Frank could barely sleep during the night, his mind overtaken with worry for his mother, despite the reassuring words of the doctor that the greatest danger had already passed, and all Gloria needed now was plenty of rest and strict adherence to the medicine prescribed by the doctors. Of course, she would have to spend a few more days in the hospital, as a minimum, as well as a few more visits later down the line. And at the end, stitches would need to be removed as well, as far as medical procedures went, that was on the non significant scale. Neccessary, but in no way dangerous.
Still, said worry occuppied a rather large part of Franks mind, with exceptionally dark thoughts regarding quite a few grizzly and savage ways in which he would deal with the person, or people, who were responsible for his mothers suffering. And for that, he needed to hasten any of the projects he had deemed possible with the technology and materials that should be aviable to The Junkyard. Eventually, due to the rather long sprint/marathon he had ran, his body quite exausted, he fell asleep, though he was back up in just a few hours, already quite refreshed and restored, calories excluded, as his stomack was the first one to complain and demand its share. And as unwilling as he was to leave the proximity of his mother, he knew better than to sit here and then recieve a rather harsh dressing down by the same woman in question for not taking care of himself.
Thus, after a quick few splashes of cold water over his face, he left the room he had been offered, moving to the nearest diner he could find that was operating at this early hour. There he spent nearly an hour, filling his system with quite a lot of carbs and fat, and only once he was done adn his stomack was satisfied did he return to the hospital, going straight to the reception to inquire if he could visit his mother, or should he wait longer. Luckaly for him, his mother had awoken recently, and after the doctors had checked on her situation they allowed for a very short visit, his mothers first words had been an inquiry if her son was fine. Words that elicited painfull smile on Franks face. It was so his mother do think of him first and foremost, often to the detriment of her own well being. But that was what mothers often did, was it not. It was yet one more reason that Frank resolved himself to work even harder to ensure that his mother would never again have to make such sacrifices. No, he had to do even more. He had to push further, so she should not even have to think of such a possibility. Only then could he smile and think of his own personal happiness.
Enthering the ward wherfe his mother lied, and seeing that upon noticing him Gloria was about to try and sit up, he squinted his eyes and instantly spoke, using rather chiding tone.
"Dont even think about it. Gloria Wraith, you shall remain lying on that bed, or I will have to ask the doctors to tie you down."
Seeing that his tone had carried over his sentiment, and that his mother had stopped her attempt, remaining lying on the bed, he managed a strained smile on his face, clear worry still etched in it.
"You have no idea how worried I was." Frank spoke, as he sat on the stool by the bed, placing one of his palms on his mothers and squeezing it softly.
"Huff," Gloria exhaled "I will be fine. Doctors said so. Just a robbery gone wrong sweetie, nothing more."
"This time, sure, but what about the next? I was in the hospital just a short while ago, now you. How long till one of us does not come home? I will not have that happening mom."
To his words Gloria returned the squeeze to Franks hand, a weak smile on her face "I know sweetie, I have the same worries, but there is nothing we can do about it. We just have to be more carefull is all."
"What if I told you that we have another option? A way to ensure the safety of both of us?"
"Well well, my sweetie is all grown up and taking care of things." she suddenly smiled with quite a bright smile "Go on, tell mom how you have solved your crisis." It was clear that she was half joking, not quite ready to allow Frank to grow up, at least not in her mind anyway.
"The Junkyard. I got a possition there. Whats more, they saw a potential in me and agreed to provide both a place to live for us both, as well as a position for you. And all of it, withing the heart of their territory. We will no longer have to worry about the small and petty gangs fighting for teritory or the eventual protection feels they would demand. And with your accident, I am not taking no for an answer mom."
Frank smiled as he saw a thoughtfull expression on Glorias face. "Remember how you rejected a couple of possible vacancies I was going to apply for, purely because their offices were located in neighborhoods where the gangs were said to have their dirty dealings? And I had to agree with you because, what was it that you said? Ahh, yes 'When it come to your security and wellbeing, I have the final word. Thats how it has always been in the Wraith family.' Well then, mother dearest, it is time for me to repeat the same words to you. I was going to talk with you regarding this over supper, but now I have the high ground, and I am not going to let you off."
"How long did you think over this presentation of yours sweetie?"
"Quite a few hours, thruth be told, though its not like I had much else to most of the night. Could not sleep, and simply wasting time felt like a betrayal."
"Sigh." Gloria sighed, well aware that her son could be just as bullheaded as she at times, not backing down untill he got his. "Fine. You win. But only because I cant very well go against what I have claimed to be a rule of the family, now can I? Especially not when it concerns the safety of either of us."
"Good." Frank replied.
The remaining time he was allowed to stay by the side of his mother, Frank inquired his mother of the things that she would like to be brought over for her stay in the hospital, at the same time informing her that he will start packing their stuff back at the appartment, prepearing for the move. As well as warning her to rest a lot and not do anything that would strain her. He also talked with the doctor, to ensure that nothing that his mother asked to be brought over would complicate her recovery, or run afoul of the hospitals rules. With that out of the way, he contacted Jack, and asked if they could arrange some sort of eyes on his mother. While most likely that the accident was nothing more than bad luck, he was not quite willing to risk it, informing the man that he would go over and start working on the plans for the promissed arm muscle strengtening cyberware. A deal was a deal after all.
The next week was rather busy for Frank. He would visit his mother in the mornings, chat with her for a short while, always inquiring both her and the doctors about her recovery. Then, after the visit, he would go to The Junkyard and work on the schematics for the promised cyberware, creating two sets of instructions. One for the executives, the most trusted and loyal of the workers, and another, quitea bit weaker version for the comercial use. He was smart enough to understand just how bad things could go should the upper spec models would fall in the wrongs hands. It was for that reason he confided with Jack that he would create a few failsafes, each and every one under the advice of Jack, to ensure that should such a leak happen, they could ensure that no copies made would ever work. Of course Frank also added an extra few, super mega secretive kill switches, just to make sure. Not that he himself needed them, since his cyberware would always be a generation or two more advanced, but it never was wrong to have an extra failsafe.
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In the first few evenings, he would drop by their appartment to check how the move was going. A group of reliable men working for one of the black companies, famous for their iron tight loyality to the current customer, had done wonders in ensuring a quick and efficient move. Then he would return home, to be precise to the place that would be his new home for the forseeable future. It looked like a classical red brick three story building with light brown shingle roof, though it was nothing if not state of the art from the inside. Sound proofed and buletproof windows, with an underground workshop outfitted with rather modern devices. And to top it all off, a bunker that could last for quite the while under all of that. Frank was classified as a golden goose by the executives as soon as he delivered the comercial version of the plans for muscle augments, pointing out that iwas was just that- a comercial version with a better model soon coming for the executives. The glint in the eyes of Laura especially, was all that he needed to see once to understand just how desired the upgrades were even among the people he had interacted with. Only Jack was lukewarm towards the idea of upgrading his own, biological system. Still, he was perfectly aware just how much the addition of the two products would elevate their companies status and ability to push back the greedy corpos.
If Frank would continue to pull such tech from the ether, soon enough they could make quite the move to recover more of the liberties and rights that people had lost during the last decade of the giga corporation rise. And seeing the slight smile that appeared on Franks face from time to time, Jack would be willing to bet his life that there were more coming soon, stoking his and other executive flames of liberty. They did live in a city that was once part of the land of the free and home of the brave. While the flame was mostly doused, there were still embers and sparks that could light a fire should the opportunity arrise. And its seemed that Frank could be that opportunity for The Junkyard.
While Frank did spend a little bit of time in this new workshop of his, havign a small feel for the tech that he was provided with and finding no faults in it for the times he lived in, the most of the time spent inside the house was at the table in his own room, in front of thenew and bug free personal computer that had been put together for him. It was there that he slaved his hours away, working on the code and the supporting programs for the innitial core of his personal AI assistant. Of course, CEWE was running non stop, slowly, but surely, strenghtening his biological form. He was well aware that he would need weeks more to finalize the process he had started, and then he would have to do the same with his mother. Even if she would refuse the cybernetical implants, for whatever reason, his was a simple elevation of her biological form, thus he was sure he could win any arguments she might have against it. The heightened durability of both muscles and skin would make stabbing much harder, requiring for a much greater force exertion and compiled with an elevated regeneration of damaged cells, neither of them would be in anywhere near as much danger as he had been due to the attemped mugging where she was stabbed.
By the end of the week, Gloria was finally released from the hospital, with Frank paying all the bills right away. Since the move had been finalized a few days ago, Frank had her ferried straight home, where he spent the next few hours showing her around, not stinting on praises to their new home. It was ,undoubtedly, leagues above the apartment they had lived in before. So much so, that Gloria looked at Frank with a rather suspicious expression, soon questioning him what had earned them such unreasonable favour from his new employers. Not seeing a reason to lie, he thruthfully answered that he had provided The Junkyard with some rather cutting edge tech ideas, having been working on them for a while now and in return, his new employer had placed a rather high importance on the wellbeing and safety of both him and his family. This also explained the next question that Gloria had wanted to ask- how in the hell had he secured even a work position for her, though Frank did add there that he was quite against the idea of his mother returning to work. She had earned herself the right to take it easy, having slaved away for his sake during her twenties and thirties. He even bit the bullet and noted that with all the free time she would have, should she not return to work, with Franks income more than sufficient for the two of them and a couple more families to live comfortably, she could spend more time in finding the perfect lady for her son. She had made quite the demans of him, so it was only natural that she herself did quite the share of the work, as she had been trying to do so far, along with all the work that she did.
"I do smell a conspiracy, young man. What is it that you are not telling me?" she suspiciously glared at him, though it was quite visible that she was trying very hard to keep her lips from curling into a smile. Trying and failing rather miserably, one had to add.
"Besides the fact that I trully want you to take it easy and stop pushing yourself? Probably a couple of nefarious plots ment to obscure your senses from whatever else I have going on, but really mom, which youngster does not have those? All you need to concern yourself with is how you will spend all the free time you now will have on your hands" then he sighed, clearly defeated, but well aware that it was the best weapon in his arsenal to ensure the vicotry in the war. "Besides looking for an apropriate partner, that is."
A predatory grin creeped on Glorias face, a victory she had been working had towards for the last couple of years, having reached a stalemate with Frank, their rather dificult and unstable life and earnings his major excuse. Now thought, as he had rightly put, with the earnings he would bring in, and all the time in the world at her dispoal, well, there were plenty of beautifull and respectfull ladies out there, waiting to be aproached and offered a chance of a lifetime- a reliable and kind man to share their life with, and bring new life into this, chaotic yet wonderfull world. Sure, Gloria had seen and lived through her own share of hardships, not the least of which was the death of Franks father, but none of said hardships had broken her spirit. On the contrary, with Frank in her life, each and every challenge had been a test, a hurdle to overcome, to see yet another day that might bring another smile from her angel. A life worth living. She would asnwer so each and every time, without hesitation.
"I suppose it is only right that I take on said task. God knows that you will need a respectfull, yet reliable woman, and I am sure that with the schedule that is ahead of you, as well as your reluctance, there is no better person for the task than me. Be warned though, my dear son, I expect a full cooperation and a hundred percent effort on your behalf with any of the ladies that I find suitable."
"Yes mother." Frank responded as he turned to return to his programming work, murmuring on his way "Sigh, the things I do for my family."
It is rather important to note that what Gloria was about to do, was rather common practice in the current times, where a family that was rather well off, would look for a possible partner for their children using a handfull of different means. With most men dug deep in their work, toiling away to ensure that their families are taken care off, all the while trying to stash some cash for a rainy day, as well as a possible family, they had little time remaining to searh for a partner. Thus the older generation took the task in their capable hands, doing the searching in their children's place. And while such couplings would often result in a mariage of convinience, with both parties benefitting quite a lot, if also had the rather odd side effect of having a much lower rate of divorce. Passion was one hell of a force to pull people together, but in the same manner it did the reverse, splitting people up once said flame burns out. And besides, both paries, namely the couple to be, had to spend quite some time getting to know each other, ensuring there would be no unreasonable conflicts of personalities, before they themselves would sign off on the whole idea. There were even high class couples that had a contract of sorts for a companionship, adding several clauses, sometimes going so far as to allow either of the spouses to keep a mistress or two. And while it might seem odd, there were quite a few high class ladies that would much rather keep a young girl around to satiate their husbands whenever they themselves were not in the mood, for no matter the times, there were almost no men who would deny their women when they would innitiate some much desired intimacy.