The transfer from the diner up to Erica’s apartment was a quick and unexpected one. The journey back felt like a blur as Erica talked up a whirlwind about the gig and Nell listened on numbly. Instead, she kept replaying their meeting in the diner. Something about that interaction felt like a weight lifted off of Nell’s shoulders; an admission that her mind was probably waiting for months on end– Hell, years, probably.

When Erica unlocked her door and it slid open, she gave a smug smirk in pride. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

It was a much larger model than Nell’s, yet with the same amount of mold and excessive use of tiling. However, it was significantly cleaner and was drowned to death with Fabuloso to get rid of the natural stink of the building. For the first time in months, Nell tasted clean air. The two entered into the living room-kitchenette combo, yet two doors down a hallway on the right foretold some kind of separate bathroom and bedroom–The prime of luxury. Erica’s furniture was all sleek and modern and tastefully arranged; a sharp contrast to the peeling and run-down nature of Nell’s. Everything that didn’t belong to their landlord was sharp, new, and all-in-all, very nice.

Nell couldn’t help the whistle that escaped her. That only made Erica’s grin broaden.

“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to gawk when this job’s over. C’mon, you gotta get geared up.” Erica then made her way towards her room with Nell trailing after her.

As they made their way through the apartment, Nell traced her finger around an abstract statue they passed by in the hallway. “What actually is this job, by the way?” she inquired. Erica gave a lop-sided shrug.

“We just gotta get a guy,” she replied breezily. Nell’s brow furrowed. She opened her mouth to retort, but Erica opened the door to her room and ushered her in.

What Nell saw was, suffice to say, shocking.

Erica’s room had the equal modern flair as the rest of her house, except half her room was a designated gym. It had all the typical machines you’d find in a gym: A squat rack, treadmill, bench, bar pulldown, and more. Not only that, but stray weights were strewn across the room at random odds. Nell keenly noticed that many of them had double digit numbers on them. What most stood out, though, was the beaten up carbonwire punching bag in the corner. Somehow the carbon-enforced fabric had giant dents and tears, no doubt from Erica’s talents. It looked like someone had taken a professional weight-lifter’s gym and a rinky-dink apartment and meshed them together to create Erica’s bedroom.

“Well, makes sense now . . .” Nell murmured to herself. She found a loose dumbbell and tried to raise it. She used what little muscle she had and couldn’t get it even an inch off the ground. She could hear Erica laughing from behind her while she was fishing around in her dresser. Nell flushed red.

Soon after, Erica returned with something in her hands. “Here, take this.”

Nell’s eyes widened when she realized that Erica palmed her a heavy pistol.

“Wait, we’re gonna kill people?” Nell bewildered.

“If everything goes to plan, we won’t. Buuuuut . . .'' she drew out. “Depends on if they’re gonna kill us first.”

“Never shot a gun before, you know.”

“Relax, Nell,” she assured. “You’re with a pro. I’ll make sure you’ll come out without even a bruise. And besides, these chumps have to be real dull to die for a few bucks. Just listen to what I say, and you’ve got rent for the next month.”

Bizarrely enough, the pistol felt firm in her hand. It felt molded for her palm, almost like it was meant for her. She lifted it up to examine it further, tilting it this way and that. The light gleamed menacingly off its beautiful barrel.

“The Hendrick 2-47, or as us Fire Fighters like to call it, the Blunderbuss. This bad boy is really a hand cannon,” Erica explained. She reached over and racked it back to show just how wide it was, and to demonstrate, managed to fit her thumb inside of it.

“Christ. This guy packs a punch, doesn’t it?” Nell observed as it clicked back into place. Erica wiped the gunpowder off her hand onto her jacket.

“More like a kick to the ass. Get hit point blank with him, and you might as well already pack up your bags. See any guy making it for you, just pull the trigger, and BAM! He’s six feet under.”

Despite Erica’s words, she seemed very casual as she spoke. She turned back to dig through her drawers for something else. When she resurfaced, she produced four magazines. Upon further inspection Nell saw that they each held four shotgun shells.

“I don’t have anywhere to put those,” Nell said. Erica whipped her head around and scanned her up and down. Nell just wore a wrinkled shirt, stained tie, and sweatpants.

“Huh. Ya don’t . . .” she observed with a mumble. “Well, just grab somethin’ out my closet. Consider it a gift.”

Nell set the Blunderbuss to the side and padded up to Erica’s closet. It was packed to the brim with a variety of clothes in all colors and shades to the point that Nell felt the back of her head beginning to thump. It was like what you saw after taking some lines of Kaliope. Something practical . . . she thought. I don’t need to look like I’m heading to a Doyale fashion show.

After some intense scanning, one particular jacket caught her eye.

It was a bomber jacket and a particularly nicely made one, at that. It was shockingly soft and briefly reminded her of the luxury she once had. It was pitch black with white decals framing out a skeletal figure, complete with a spine on the back and ribs that twisted around the flank. But what was exceptionally interesting was that when it was tucked in the darkest corner of the closet, the bony details had a faint white glow to them. With all of her time spent around Corpos and their traditional sense of dress, she forgot that one of the major fashion trends in the past decade was glow and neon.

Nell plucked the jacket out and slipped it over her shoulders.

“Snug,” she commented aloud. Erica glanced over and inwardly winced.

“Fuck, I forgot I had that! Thought I burned it ages ago . . .”

“Why, what’s wrong with it?”

“Angsty teen years led to some more than questionable fashion choices,” Erica replied, a flush beginning to creep up her face.

“Well, call me an angsty teen, then,” Nell retorted, snatching the magazines and shoving them into the pockets.

“Gladly, Miss Hot Topic,” Erica shot back with a snicker. Nell couldn’t resist the little lilt of a laugh that left her. “Alright, let’s head out.”

“Wait, aren’t you gonna carry a gun?”

“Don’t need it.” Erica grinned. She flexed her arms and the cybernetics hissed with it.

With that they were ready to finally head out for the job. Nell tucked her pistol inside her coat. She found that on the inside of the jacket, there was a stitched holster that fit the Blunderbuss perfectly. Nell squinted at it curiously, yet didn’t let her mind wander.

“Let’s head out, and hurry with it, too. We miss ‘em, it’s my ass on the line,” Erica said and bee-lined for the door. Nell followed after. She took in a long breath, and exhaled it with a whistle.

First gig. Don’t fuck it up.

----------------------------------------

Nell was accustomed to the outskirts of Richmond, where the majority of the rich resided. There, golden sidewalks and platinum mansions were meticulously maintained and polished to a shine.

So, to say the streets of inner Richmond were foreign would be an understatement.

Despite having lived in the city for years at this point and visited countless times, she couldn’t and probably won’t ever get used to the dingy, hollowness of it all. A perpetual cloud seemed to hang over them. Days old rain still dripped from rooftops and gutters, occasionally sputtering on top of the two.

The rain and dreary gray were some of the only constants of the city; everything else was some form of franken-hybrid. Some buildings were historic monuments made of aged brick and intricate stylings while others were sleek, geometric products of the current era. Others were maintained in tip top shape, while others looked unstable. High-rises that homed the many corporations of modern America menacingly towered over underground clubs hosting the have-nots. Every block you would walk past, the next one would offer something completely opposite.

Hell, you could find a strip club and a daycare right next door for mommy to drop the kids off before she goes to work.

But, everything managed to perfectly meld and stack on top of each other to create a weaving, layered city.

Despite all the variety, the city felt eerily . . . empty. It was a well-known fact Richmond now had a population of over a million people, but the sidewalks and streets felt barren. People rarely went out, and if they did, they would run as quickly as possible to their next location and stay there. You’d expect the city to be bustling, but no– it only bustled inside. For some, it felt discouraging, Nell included. But for Fire Fighters, it was perfect.

Erica wove them through alleyways and strange short-cuts with practiced ease, eventually leading them to a dead end. Nell stared up at Erica, puzzled.

“ . . . There’s nothing here,” Nell commented in confusion. Erica gave a chuff of a laugh.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“Really? I haven’t noticed,” she replied. “Watch n’ learn.”

Erica took a few steps back, and with a running start, made for the wall. Nell watched on with wide eyes. What was she doing?!

Instead of splattering through the wall like Nell expected, she was suddenly launched in the air with a mechanical thrum of metal.

Nell squinted and saw on the edge of her pant-leg the cybernetics boosting her up to unnatural elevations. Despite being cloaked under a layer of false skin, Nell could see each intricate part suddenly click and snap into place in order to launch Erica. She latched her arms onto some air-condition unit jutting from the building about a dozen feet high and the hydraulics installed in her arms and shoulders hauled her up with ease. She ascended up the building with similar frightening speed, grabbing at random ledges, balconies, and cracks in the wall to propel her further. In just a few seconds, she towered over Nell at the top, smirking.

Nell stared up, gawking.

“I-I . . .” she barely could get a word out. How the hell was she supposed to get up there?!

“Relaxxx, I got you,” Erica replied. She wandered over to a small maintenance ladder that was installed on the far side of the building. With a swift punch, she cracked the steel lock. The ladder rattled down and slammed at the bottom, presenting itself for Nell. She gave a sigh of relief. Without hesitating, she scurried up and met Erica at the top.

“So, why are we up here?” she asked.

“Our guys are gonna walk right past here. Check it.” She thumbed over her shoulder and Nell crept towards the edge. She peered over and saw a building that was part-way through construction, only to be abandoned. The basis of a steel frame still stood as well as abandoned construction materials and machinery. It had to be at least twenty years old from how out-dated the machines were. They were still manually driven!

“From what Arkie told me, this is the drop point. Somewhere here, our guys are gonna waltz in carrying the package.”

“Wait, what?”

“What about it?”

“You said we have to get a guy. What package?”

“Package, guy,” Erica gave a vague shrug. “Tomato, tomahto.”

“What is this job really, Erica?” Nell demanded. Erica heaved a dramatic sigh.

“You’re not gonna die, Nell. All we gotta do is get a guy that these other Fire Fighters got before us.”

Nell glanced between Erica and the clearing, scratching anxiously at her scarred jaw. That sounded very dangerous and so many different levels of illegal. But for once, adrenaline pumped through Nell. The smooth energy of exhilaration filled her veins instead of the thick slog of dread she had for so long. God, it felt miles better than drowning in her pit of self-pity.

She might’ve found a brand-new addiction.

The sound of footsteps began to draw closer along with low whispered voices. Erica grabbed Nell by the arm and brought her behind a generator.

“They’re here! Be quiet.”

Nell was snapped out of her own thoughts and glanced over, nodding. The two, pressed to the roof, crept towards its edge.

Slipping through an alleyway were two men and a woman. One man was burly with two large cybernetic arms, the other man was lanky and dressed in bright neon colors, and the woman had gold-plated skin that shone under the lights around them. When Nell squinted, she could spot a lump, presumably a person, slung over the shoulder of the burly man with their face hidden under a sack. It looked like something out of a movie, really. Under other circumstances Nell would’ve burst out laughing.

“Yeah, they got our package. Stay down and wait till I need back-up,” Erica muttered.

She bolted out from behind the generator to vault over the ledge. Sailing through the air, she then landed on the ground in a cloud of dust and the heavy thunk of steel.

“Alright, fuckers, you know the drill!” Erica snarled. Their gazes snapped up in alarm, all of them wearing matching scowls and sneers.

“Lookie here, none other than Normandy!” the colorful man cackled. “Come to get a shoe up your ass?”

“I’m here to fuckin’ cut yours up, if you don’t shut your trap!” Erica snapped back. She bared her knuckles into fists. “Gimme the guy and we all get home by dinner.”

The gold woman gave a scoff. She turned to look up at the burly one, cocking a brow in a silent signal. With a grunt he dropped the package from his shoulder. The man yelped out in pain.

“Alright, big guy, let’s see whatcha got!” Erica crowed and charged forward. Burly, with shocking speed, darted forward the same. Erica reeled her fist back to throw it right into the man’s jaw. However, he lifted his arm in enough time for her fist to bounce right off his plating, sending her reeling. The hydraulics in her legs tightly coiled to keep her from falling. When she went for another blow, she was met with another swift reflection.

Burly then took his own turn for a hit. His fist connected with her organic shoulder and managed to trip her onto her knees. She hissed in pain. “Got better steel since we last met, huh?”

“Three to one, Normandy. Guess Arkie didn’t teach you basic math, huh?” Goldie commented. Her voice was nasally and taunting and quite punchable. Erica would’ve taken the chance too if she wasn’t being met with a tower of a man. Erica eyed the three.

“Yeah, damn shame,” she admitted. Yet, her glance flickered up to meet Nell’s. Her head just barely twitched in a tiny nod.

Right, right, Nell had a job to do. This isn’t just another thriller movie to sit through!

Nell reached into her own jacket to pull out the Blunderbuss. The handle siddled right back into her hand. She slowly crept to the edge, watching with narrowed eyes at the man standing over her.

Nell’s arm raised, barrel honed in on his back. Her fingertips itching to pull the trigger.

For her and Erica’s sake, this better work.

She squeezed the trigger.

A loud CRACK! thundered around them and made Nell yelp from the sheer noise. The recoil felt like she twisted her wrist, but seeing the result of her attack quickly numbed the pain.

She saw the lumbering man trip forwards, clutching his bicep from where he got hit. Sparks began to fly from his wound in unison with his pained bellow. Erica took the chance to fight back. Her tensed up legs shot her up to connect her fist with his chin. His head flew back from the force only for it to be forced back down with another hit. Erica landed a knee to his liver and sent him to the ground. With one last blow, she crushed his skull with a well-placed boot to the face.

Nell, gaped, eye wide as realization dawned on her. She . . . just shot a man. She’s done plenty of terrible things in her life, that’s for sure, but kill somebody? That was something that she’s never done. But, it was either him or Erica . . . Right?

More gunshots interrupted Nell’s introspection.

Quickly, she scuttled from the roof down to a fire escape a few stories down. With a quick scan, she concluded that the two other Fire Fighters were still standing, yet tucked behind spare steel beams. Meanwhile, Erica was hidden behind an old rig. Heat was burning right on Erica’ position. Just a second later, a bullet whizzed by Nell’s ear to imbed itself into the brick behind her.

“Nell, take cover!” Erica shouted.

She didn’t have to be told twice. She rushed down the rest of the fire escape, avoiding another pot shot and one bullet grazing right by her upper arm. She barely felt the ache it caused.

In seconds, she joined Erica with gasping breaths. Erica gave a lop-sided grin.

“You learn quick. Now, plan’s easy. When Goldilocks is reloading, I’m gonna run out there and deck her. Neo-Dick is gonna try to shoot me, but you’ll do him in first. Then, we get our guy, get the paycheck, yadda yadda yadda. Got it?”

Nell could only nod. She barely heard what Erica said from her heart pumping wildly in her ears. Every time she blinked she felt like she showed up in a brand new location. The only words she caught were reloading, deck, and shoot. She definitely knew the meaning of that last word and it was all she needed to know. Teetering on the careful tightrope between life and death with nothing to lose made her feel things she hadn’t felt in ages.

God, did it feel good.

Before she could ask for her to repeat it, Erica was running out into the clearing with her arm reeled back again. The hydraulics strained and tensed the muscle, whirring small swirls of smoke all the while. Just as Erica predicted, the neon fighter lifted his revolver to peg her with an arrogant grin of triumph. Nell soon got rid of that faith with a well-placed slug to his forearm.

The man howled with pain. His pistol clattered to the ground.

Erica leapt over the piles of steel and landed an echoing blow into Goldie’s face. The woman collapsed backwards and didn’t have time to react as another fist was launched into her gut. She groaned, struggling to clutch both her injuries and finally met the pavement when her face was thrust into concrete. Red pooled around her head.

Erica spun to face her last victim. The man’s eyes widened in fear. He turned to try and scramble away, but Erica wouldn’t allow it. With startling speed, she rushed to meet him, and he too succumbed with cybernetically-enhanced knuckles into his jaw. Erica hovered over him, heavily panting as steam wafted off her back and arms. Her systems were overclocked, but it was well worth it. She glanced over her shoulder expectantly.

Nell, on the other hand, was frozen in place, staring.

Erica couldn’t help the crooked smirk on her face. “Like what you see?” she panted out.

“Is it over . . ?” Erica cluelessly shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter.”

Nell continued to survey the battlefield. It felt like just a couple of seconds, but so much happened in that span of time. She couldn’t help the surprise on her face as she looked between the face, the Blunderbuss, and Erica. Her heart still raced.

Erica approached and Nell glanced up to meet her. “So? First gig, how’s it feel?”

“I . . . I haven’t felt anything like that before!”

“Helluva lot better than just doing fuck-all in an apartment, right?” Erica snickered.

That doesn’t even begin to describe it. It felt amazing– one of the best things ever. The excitement and action was nothing compared to the lazy droll of corporate life; cherry-picking her new assistants, attending meetings, deciding her vacation for the next week, and living it up at parties.

Wait . . .

She loves doing that. All the opulence and prestige and intrigue is the best!

. . .

Was the best.

. . . No, it never was the best.

Her heart dropped.

She was a fool. Compared to this, being a corpo is a gummed out idea. Somehow, the blinders of greed got so damn thick she managed to convince herself that was what she wanted. And in the process, it was so good it was worth stepping over as many toes as possible to get there and stay there.

When those blinders got lifted she thought the world was ending. But turns out, she was just seeing the world she was missing out on.

If Fire Fighting was a drug, Nell wanted more.

She slowly nodded, but it quickly turned into a frantic one. Erica barked out a laugh. “That’s what I’ve been waiting for all this time!”

She scooped Nell up into the air. Nell cried out in surprise. “WOAH– HEY! Easy!”

“If you like this part, just wait till you see what else is in stock. Welcome to your brand new life, Ms. Miller.”

Nell glanced down and saw Erica grinned ear to ear. Nell matched it.

“Thank you very much for the introduction, Ms. Normandy!”