Turns out showing up home bloodied as they were has consequences, the kind where your peers pester you with questions and pretend to care. Most people keep to their little groups in Lost Hope, it’s encouraged even, the few friends you make here are expected to join you in proper gang life, everyone else is just a waste of breath. Sure, her groups a little small, but they’re competent. Bastion incident notwithstanding.

All the people showing interest now are just leeches.

She has no desire to entertain leeches.

So she does what she always does when she’s annoyed and needs a distraction.

She gets into a fight.

Crossroads is called that because it’s where most of the gangs young (those who aren’t valued anyway) are raised, making it the perfect place to find an ass to beat. The House, the Wolves, and even the Bastion own buildings here to house and train the next generation. Only Solomon's Kingdom is missing from the equation, but those fucks are weird, so it’s probably better this way.

It’s kind of become neutral territory, none want to antagonize one of the others by being seen killing a bunch of brats. Outside the crossroads is fair game though, it’s the optics of the thing, not the morals. Which does give credence to Sasha’s point, now that she thinks about it. The borgs had no reason to let them go.

A fist to the face breaks her out of her contemplation.

Right, need to focus.

She dodges the next punch and drives her head into his stomach, wrapping her arms around his legs and taking him to the ground. What follows is an exercise in futility(for him) as she engages in the good old ground and pound. He really needs to learn how to defend against grapples, it gets him every time.

Her fun is interrupted by a kick to the face.

What’s with people going for her face?

She rolls and springs up just in time to tuck her chin and block a hook with her arm, again, going for the face.

These people need some fucking variety.

She demonstrates this by kicking the girls knee, causing her to stumble, and only then, once she’s unbalanced, does she drive a knee into the girls face. Blood spurts from her nose like a fountain as she splays out onto the ground.

Kinda funny.

No time to contemplate that though, the other ones on his feet and charging at her. He tries to go for a combo, two jabs followed by a cross, she blocks the jabs and dodges the cross, weaving into his guard before crashing her forehead into his face. She follows that with a heavy punch to his sternum, knocking his breath away before tackling him to the ground, and after a bit of a struggle, she has him in a choke-hold.

He taps out.

She lets go and rolls him off her before sitting up. The alley has a few other fights going on but she’s taken out two so she’s done her part.

“Damn chika, what’s got you so angry?” says the boy

“Don’t ‘chika’ me Vicktor, you’re not even spanish”

“And you’re not japanese, but you don’t see me complaining”

She grumbles at him.

“C’mon, don’t be like that, we’re pals right? Putting aside the mandatory beatdowns of course”

“It’s only a beatdown for you, you’ve fallen off lately”

“Nah, you’ve just gotten stronger. Besides, most real fights involve guns”

She flinches at that, which earns her a raised eyebrow.

“Okay, seriously, what’s got you in a twist? I’m not used to seeing you so jumpy and it’s a bit scary”

She takes a moment, looks Vicktor in the eye. They’re friends, sure, but they're also part of rival gangs. Showing weakness would be stupid.

“It’s nothing” she waves him off

He shrugs “suit yourself, just promise me you’ll talk to someone hmm? Maybe that crazy pink haired bitch”

She scoffs “why do you care?”

“Just because we’re officially enemies doesn’t mean I can’t care, speaking of”

He riffles through his pockets, a few chains jingling at the disturbance, until he grabs something and holds it out to her.

“Happy almost birthday!”

It’s a bracelet, fashioned like a snake coiling in on itself. She can see a little clip where the mouth is biting the tail. She grabs it slowly before examining it. The scales are actually carved, green things with little divots separating them from one another. Its iris is thin, like it’s focusing on prey. But it’s the texture what surprises her the most.

It’s metal, and it’s soft.

RS-6, radion steel fibre.

“I can’t accept this” She says trying to hand it back to him “this must’ve cost you a fortune”

He laughs, pushing her hand away “sorry, no refunds, either you take it or someone else does. Can’t be walking around the little house wearing dragon iconography.”

She doesn’t know what to say to that so all she asks is “why?”

He looks off at the others for a bit, most of the fights have ended by now, a few still stubbornly persist.

“I like you” he answers “As more than just a friend, I know it wouldn’t work out, but I just wanted you to know, you know?”

“No I don’t ‘know’” she replies “why now of all times? And why me at all? All we do is beat the shit out of each other.”

He shrugs “Maybe I’m into that” to which she scowls.

“Seriously?”

“Not really, well, maybe a little bit.”

Stolen story; please report.

“I’m gonna shelve that for later, but you still haven’t told me why now?”

There’s silence between them for a long moment, before Vicktor takes a deep breath and starts speaking.

“The House is mobilizing” he says “The Kingdom and the Bastion have been proding, selling on our turf, stealing a few cars, threatening local businesses, even jumped some of ours. We need to respond, or else it makes us look weak.”

That revelation…she doesn’t know what to do with it. The obvious part is left unsaid, Vicktor is old enough to contribute to a war. Maybe not on the front lines, but to be a part of a war is to risk yourself. He doesn’t even have any chrome, he’d be like a naked babe tossed to the wolves.

They probably already called on him.

Fuck.

“Fuck” she vocalizes.

He gives her a sad smile “It is what it is” he says.

“Promise me you won’t die” she says “I don’t want to lose my favorite punching bag”

“Oh? I thought Li Chen took that spot”

She shrugs “She’s good if I want a challenge”

“Ouch”

They sit in silence for a few moments, just…enjoying one another's company. She doesn’t know what to do about his confession, but it feels like the wrong time to address that. Eventually, the girl she knocked out begins to stir awake.

“You bitch!” she screams, voice nasally “you broke my nose!”

-

Alex and Aki have taken to learning sign language.

The kids a mute, and can’t write, so Clarice has taken it upon herself to educate them. She was a little shocked to hear that Clarice knows sign language, but she guesses she’d dealt with mutes before. Clarice doesn’t seem to mind them joining, even encouraging it at points. Apparently their presence is a suitable motivator for the kid, and yes, we’re still calling them kid. Since they have no way to communicate beyond nods, head shakes, and holding up fingers (Which is how they found out he’s seven, and a boy), they haven’t been able to get their name. They did find out they don’t have parents though, or any sort of guardian.

Clarice was not pleased to find out they didn’t ask before essentially abducting them.

So, learning sign language.

Until they can get him an artificial voice box, which is not cheap by any standards, the little mute has to learn how to communicate the old fashioned way.

{Hello} she signs

{Hello} he signs back

{How you?} she asks

{Good} he replies

And he is, it’s been a few weeks since they picked him up, but he’s already packed on some fat. He no longer looks like a skeleton, just anorexic. Clarice has been feeding him slowly, stating that his body needs to adjust before they can start feeding him proper portions. He isn’t even expected to attend any of the classes, instead just spending all his time learning from Clarice.

“You know” Alex starts “you’re being surprisingly gentle with him”

Clarice spares her a glance before continuing her typing tirade. She’s never really noticed before, most of her interactions with the woman being to patch her back together. But she looks tired. Not in the way of missing a night's rest, but in the way someone gets with prolonged exposure to constant work and stress. The bags under her eyes are heavy, and she sits with a slouch, occasionally correcting her posture when she has the presence of mind to do so.

“What are you doing anyway?” Alex asks “No way Lost Hope has that much paperwork”

Aki elbows her in the ribs.

Clarice stops her typing but keeps staring at the screen.

“Nothing is free,” she says simply before returning to her work.

“What does that even mean?” Alex mumbles

-

Alex and Sasha are staging an intervention.

As Aki turns the corner into the common area of their floor, he’s greeted with the sight of two girls waiting with bokkens in hand.

Three to be specific.

“No” Aki says simply

“We aren’t asking” Alex replies

“You can’t make me”

“Actually, we can” Sasha says “rules of the jungle. Strong ruling the weak and all that”

“This isn’t the jungle”

“How many bullets you got left with the Ramus?” Alex asks

He looks at her skeptically “four, why?”

“You’ve been slacking on your kendo” Sasha states

“Even Korins given up on you” Alex adds

“You’ve put too much trust in firepower, rather than skill” Sasha continues

“What happens when you use up those four bullets? You gonna hide behind us and pray?” Alex concludes

There’s silence in the common room, Aki waiting for their speech to continue, and a few people have even poked their heads out to watch.

“How many times did you two rehearse that?” He asks

“Roof.Now.”

-

“I ain’t giving you shit chink!” Says the very dumb boy.

“C’mon man, it’s basic math. We’ve got the guns, you don’t, either you give us the keys or we just shoot you” Aki sighs

The boy pales at that, but stays surprisingly resolute.

“My baba’s the Reaver chink, he won’t let this slide”

Aki straight up laughs in his face, and Sasha and Alex can’t help the giggles that come out of their mouths.

“Oh, that’s good, real good. I almost want to let you go for the audacity.” Then he presses his pistol to the boy's temple “but no, I’m not that nice. I’ll ask one more more time, keys”

The boy glares, but does as he’s told, albeit reluctantly. Aki gingerly snatches the keys from his outstretched hand and heads off to the car.

Alex points at her eyes, then at the boys, just because she can and it’s cool, before following Aki to their newly acquired Diames.

It’s beautiful, slick and shining. Its engine is most of the car, with the driver’s seat at the very back. Impractical sure, but that leaves plenty of space for horsepower, and she can practically feel the rumbling of its engine as Aki turns on the beast.

Hmmm, wording.

It’s a two seater, so she and Sasha are going to have to share, but the chance to ride one of these monsters more than makes up for it. As they peel out of the parkade they can see the boy on his phone.

“Hey Aki, were you really planning to kill him?” Sasha asks

“Nah. Rough him up? Sure.”

“Softie” Alex teases

He rolls his eyes “oh please, I saw how you tensed up when I got my gun up in his face”

“Did not!”

“Oh, you totally did” Sasha nods

“No way you both were watching me while we shaked that kid down”

“What can I say, you're adorable when you’re trying to be hard. I mean the whole ‘I’m watching you’ shit was just priceless” Sasha cackles

“Wait, she did that? Holy shit Alex, that’s hilarious”

“It was cool…” Alex mumbles

“It was corny is what it was”

-

“Four thousand creds” Sasha was sitting on a bench, eyes glazed over.

“They probably scammed us too, coulda prolly squeezed out another two thousand if we had a decent rep” Aki says next to her.

“We should steal cars more often” Alex says

Aki shakes his head “Once was enough. The only cars worth nabbing belong to corpo’s, and they usually have protection. This one was just stupid”

Sasha snorts, “tell me about it ‘my baba’s the Reaver’ what a joke”

They all share a chuckle at that.

“So what do you plan on using your portions for?” Aki asks

“Guns” they both answer instantly

“And maybe a thermal katana, depends on how much I have left over” Alex adds

“Bit of a waste,your options aren't exactly stellar with thirteen hundred creds” Aki says

“It’s the principal of the thing”

“I’m with Aki, you should wait till you can afford one that’s worth it” Sasha adds

Aki’s phone gets a notification

“How much you wanna bet that it’s Ellie?” Alex whispers

“I’m not taking that bet, she’s like, the only contact on his phone” Sasha whispers back

“I can hear you” Aki says as he goes through his phone, his face getting progressively darker the more he reads. Sasha and Alex share worried glances.

“We need to go” Aki says, pocketing his phone “Now”