I was a bit startled by the décor of the club.

There where refrigerated storage compartments for corpses nearby. Some seemed defunct and others were blowing cool air into the area.

A little too on the nose, but I could appreciate the darker sense of humor.

I was just about the approach the bar when I was pushed aside by a behemoth of a man entering the club. I had clocked my height at somewhere around 7', judging by the height of most folks in the streets. This guy must have been 8 and half feet and was at least three time as wide as me.

"Move aside, scrub. No time for gawking." He must of had a broken voice mod. It was so cracked and grainy, I could have mistaken it as having come out of a gramophone.

I focused my aura on him. Shit, he was a full conversion job. His only meat left was just his brain rattling around in an armored case up top. Barely any of that was au natural either.

No matter how much I wanted to, it was probably better to ignore the disrespect. Still... there was something I had been wanting to try since I had gotten Life Control.

I used my aura to shut off the connections from his brain to his chrome. Everything was still functional, but he had no way of directing his body anymore. No one had much protection from mana here, it had proved to be no challenge. I would want to do it in a fight, but with nobody trying to tag me, it was a piece of cake.

He just shuttered to a stop. I returned a few connections to his eyes and ears. Hopefully, he didn't have some kind of crazy laser eyes or something.

I walked around to stand in front of him. I plastered a friendly smile on my face, as I looked into his optics.

"No need to be rude, Choom. That's how accidents happen. Play nice, or next time I'll leave you like this."

I allowed him to regain control one limb at a time.

"Haha, that's quite a trick, newbie, and a good attitude. Don't let any of these scumbags punk you." It was hard to read him, none of his features changed while he spoke. Borgs creeped me out. the only good thing about them is they don't seem to have those kinds of reaction to my mana.

"I'm the Medic." I held out a hand to shake. He latched on far more gently than I had anticipated. I took a risk that folks might mistake me for a Ripper, but I recalled that the nomads never called anyone healing them up a medic.

"Oho, a medic. Not much demand for a fleshworker these days. Good luck, newbie! I'm Wrekt, see you around, maybe." He tromped off to one of the many darker alcoves in the already dark club.

Me, I went to the bastion of light in a sea of shadow. The bar was empty and as I took a seat, it stayed empty for a few minutes. I didn't mind, it allowed me to reach out with my aura and get a count on how many mercs where currently present in the building. The answer was not many. A few upstairs and about a dozen scattered around the main bar. Mostly where I couldn't see them from here.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Was this the slow period or just a slow day?

"You lost, kid?" A bartender had shown up. He was a gruff looking old guy, moderate modded. Very clean cut for all of that. He even wore a classic white shirt and vest combo with a bowtie.

"Nope. Looking for work, and a neat water, purest you got."

He grunted, and pulled out a faux crystal bottle.

"I can't help you with the work, but this is the best water you are likely to find outside of some Corpo bigwig's home."

He poured the water, by the finger and I tapped the nearby scanner. Fucking hell. I'm bring my own next time. Sure, it was nothing to my balance but water shouldn't cost that much.

It was pretty good water though. Especially for this hellhole.

I gave him a nod. "Thanks."

He shook his head and started getting things ready for what I presume would be later customers. So, I just got here too early.

The real question was, how was I going to make inroads with a decent team of mercs? Especially since my end goal was a meeting with Rogue.

Fuck, I really had no clue.

Sit around and wait for something to come up I guess. Maybe buy some liquid lubrication for anyone I liked the look of. Schmooze about for a few days and get to know a few people.

I really didn't feel like I was in a hurry. Sure, I had payback to deliver, but they weren't going anywhere. I could take my time and really explore the city, make an accurate decision on what I needed to do in the future.

"Heya Choom, you okay?"

"Hmm?"

Turning the stool around I didn't see anyone. Until I looked down.

She was small and cute. Pale greyish skin and an oversized dark hoodie, her turquoise hair dancing behind her. Her optics were a riotous mix of pink surrounded by neon green with red outside of that.

"Yeah, I'm fine just trying to figure out how to find a good crew to work with."

She hopped up into the stool next to me.

"Hey Harry! Get me my usual."

I heard the bartender snort. He stared at her with a smirk.

"One pint sized virgin daiquiri for the pint sized virgin, coming right up." He quipped.

She flipped him off. "Fuck you, Harry!" She was all kinds of feisty.

"You wish, pipsqueak." He chuckled.

She turned back to me, "So what are you good at?" Like nothing had just been said.

I offered her my hand, "Want to see?"

She gave me a skeptical look. "What can you possibly do with a handshake?"

Then she shrugged and took my hand anyway.

I pulsed my mana into her, slowly, carefully. She started to squirm on her stool.

Hmm. Lots of old damage, she was still mostly organic. Easy for me to work with. I cleaned up some old breaks in her arms and legs, removed some scar tissue from old beatings. Abusive childhood? Was she raised on the streets?

She was panting heavily and couldn't seem to stay still.

A few bullet wounds, a place where she had been caught by a blade. These needed a heavier touch. Damn, what had this young lady been up to?

Her moans were starting to attract attention.

I went over her RealSkinn and fix a few places were it didn't quite sync up right. She had probably gotten the Skinn before she had finished growing. In fact, there were a lot of factors that had stunted her growth. Maybe, I could fix those up?

But not right now. She was already attracting a crowd.

Her moans had turned into little yips and squeals.

I let her down slowly.

"I can fix more some other time if you want." I kept my face neutral.

"More... Ah, yes, please, more."

She slumped down and rested her head on the bar. She was not really here anymore.

I turned around to look at the crowd of mercs that had come for the show.

Who all started cheering and clapping.