CHAPTER II Repulsion

   "Wake up kid, we're here." Ahanu shook me awake, "Rendezvous is coming up, better be ready in case the deal goes south." Ahanu handed me a handgun, it had a decent weight and it seemed decently balanced. A good weapon for security but in a firefight it would be of little help if the enemies had some grade 3 armor or higher. 

    "Stand behind the passenger door and hold the gun against the inside so they can't see it." Ahanu instructed. I nodded in reply, getting up and my legs were stiff and sluggish. I wanted to stretch but before I could, the contact arrived. They were in a low limousine with two sets of wheels in the front and set in the back. Ahanu went out between our van and their car.

    Two men got out of the right side of the limo, both wore black suits and had matte black visors and looked unnaturally tall. One went to the left side and opened the rear door. A third man came out, he was around my height but he looked thinner. His face was covered and he wore an emerald green suit.

    Ahanu and Clara just stood there waiting for them to approach. Who were these people? I thought. I gripped onto the gun making sure it was hidden, I leaned against the door so I didn't look suspicious. As the man approached the other two men moved ahead of him staying close revealing their role as bodyguards, they looked like a wall. 

When those three got close to  Ahanu, their faces became much more clear, the things I thought were visors on the guards were actually lenses embedded into their heads. The man in emerald green had a mask on to keep his face hidden. The way he held himself showed he belonged to a corporation. Ahanu walked up to him and held out his hand to shake. One of the guards lifted their arm, a compartment opened up and you could hear a short whirring noise. 

Looking closer I saw the glint of a barrel. "Manners are a given," Spoke the man in green, "but I don't like giving the courtesy of manners to lower people." Ahanu lowered his hand and the guard retracted the gun. Ahanu signaled to Clara and she walked back to the van and picked up a container that was stored in the back. 

She passed by me and put her hand on my shoulder. It calmed me down a bit, I finally realized that my grip on the gun had gotten so tight that my knuckles and fingers had turned white. I loosened my grip a bit but the anticipation that something might go wrong still hung over me. Beads of sweat had also formed on my forehead so I quickly wiped them away.

When Clara returned to Ahanu's side she opened the container and lifted out a container containing small spheres, eyes? They were soft yellow and some parts faded to a nice brown. But one of the striking details was that there was a small line going around their diameters. The green man took them and lifted them towards a light where they reflected it around them, it was like they had little atmospheres keeping the inner bits safe.

    They looked very pretty, pretty enough that no one noticed that a little girl snuck up to the green man. She tugged on the back of his suit jacket. He looked down and patted her on the head. He leaned down and whispered something, she seemed to perk up a little bit. The man hoisted her up and started walking away back to the limo and set the girl down on its hood. 

    I could finally see her and I saw that she had her eyes covered with bandages, she's blind? The man in green went back to the deal but only one guard went with him, the other stayed behind at the limo. "When should we expect the credits to come in?" asked Ahanu.

    "Expect payment within an hour, for you, Miss Clara, and the kid," he turned to me and asked, "If I recall, your last name is Bright?" I flinched but made no other motion nor sound. He took the flinch as a yes, but Bright was my last name, why didn't he use my first name? All this was starting to cause a headache in the back of my head. The man in green turned his back and walked away back to his limo where the girl looked like she was playing with guard there. The second guard picked up the container and soon followed him.

Ahanu and Clara also turned and walked back to the van. I tried to give the gun back to Ahanu but he just gave it back. "'Lot happens in River City, keep this thing on you at all times," he said. He then gave me a holster to put it in, "That goes on your chest, keep it covered with a shirt or jacket." He directed.

It felt uncomfortable with part of the metal pressing against my skin since I didn't have an undershirt on. I happily got back into the van. I reclined my seat to lay on my back so I can rest, but I ended falling asleep before Ahanu or Clara could turn around and talk to me. "How bad was the kid stressing?" Ahanu asked Clara.

"He looked like you could snap him in half with how tight he was," she said with a smile. Clara started the van and  put it into gear and drove away from the rendezvous. The drive was peaceful, no sound of gunfire, no robbery, or those drones flying out from the tower. She pulled over on some back street and asked, "Where are we stopping for the night?"

"We have enough credits to buy a whole suit, but why did we sell eyes to a big shot like him?"

"Well let's look for a nice hotel on the net then." Ahanu motioned something in the air, like he was scrolling on phone yet there was nothing there. He has ocular implants, good for scanning and searching without having to carry a device. He stopped scrolling then tapped a couple times in the place.

"Booked us a suite in Urusov tower." Ahanu finally said.

"They got food there?"

"We'll stop by a restaurant on the way there, keep it cheap though."

"What about the kid?"

"We'll wake him up, or he'll just wake up when he smells the food." We stopped at a curry place. I woke up because the smell of spices was strong. The food they gave us were all in small dishes and bowls, but I couldn't even eat half of my food so I got my food to-go. Ahanu finished his food and so did Clara. She ordered some more food to-go as well. 

Arriving at Urusov tower was cool, they had a large gateway and wall to the around the parking lot with the tower itself in the center. It looked like a giant copper colored fortress. The lobby air was cool, and on the walls the company name was spelled out "Urusov Worldwide Media". We had a suite on the hundred-fifty-ninth floor, the elevator ride was quick and smooth.

The suit had two rooms, a wide main room, and a large balcony with a pool. The walls were ivory white and the floors were made of dark hardwood. "I'll take the bigger room," Clara declared. Ahanu looked at me and I could already tell I was gonna be stuck in the main room. Ahanu took my expression as acknowledgement and walked into the room on the left, Clara the right.

I walked around the room a bit more to inspect it closer, I found a remote but there was no tv anywhere to be seen. I pressed on the power button and a screen came up from the middle of the floor, "Boujee." I set the remote down and walked out to the balcony and stepped out to look at the rest of the city to take in the surrounding area. I leaned against the balcony railing and watched as the city kept moving as the moon beamed down overhead.

The lights the building gave off could almost give you the illusion of daytime if you stood under them it seemed. I looked down and saw how the other balconies were laid out, none of them was above the other they were all adjacent to each other. They looked like a bunch of small branches coming out in different directions. I stepped back and went inside the lay on one of the sofas.

I picked up the remote again and turned on the tv. It instantly switched to a channel run by Urusov, it was a news channel and they were talking about the helicopter that tried to reach the city. Most of the wreckage from earlier had been cleaned up. They showed whatever was left which was mostly just shards of metal and class next to the main chassis. 

A notable thing was that the chunk that had blood running from it was nowhere to be found, Don't need to worry about what you don't know. Still the sight brought back the scene of watching the cloud of drones shredding the helicopter apart. I set the remote down and continued to watch as they continued to tour around the remains. It was pretty boring since it was just shilling for Urusov's partner company Teradev.

They called the drones "Bits," because they were controlled by a main body and can connect to some specialized suits they manufacture. They continued to show off the suit. It didn't look like a suit at all, it was huge, the size of a building. It was quadrupedal so it was more like a mech than a suit. The people showing it off opened a case and some of the Bits came flying out and flew towards the mech. 

Something in its back opened up and the bits latched on, it resembled a porcupine in a weird way. Then the network cut away from the mech and it pointed to some of the security from the city's border. I was able to pick one of them out since they had their back turned and I could the number zero-one on their back. They didn't have their helmet on so I could that they had short cut black hair. 

They waved over some of the other guards to them and pointed downward at something. The guards leaned down and picked up something and zero-one pulled out a satchel and put whatever the others had in that. Then zero-one gave the satchel to them and they walked away. Then they turned around and left while zero-two turned around to face the camera.

Zero-two was a woman, dark skin, and she had piercing blue eyes. Maybe I should give her a call. I smirked at the thought, "Dang kid," the hair on the back of my neck raised, "To think a hottie like her would want to go out with a scrub like you." It sounded like Ahanu but something about it was off, like the tone might've been a bit too high.

"Stop messing with the kid Clara," Ahanu said, "I told you to quit trying to copy my voice too." Clara put her hand on my shoulder and stepped away towards the back of the room. Ahanu came over and sat on the other sofa in the room. "Although," he said, inspecting the face on the screen, "It would be a pretty big shame if you let that one slip away, kid."

"Oh shut up." I replied. Ahanu chuckled a little bit and then he got up and went in the same direction Clara went a moment before. I watched as he went, then I noticed that there was a bar set up. From where it came from I don't know but it was there and Clara had a small cup with pink liquid in it, it was carbonated so I couldn't tell what it was. Clara noticed I was looking over there, "I'll let you know what cyber bits I got for my voice changer after you call that girl after she's done being interviewed." My face felt hot and I quickly looked back at the tv.

I decided that I'll give her a call tomorrow. "When's the next job?" I asked, turning back to look at Ahanu.

"I'll go looking for a fixer around the underground tomorrow," he took a shot and continued, "Chances are it will be in around a couple days or so." 

"So it's just free time till then?" I asked.

"Pretty much just stay out of trouble." Finished Ahanu.

I looked back at the TV and the news channel had changed to a different story about a car crash in the downtown area, then the weather, it was going to be sunny. I looked back and Clara was looking at me with a big grin on her face, she knew I had nothing else to do for the next couple of days. I mouthed 'I hate you' and replied by mouthing out 'Awww" like I just flattered her.