1 Too good to pass up

In a nameless, unclaimed stretch of land deep beneath the ground was a bunker. Layer upon layer of steel, concrete, and magic warded the buried bunker from any possible intrusion. No tunnel led from the bunker to the surface, not even an air shaft. It was completely cut off from the surface.

Inside the bunker, illuminated by gentle overhead lighting, two men sat facing each other at a table. One of them leaned back, with only two of his chair's four legs touching the ground. The man had propped his feet up on top of the metal table in front of him and had crossed his hands behind his head. This red-skinned man, clothed in a simple gray t-shirt and cargo pants seemed utterly relaxed.

Burns observed the man in front of him with a smirk. He was well dressed, wearing a suit and tie. The man was brown haired, clean-shaven, average height, average weight, and of course he lacked any distinctive features. No jewelry, scars, tattoos, piercings, glasses, or anything else with a trace of flavor. He was a perfect nobody.

"I've seen your kind before y'know" Burns laughed. "I met the original briefly back in the day. After they finished the cloning project he was dumped in with the rest of us for the risky experiments. It was cause of him we ended up losing our utensils in the mess hall. I mean, after he killed himself the scientists didn't want any more research subjects committing suicide. They had us on liquid diets from then on, fucking bastards."

"If you're trying to shock me, please, don't bother" the nameless man said. His voice droned on almost mechanically "We have more important things to discuss. Namely the job we're here to offer you. For an Erratic like you, this will be the most lucrative job offer of your short career as a Jack. You can feign disinterest but please, let's not fool around."

"Since you think I'm 'fooling around' let me lay out some things for you" Burns replied. You're 'body' and maybe the 'real' you, are expendable. They sent a Nobody out here to meet me because they can't or won't believe an Erratic like me is safe to negotiate with in person. I don't blame them for that. I am an Erratic.

More importantly, I'm one of the Erratics created by Aceron Multipurpose. I spent most of my life being a guinea pig, watching other orphans like me suffer experiments that could never and would never have been conducted before the Shifts. I don't doubt that anyone who knows even half of what I went through would think me an enemy of Aceron.

So what does that mean for this enterprise, hmm? It means I'm not trusted, that I'm a dangerous variable in the eyes of the current execs. Yet, I've been made an offer anyway. This line of reasoning leads me to conclude something simple. I'm needed."

Burns wasn't surprised when the Nobody failed to visibly react to his statement. He'd read the research files on the original project. The thing in front of him was made of flesh and blood however, it wasn't a person. Somewhere, most likely in a cozy office, someone was operating this Nobody like any other common drone.

"That is a fairly impressive deduction but it isn't entirely accurate. We don't need you, which is why we want to employ you for this job. With the estimated danger level, we only want to send expendable assets on this mission. To Aceron Multipurpose, you are exactly that. While we'd prefer quality over quantity, you are just one of many Jacks we've approached."

Burns laughed in response. He then shook his head and said "See, that only makes me more suspicious. The average Jack would never work with me and this is a team endeavor. More importantly, although this is a lucrative offer as you said yourself, a reasonable Jack will factor in the risk. Even if you risk your life for a living, there are degrees of risk that most will find unacceptable.

Besides, for all I know this entire job is bogus and your real objective is to study me. You wouldn't be the first to want to know why I'm still alive. I've fought three different capture teams just this past year who were looking to bring me back for Milestone Technologies or the Northeastern Union."

"We can reassure you that that isn't the case. While we may not have concrete proof, our scientists suspect we know why you've survived for so long as an Erratic. We do still have files on you from when you were a research subject."

"Ah. So there's some interest after all. You wouldn't be torturing some poor bastards right now trying to recreate me would you? Hell, you must've had plenty of DNA samples; you could've cloned me anyway right? Actually, don't even bother answering me, I don't wanna know.

Look, let me make my point. You don't trust me and I don't trust you. The job is extremely dangerous and you're looking for people you can afford to lose to undertake it. The rewards you're offering are nice but they just aren't enough for something like this. Here's my proposal: I'll do this job in exchange for six untampered gene mods of my choice, to be delivered before I undertake the mission. I also want a suit of the best powered armor Aceron can provide. If I survive the job, I get to keep the armor. Finally, upon completing the job I also want to have my pick of any two magical or cybernetic body enhancements."

The Nobody remained silent as the operator pondered Burns' proposal. Eventually the Nobody spoke, saying "for four mods instead of six you have a deal."

Burns, smiling, said "Great, that's fine with me. Now fuck off, I've got other things to do."

The Nobody stiffly stood up and teleported back to wherever the Nobodies were stored. As soon as the Nobody left, Burns whispered telepathically "What've you got Jimmy?"

Jimmy, the experimental, liquid parasite residing inside his blood, answered "Their story holds up, strange as that sounds. After I hacked into the Nobody's connection, I followed it back to the operator. From there I kept digging and broke into his personal cybernetic implants. This operator dude's mid-level in the Aceron power structure with a high security clearance, a hard-worker, and ambitious. Unfortunately for him his secrets are now ours. He shouldn't have trusted Aceron's technomantic firewalls as much as he did."

"No one outside Milestone Technologies knows you ever existed in the first place, let alone the level of your technomancy and even they can't replicate you since I destroyed all their old samples. I don't blame the operator for fucking up, there was no way he'd see this coming. Anyway, back to the good stuff. What all did you dig up?

"Oh lots of things! This guy, Hector B. Salazar, has a pet turtle named Raphael, a bacon obsession, a foot fetish, and terrible taste in music. He's also—"

"Jimmy, why do you always do this? You can amuse yourself on your own time but wait till later."

Jimmy sighed telepathically before responding "Yeah, yeah, 'kay boss. Way to be a buzz-killer. Do you want me to just dump all the useful stuff or should I give you a summary?"

"Just give me the info dump and we'll both be happier."

"Sure, sure, I'll have it in a bit. Give me a couple minutes."

Burns didn't bother replying, instead standing up and stretching. He walked through a nearby doorway and stepped into his kitchen. He figured he'd grab a cup of coffee while he waited.