heard one.” She cracks one of her trademark lopsided smirks, looking up from whatever ARO she was browsing through. “What's this?”
“Some prick's data drive. I figured I could swipe it while I was there just in case. No doubt filled to the brim with incriminating evidence.”
She flips it over in her hand, humming. I'm always amazed seeing her work on these kinds of things as casually as someone at a car shop would change a tire. She plugs it into her terminal and starts to go to work. Her eyes focus back in on the unseen ARO in front of her.
“Pretty tough ICE for a drive that you were able to rip straight out of a terminal,” she mumbles, focused on her work. “Are you planning on clearing your name?”
“I couldn't care less at this point. Maybe there's something useful in there that you can use. Or you can throw it up on the matrix for everyone to see.” I shrug with both shoulders. I glance up to the busted skylight. Formerly busted. It looks like we're covering it up with a sheet of plywood for now.
She gives me an incredulous look, before her attention sways back to the ARO.
“—I'm not planning on leaving. I think I have it better here than I've ever had it inside the walls.”
“Well, no shit. You’d be a real prick to walk out on us after all of that.”
I can't help but laugh at that one. There's pretty much no chance that I'm walking at this point. Figuratively, and just a bit literally. Still have a limp from McNamara throwing me around the rooftop like I was a ragdoll. Still. It feels like I got a new lease on life coming out here. Even if it did start with me covered from head to toe in mud and my own blood. I've met people I would've never met in Downtown or Aurora Hills. Things might be different out here, but I'm suited to it. I think.
“And, here we go. Not an issue for Fokken.”
“Wait, hold on. Fokken? As in Triple Threat's Fokken?” I snap back from my daydreaming at that. I remember the brief second of the entire Donehal security detail ordeal, when I thought that it might've been them messing with us.
“Yeah. And also Celcius and Hoax.”
“I'm not following.”
“I'm all three, Luc. Couldn't settle on a handle," she says in the other direction, apparently following that unseen ARO as it moves.
What the f—
She whistles sharply, lifting up a hand. I've seen that gesture before. Expanding the window, I think. “This is some paydirt you've scrounged up, Luc. You could really mess up someone's day with this.”
“I didn't realize there’d be that much data on that tiny little drive in a tucked away terminal.”
She scrolls a little bit more, flicking her wrist frequently. Apparently she didn't either, considering her mouth was hanging open the entire time. “You have no idea.”
She reaches out and presses a finger to her commlink. Considering that my own commlink chirps not a split second later, I figure she's calling in the rest of the team to look over a potential job that I've just dragged in on a pair of unsteady legs.
Here I was thinking that I would only be a catalyst in a small thing. Here's to change.