I walked into my apartment and looked around.
Seemed like no one had been inside while I was gone.
That was good.
But it also meant I didn’t understand what was going on.
Someone had been following me.
Had they decided not to escalate to more aggressive methods, like searching my place?
I shook my head, stripped down, and took a quick shower.
Then I collapsed into bed.
I’d called Regina on the way back, and she’d been fine with the job not being fully completed yet.
As she admitted, she’d expected me to get thrown out of the bar.
When that didn’t happen, she figured I’d found common ground with the Mox.
Well…
I wouldn’t say I found common ground with all of them.
But with one specific member, yeah, I definitely did.
I fell asleep quickly and woke up right on time.
Showered again, got dressed, and left my apartment.
I called Judy when I was halfway to the bar.
She sounded happy to hear from me and said she’d meet me at the entrance.
But when I pulled up, I realized it wouldn’t be that simple.
Right in front of the bar’s entrance, a Tyger Claws car was parked.
One of the gang members was looming over the bouncer who’d let me in yesterday.
“You’re a bitch, you hear me?!
I’ll fuck you right here, then I’ll have my fun at the club!
All you whores belong between a real man’s legs!”
My pistol was in my hand before I even thought about it.
As I walked past the gangster, the barrel pressed right into his crotch.
“Wha…”
He didn’t get to finish.
He saw my smile and froze.
“Listen here, Mr.
Not-So-Great-and-Powerful.
Why are you bothering my friend?
She clearly doesn’t appreciate your company.
And tell your goons in the car not to twitch.
No reaching for their pieces.
They might be able to take me down, but I’ll blow your little nutsack clean off.
No implant in the world will fix that.
Comprende?”
“Y-yes…”
“Are you going to turn around and leave right now?”
“Y-yes…”
“Then get moving.”
I pulled the pistol away from his crotch, but I didn’t holster it.
He backed off slowly, got into his car, and leaned out the window.
“I’ll find you, you son of a bitch!”
“I’m not hiding.
New solo.
Callsign: Tikhon.
And I think I’m about to start taking contracts against the Tyger Claws.”
I shook my head.
“I’ll remember you!”
The car screeched away with spinning tires.
Only then did I put my pistol away.
“Thanks.”
The bouncer smiled at me warmly.
“Don’t mention it.
I’m David, by the way.”
“Vicki…”
She smirked.
“…and you’re already expected inside.”
“Right.
See you later.”
I walked into the bar and almost immediately ran into Judy.
“That was awesome.”
“Thanks.”
I smirked, and we headed down to her workshop.
“You know, I thought a lot about what you said last night.
After you left.”
“And what did you decide?”
“I want revenge.
I already sent a request to a lawyer.
He didn’t immediately reject me.
So now I’m waiting for his answer.”
“Good.
You only forgive people close to you.
Everyone else…”
I shook my head.
“…you teach them not to hurt you.”
We got down to work, keeping the conversation light.
We talked about our hobbies.
Well, mostly I talked about David’s hobbies before I took over.
How he sold black-market braindances at the academy.
How he liked watching them too.
Judy offered to show me some of her work, the non-porn stuff, obviously.
I agreed.
But only after we finished the job.
We worked until early afternoon.
Then Judy handed me a set of goggles and a shard.
I disappeared from the world for the next thirty minutes.
The realism of Judy’s braindances was off the charts.
David had experience with braindances.
But his memories always mentioned a certain…
wrongness about them.
That feeling was completely absent in Judy’s work.
She gave me a braindance of a concert by an old band, Samurai.
I immediately realized she was a master.
In those days, they didn’t even have the technology to record braindances properly.
“Damn, Judy, you’re a witch!”
I came out of the recording and just stared at the ceiling of her workshop for a good ten minutes before I could finally form words.
“Come on, it’s nothing…”
“No, seriously.”
I shook my head.
“I can’t even imagine how many film reels and audio tracks you had to process to make it feel this real…
It was like I was actually at the concert myself!”
“I’m glad you liked it.”
Judy scratched the back of her head shyly.
“I’d say ‘liked it’ is an understatement.”
“Yo, Jude!”
I blinked in surprise.
That tiny girl from the neighboring apartment was walking into Judy’s workshop like she owned the place.
What was even more surprising was what she was wearing: tight boy shorts, a bralette, an open jacket, and high combat boots.
Her body was on full display, surprisingly mature for someone so short.
“You got a boyfriend?
I thought you were into girls.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Bex!”
Judy stood up, walked over to the tiny girl, and lifted her off the ground in a hug, spinning her around a few times.
“Good to see you.”
“Me too, girl.
Me too.”
“As for David, he’s a solo the Mox hired to help me fix some equipment.”
“He knows specialized equipment?”
“Nope.”
Judy shook her head.
“But while he was fixing the server and the old computers, I managed to fix the specialized stuff.
We just finished up.
I let him check out my Samurai braindance.”
“Cool!”
“Yeah…”
I smirked.
“…since we’re done here, I should probably head out.”
“What?”
Judy looked a little confused.
“Judy, you have my contact info.
Call me anytime.
I’m happy to help with tech or with assholes.”
“Alright…”
“Hey, man, you’re leaving already?”
“Figured I’d let you girls catch up.”
I shrugged and walked past Rebecca.
“Wait up, man!
I actually came here because of you!”
“Right.”
I nodded.
“Your tail was pretty obvious.
But I don’t have anything to tell you.”
I waved and kept walking, easily dodging her grab attempt.
I went up the stairs, through the bar where I noticed the rest of her crew scoping things out, minus the blonde.
So that meant one more meeting was planned.
Or maybe she just didn’t want to wait in the bar.
“Regina, hey.
I’m done.”
I stepped outside and called my fixer.
“Got it.
The Mox just confirmed.
Two grand for two days’ work.”
I nodded to myself.
That was less than what I made on the first scav job.
But there was real risk there, and without the Sandevistan, I probably would’ve gotten stuck or worse.
The scavs were losers, sure, but even they could take down a solo without the right gear.
And I didn’t have the right gear.
Two grand.
With a whole day still ahead.
“Regina, I can take another job.
I’ll grab lunch, and I’ll be ready to go.”
“Pfft!
Look at you, Mr.
Overachiever.”
Regina’s avatar shook its head with a smirk.
“Any preferences?”
I winced slightly.
“If you’ve got anything against scavs or Animals, I’d be happy to take it.
I need some cash to visit a proper ripperdoc.
I’ve got a feeling the last one wasn’t exactly top-tier.”
“Hm.
Nothing on Animals in my district right now.
But scavs…”
Her avatar nodded thoughtfully.
“…I’ve got one underground den.
They’re working out of it.
Contract’s up for their removal.”
“Sure.
I’ll eat, then go turn some scavs into garbage.”
“Details incoming.”
The job details appeared in my inbox.
I nodded.
“Thanks, Regina.
I won’t let you down.”
“I’m counting on that.”
Her voice shifted from friendly to professional.
“I’ve given you a pretty big advance on this one.”
“Right.
I’ll eat, then get to work.”
“Good.
I’ll wait for your report.”
The call ended.
I walked down the street to a small diner, grabbed a decent-looking synth-burger, and sat down at an empty table.
Five minutes later, a blonde sat down across from me.
“So?”
“So what?
What do you want from me?
You’re the friend of the tiny girl, right?
I spotted the others too, the ones who were tailing me.
I’m not gonna list them all.
So what’s this about?
You were following me.”
I shrugged.
“Look, we’re interested in someone.
Gloria.”
“Martinez?”
“Yeah.”
“Tall, red hair, works as a medtech?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know her.”
The girl blinked.
Five seconds later, she frowned.
“You’re messing with me?”
“Yep.”
I nodded.
“She’s dead.
So you can stop looking.
The urn with her ashes is sitting in my new apartment.
I’m just waiting to find a nice spot to scatter them.”
“And you are…”
“Her son.”
“Her son?”
“Yeah.”
“How did she die?”
“Animals started a shootout on the freeway.
She got taken to a ripperdoc.
He managed to stabilize her…
at least temporarily.
But it didn’t last.
She died.
That’s it.”
I shrugged.
“Do you know what she was involved in?”
“How would I know?
Until recently, I was studying at the Academy.
All I know is that she worked herself to death just to pay my tuition.”
“I…
I’m sorry.”
“Right.”
I nodded, finished my burger, and stood up.
“Wait!”
“What?”
I looked at the girl.
“Can you meet with Maine?”
“Who’s that?”
“My boss.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“I’m working right now.
Then I need rest.
Then more work.
I don’t have time to meet random people.”
I left the diner and went back to work.