“...Are these things still in fashion?”

Matthew started at the puked out cyber jacket outfitted with more useless LED’s than a nuevo

riche hover car

[Affirmative, user’s outfit have been selected for current operation environment, furthermore it has been enhanced to reach a class 1 armor rating]

Matthew let out a sigh and wore jacket/lightshow as he picked up the plasma accelerator pistol that had come with his outfit and stored it on his hip holster, this thing was more than nasty and as much as Matthew hated using it as it due to its horrific way it killed people by heating biological matter so fast its water contents exploded in a mess of gore he had to admit it was an effective weapon

“Well then... Nothing for it, Major on station”

[Clock-in confirmed, start of operation]

[Doc on station]

[Ripper on station, good morning old man~]

[Mercy on escalation]

[0023 on escalation]

[Warplane on escalation]

Matthew let out a sigh, as he did the surrounding room rapidly changed as the cold sleep pod along with all other equipment were autonomously packaged ready to shipped to a mass driver station to be put off world along with Matthew and the other personal and their effects once they finished their assigned work, Matthew stepped out of the small apartment where he had woken

[Utilize public transport to reach Education zone 4, optimal route assigned]

Matthew clicked his tongue as he walked over and stepped into the elevator, a moment later it closed and rapidly transported him upwards to the closest monorail station, a few moments later he stepped out onto a busy platform, brats ran around playing, a psychopath that waved at him, students talked with their friends or were busy studying on their personal devices, even if more than a few adults were present Matthew still stood out among the crowd with his large stature and funky tech jacket

‘I would like to lodge a complaint about the attire chosen’

[Your complaint have been lodged, a service fee of 500 credits have been deducted]

Matthew didn’t bother to argue that the cost of making a complaint was more than double what he would be paid for his current assignment, petty spite like this was one of the few things that had kept his ego intact this long

“Good morning old man~”

Matthew let out another sigh as he felt a heavy clap on his shoulder from the person he had attempted to not acknowledge, she, even if Matthew dreaded referring to ‘her’ as a member of the fairer sex he had been forced by ‘her’ to visually confirm that fact

“Still, it’s a nice work day isn’t it?~”

Matthew spared a glance to the savage creature next to him, she had short pink hair and blood-red eyes along with other cosmetic cyber mods, her build was half his size and usually packed half Matthew’s weight in various blades and other sharp instruments

“Fuck off”

Matthew’s greeting was blunt and precisely to the point, still this greeting earned him a wide, almost starstruck expression of awe and a cheerful laugh as she once again tiptoed to clap Matthew on the shoulder

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“You are as grumpy as always, old man~”

Having not decided to engage in more conversation with his co-worker, Ripper that continued to yap Matthew’s ear off with random and mostly disturbing tales that randomly sprung upon her twisted mind, while her language were completely clean both she and Matthew knew the exact grim details of the tales she was espousing with disturbing passion

“---At that point I was rolling on the floor, like how crazy is that! Oh the metro is here!~”

Matthew and Ripper moved into the same car, experience had made Matthew awfully aware that if he tried to separate himself from Ripper she would simply follow him, this creature had no shame and was deeply in what it considered love with him, of course this was due to all the wrong reasons and Matthew had never entertained the thought of going along with her twisted fantasies of ‘True love’

“---Oh right, I was playing this new VR game the other day, you should really try it out, it has some of the best features anyone in our profession could ask for!~”

Matthew once again ignored Ripper, however this seemed to have been the tipping point for her patience as she instantly dropped her mask, the cheerful look on her face completely disappeared as her bright eyes went cold and blank like that of a dead fish as she spoke

“You seem rather cranky today, huh… Should I lighten things up a bit for you to acknowledge my presence?”

Matthew let out yet another sigh, he knew what ‘lighten things up’ meant, and not feeling like complicating things by having to fight off an anti-terror task force responding to hundreds of dismembered children and school teachers this early in the timeline of his current assignment he relented and asked

“...What game was it?”

A creepy smile showed on Rippers true face before she put her usual mask back on as she started yapping once again

“Well the base game was some mid-level action shooter but I got my Aea to jailbreak a lesser game development A. I. to deep fake and mesh leaked war footage and terror attacks over the dull PG animations and NPC renders~ Aea was even able to simulate tactile feedback to me as I played~ it’s been so long since I’ve last soiled myself like that without actually drawing blood~”

“Ew”

To Matthew’s blunt and to the point show of disgust Ripper shuddered slightly as her face flushed slightly to which Matthew immediately told her

“...I will smash your cranium and rip the sorry remains of your brain stem out from your ass crack if you hump my leg again”

“That’s kinda—”

“No it’s not, down”

“Ehehe~”

[Pack it in, we have work to do]

Matthew let out a sigh as 0023’s voice sounded out over the local net, the two continued to chat to keep blending in with their surroundings, after a few minutes and the two stepped out of the metro to the arrival area of a local High school, Ripper presented her fabricated credentials as a transfer student and Matthew presented his as a temporary teacher

“Please step though the scanner, sir”

Matthew nodded and passed through the scanner as the security guard had directed, none of his weaponry, bionic or physical enhancements showed up on the scan as the local security equipment had already been compromised.

“Thank you sir, the scan showed no problems”

Matthew showed a thin smile and nodded as he walked past the security checkpoint at the gate, even as he attempted to keep a neutral look on his face he found a frown slowly forming, around him were mostly people in their early to late adolescent, the youthful and joyous atmosphere around him put a damper on his already grumpy mood

[Ripper have located primary target, preparing to harvest~]

[...Major moving to assist]

[Affirmative, silent alarm have been raised, Anti-Terror task forces have been alerted, arrival in 600 seconds]

Matthew moved along the route Aea had planned out for him and arrived at male bathroom which he entered and after confirming the particular smell inside he knocked on the door of a stall and a moment later Ripper opened, she wasn’t alone, on the porcelain throne sat a male student, he was past tense now as his neurological data were being harvest which resulted in his brain rapidly being baked

“I am almost finished here~ Go greet the guests instead”

“No, we don’t have time for you to practice your hobby this time around, Ripper”

Ripper was about to protest when an alert sounded out over the local network

[400 seconds until arrival of Anti-Terror task forces, local lockdown scheduled to begin in 100 seconds]

“Tsk~”

Ripper clicked her tongue before she pulled a butterfly knife out of the sleeve of her oversized jacket and spun it around as she unfolded the blade, a moment later serrated steel stabbed straight into the eye socket of the deceased male student and with a quick twirl she relieved the young man of his left eye which she placed into a small glass bottle which she placed into an inner pocket of her jacket along the rest of her collection that consisted of various other body parts she had collected over the last 400 years, both as an indentured servant of BlueArrow, but also before then as a hobby

“...Crazy bitch”

“Ehehe~ You don’t get anything from complimenting me like that~”

“It wasn’t a compliment, sow”

The two exited the restroom and walked quickly along the planned route when the Terror alarm suddenly sounded out in the building both of them kicked off the ground instantly exploding with power Matthew dented the floor below his feet with Ripper following right behind him the two managed to get past two bulkheads before they closed but was momentarily stopped when they reached the 3rd

“Ei!~”

Letting out a totally unnecessary ‘cute’ sound, Ripper slashed out with a monomolecular folding sword 3 times within half a second as she caved a path through the 1-meter thick armored alloy bulkhead, Matthew shoulder tackled the loose bulkhead part as he ran past with Ripper following after him, he spared a short glance at her as he thought

‘As much as I hate to admit it, this crazy bitch has skills with a blade beyond anything I will ever reach… Maybe that’s why she’s so fucked in the head…’

Ripper caught his glance and asked in an excited tone

"Did you fall for me?~"

“Ew, no”