It’s been a few hours since they started the private party and it was winding down. Noa gently nudged a couple of empty bottles on the table to make more space for her feet, then slumped back on the couch she was sitting on.

She looked at the other side of the couch and down on the carpeted floor. Duke was slumped back, mouth wide open and eyes closed, having slid into sleep from too much alcohol.

Anya leaned back in her seat, her left leg draped over an armrest, chuckling at Duke’s unconscious form as she took another swig from the bottle in her hand.

“Doesn’t take too much for him, does it?” chuckling sardonically, her tone not hiding her slight disapproval for Duke.

Noa scoffed and smirked, her fingers intertwined over her lap as she made a half-hearted effort to sit up to look at him.

“Nope, I don’t think he has our implants,” she winked at Anya.

“You mean those cheat implants for alcohol and toxins?” Her sister retorted with an amused grin.

Noa nodded slowly back at her, grinning wide.

“Duke’s out already? How…. weak.” came Bug Bunny’s voice on the communicator, her comment eliciting amused chuckles from all three.

“I have missed you, Bun Buns!” Anya cooed back at her,

“And so have I missed you, your highness.”

Anya laughed, “Careful, soon I might as well be a princess trapped in a gilded cage.”

Noa’s facial expression changed slightly, and she turned to look at Anya,

“Oh?”

Anya nodded, her lips pursing into a contemptuous grin.

“Father has ‘plans,’ he says.”

“Um… if these are family matters, I better drop from my end, ladies,” Bug Bunny piped in, concerned.

Noa, still looking at Anya, raised an eyebrow at her as if questioning whether it was what Anya wanted.

Anya nodded. “Ya, would appreciate that, Bun Buns. Thank you for attending this get-together, even if it was just your voice on comms and the sparing appearance of your hologram… If that was you.”

“Oh, it was my pleasure, and yes, that’s me; while the myth about most diggers being overweight is somewhat true, I pride myself on staying fit and svelte, more of a self-dignity thingie.”

Her hologram on the table made a graceful bow, accompanied by a quick wave of her hand before it disappeared. The lenses projecting her hologram turned off.

Noa pulled her feet off the table and sat up straighter now, resting her elbows on her thighs. She glanced over at Duke, her HUD reading what signs she could pick up from his unconscious form,

SUBJECT UNCONSCIOUS

BREATHING NORMAL

She looked at Anya and leaned slightly toward her.

“So, what’s this about father?”

Anya sighed heavily and straightened up in her seat, her eyes moving toward Duke. Noa replied with a curt nod, indicating that it was fine to proceed.

“Father called while I was in Med-Center.”

Noa bit the inside of her lip and nodded knowingly; this wasn’t surprising; the Essedar family had its hands in almost everything in the quad-city region and beyond.

“And?” she replied, more curious than accusatory. There was certainly nothing wrong with a father calling on his children, especially if she was in a med-center.

“And, he wanted to meet up, in the real.” Anya leaned toward a side, elongating the A’s in the first word.

Noa shrugged, her face unchanged; this wasn’t news at all.

“And he said…” Anya paused for a moment before she looked Noa squarely in her eyes. “Not to tell you,”

Noa’s brow frowned deeper, and her right eyebrow angled up curiously, leaning more overtly toward Anya now.

Anya nodded knowingly, “I know, right? He’s never called to ask for a one-on-one, like… ever.”

Noa made a look at Anya, signaling that this wasn’t true.

“Father called on me a lot on my own, during, and even after, high school.”

Anya looked at her quizzically. “Really?”

Noa nodded slowly, then grinned.

“Because those pussy boys at school can’t take being beaten by a gurl,” deliberately extending the last word and rolling her Rs, which made her giggle.

“So I always got reported for those times.”

Anya slapped her sister’s knee. “Oh, come on! That’s not serious at all! This is serious, Noa!”

Noa smiled and chuckled,

“Okay, okay, on a more serious note, he used to like to ask me about my health and all that. I mean, didn’t they install those health monitor softs in some of the implants they gave us?”

Anya nodded and shrugged.

“Ya, I was so thrilled when we got the one for the eyes, but honestly, I think we got cheated as one of the parental softs installed with those meant we couldn't just view anything we wanted.”

Anya’s eyes drifted off as she recalled the memory, and a smile formed on her lips.

Noa nudged Anya to pull her away from whatever was swimming in her thoughts.

“Ok, back to father?”

“Oh, yes, Father. Okay, so what do you think?”

Noa sighed heavily, her lips pursed together as they rolled back and forth.

“Okay, you know, just… do what he says? I may not be around, but I can still listen in and maybe communicate.”

“Okay, but if he brings me to that other room at his office?’

The other room was a similar-sized room that adjoined Richard’s home office. It was built to disallow any form of communication to enter or exit, safe for an old landline that ran into it. Noa could still remember the always serious faces of the men that her father used to lead into the room.

Noa shrugged. “Then turn on your recorder.”

Anya slumped back in her seat, an extended “Uugh” sliding from her lips. She slumped in her seat, her arms on the armrests, giggling defeatedly.

“Duh me, heck yea, I can do that, works well; it's probably nothing; I’m just being paranoid, I guess.”

Noa smiled, grabbed a phallic-shaped bottle with semi-transparent liquid sloshing in it, and poured it into two shot glasses; she lifted one while sliding another toward Anya.

“As Mama Baasan said, paranoia can be advantageous, especially in our field.” She smiled as she waited for Anya to pick up her shot glass.

Anya sat herself up and lifted the glass up.

“To Mama Baasan, a true guide.”

Noa smiled. “I’ll drink to that.” She chuckled and emptied the shot glass.

Anya emptied hers and placed the now empty glass back onto the table, looking at Duke.

“So, his rigs, huh, must have been quite the spectacle.”

Noa leaned in closer. “Don’t tell him, but... I was actually quite impressed with how he came through.” She patted Anya’s knee. “All thanks to you.”

Anya chuckled and shook her head as she poured herself some water into a glass. “I wasn’t there, Noa; I only OK’ed him for you and the team.”

Noa poured herself the same liquid and leaned back on the couch she was on, straddling the glass on her stomach as she looked at Anya, her boots moving onto the table.

“So, you don’t wanna speculate as to why Father is giving you a one-on-one meeting?”

Anya looked quizically at Noa, her brows frowning as she shook her head. “No? I already am getting anxious just knowing I’ll be seeing him without support; I don’t wanna add to that.”

“Maybe you can bring your fav kerbie?” Noa grinned wickedly.

Anya slapped Noa’s leg and grumbled, “Not a kerbie, ok! He’s… just a bit, you know, not all there.”

“At least the parts that count are there,” Noa chuckled with a teasing grin.

Anya laughed at this and leaned forward, patting Noa’s leg. “I have missed you.”

Noa winked at Anya as she smiled. “You will always be missed by me, Anyanas.”

There was a moment of silence before Anya slid over to Noa’s couch and pulled her up, giving her a tight embrace, her lips blowing away Noa’s hair that slinked against her face. Then her body started to tremble before she burst into tears, her embrace tightening around Noa.

“Hey hey hey, it’s okay,” Noa whispered as she gently stroked Anya’s auburn locks, returning the embrace as Anya continued.

Anya started talking, but her words were drowned out by her tears, coming out as almost gibberish, her head sliding against Noa’s neck as she held on tighter.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, everything’s okay now,” Noa kept whispering, her tone soft and warm. She kept caressing Anya’s hair, fighting back her own tears, keeping her voice calm.

More than a few moments passed as they stayed in their embrace, only Anya’s sniffling breaking the silence between them before she slinked back and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand as she sniffled, her hair falling forward, her body still shaking slightly.

“I’m sorry, I…”

“You have nothing to be sorry for; it's all good now.” Noa leaned forward, clasping Anya’s free hand between hers and patting it with her upper hand. A feeling of deep guilt and regret rose within her as she then moved Anya’s hair back over her right ear.

“They’re all dead now, Anya, this I know; I won’t let those animals have you.”

Noa lowered her head to see Anya’s face and wiped at some of the tears on her cheek.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Anya sniffled and gave her a weak smile. “Hurrah for waterproof make-up, eh?” she giggled softly.

Noa chuckled and leaned back up, nodding. “Yes, yes, hurrah for that.”

Anya finally looked up at the mess of bottles and glasses on the table, wiping her nose again as she sniffled. “We only have barely half a bottle left.”

Noa shrugged. “You can have it; it’s your party anyway.” She smiled as she slid the bottle closer to Anya, who picked it up and stood up, stretching and flexing her arms before she nodded to Duke’s unconscious body.

“What are we gonna do with him?”

Noa looked at Duke and shrugged. “I guess I’ll just have to tip this place more,” she chuckled and stood up. “So we’re done? Home? Or Father’s place?”

Anya looked at Noa and smiled. “Home, please.”

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anya’s foot rocked back and forth on the dashboard, and she sat back in her passenger seat, looking over the limited field of vision afforded to her in the car's parked location.

She looked to her side and then back forward. The whole area was abandoned, safe for critters that roamed around the area; it was devoid of life, and that somehow bothered her even more.

“Can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but even seeing a Lowbie roam around would be a relief.”

Noa chuckled back. “This area was what used to be known as strip malls or shopping plazas? At least, I think that’s what they were called… obviously, you didn’t pay attention in history class.”

Anya swayed her head left and right and shrugged, adjusting herself in her seat.

“You know, if they can make things disappear on a personnel level, they should have made them for vehicles already. I mean… what gives?”

She darted a look at Noa, who was wearing a visor over her face. The darkness in the car accentuated the soft light source pressed against Noa’s face.

Noa smiled back while she shrugged, focusing more on the feed the drone overhead gave as it slowly circled in a preprogrammed path, ensuring they could see anything within their range.

“I’m not an engineer, babe; I have no idea what can or cannot be done with these kinda techs.”

Anya blew raspberries, waving off Noa’s overly grounded response to her question.

“Anything yet?” She mumbled, caressing the shotgun on her lap.

“Noth… wait… lights, van just turned the corner.”

Anya sat up, excited. “Issit the target?”

Noa raised a hand, signaling for Anya to wait while the readings from the drone came through and nodded slowly.

“Oh, yes, a van; that was exactly how the scrip said it would be.” she undid the clasps that had tightened the visor around her head and paused.

“Bunbuns, handing over the drone to you.”

“You got it, Noa.”

She peeled the visor from her face and blinked at the darkness, her eye HUD adjusting to the lower light in the car. She reached out and patted Anya on her shoulder.

“Welcome back, Anyanas,” she purred warmly as she slid out from her side of the car. Anya pulled out her long gun from behind her seat and exited the vehicle.

“About time, too,” she grumbled softly before she giggled at Noa and took a few steps forward to the corner of the wall that hid their vehicle, getting into a comfortable position as she waited the few seconds for her HUD soft to adjust her sights with the targeted vehicle.

“Remind me to get a replacement for Roger. On-the-fly adjustment is not something I wanna make a habit of.”

Noa scoffed lightly and smiled.

“I’m putting our comms together.”

Noa’s communicator icon appeared in the top left corner of Anya’s HUD.

“Got it.”

Anya steadied her breathing as her off-hand rested on her long gun’s stock.

“Say when.”

Noa nodded and knelt on one knee. Her eye HUD interacted with the binoculars in her hand, reading out the target vehicle's range and speed as it approached at a brisk speed to a marker on her AR module.

“No killing, okay? Bonus parameters.”

Anya scoffed, “Yes, ma’am, No killing ma’am.”

Noa chuckled and smiled, her eyes still trained on the target.

“Now.”

Anya’s long gun barked out, the small alley they were in enhancing the boom. The round she fired buried itself into the vehicle’s engine compartment, then burst out a shockwave that killed the vehicle’s engine. The vehicle continued moving on its momentum until it hit a wall directly opposite where they were.

“Easy peasy,” Anya chuckled confidently as she got up, slung her long rifle over her shoulder, and slid the shotgun into her hands.

“Bunbuns, any company?”

“None from drone, none from comm chatter, all clear.”

“Dazz.” Noa stood up and pushed her gun out from her hip holster, walking toward the now idle vehicle, Anya walking behind and to her right.

The driver of the car was cursing out loud and banging on the dashboard and steering wheel as he tried frantically to bring the van back to life.

Noa noticed and immediately recognized the driver. She smiled as the final confirmation of scrip details was verified from the visual identification. Her smile turned into an amused giggle as she tapped the driver's window with her pistol and stepped back, pistol at ready.

He turned and saw her, his eyes widening as he saw who it was before his shoulders slumped, and nodded knowingly, unlocking his door before opening it a crack. He looked up at Noa, who nodded for him to proceed as he slid down from the driver’s seat and held his hands up and to the sides.

Anya squinted her eyes as she drew closer. “Wait… you’re..”

The man sighed heavily and nodded. “Yes, it’s me.”

Anya burst out laughing and walked over to Noa.

“Oh my God, babe! You didn’t tell me it was him!” her face turned red from trying to stifle laughter, giggling madly instead.

Noa chuckled, a broad smile etched on her lips as she nodded and kept her pistol trained on him.

“I knew you’d like the surprise. You guys didn’t get to chat the other time.”

Anya rolled her eyes and grunted, “Ugh, spare me; nice surprise, though.”

She straightened herself up, her head cocking to one side as she studied the driver.

“Something different though, wait... Did you grow your hair out?”

The man nodded solemnly. “Yes, after you guys delivered me to whoever hired you, I was forced to drive routes to pay off what I owed. And I didn’t need my racing implants, so I turned them off.”

He shrugged, his hand absent-mindedly rubbing the top of his head where the now defunct implants were located.

Noa stepped forward, the man wincing as she pressed her pistol against his rib while her hand squeezed his shoulder.

“Benny Benny Benny, so good to see you again… now… will you be kind enough to help us open the back?”

He nodded, and with his hands still held up and Noa moving with him, he led them to the van's rear. Noa looked over at Anya and nodded, to which Anya replied with a nod and proceeded to move to a location where she could see into the back.

“Ready, babe?”

“Always.”

Noa nodded at her reply and squeezed Benny’s shoulder, who then started to key in the code to unlock the rear door,

“Slowly now, I’d like to keep that pretty head of yours on your shoulder,” Noa whispered to him as she stepped back.

Benny gulped and nodded in reply, slowly opening one, then the other door to the van’s rear, before stepping back.

“Clear,” Anya chimed in, her HUD illuminating the van's interior from her angle.

Noa smiled and clapped Benny’s shoulder, who almost jumped.

“Where’s the manifest?”

Benny sighed heavily. His hand moved into a pocket on his shoulder and fished out a small black stick with a symbol printed on its flat side. He reached toward Noa and paused.

“I’m gonna get into trouble for this, at least extension of my contract to the value of the cargo.”

Noa snapped the stick from his fingers and slotted it into one of the ports at the nape of her neck.

“Not my problem, Benny.”

She smiled as information scrolled onto her HUD, with her pistol still pressed against Benny’s rib; her free hand started moving, scrolling through the list while she kept him in full view.

“Dazz,” she commented as she swiped the information away from her HUD.

“Kneel, please.” She took a couple of steps away from Benny, pistol at ready.

Benny sighed heavily as he nodded, then got onto his knees. Anya was already beside them as he got onto his knees.

“Secure?” was all she asked Noa, who nodded sharply in reply.

Anya stepped behind Benny and tied his wrists with a form of zip tie before she did the same with his ankles.

Satisfied, Noa hopped into the back of the van and scanned each box with her HUD, the camera recording and picking up everything she needed.

She froze as she saw a familiar symbol and paused the recording on her camera.

“A moment, verifying.”

“Take your time, babe; I’m trying to have a chat with this Lokh,” came Anya’s reply, her tone somewhat amused.

Noa knelt by the small crate nestled behind the others in the back of the van, her left HUD scrolling as her left hand tried to find recordings from the Anlidar gig weeks ago.

Her fingers stopped moving as she found the recording and froze the frame.

“Huh, curious…”

Her hands moved down, fingers sliding along the sides of the crate as she searched for its lock. Finding it, she turned it so it was facing her. Her mind cursed herself; there was no lockpick software that she had brought with her this time around.

“Bunbuns?”

“Yes, Noa?”

“Can you tap into my feed, please?”

Her HUD flickered momentarily before Bug Bunny’s voice came back.

“What am I looking at? Or for?”

“You recognize the symbol?”

Noa made sure to keep the symbol in the center of her view, and there was a momentary pause before Bug Bunny replied

“Yes, but what’s the issue? I don’t see any.”

“I…” Noa paused, her mind racing. She couldn’t find a reason for the sudden paranoia, but deep down inside her, she could feel this wasn’t right.

“Noa?”

She shook her head. “Never mind. I will go over this later. Can you undo the lock?” Her gloved hand was already pressed against the crate's locking mechanism, and a small cable from under her wrist connected into a small groove.

“Does a bird lay eggs?”

Noa chuckled at Bug Bunny’s reply. Within moments, the locking mechanism sounded with a soft swooshing click.

“You are amazing, Bunbuns.”

“I know, right?”

She chuckled again as she flexed her fingers and gingerly undid the catches that kept the crate shut, slowly pulling the lid open. A soft swooshing sound and chilly steam rose from the inside.

“Temp-controlled crate, huh” Bug Bunny piped in, herself curious as she kept on Noa’s HUD feed.

Noa nodded. “Yep, curious, right?”

She removed a thin cover and revealed the contents: rows of vials containing dark, red liquid. She picked one up gingerly and brought it up to eye level before jiggling the vial.

“Blood?” Noa blurted out softly, the first thing that came to mind.

“Looks like it.”

“Did you get a copy of the manifest?”

“Yes, I did, why?”

“I didn’t check for it, but where’s the delivery location?”

There was a momentary pause before Bug Bunny replied.

“Some warehouse near the migrant part of town; part of a logistics area…why?”

Noa bit the side of her lip as she nodded slowly, her mind frantically processing.

“Okay, I’m gonna let the bonus parameter slide this time.”

“You mean I get to clean away one more Lokh?” Anya suddenly chimed in rather enthusiastically.

“No, it means I'm just gonna get what was required for the base scrip, gonna let your new best friend and the van go. Bunbuns, can you arrange transpo? I know it's kind of short notice.”

There was a slight grunt from outside the van.

“Anya? You ok?”

“All good babe, Benny tripped”

Noa rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“All good, Noa. Already have a gargoyle on the way that’ll keep cargo safe til transpo gets there, will cost a bit more than usual, though, not their usual area.”

“All good; I also need to track this vik.” Noa replaced the vial and closed the crate again before turning toward the exit.

“Can do; feed me into the dash, and I’ll set something up, won’t take long.”

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After some help from Noa in getting the van’s engine to work again, Benny didn’t wait long and drove the van away at speed, gunning the engine as soon as he was allowed back into the driver’s seat.

Anya stretched as she walked alongside Noa back to their car.

“What was that all about?”

“Hmm? What was what?” Anya’s question pulled Noa from her thoughts.

“Why did we let the rest of the cargo go? That was the bonus, right? You’re Noa; you never not fulfill bonus parameters.”

Noa shrugged, “First time for everything, I guess.” Her mind was heavily occupied with what she had just discovered. It wasn’t much to get concerned about, but it nagged her regardless.

Anya’s eyes squinted as she looked at Noa; she waited for the doors to unlock and open. The last time Noa didn’t fully share anything was so long ago she didn’t even remember what it was about.

The doors unlocked with a soft sound and slid open before sliding back. Anya shrugged as she slid into her seat. She figured that when the time came, Noa would share, as she always does.