I walked out on Marchand’s apartment and down the hall to my home. I buzzed it instead of just walking in and mom soon opened the door with confused expression that quickly lit up when she saw me.

“Oh Mal! I’ve missed you. You’ve got arms again! Just like your old arms as well. I’m so glad.” Mom said as she hugged me close in the doorway.

“You were worried I’d come back with weird arms?” I asked, muffled in her hair.

“I thought you’d come back with crazy operator arm blades or something. I’m so glad you went with a natural look.” She said as she pull my away to hold my hands in front of her.

“Of course. I’m not a soldier or an assassin. I have to work in public as much as anywhere else. I need to fit in and not seem a constant danger. Normal arms is what I need.” I said with a smile as I turned my hands around for mom to look at them. They looked a lot like my old ones even if the subtle details like fingerprints, freckles and knuckle wrinkles were different.

“Come in! The drones are still doing the finishing touches but most of the apartment is done now. I’ve been moving the furniture into place.” Mom said as she pulled me into the apartment.

“I can help. Is it okay if Lla and Noe come over in a bit? Lla might be here very soon actually. Lla I need to talk to about what she wants to do now and Noe wants a little celebration for my new job and the whole not dying and getting new arms finally thing.” I said as I looked around the place.

The whole right side wall was gone and had taken the bedroom walls with it. Instead now the bedrooms seemed to be further into the apartment and there were two more rooms alongside them with the central living space of kitchen area and living room being stretched twice as long.

It was quite a nice set up. I had a slightly larger bedroom, although mom’s looked the same. The two new rooms were about the same length as my old bedroom but wider, although I couldn’t see into them with the doors closed. The bathroom was still next to my room. The sofa was just sitting in the middle of the wide living room space a good few paces from the vid screen, maybe a bit too far away. The kitchen area was expanded up and around the corner a little with a bit more storage boxes and a second counter with more drawers, still only one sink though.

Not enough furniture to fill the space though, was the first thought I had when I looked around. It looked like someone had moved in a few days ago and hadn’t made it their home yet.

“What are we going to do about furniture?” I asked mom as we both walked into the middle of the large room, stopping by the sofa.

“Marchand has given me contacts for her logistics staff, they handle orders for the street through different channels and get good prices and secure delivery. Even in this district. So I’ll talk to them about getting some furniture in here, you’re assigned a yearly stipend for home renovation as long as it’s spent on one of Marchand’s properties. Anything not spent is just gone so it’d be better to use it to get you settled in better now you’ve attached to her more permanently.” Mom said as she crossed her arms and looked around at the room.

“How… How do you feel about my choice, mom?” I asked, unsure if I really wanted the answer.

“I don’t like it, mostly. But in others I can see it doing a lot for you while keeping you safer. I just don’t like that it puts you in front of Marchand when a threat is coming at her. Especially when you’re so young.” She said, not looking at me.

“She’s not about to use me as a shield if I can’t even take a hit mom. She might throw me out to fight for her if need be but not against something I can’t actually take. She might be ruthless when under pressure but she’s not wasteful.” I said confidently.

“I know, I know. Just keep yourself safe Mal. I won’t be around forever but you will and so will she. So at least keep yourself the priority until I’m gone okay? For me?” Mom said as she rubbed her face in her hands.

I reached over and pulled her into another hug but after a few moments the door buzzed. I connected to the grid and checked the door camera to see it was Lla and a staff member. I let go of mom and walked over to the door to open it myself.

“Hey Lla. Great to see you again. Sorry I couldn’t get you out of there any earlier.” I said as I gestured inside.

Lla glanced to the side at the staff member behind her who simply nodded and walked away toward Marchand’s apartment. Lla breathed out and walking into my apartment.

“It’s fine Mal. I’ve obviously had a lot of time to think about stuff. I owe you for letting me stay with you, I owe you for keeping me safe from the corp agents even if I didn’t want you to. A debt denied doesn’t change from being a debt if the stakes are that high… Not with chooms at least. I’d like to think we’re still chooms. Are we still chooms?” Lla asked, getting oddly meek by the end.

“Yeah, definitely. I don’t just get into life or death fights for random strangers. I wouldn’t have done that if you were awful or if we hadn’t had time to get to know each other. I’d have been a bit reluctant, sure but if it was day one of knowing you? I would likely have let them take you. Three on one with no back up? For a stranger? Not a choice I’d take. For a choom? Yeah, I’ll take that risk.” I said, not lying about my choice. No point in lying about who you are to your friends.

“Okay. Well, I need to pay you back. So what do you want me to do?” Lla asked as we sat on the couch. Mom went off happily to the kitchen to make a snack for everyone.

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“As far as Marchand is concerned at least, you’re on the hook for my new cyberware, my medical costs, and a bunch of other things to do with organization stuff because I work for Marchand and this is her street. Fees and contract stuff I imagine. As far as I’m concerned though, you’re free in the wind if you want to be. I’m not going to make demands of a choom on their last legs because of a bad situation.” I said, crossing my arms and leaning back in the couch. I’d missed the couch more than I’d have thought these last few days.

“You’d just let me wander off, no strings or anything?” She asked, confused as mom brought over some cans of soda and some pretzel things with hard jam bits on them.

“Yeah. The situation is over now. Yeah sure, there was some money spent but even that only exists on some sheets in Marchand’s office now. I’d totally be willing to just move on and call it square for a choom of mine. Marchand is hardly hurting for aura, she can absorb the odd unexpected little hit to the books. Especially if it gets her an agent she’s been trying to get hold of.” I said, waving away Lla’s concerns with a wave as I grabbed a can of soda, lemon and… hazelnut? What are these sodas?

“You’re a gonk Mal. I can’t just not repay you. How about I.. Uh… I could help you with work? I can’t shoot or fight really, not more than basic stuff, but I can run around and carry stuff. I can climb alright and I can drive a little, at least I can drive a motorbike.” She said with no confidence.

“I don’t need someone to carry my stuff. I travel light anyway. Actually I…” I started to explain before getting cut off.

“I can learn to shoot! I could do overwatch. That doesn’t need a lot of combat experience, right?” She said as she seemed to be trying to think of something.

“No. Lla, listen. I do have something you could do for me but it’s more of a career than a favor sort of thing. You know?” I said.

“Oh. Aren’t we too young for you to make me your… mistress?” She said hesitantly with a blush. Mom froze in the edge of my vision as she was moving small items around to find where they fit best in the new apartment layout.

“No! No. What? No. I meant an operator career! Like I’m a solo netrunner and that gets jobs done a lot of the time but sometimes I need other people to fill in other roles. I’m not great at diplomacy or talking to people once it get’s complicated. I can put on a bit of it but when they start getting into contract details, laws or legal speak I tend to lose ground quickly. Not to mention I’m often busy doing other things when that stuff would be done, I’m only one guy. So I was thinking I could hire you as a contracted operator in my company, not Marchand’s organization, and then leverage a little of my worth to Marchand to get you the training you’d need to be the face of my team.” I said, waving my hands a little at the beginning before mom ran over to slap me.

“So I’d be working for you directly? No Marchand. But I’d be getting training from Marchand’s coffers so I could work for you better? And then I’d be out there being a face. Whatever the details of that are. What does a face do?” She asked, a little confused.

“Lots of stuff really. Most of the time for you it’s be taking calls for me so I don’t mess something up by being busy or being a gonk. Otherwise it’d be handling corpo types with their laws, regulations and contracts and dealing with anything that requires a conversation like a bit of negotiation on a job or something similar. You’d also need to be able to defend yourself in a combat situation because sometimes a face to face talk can go badly. Outside of that I’m not sure. Whatever lessons you’d get would likely explain anything else.” I said as I scratched my head trying to think.

“So it wouldn’t be constant danger, but there would be some risks. What would the salary be? The benefits?” She asked as she considered the idea.

“See, this is why I need a face because I have no idea. I got paid by the mission and now my job has changed to salary and benefits and I honestly have no idea what they actually are. So I don’t know what to offer you. I’d have to figure that out. I wouldn’t see you living in a box though Lla, I’d make sure we were all doing alright.” I said confidently.

“That’s a terrible pitch Mal.” Lla said with a pout.

“I’m bad at a lot of things. Contracts and official stuff is one of them. I’ll look into it more when I get the chance but needless to say I’d make sure you were as kitted as you needed to be and you lived as alright as I could manage. It’s just a lot has happened and I’m still rolling through the aftermath here when I need to make you this offer now. Sorry I can’t make it a better one for you. You’re still free to just say “thanks” and head on out and make your own way. My boss kept you locked up for almost two weeks on a whim, so I can see you being upset. I just hope you’ll keep in touch is all.” I said with a shrug before I settled back into the chair.

“No way. I need to pay you back and this works out fine. It even sets me up for a future… Without my brother to rely on. He’ll be gone a long time and I need to stand on my own, working for you will let me do that and I’ll work off my debt.” She said with clenched fists.

“Are you sure? I won’t have any contract paperwork or anything available for a little while, so you’ll have time to change your mind.” I said.

“I’m sure. You helped me and you’re my choom. I can help you with your job and learn to do my own. It works well.” She said, her eyes hard as she looked at me.

“Alright then. I guess you can live here for now if you want to. You obviously don’t have to stay indoors like before because you’re not being hunted anymore.” I said as I relaxed a little.

“Well, I’d like my own place nearby but I’ll need to earn some money for that and I haven’t started working for you yet, so if you’ll have me I’ll live here until then. Thank you. I’ll move out as soon as I have money coming in.” She said with a smile at me and mom. Mom seemed happy, they got along really well before.

“We’ve got even more room than before so it’ll be easier than last time anyway. Instead of a single spare room there’s two and they are bigger. Plus there’s more living space. It’ll be good to have more life here.” I said with a smile in response.

Then there was a buzz from the front door. Mom immediately went over to answer it and in came Noe with a can of soda, I couldn’t tell the flavor but my mind went straight to prunes.

“Mal! You’re all fixed up! Oh, hey there Lla. You got out Marchand’s jail huh? Good to see you too.” Noe said as she came in. She gave my mom a small hug. “Hey Miss Beckett. Did he like the new apartment?”

“Oh yes. We’re still getting stuff sorted out though. Lots of furniture and other things. You know?” Mom said as she hugged Noe.

“Hello Noe. Mal just hired me as his face. So I’ll be around from now on. We can hang out.” Lla said as she leaned on the back of the sofa.

“What? If you’re hiring people, why haven’t you hired me as your tech!? Is it because I haven’t got papers?” Noe asked, incensed.

“No. No, it’s just I don’t know what I can afford yet. So I hired Lla because a face is important on and off the mission while only being one person. A tech is a person and a workshop and a supply of materials and schematics and all sorts. It’s a whole logistics network in itself, which also needs another person to manage that. Then you need security for the workshop and the data, which means solos and a netrunner. It’s a lot of investment to get a tech involved.” I said defensively, raising my hands up.

“I thought you said you didn’t know about business stuff?” Lla asked from the side.

“I’ve looked into hiring Noe in the past, it turned out a lot more complicated that I thought and gave up.” I said, defeated.