I pushed the piece of cake around my plate rather listlessly. It wasn't that I wasn't in the mood for a sweet treat. It wasn't that it almost certainly consisted only of sugar, fat and some food coloring either. It was the place in general.

We were waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Smith at a MoonCups. Everything in here was fake. The cake wasn't real cake and the coffee wasn't actual coffee either. The music bubbling from cleverly hidden speakers was some weird Synth Pop cobbled together by an algorithm as well.

The employees of the place were worse though, or at least they were in my eyes.

Actually I wasn't even sure if calling them employees wasn't a misnomer. They were clones after all and those were usually considered part of the company's inventory and not people in their own right that would be on some kind of payroll.

They weren't even salary slaves since they didn't get a salary at all. They had a maintenance budget instead.

That on its own was upsetting enough but it would have only served to make me angry on its own. What really killed my appetite were their stunted astral bodies.

These oh so pretty girls, that looked all alike down to tiniest details, had been force grown and it showed. They might have looked physically adult but their astral bodies were those of someone who only had a few years of very monotonous life experience.

Face tapped the edge of my plate with her fork.

“You going to eat that?”

Her appetite obviously had not suffered. She could only see physically manifested magic after all. Actual astral sight was beyond her. Just as well.

I gave my plate a little push in her direction.

“Knock yourself out.”

I poured some more sugar into my cheap paper cup and focused on the road outside where our van was parked, with the sedated kid and Roadkill as well as the last of his K9 drones to watch over her in the back.

I tore my eyes away from the van for a moment to look at Face instead as she wolfed down my piece of cake.

“Couldn't we meet Mr. and Mrs. Smith in some nice and shady back ally or an abandoned warehouse instead?”

She almost choked on the culinary abomination.

Claws patted her on the back and chuckled.

Finally Face regained her composure.

“Not without paying off one gang or another first. You know that lately they are acting as if they owned the city. At least anywhere where we could find a proper abandoned warehouse anyway.”

I nodded and sighed. She wasn't wrong.

The red light on one of the very obvious surveillance cameras blinked several times in rapid order.

I snapped my attention back to the road outside.

“We have incoming.”

I needn't have said anything.

My sudden shift was all the warning my companions needed. They nodded in appreciation anyway.

Moments later a big, black corporate SUV drove past the shop's front. The way its suspension strained made it obvious that it was heavily armored and probably loaded to the brim with armed security personnel. It stopped a little further down the road.

Another, pretty much identical vehicle drove down the road in the other direction, the moment the first one stopped, to secure the other end of the road.

It gave me the impression of some kind of silly dance performance, probably performed to the letter of some corporate handbook.

I wanted to groan but refrained. Claws must have felt pretty similarly, considering the way he rolled his artificial eyes.

At long last a third, much lighter car stopped, pretty much back to back to ours, leaving just enough room to open the rear doors of either vehicle.

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Finally our employers were here.

One of the clone girls started the coffee maker and put two more pieces of cake on paper plates as the two entered the shop.

I couldn't help but notice how Mr. Smith stared at the retreating clone's backside after she delivered both coffee and cake.

That in itself was no big surprise. He was a corporate bigwig after all and these poor things were essentially made to appeal to the tastes of men and women like him and his wife.

What surprised me though, at least a little, was that Mrs. Smith didn't seem to mind, although she certainly noticed.

He took a sip from his coffee and grimaced but kept drinking in careful, small sips anyway. The stuff was hot after all.

She ignored cake and coffee though, turning to address Face right away instead.

“Our daughter?”

Face acknowledged her with a nod, swallowing the last bit of my cake and licking the plastic fork clean.

“Sedated. In the back of the car outside.”

She raised a hand before Ms. Smith could speak up.

“These cultist goons talked her into volunteering herself as a vessel for one of their summoned spirits. You have seen what these people do to the physical vessels of their angels, yes?”

Mrs. Smith drew her lips into a thin line while her brows furrowed. Mr. Smith on the other hand turned pale, the hand holding his half empty cup shaking ever so slightly.

Oh yes, they knew and they didn't like the implications. After a moment of tense silence Mrs. Smith spoke up again.

“How bad?”

Face was quick to answer, in a soothing tone, a comforting smile gracing her lips. She probably was emitting some custom tailored pheromones as well.

“We took care of the astral parasite. She will need new eyes though. Probably some counseling as well … they talked her into volunteering for this after all.”

Our employers nodded and while the woman remained tense, the man relaxed a little. They had probably expected as much, if not worse.

I took this chance to address another unpleasant detail.

“The Church of Radiance will try to get her back. And, you probably are aware, they have a lot of clout around here. You might consider moving.”

Face took over at this point again.

“One of the Native American Nations would be optimal. They tend to have little patience for those wannabe religious fools and they are usually pretty well armed. If that isn't an option, increase security.”

The man looked troubled at this revelation but the woman nodded calmly.

“We'll look into it. Anything else?”

Face shook her head.

“I think we are just about ready to finalize our business.”

The man headed out towards the rear of our car where he was soon joined by armed corporate goons. At the same time the woman pulled five identical, black chip cards from the inside of her jacket.

As the rear doors of our van and the couples car opened to transfer the still unconscious girl from one vehicle to the other she put the cash cards down on the table we were sharing.

“As we agreed. Five unmarked cards with one thousand Credits each.”

I looked towards the security camera again. Once more the little red light blinked rapidly and I nodded.

Face put on her best smile as she saw me nod.

“It was a pleasure doing business with you. Usually I'd say that I'd hope to hear from you again but to be honest, I think we all hope that you won't need our services again any time soon.”

Mrs. Smith let out a little sigh before she turned around to leave. As she slipped into the car with her husband and daughter some of the tension that had built left her body as well.

Moments later all the corporate vehicles were gone again and we were left with the few other guests that dropped by at this hour and the clones who staffed the place.

All is well that ends well. And, although I had no love for corporate drones, I could only hope that this was really a happy end for that family. It really would be for the best though if Mr. and Mrs. Smith managed to get themselves reassigned to another branch of the company they were working for. Preferably one far, far away.

I picked up one of the black chip cards and held it up while looking in the direction of the security camera.

The little red light on the camera blinked again. The next moment the embedded chip of the card I was holding up started smoking.

I dropped it into the ashtray and watched it burn and twist in silence with the others.

Finally it had burned out and Claws picked up two more of the identical cards. One for himself, the other for Roadkill.

“Ladies, it has, once again, been a pleasure working with you. Give me a call if anything else comes up.”

He got up, flashed us a smile and mimed tipping a hat he wasn't wearing.

I waved lazily in return and watched as he left, handing off one of the cash cards to Roadkill as he joined him in the car. A moment later the two drove off and I was left alone with Face.

Stifling a yawn I got up myself.

“Well, that's that. I better get going as well.”

Face remained seated, only tilting her head ever so slightly.

“You sure? We could still hit up a club or two. I know a few places that are open day and night.”

Another time the suggestion might have been tempting. Today though I didn't even need to think about it. I shook my head.

“No. Tempting as the offer might be, I still need to do some shopping. And we should lay low as well for a while anyway. Those featherbrained pretend angels and their human goons don't take kindly to someone bloodying their noses. You better watch your back.”

She just shrugged but nodded after a moment anyway.

“Will do.”

I nodded once more as well and left. The moment I stepped outside the smell of ozone briefly tickled my nose once more, as I wrapped myself in a glamour that would hide my features, both from casual observers and cameras. Then I turned right and started walking.