Reward and shopping.

The girls were escorted to the ship, where Cleo greeted them. Rex and Carlos turned back, heading toward the spot where they'd parked the vehicle, while Cleo stayed behind to finish looting the bandits' warehouse.

The journey back to the vehicle wasn't easy. They ran into several patrols returning to base. Fighting them would've been too risky, especially in enemy territory and without knowing their numbers, so they decided to hide and let the patrols pass.

Occasionally, they could hear heavy gunfire and explosions off in the distance. Cleo was clearly making quick work of the bandits, who must've been foolish enough to attack a spaceship without realizing it was shielded.

After about an hour or so, they finally reached the spot where they'd hidden the vehicle. Without wasting any time, they jumped in and took off, heading toward the city.

"Man, I really thought we weren't going to make it. That was the longest 5 kilometers I've ever walked," Carlos said, still panting as he slumped into the passenger seat.

Rex chuckled. "Yeah, it was rough. But did you see that missile Cleo fired? Wiped out the whole base. We should ask her to make more of those since they're crazy powerful."

They kept chatting about random things as they drove through the night. Eventually, they reached the city entrance, where they had to stop and show their IDs again. Once that was out of the way, they drove straight to Thunderblades HQ and headed for Talon's office.

When they arrived at the office floor, it seemed empty. But from the direction of the room where they'd first met Talon, they could hear... moaning.

"Talon! Get out here! We're back for our pay!" Rex yelled. Subtlety wasn't really his strong suit.

Carlos, clearly annoyed, muttered, "Lucky bastard. He's got women all over him while we're out here, covered in dust, after a mission."

Rex laughed. "Don't worry, man. Once we get our own business going, you can have your harem too; just don't expect to live near me. I'm not into sharing."

Carlos scoffed. "Yeah, right. Like I'd ever share. What do you take me for?"

As they bickered, they heard Talon's voice, faint and breathless, coming from the back.

"I'm coming! Give me a sec. There's some good liquor on the table by the sofa. Help yourselves!"

Rex and Carlos exchanged a glance before bolting for the liquor. It had been days since their last drink, and they weren't about to pass up free booze.

Thanks to Rex's bionic upgrades, he reached the liquor first, snatching the bottle and cracking it open immediately. Without a second thought, he took three big swigs, drinking straight from the bottle like a street drunk.

"Fuuuah, damn, this is some strong liquor," he gasped, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Carlos grabbed the bottle next, following Rex's lead. "Oh man, this is on a whole different level. What the hell have I been drinking all my life?" Judging by the look on Carlos's face, it was like he'd just discovered the meaning of life.

Rex burst out laughing. "Dude, what's with your face? You look ridiculous." The two of them kept drinking until all the bottles were empty. About an hour later, Talon finally emerged from the back room.

Cough cough "Sorry to keep you waiting, but when you've got that many wives, it's tough to keep 'em all satisfied." He smirked, clearly not ashamed. "Anyway, the mission's done, right? Give me your account details, and I'll transfer the credits now."

Rex handed over the bank account information that Cleo had set up with the top noble bank and with the VIP status and everything. 

"Are you sure you don't want to check if the job's really finished first?" Rex asked, watching as the 50,000 credits hit the account.

Talon chuckled. "I trust you, noble friend."

"Oh? I like the sound of that," Rex said with a grin. "And since we'll be working together more often, just call me Rex. No need for all the 'dear noble' stuff."

Talon was taken aback. Nobles were notorious for their pride, and for one to ask a lowly mercenary to call them by name was practically unheard of. But Rex wasn't thinking that deeply about it since he just found the whole "dear noble" thing cringey.

"Haha, alright, Rex. I see you liked the liquor. How about I give you two more bottles as a token of friendship?" He signaled to one of the girls, who nodded and headed for the elevator.

"Alright then, Talon. We'll let you get back to... whatever you were doing." Rex grinned knowingly. "We'll swing by in a few days to pick up some more work. Keep a hundred thousand credits or so ready for us."

Talon laughed. "No problem. If you give me your contact info, I'll just email you the jobs so you don't have to come all the way here every time."

"Sounds good." Rex took out his phone and swapped contact info with Talon.

"See you later, Rex. The girl will meet you in the lobby with those two bottles."

After Rex and Carlos left Talon's office, Talon walked over to his desk, lit a cigar, and pressed a hidden button on the desk. A holographic screen appeared, showing video footage his information network had collected.

On the screen, he saw an unidentified ship firing a missile unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Then came footage of drones being deployed. He watched closely; his curiosity piqued, until suddenly the video feed cut out. In its place, an unfamiliar symbol appeared, followed by text:

[Curiosity killed the cat, dear Talon.]

Cold sweat formed on Talon's brow as a shiver ran down his spine. It didn't take long for him to realize it was best to stop gathering intel on Rex and his crew.

Meanwhile, Cleo had already wiped all the footage of their operation and sent a warning to anyone who had access to it.

"Hmph. I got careless. Next time, I'll deploy signal-jamming drones before we move in," Cleo muttered to herself as she closed her screens, leaving just one open. She enlarged it and stared at it, deep in thought.

Since Rex and Carlos had already received the credits for the job, they decided to rent two trucks. Buying them was out of the question for now since each truck cost 500,000 credits while renting was just 5,000 credits per day.

After securing the trucks, they began driving around the city, visiting various stores where Cleo had made a list of things she needed. They purchased supplies for building more mining drones and a few combat drones. By the time they were down to their last few credits, they stocked up on food supplies.

Once everything was ready, they headed for the city exit but were stopped by the guards.

"Please open your cargo doors. We need to perform a routine inspection for any illegal items."

Rex and Carlos stepped out of the trucks and opened the cargo doors. The guards climbed aboard and began scanning the cargo, looking for anything suspicious. After a few minutes, they finished their search.

"Alright, you're good to go."

Rex and Carlos got back in their trucks and continued their journey toward the underground city. Since the trucks had a speed limit of 50 km/h, it took several hours to get there.

When they finally arrived, they opened the cargo doors for the drones to unload the supplies. Carlos stretched, groaning.

"Man, I'm beat. I'm sleeping in the truck tonight since it's got a bed, you know? See you tomorrow."

"Wait," Rex said, tossing one of the liquor bottles Talon had gifted them. "This one's yours. Take care of it."

"Okay, Mom," Carlos replied with a smirk. "I'm done for the night. Can't keep my eyes open anymore." He climbed into the truck cabin and crashed for the night. Meanwhile, Rex headed to the recharge bay.

As he was undressing, Cleo walked in unexpectedly.

"Oh! Uh, sorry—I didn't mean to!" Cleo stammered, clearly flustered as she tried to come up with an excuse.

Rex laughed. "Why are you freaking out? It's not like this is the first time you've seen me naked. And it definitely won't be the last. So, did you need something? Or are you just here for the show?" he teased, flashing her a playful smirk.

Cleo blushed, clearly embarrassed. "I... I wanted to show you something, but it looks like you're tired and need to recharge, so... I guess it can wait until tomorrow." She was trying not to look, but her eyes kept darting back to him.

Rex couldn't help but think she looked adorable. "Haha, alright. I'll head into the recharge bay. See you tomorrow, Cleo."

After about an hour, when Cleo was sure Rex had fallen asleep, she quietly slipped into the recharge bay and lay down next to him. She didn't need to sleep, but being close to him like this was comforting.