Kate- Been a while since my last visit to Jeppetto's atelier.

Cere- We are months behind our bi-annual check-up.

Kate- Things were running well enough.

Cere- I bet there are a lot of unseen issues creeping around, I could feel a loss of .03% accuracy. Catastrophic failure was bound to happen any moment, you were past your guarantee conditions by a whole three weeks.

Kate- Meh, that's basically like a best-before date.

Cere- You should take this more seriously, your life is on the line.

Kate- Normally I'd be right with you on this, corpos do like their literally programmed obsolescence, but Jeppetto doesn't do cheap shit like that. Didn't have the credits anyway.

Cere- You could have taken a loan or asked to run a tab.

Kate- You are a stubborn piece of junk you know that? Stop trying to push me into the mouth of a fucking volcano.

Cere- I guess it is a non-issue now.

*Ding gling gling*

Daniella- "Hello, como estas? Bienvenido to Jeppetto's!"

Kate- "Hey Daniella!"

Daniella- "Kate, chica, you're back! I was scared you were gone for good or something happened to you before you took your appointment yesterday."

Kate- "Had a long dry spell but I'm swimming now. Just finished a good gig."

Daniella- "Hoy ho yoy, Santa Madre, Kate, what happened to your gear? I can smell the burn from here."

Kate- "Hit a bit of a snag during the job. All is good though."

Daniella- "Come here... what was it? Hacking surcharge?"

Kate- "EMP."

Daniella- *Whistle* "Those are rare, who's crazy enough to use EMP in a dome and get that much aggro?*

Kate- "Heard about the embassy?"

Daniella- "Wait, you caught that crazy puta?"

Kate- "Don't think she was that crazy, just desperate for an out... Caught the tail end of that EMP in a completely spaced war ruin."

Daniella" Aya! That could have turned bad chica..."

Kate- "You tell me, space suit got fried. Didn't even notice until I came back home. I was literally running on fumes there, was gonna run out of Os in a minute."

Daniella- "Angelita, I should spank you for that. Does Cherry know how close this was?"

Kate- "Still have only one asshole don't I?"

Daniella- "She'll tear you a new one for sure."

Kate- "I had back up so it wasn't that bad, plus I don't intend to tell her... who am I kidding? You'll tell her if I don't. I'm dead. I don't get it though, she did so much worse so many times."

Daniella- “She did it for a good reason, she didn’t want you kids to have to do this. Pero, ¿por qué tú, chica? ¿Estás cazando sombras? ¿Estás en la caza del diablo mismo? ¿Es por el brillo de los créditos digitales? ¿O estás en la caza de tu propia muerte, buscando el final en cada esquina oscura? Tell me, is it really worth it?”

Cere auto-translation- She did it for a good reason, she didn’t want you kids to have to do this. But why you, girl? Are you hunting shadows? Are you on the hunt for the devil himself? Is it for the glow of digital credits? Or are you on the hunt for your own death, looking for the end in every dark corner? Tell me, is it really worth it?

Kate- "Don't know anymore if I'm being honest..."

Daniella- "Why not stop now?"

Kate- "... ... ... ... not yet. Can't go back yet, getting there... But I still have things to work out by myself. The Asstro might be safer but I think I need to know what's out there, I can't just put my head back in the sand like I did as a kid."

Daniella- "That's not wha..."

Kate- "I know, but I feel like there is something I have to find, don't know what yet."

Daniella- "Chica, I think what you are looking for is yourself, but you know, you can find that here."

Kate- "I don't think so. If I stay in the nest, it might be cozy but I'd never fly again."

Daniella- *Deep Sigh* "Maybe you're right... still, think about it. Right, you needed repairs?"

Kate- "Think I'm past repairs, was thinking of getting a replacement upgrade. That EMP was dangerous, got any shielding? What are the options?"

Daniella- "Well, there are three real ones, one is redundancies to minimize the damages, that's what you had. The second is for your arm only, a Faraday lattice or carbon nanotube armour, good for high-frequency EMP, but not so good for low ones as they tend to get through more easily... and this type of shielding is never foolproof. Of course, the nanoweave would make it resistant to other forms of attacks. Both also give some protection against some frequencies of microwave attacks, though your cybernetic arm working wouldn't be important at that point."

Kate- "Microwave cannon bad, got it. I'll remind Marcel, not sure he got the memo last time he got cooked."

Daniella- "Don't joke about that corazón. Finally, we have an exotic in-house nano-material lattice, by far the best of the three but it would cost you. Jeppetto can't produce much of the stuff with our current installations."

Stolen novel; please report.

Kate- "Just made enough corners to think big leagues."

Daniella- "I bet you do after all that alboroto... a thousand dead, you should get safer jobs."

Kate- "No promise, if I'm being honest one big score ends up safer than hundreds of small ones. Never know when things turn bad, hunting socket pirates can also get you in boiling oil real quick out of nowhere. At least with the big time you plan for as much as you can. Small jobs are not worth the investment so you can get fucked real fast real hard out of nowhere without the gear to deal."

Daniella- "Ayyyyy! Still, try to be more careful! Eso no fue una ‘pequeña bronca’, mija."

Cere auto-translation- Still, try to be more careful! This wasn't a small snag, dear.

Kate- "What would be the damage if I wanted that wathamacallit shielding?"

Daniella- "Don't ignore what I said!" *sigh* "What do you want exactly?"

Kate- "For the arm, top-notch proprioception and tactile. Recoil control, that fancy shielding and a smuggling compartment. Think that's it, keep it conservative and professional."

Daniella- "No fancy over-the-top uselessly integrated weapons?"

Kate- "Haven't reached the mall cop tacticool ninja poseur part of my career yet. Do you even sell any of that crap?"

Daniella- "No, we pride ourselves in keeping clients alive and milk them for many years. Death by structural integrity issues is not good for business."

Kate- "Why do simple when you can do stupid am I right?"

Daniella- "Don't laugh, it isn't as if they ever get to use it. They are perfectly free to have useless guns that run out of ammo in seconds in their bodies."

Kate- "Dehehe tacticool..."

Daniella- "About the eye?"

Kate- "Same thing I had with the EMP shielding? Oh right, I almost forgot. I need something new, eardrums, I'm tired of forgetting my earplugs, hurts like a bitch."

Daniella- " OK... I got you. Let me see... ... fifteen K with your friend and family discount."

Kate- "Damn, that's a lot."

Daniella- “Lo siento, but the implant is going to cost you more than you thought, mija. You know how it is, el boom minero is drying up. People are going al carajo with the economy. Prices, they are rising all around with all that extra digging they have to do. Not many minerals remain close to the surface anymore."

Kate- "I know... been seeing it in the tunnels, crowds are getting rowdier. More starvation wages, more fear, worst violence over nothing and a half."

Cere- No such events are taking place, your subjective experience is simply not representative of empiric reality.

Kate- Says who?

Cere- Official Alabaster Megacorp census and analysis bureau.

Kate- Bullshit!

"OK, I'll take it... Hey, I... sorry if you don't want to talk about that but, how does it feel?"

Daniella- "Jeppetto taking over control my body to do the work? I don't mind, they never did anything wrong and it has been years. Better this job than working in the tablao. That job just isn't for me you know, and this one pays well enough.”

Kate- "Ever wondered why the need though?"

Daniella- "I did. They created the most advanced combat implants ever conceived, decades ahead of everything others have today. Except for my motor control implants to fix my nerve damage I don't have any implant to speak of. This is probably a way to keep the secret about who the creator is behind the curtain. In a way, it protects me against most kidnappings as I know nothing and I can't be used to trace them."

Kate- "Makes sense, are you aware during the procedure?"

Daniella- "Sí."

Kate- "Is it weird? What do you do during that time?"

Daniella- "It used to be. At first, I was listening to la musica while they were working to avoid feeling like I was possessed, but now I'm learning everything I can while they are in control. I'm getting valuable hands-on experience."

Kate- "Wait, you tryin' to become a chopdoc?"

Daniella- "Why not?"

Kate- "Just don't strike me as the type, that's all."

Daniella- "I'm not, but I don't hate it either, why not get the best education I can? With proficiency comes interest chica. At first, I hated to deal with the blood and oil, now I feel incomplete without a good splatter pattern."

Kate- "Not at all disturbing..."

Daniella "Joking... right, Jeppetto is ready to take over."

Kate- "Feels like an old-timey seance."

Daniella- *Smirks* "I call upon the spirits of the dead, I am your vessel, speak through me!"

Jeppetto- *Daniella's raspy voice and a decidedly British accent.* "I am the resentment and the hate of billions, I am wrath, I am vengeance. Tell me living, why should we give you power? How will you pay? With your soul? Your firstborn?"

Kate- "You take credits?"