She hurriedly walked along the corridor, thankful that this floor had less of that smell she had always associated with medical centers—detest was the word for it. Her eyes scanned the names on each shut door on the way to the one she was looking for.
Seeing it, she smiled, grasped the doorknob, and tugged on an unyielding door. She stepped back, her brows furrowing as she looked up. A small embedded ball at the side of the door was rotating, and what seemed to be a camera lens turned to focus on her.
Please Place a Hand on the Door. A message flashed on her eye-HUD.
Shrugging, she took her bare hand out of her jacket pocket and placed it on the door. The door’s appearance changed as another message scrolled up on her HUD.
Identifying… Welcome, Noa Hellena Essedar. You are cleared to enter.
A soft cycling sound emitted from the door before it cracked open. Stepping in, she paused and studied Anya’s lying form on the bed under pristine white covers. A smile formed on her lips as the door closed behind her. The cycling sound indicated to her that it was being locked again as she stepped closer to the bed.
Anya was sound asleep, wearing a thin clothing item. Gingerly, she stepped closer and leaned over her dozing sister with a mischievous grin on her face. Her HUD scanned Anya on the bed, and favorable reports scrolled up.
“Psst,” she whispers gently into Anya’s ear.
Anya stirred but was otherwise unresponsive.
“Wake up, curb crawler,” Noa whispered again; she purred playfully.
Anya turned onto her back, facing Noa. Her right hand smacked Noa’s shoulder as she opened her eyes and laughed.
“I’m not a curb crawler, you curb crawler!” she squealed out, giggling, as her hand wrapped behind Noa’s neck, who leaned in and embraced her tightly. She closed her eyes and smiled; a feeling of intense relief washed over her as she felt Anya’s warmth pressing against her before she pulled back, holding onto Anya’s arm.
“How are you feeling? Better, I hope?”
Anya nodded and smiled, the top half of her bed rising to an angle as it guided her to a sitting position.
“Mhmm, yes... Oh,.. sec… check this.”
She turned to her right, and her eyes blinked before the blinds to the room's window started rising. They whirred softly and then showed a view of the tall glass towers with neon signs and sprawling roads between them, white and red lights dotting the dark vines, branching in a myriad of directions.
“Dazz view!” she exclaimed excitedly.
Noa looked up and took a moment to absorb it before her right eyebrow rose. She scoffed softly and smiled wide.
“Fuck yea, that’s a Vogue view!”
Pulling a chair closer to the bed, she slid her jacket off and made herself comfortable on it while she watched her sibling start to exclaim about how amazing everything was in the Med Center.
“Even the food?”
“Yes! Even the food! All naturally grown, nothing printed nor synth. Just like home.”
Anya’s face beamed as she looked back at Noa, who returned the sentiment. They fell into a comfortable silence, basking in each other’s presence. Noa studied Anya carefully; her mind raced, questions arose, and her own voice replied. Yet, she did not want to raise the subject of what had happened until Anya brought it up, her face not able to hide the concern she was feeling.
“Oh, aaaand… as part of the Palladium package, I got my ink replaced at no additional cost.” Anya continued, enthused, as she raised her left hand, ignoring her sister's look of growing concern. The long sleeve of her gown slid up her arm easily and exposed it.
Nothing hinted at the trauma the arm suffered during her capture as Noa studied the intricate designs that made up part of Anya’s implant circuitry. She held Anya’s wrist and hand and smiled at her. Anya gave no indication as to how, or if, her experience had affected her.
“Well, that’s why the package costs as much as it does,” Noa smiled back at her before she leaned back in her chair.
“So, when are they releasing you? It's been 5 days already.”
Anya shrugged,” Well, they said another 4… um… 5 days, I think? Maybe less? For post-op observation? Whatever that means.”
Noa nodded, knowing it also meant some therapy time during that period, a gentle smile on her face. Her eyes and demeanor revealed nothing now.
“You know you should wear casual more often, babe; you look vogue in them.” Anya smiled as her eyes looked over Noa’s sky-blue shirt and leather pants.
Noa smiled and chuckled,
“Lemme show you something,” she proceeded to roll up the sleeve of her shirt.
Anya watched earnestly; her brow frowned as she saw Noa’s nano-inked arm.
“Um… you’re showing me your arm? What?”
Noa chuckled, grinning mischievously as she raised her arm closer to Anya.
“Touch it.”
Anya’s eyes rolled to the side before she looked back at Noa. “Okay?”
Her expression changed as her hand slid onto Noa’s arm, revealing a look of delight and surprise.
“That’s…?”
“The com-suit,” Noa interjected, her voice filled with pride as she nodded slowly. “I was playing around with the settings and found that you can customize it for a nude setting, fuckin dazz, right?”
“That’s the com-suit we got for Anlidar? Fuck that’s daazzz, no… fucking Dazz, with a capital D!”
Noa nodded as she smiled wide. “I can’t wait for you to try it out, am still learning how to use it fully, but damn, it's an amazing piece of tech.”
“Heck, yea!” Anya giggled. “So, what’s the latest out there? Has the world missed me too much already?”
Noa smiled. “I always miss you too much…Okay, Mama Bassan has taken a sabbatical, so she has referred us to Denis. That being said, she has lined up an easy job for when you return. We gotta talk to Denis about it for now…in the meantime, I’ll mostly be doing maintenance on the gear and work on the Angel 6. I might have cracked the hover-mech issue.”
Anya reached out, patting Noa’s hand, which lay on the side of her bed.
“Well, finally! See! I knew you could do it!” Anya chimed up excitedly,
“Hmmm…and… Denis? Well, that’s someone I haven't heard from or seen in a while.” She turned and leaned slightly toward Noa.
“And you know you don't have to wait for me, babe, just keep spreading the greater good, right?”
Noa nodded and smiled. “Yes, yes. Well, I kinda got too comfy with knowing that you always had my back with that snappy rifle of yours. Besides, I don’t know how long I can stay off the jobs. There’s a sudden surge in them. And a lot of them are the loud jobs, too.”
“Ah yea? Those are usually rare, right?”
Noa nodded affirmatively. “Well, Mama was saying that, apparently, there’s a war going on now, so she said it’s hard for her… can’t stay neutral while handing out jobs, and hence why she is taking a step back for now.”
Noa leaned back, her eyes glancing out at the view. “It's mainly between The Brotherhood and the Hyenas, and The Apostates are getting busy because of it as well. Dunno about the smaller groups, though. And it seems that if things escalate, it might even affect the Great Houses. At least that’s the word going around.”
Anya raised her hands, “Okay, wait, wait.”
She sunk back into her soft pillow and looked up at the ceiling. “Okay, so Mama doesn’t have a side in the war, and for her, staying neutral is good for business…aaaand passing scrips would mean she’d potentially be backing one side or another, hence..why she is taking time off…right?”
Noa nodded in reply before Anya continued thinking aloud,
“And a war? Hmm, I hope it won’t be too destructive. I remember reading about the last one, wasn’t it, like, 20ish years ago or something?”
“Yep. That was the last big one that they had going.”
“How would it affect the Houses, though? I mean…” She paused, her eyes wandered off as she bit a nail.
“Ah… ok, yes, understood. Have you spoken to Father about it?”
Noa snorted and shook her head. “Haven’t spoken nor heard from him, nor Uncle Belov; and, what Father doesn’t know won’t hurt us… I think that’s how the saying goes, right? Besides, if what we know of The Brotherhood was even remotely true, they’d kick Hyena ass anytime.”
Anya sighed, her head slumped down momentarily before she perked back up. “Okay, well. Whew! That tired my brain out! You stay safe out there, babe. And you don’t have to drop by every day. I’m fine; I’ll be fine. Just keep me posted for anything newsworthy, okay?”
“You know it, babe…oh, speaking of Mama, she forwarded some names of potential Overwatchers. Best be ready if and when a job comes our way.”
Anya chuckled as she grinned. “Oh my, you poor thing, good luck finding someone who can shoot as well as me AND stay hot and perky.”
Noa smiled at the remark and nodded slowly in agreement as she looked at Anya. “I KNOW, right!? Anyway, there’s some jargon that I’m not familiar with, as those are more related to your role. I was wondering if you’d wanna walk me through them together?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Anya beamed and shrugged. “Sure, babe! Share me the info, and we’ll go through it.”
Noa smiled back. The information appeared on her left HUD as she raised a hand and waved it toward Anya, whose own HUD flashed up with information.
“Thanks.” Anya raised a hand, flicked a finger, and scrolled through the information.
“Hmm, quite a few selections. But oh my god! What kinda names are these? Okay… Let's see who this is…” Her finger tapped in the air, and the information on both their HUDs changed from just a list to detailed profiles with images of the person with their information.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Look, I am not a fixer. I traffic in information and use my contacts to enrich myself. I don’t use the information that I get… I... pass it along… Sometimes bad things happen, and sometimes they don’t… This? This is a favor because we’ve worked together for a long time, and we have benefited greatly from it.”
The large man fumed silently as he leaned forward on his chair. The aged joints creaked under his weight as he constantly shifted. He looked at the man, his eyes studying the well-tailored suit. Despite the tone of his words, the man’s overly calm and authoritative presence and demeanor were what always annoyed him.
He took a deep breath and squeezed at the edges of his table.
“Okay, fair. But I’m already strapped for men. We’re giving them a good fight. Our guys are as numerous and as good as theirs… but those Brotherhood muthafuckers and their toys are really fucking things up for us. And, while I am grateful for you for finding a whole list of safe houses for my family, without a sizable group guarding them, it's pretty mute… isn’t it?”
The suited man shrugged, smiled wryly, and leaned onto his elbows that rested on his knees.
“Why don’t you put out scrips for guard duty? It is your family, after all. I think cost won’t matter.”
“Don’t you think I know that? No one wants to pick up those kinds of scrips. The more aggressive jobs, yeah, sure. But guard duty scrips?” He shook his head solemnly.
“No one wants to pick those up, even at jacked-up prices. One would think people would rather guard than go out and risk getting nulled?”
The suited man nods wistfully. “Well, loud jobs always have added bonuses. So, it is a somewhat viable risk and reward when you think you have the skills for it. “
He massaged his chin as he continued, “But, the main thing is that it's for you guys. I don’t think anyone wants to fuck up guard duty to the Hyenas… and yes, well, I remember the last big one. Mercs died by the droves in that one taking up those kinda gigs for you people.”
The large man snorted as he recalled the memory and nodded. “Well, gotta say that really helped. I probably wouldn’t have lived through it myself if it weren't for extra bodies.”
The suited man leaned back; his face wore a look of deep contemplation.
“What’s on that mind of yours?”
“I might be able to fix you up with a small crew to help with the guard duty. But… I have to say, they aren’t too cozy with Hyenas.”
“What do you mean? They hate us?”
He chuckled softly, a wry grin on his face as he seemed to think about how to say what he was about to say.
“Let’s just say these guys don’t really like you and your people. They are a good team, though, and they have never failed me at all.”
“You think they’d be open for a gig from you about it?”
He nodded thoughtfully at the question,” I might be able to persuade the team leader, yes.”
“If you recommend them, I’ll go with it. Do it, and they can get their pay via you.”
Suit man’s hands flared out. “Big, what did I tell you? I’m not a fixer.”
“Come on ‘yoh. You’ve already done me the safe house favor. Do this one more, and I’ll owe you for it.”
He smirked and glared at the large man behind the table. “I’m not your miyoh. But I can do this favor for a fee from you—a generous fee.”
The big man glared at him, his jaws tightened at the reply, “Fine, but they better be worth it.”
The suited man raised his arms out to the side. “Hey, I just pick the people. What they do and how they do it that’s not in my control.”
“Even when you are the one recommending them?”
“Including that, yes, glad all that chrome hasn’t rotted your brain yet.”
“Okay, you got yourself a deal. When are you going on that trip of yours then?”
“Real soon? I don’t like to hang out in cities where they have gangs, and potentially even the Corpo Houses, at each other’s throats. Never good for business.”
—-------------------------------------------------------
A steady staccato of beats enveloped her senses. A small animated graph on her lower right HUD showed the music blaring as her hands deftly went through the motions that she had done so many times before. The music volume suddenly lowered, and her communicator icon lit up, Denis’ Demon Fork icon appearing at the upper left corner of her HUD.
“Yes, Denis?”
“Noa! How’s my favorite silver-haired huntress doing?”
Noa smirked at the comment, always having hated that term he insisted on using. Her hands checked on the internal circuitry embedded in the hilt of the knife she was working on
“Good. So what’s up? Got a gig?”
“Yes, fresh down the war pipelines, you ready to partake?”
Her left hand slid up over the dull upper side of the matt black blade, her fingers caressing the heavy metal and the embedded circuits that power its ability to cut through almost anything. As she applied pressure on it, her other hand slid the circuit board back into the knife's hilt.
“Depends. What am I supposed to be partaking in?”
“Hyena HVTs, that’s plural.”
Noa sat up and turned off the information on the knife she was working on to clear up more space on her HUD.
“Go on”
“One of the Hyena bigwigs is moving his family to a safe location, so you get to hit them before they proceed, ambush, seek and destroy.”
She shook her head, almost in disgust. “Nope, not doing kids. You know this.”
“No kids. For Hyenas, family does not strictly mean blood relations. They’re really serious about family bonds within their group, which transcend blood.”
“Okay, so what, or who, are we supposed to be seeking and destroying?”
“Right then, well, if you’re interested, I’ll send you the details. Can you get back to me within the next 12 hours?”
Files Received. Accept? Yes.
“Got ‘em, will get back to you within that time. Thanks, Denis”
“I'm Looking forward to it, Noa.” The line cut. Leaving Noa alone as she started perusing the information.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Seek and Destroy gig, and Denis emphasized the urgency of it. Something about targets planning to move loc, so we can’t wait too long for it.” Noa sat back in her chair, a long dark leather coat draped over her body. She crossed her legs and leaned back, looking out at the rain coming down heavily.
“All good. I’ve started scouting the area with what cams are around the area and a gargoyle. Will mark any of them when the time comes so you guys have fewer soft bags to worry about spotting beforehand.”
“Gotta say, I don’t like rushed jobs, but scrip does say time prio on this. So the early scouting would do well for us.”
“Got that covered, Noa. A plus is that it's away from the city, some holiday home area, it seems. Which is weird, owing to its proximity to the airport.”
Noa nodded and nursed the mug in her hands. “Once I get this done here, it’s a short time to get this started.”
“Initial scans show quite a few of them there. You sure we don’t need any more bodies with us?”
“Positive. This Overwatcher comes with a rigging background. It's why we picked him. The extra firepower will help if he isn’t as good as Anya, which, if you ask me, almost no one is. With such short notice and this kind of loud job, I don’t want to have too many new people on the team.”
“Ah, so the new guy’s a rigger? Dazz. You meeting him?”
“Yep, Mama said he’s fairly new, but otherwise, he’s done some jobs for her, and Anya checked on his tech info deets… so we should be dazz on that.”
Noa’s eyes were still trained on the heavy downpour outside the window “…You know, I keep wondering why they don’t have weather control in Lowbie Town. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had to walk in such heavy rain.”
Bug Bunny chuckled softly on her end. “Oh, tell me about it. Was worse earlier with the strong wind it brought with it. And dazz, if Anya and Mama Ok’ed this guy and you’re gonna check him, he’s good for me.”
“I’ll keep you updated on anything.”
“Will do the same. Stay chill, Noa.”
Bug Bunny’s communicator icon disappeared from her HUD as she picked up the mug and sipped its hot contents. Eyeing the patrons of the place she was in.
She studied the red-colored wall, its garish shade interrupted by posters of different colors and sizes advertising musical bands and shows. Some still images and some animated images all contrasted in the mood with the soft and gentle electronic tune that played in the background.
A bell sound made her turn her attention to the entrance. She sniggered at how the place's management put up that kind of sound, which reminded her of the old movies she watched when she was younger and how small shops had put a bell at their doors, announcing the arrival of a patron.
The man who entered looked around. He was tall and well-built, wearing a dark green jacket with its sleeves rolled up, exposing strong-looking arms and hands.
She smirked at herself, ‘Pretty good looking. ' Her eyes studied his chiseled and well-kept look despite the mop of hair falling on either side of his face. Her HUD highlighted him, a tiny line drawing out a square around his head, and an image of his ID and record appeared.
Name, known aliases, registered location, background, military, and other notable records appeared, followed by law enforcement bulletins, a summarized crime list, and the absence of bounties. Noa scanned it, her lips inclined in approval.
She sat up and waved at him, then motioned him over while straightening up in her seat. He turned, saw her waving, and nodded with a smile, negotiating through a few seated patrons on his way over.
“Duke, nice to meet you.” He extended a hand as he got close, a friendly smile on his lips.
Noa smiled cordially at him and tilted her head toward the direction of a chair opposite her at the table, her fingers intertwined with each other on the table.
He pulled his hand back, pausing; his face showed the awkward feeling that was creeping up as he sat down and cleared his throat, trying to cover up his awkwardness.
“What do you wanna have? My treat.”
“Um, what's good?” He looked around, looking for something on the table, but not finding it, his face perplexed.
Noa smirked, “It's at the table edge.” Knowing exactly what he was looking for, her face showed nothing of the criticism rising in her mind about this guy.
He bent his head down slightly, sighing as he saw it, and pressed a button embedded into the table edge.
The table surface on his quarter of the table changed from a smooth steel black to the menu of the offerings at the place. His finger slid on it, scrolling through the options, until he finally looked up at her, his face somewhat confused.
“Um… wow, why all the fancy names?”
Noa shrugged. “Just trying to keep to the theme of the place, I guess.”
He looked at her and shrugged, eyeing her mug. “What’s that?”
“This? It's just half-synth coffee, triple shot, orga-grain milk. It's passable.”
“Ok, I’ll have the same then.”
Noa nodded and pressed a button at the edge of her side of the table. The same menu flickered on the table surface at her quarter of the table. She made the selection and sent it off.
“Right then… Duke,” She paused and stressed his name. The side of her lip bent upward.
“Tell me about something about you that the records don’t show.”