Gaston checked the rifle that he got from the team. It was the latest model of a Tier-Two gear. He checked the aim and then checked on the under barrel.

“Nice, ain’t it?”

Lemmy said, grinning. Lemmy had this proud look on his face that Gaston didn’t want to retort. The rifle was well-made. And from the looks of it had been maintained. He couldn’t complain.

“It’s nice. I guess they aren’t that obsessed with multi-functioned weapons.”

“Transformables are nice. But they lack the quality to keep up in long fights.”

Lemmy had this sure look on his face. He spoke with a biased tone. Gaston checked the launcher under the barrel and inserted a round it. He pulled the bolt on the side of the rifle and aimed at the wall.

“Looks good.”

Gaston handed over the rifle. Lemmy took the rifle and let it hang on his side. He offered a cigarette to Gaston. Gaston raised a hand to refuse before leaning on the wall, his arms folded. The rest of the crew was playing cards or in a VR game with their HUD displays.

Some of the members of the crew were sleeping. The rest are keeping an eye on the surveillance cameras that were loaned to them. Gaston’s involvement with them was for bodyguard work and as a third-party witness.

“The schedule is fucked.”

“Can’t help it. Security needs to be tight and you saw what was inside that.”

“Anyone else know?”

“Bruna knows. So it’s just us five.”

“Guessing that it isn’t exactly a one-off thing here.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

Gaston held his expression firmly. Paired with his stolid expression was this hint of annoyance. Sensing that, Lemmy squatted and took a drag of his cigarette.

“You know that e-cigarettes are real. Can you even smoke that shit? I thought most cigs these days are low quality.”

“Low quality, but they still have that classic ash in my mouth feeling to it. If my mouth doesn’t taste ashy and burning. I don’t want it. Also, I got mine from South America.”

“How?”

“They started selling a year ago. After they wiped out the Type-2’s and 3’s that they regained land. Had to import sand to regenerate the land, but it worked.”

“Sand… it must be really valuable.”

“Course it is valuable. Sand is second only here. It sells quite a lot so we have tons of shipment of it here.”

“So are we staying here for the meantime?”

“No, we are moving to Africa after this.”

“How’s the place?”

“Meh, a few of the nutcases are still around. Most of the stable ones have somewhat gathered around Angolo.”

“Angolo?”

“Buka’s son. Third son.”

“Oh, I remember him. So he’s in-charge now.”

Lemmy grinned.

“Didn’t you facilitate Buka?”

“Gave him a missive. Who knew that becoming the unofficial courier of the UEDF would allow me to meet people? Though most of the time, I just get myself protected or hoping to God that they’d sign the paper and I get my pay”

Lemmy tapped his cigarette. His face showed confusion. Then amused at the words Gaston said.

“Africa’s organized in some parts. South Africa’s the dominant state while the rest have bonded together to create their Pact. Only SA has Breakers while North has a lot of problems regarding mutates.”

“And Lionel’s head there because?”

Lemmy shrugged.

“City doesn’t want us here for long. General rule is that no arms dealers stay a month here.”

“Probably want to avoid a problem regarding the local mobs.”

“They don’t get mobsters here. Not after they killed most of them during the end of the world.”

“Of course.”

Gaston fanned the smoke away. Lemmy turned his body away from Gaston as he took another drag of his cigarette.

“Lionel must be crazy confident that Mortimer would be kind enough to parlay. If anything it makes me nervous that you are carrying that kind of thing.”

“Mortimer’s greedy, not stupid. He knows the value of the items, and he wants to research them. He already has a lot of artifacts and now many are targeting him for it alone. Doesn’t help that he’s making red flags that makes every intelligence agency abroad rather worried and interested in the goods he might be carrying.”

“If I know Mortimer he already knows what’s inside that case.”

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“Of course, why do you think he’d bother meeting Lionel? Lionel’s been a normal arms dealer until recently. Eccentric, but he was still normal until he decided that normal weapons are boring.”

“And now he involves himself in this mess. I don’t wanna ask.”

Lemmy groaned, “But you already know. The biggest problem for us in the first place isn’t about Lionel and Mortimer. It’s about the bastards who're after Mortimer and in return would try to make Lionel as bait so that they can go after Mortimer. The worst part is that the moment they take notice of the case and its importance. It’s going to light a fire on everyone’s ass.”

There was a tired look on Lemmy’s face. It was the look that was not looking forward to the future that his crew was going to face. Gaston could sympathize, but at the moment their problem was his problem and in the first place he was here to make sure that there was no problem between the two.

Lionel and Mortimer were the highly valued targets. Gaston’s job here was to make sure both of them get along or at least make the transaction between them as amiable as they could make it. After the transaction and trades are done. Then Gaston can get away from Lionel and his group. Still, since he took the job, he was willing to put effort into this, knowing that this might land him a lifetime sponsor that could make people in UEDF and the Consortium Headquarters happy.

Being a part-time bodyguard wasn’t usually his cup of tea, but at the moment Gaston wasn’t picky. With how the cult went to make a mess of everything. It was time to try a bit harder.

***

Gaston climbed up to the top of the hotel after his chat with Lemmy. This city was quite different during the night. It was drowned in multi-colored lights. Far too different from the sun-bathed city. The city that smelled like heated gravel and hot wind was very cool during the night.

Gaston breathed out frost. He heard footsteps and spotted the one climbing up the rooftop was Bruna. She wore black top and cargo pants and walked next to the edge of the rooftop.

“It’s cold as shit here.”

“That it is.”

“You don’t look that drained despite all of this disruption.”

“Hmm, I am used to the effect of disruption,” Gaston clenched his fist.

“You are. You looked good, Diable. Guess you don’t necessarily rely on the ichor.”

Gaston nodded. He sat cross-legged on the floor. Bruna followed after and folded her arms.

“Golden Gate taught me that hard. Never rely on ichor. Keep your body to peak human.”

“How do I look?”

“Glad that you took my advice. Care to look at it?”

Bruna flexed her arm. Well-toned and sturdy. Gaston inspected her arm and then gave a nod.

“Looks good. You really took it to heart what Janna said.”

“Have you seen what she looks like? I want that kind of body. So much strength in slightly toned arms. But in my case, it looks like my back muscles are forming well.”

Gaston shot a glance at her back. The muscles were pressed together to make this sturdy shape. He remembered her being soft and skinnier. Bruna had a different look than what he recalled.

“Pretty surprising that you managed to stay alongside Linda.”

“What’s there to do? Join Breakers? Eh, I would rather fight humans than monsters. But I guess the days we fight both. I just don’t like to be called a Breaker. Doesn’t help that most of the time I don’t really feel like one.”

“I guess staying in disrupted areas really does break that illusion of strength. What do you think of this deal? You know, right?”

Bruna inclined.

“Trouble. What else is there? But it is a good opportunity to get good pay. Heard that you’re getting sponsored?”

“Might get sponsored. Was hoping to get something like this in Japan, but you know how that went down.”

“You aren't particularly angry about the cult.”

“I don’t care enough about them. Not that I wouldn’t try to punch them in the face if I see one. I just hope that this job does better.”

“The UEDF must be really afraid that their supplier gets cut off this time.”

“They are worried. But they probably wanted me to take care of this problem while Janna replaced me as the Adjutant.”

“Oh, you think they wanted that to happen? No offense, but you don’t particularly give a shit about their dealings as long as you get paid, G. Janna probably can handle and do much better. Could be the reason they baited you into doing this kind of OP.”

Gaston had an idea of what they were trying to do. The UEDF and particularly the Consortium don’t do these kinds of requests unless there was an urgent need for it. Gaston guessed that Lady Romanov had asked for assistance from the higher-ups, convincing them by letting Janna manage while he was out doing another job for them.

“She probably can handle most of her requests and even barter with the Lady. You’d probably just stalled enough to piss them off. The relationship between the Babaika Lions. What do you think will be the endgame?”

Gaston thought deeply. “They probably want to be the officially endorsed breaker company. Want them to be the first everyone calls before anyone else. Yellowstone Corp used to have that unofficially, but you know how shit went down in Latin America. Yellowstone’s a shell of its former self. They are strong, but not as strong as the Lions have.”

“You think Janna’s gonna give them shit?”

“She will try. You know how she is when it comes to dealings. She is unironically good at it.”

Bruna brought out her mobile and checked on the time. She touched her pulse and then breathed out.

“So who are you riding with?”

“Probably with you and Lemmy. Damir’s on overwatch and you seem to forget that I’m only here to be a third-party.”

“Sure, but as long as the shooting starts. And you fight with us then I have no complaints. Still, damn, it’s good to see you again.”

“How’s your folks?”

“Could be better. They are doing well in Cadiz. Don’t know if it’s a good thing or not that the Hospitallers have been actively destroying any threats around the city. ”

Gaston stood up and stretched his limbs. He rubbed his neck and then made noises with his knuckles.

“Are we going to move tomorrow?”

“Got a few side tasks that needed completing. Lemmy wouldn’t leave Lionel. Rest of the crew are on security duty. And forgot to send the note.”

Gaston turned on his AR-module and opened the note. On the note it said that he’ll have to do paperwork.

“Paperwork, can’t they just email it?”

“Nope. Paper-only and they don’t want to risk putting it on a computer at the moment. You know how tech is these days. And we can easily burn paper. Everyone’s rightfully paranoid.”

“So you’re going to be my bodyguard?”

“Unfortunately, boss,” Bruna grinned. “At least this time I can properly rest since I have you fighting if things go to shit.”

“I got a feeling that this paperwork run isn’t simple.”

“You’ll have your bulletproof suit and briefcase while I try to look tough. A kind deception. At least they’ll make the mistake of you being an easy target.”

“Sounds like you plan to use me as bait.”

“You signed up for this. I better take it easy until then.”

Gaston nodded and stared at the city calmly.

His eyes remained entrapped by the lights.