“Ow, fuck, it’s like punching a wall” Sasha says, cradling her hand.
“I know! isn’t it great?” Alex replies excitedly.
“You’ll be an absolute menace in the brawls.”
Alex cackles like a witch.
“You’ll still be fucked if a high enough caliber shoots you” she adds
Alex scowls “Did you have to ruin my fun?”
Sasha smiles “Just making sure it doesn’t get to your head. You are the stupid one after all, for all I know you’ll shoot yourself with your Tengu just to test it out”
“I would not! Though maybe my old Leka, or the Pistol’s I picked up from those two idiots”
“Please don’t shoot yourself with any of your guns”
“Sure, sure. So, how's the new eyes?” Alex points to a pair of eyes that match Clarice’s with the extra pupils orbiting the centre of her iris. Though hers are pink rather than red.
“They’re…interesting”
“Oh?”
“Not bad, just weird. I can see better, like you’d expect, that’s actually pretty cool. I can see the grains of synthetic wood if I focus hard enough. Depth perceptions fucking great too. It’s just that controlling the pupils directly is a bit of pain, and the constant rotation’s messing with my head. But I can connect to the net without a phone! It’s like a bunch of holograms floating in my vision. Here, watch this.”
Her eyes go yellow and Alex gets a call on her phone. It’s Sasha.
“Hello?” Alex asks
In response she gets something like a squeal “It works!” she hears from her phone. Which is a little jarring considering she hasn’t actually said anything.
“Damn that’s creepy”
“Oh you’re just jealous. I have forever phones in my eyes while you’ve just got chunky ribs”
“I think I prefer the ribs”
“Well, you are the dumb one. So that’s no surprise”
“I’m going to punch you now”
“Wait! I take it back-”
Alex punches Sasha in the face.
-
Alex is sulking.
She’s been banned from the turf wars. Something about bionics being an unfair advantage, which is bullshit, considering her leg’s been enhanced for more than a few fights by this point. Well, at least she got to beat Li Chen to a pulp before they banned her. That was soothing.
“It’ll be ok” Sasha pats her shoulder “Wanna work it off with some sparring?”
“I want to mope” Alex grumbles
“Mopings not healthy” so says Aki
“How'd you figure that?”
“Internet”
“How does that even work?” Alex asks
“No idea”
“That brain of yours is full of half-formed knowledge isn’t it?”
“Better than no knowledge”
Alex scowls, “honestly, this whole bit about calling me dumb’s getting old guys”
“You should try to be smarter then” he nods to himself, as if he’s imparted a grand piece of wisdom. Sasha glances between them a few times before frowning.
“Hey! Why aren’t you punching him, you punched me.”
“You have a punchable face.”
-
sparring’s been weird ever since beating Hiroshi.
Somehow, if she stops focusing on the fight, or just lets her mind wander, she does better than when she’s actually trying. Like a lot better. It’s like her body just knows what to do, moving to its own beat in the rhythm of combat, like focusing was what was holding her back all along. Sasha, Danny, and Hiroshi all tried her new brand of combat only to get their asses beat. Sasha marks it up to divine bullshit much to the confusion of Danny and Hiroshi, and to Alex’s amusement. But it’s not like she’s suddenly a savant, Hiroshi still wins some of their fights, but she wins most of them.
It lit a fire under the boy as he started to double down on training, both of them going all out from the start to the end. He even has a begrudging respect for her now. It’s nice. That and the fact that she can look him in the eye and maintain normal conversation.
Apparently exposure therapy works.
“Me and Danny would like to join you in the gym” he said after one session, Alex accepted, getting a thumbs up from Sasha and a bemused expression from Danny.
Their exercise routine is intense.
Alex’s pretty sure that’s because of Danny.
“C’mon you scrawny bitches. LIFT.THOSE.WEIGHTS.” She says as they pump iron.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Danny, if i have to tell you to shut up one more time, i’m getting Korin to spar with you for a week” Instructor Minoru yells from across the gym.
That threat actually works, and Danny starts whisper-yelling instead.
-
“War is an interesting curiousity amongst the gangs. There has to be a balance to the violence. Right now the combined forces of the gangs can fight off any corporate attempts at a takeover of the city, but if we weaken ourselves we will be like lambs to the slaughter.” Instructor Talia says “Wars of annihilation simply don’t happen, once the gangs have a clear winner the loser will have to offer restitution in the form of land, drugs, or credits.”
Talia pauses “Though to have two gangs work together is rare, and for it to be the Kingdom and the Bastion is certainly interesting” she murmurs.
Interesting’s certainly a word for it, Alex muses. Those two are diametrically opposed, one side seeing cybernetics as the epitome of human evolution, and the other claiming it taints the soul beyond repair. That they can even sit in the same room together is a surprise, let alone fight together in a war.
“Though usually after a war, the corporations do some probing, they often find that we’re as strong as we’ve ever been.” Talia smirks “Then they head back and hide in their Ivory towers like scared little lambs.”
-
Alex’s doing something she never thought possible.
She’s hanging out with Hiroshi!
Well, her group’s hanging out with his group, but semantics are irrelevant to a young maidens heart. His group is composed of five, two adepts and three apprentices, Sasha’s doing an admirable job of keeping most of them occupied with tales of their exploits while Aki’s chatting up Danny, and failing upwards?
“So then he takes our katana’s saying ‘gimme’, and runs at the bear, swinging our swords like a toddler”
Danny’s started crying from laughing too hard “Oh good lord, I have to meet this idiot”
Which leaves her to talk to Hiroshi.
“You’ve been through some interesting ordeals” Hiroshi comments “I’m kind of impressed”
Alex flushes a bit, “don’t be” she says before she can think better of it “they haven’t talked about the protection job”
“Oh?”
Alex laments the fate her dumb mouth has subjected her too and explains that ordeal to him.
“That’s not so bad” he says after she’s finished
Alex gives him a look “they let us go out of pity!”
“Would you rather be dead?”
“No…”
“Then count your blessings Alex, you took on a job that was beyond you and survived. Survival is all that matters in the end” He intones gravely
Alex feels like there’s a history there.
She does the wise thing and doesn’t prod.
“It’s still embarrassing though”
He nods “and that embarrassment will stop you from making the same mistake.”
She contemplates that “I guess you’re not wrong”
He shrugs “I try not to be, but no one’s perfect”
She disagrees with the last part of that statement.
“So Mr.Not Perfect, you owe me a story”
He blushes “well there was this one time I put a plastic tray in the oven”
She blinks at that “you put a plastic tray in an oven” she repeats.
“I didn’t notice what it was made of” He says trying to regain his composure
“How?”
“I…didn’t check”
-
Sasha taps her foot as the elevator climbs up the floors, her Raptor’s slung over her back, while Aki is fiddling with the safety of his Ramus. Their anxiety’s starting to infect Alex, who’d been surprisingly calm at this point.
“Can you two stop? It’s not like we’re gonna kill ‘em”
“They’re still a merc”, Aki replies, “hard not to be nervous”
“And we don’t have divine intervention on our side” Sasha adds
Alex sighs “If you guys want I can take the lead on this one”
“Absolutely not” “no”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence” she mumbles
“Though maybe you could knock on the door” Aki says
She gives him a curious look.
“Well, if he shoots through the door, you’re the only one who can tell beforehand”
She contemplates that and shrugs “sure”
The elevator opens to a hall of doors, there’s a nice red carpet stretched out along the floor and the walls are painted white. They move past a few doors before reaching room 413 and knock.
They can hear the clattering of silverware on plates and the shuffling of feet soon after, a door is opened then shut, then the peephole opens.
“What do you want?” says a gruff voice.
“Ellie sent us to talk” Aki replies
There’s a pause at that, before deadbolts are freed and locks are opened. The door opens to reveal a man in a blue dress shirt and black jeans. In his hand is a modified Khan, pointed at the floor.
“I never told her where I live” there’s an edge to his voice.
“It’s the age of camera’s and technology Mr.Jones” Aki replies
“It’s also common decency not to snoop on your business partners” He replies
Aki shrugs “there isn’t much you can do about it”
He squints at the boy “not the best introduction kid”
“Better that you understand your position than for us to be friends”
He rubs his temple “fine, get in”
He moves out of the way and they gingerly step inside, sitting on one of the couches in the living area as the man heads over to his fridge.
“Beer?” he asks
They all give an affirmative and he grabs four cans, placing them on the table between them before sitting across from them, cracking open his beer and taking a sip. His eye’s don’t leave them as he does and his Khan is resting on his lap.
They crack open their own beers and start drinking, Sasha lets out a belch which the man rolls his eyes at.
“So, why did the red bitch send kids to my doorstep?” he asks
Aki puts down his beer, ignoring the ‘red bitch’ comment, they were warned he was crass “you’re on a job to investigate Kuruki tech.”
The man nods slowly and takes another sip of his drink.
Aki gathers his wits, “Ellie wants you to stop”
He sits there, staring through them, then takes a sip of his beer.
“So the Dragon’s in bed with Kuruki, a little on the nose don’t you think?” He says.
“We’re willing to pay up to one-hundred thousand creds” Aki say’s, slipping a cred chip out of his pocket and slighting it across the table “You can check its validity”
The man grabs the chip and slides it into an access port on his neck.
They sit in silence.
“Alright” he says “I can do that”
He goes to get up but sits back down when Aki raises a hand.
“We’re willing to give another hundred-thousand” Aki say’s, but the man glowers instead of looking happy “If you tell us who hired you.”
The man scowls “mercs code kid, we don’t fuck over our clients”
Aki smiles as though that were expected “I’m sure your family would be proud to hear you’ve stuck to some morals”
His face darkens and he starts tapping his Khan to the table “you looking to die kid?”
Aki's smile widens and he shrugs “Go ahead. It would be your funeral Mr.Jones; And a few others”
The only sound in the room is the tapping of the Khan against the table.
“Salamander” he says “now hand over the chip.”
-
“Sweet mother of God, my heart” Aki says breathlessly “I can’t believe I just did that.”
“I thought we were dead, honestly” Alex says.
“Same” Sasha agrees.