Chapter 23

I opened my eyes...

"What's up, Vic?"

"I've replaced part of your torso muscles, it will take another operation to replace all your muscles. You can come back in three days. Naturally, no overexertion, but a light warm-up is not forbidden.

I nodded my head.

"What about Sandy?"

"I wouldn't recommend it until you've replaced all your muscles. It's not chromium, I don't put restrictions on it, so only after all the muscles have been replaced. Just don't forget to take your medications for your bones and ligaments. I do injections during surgeries to strengthen them, but..."

"I don't forget..."

I nodded my head.

"That's good... Now you're free to go."

"Uh-huh...

I got up from my chair and headed out. I should have gone to Misty's store to pick up Judy and Panam, but as I approached it, I realized it wasn't going to be that easy.

"You fucked me up! Can't you be a little more considerate?! I'm your girlfriend, by the way! You hear me?! Me, not V!"

I peered through the glass window of the door and made sure everyone was there now, so I didn't hesitate and went inside the store.

"And you spend ten times as much time with her as you do with me!"

"But, Misty, I'm working."

Jackie looked confused and slightly annoyed.

"Working?! You?! You're a fucking dreamer! You want to be a legend! And you don't do shit! You're just a fucking name-caller! What are you doing to be a legend?! Why don't you save up for a better chrome?! Do you do at least three jobs a week? Do you have a good reputation with the fixers?!

I shook my head.

Misty's gone.

"David, did Vic get free?"

I looked at Vee and nodded at her.

"Yeah, he's free now."

"Okay..."

The girl walked past everyone in the room. As she passed me, she supposedly accidentally blew her long scarlet hair, which smelled like something citrusy, at me. Oh, damn...

"Uh, David?"

Misty looked back at me lost and I was surprised to see that she was slightly embarrassed.

"Hi again Misty, Jackie..."

I just nodded to the latter. He gave me a much frownier nod and a very unfriendly look.

"What are you doing here?"

He even tilted his head slightly forward to look at me in a sort of looming manner.

"Me? I'm here for the girls. we have plans for tonight."

"Here take them and prova..."

"Jackie Wells! This is my store! Panam and Judy are my friends! David is my friend! Okay. What. Don't. Dare. Talk. S. Nimi. In. Takom. Tone. Bye. You. In. My. Store."

She literally said the last phrase in words, in a way that made it clear she would not tolerate arguments.

"Misty! They're messing with your head!"

"What?!"

"That's right! Working the way they do. when to live?!"

"Well, actually, we have enough time and money to live."

Panam intervened in the conversation.

"Yes, I even send decent sums to my grandparents, and I have enough to live on afterwards. Movies, restaurants, entertainment centers, discos... We go to all of them regularly."

"Uh, uh. what about the bar?"

Jackie was clearly confused.

"Why? None of us are interested..."

I shrugged.

"We'd rather go skydiving..."

He said it, and then he stopped talking.

"Girls, we haven't tried this yet..."

"Hmmm... I'm in. Especially while you're going through the procedure and Vika, you can't go on a mission, but to have a little fun that way..."

Panam nodded her head.

"I don't mind either..."

Judy nodded her head.

"Man, I want one too..."

Misty bit down on the nail of her thumb.

"Hey, can you take me with you?"

I shrugged.

"Cone..."

"I'll take you myself!"

Misty looked at Jackie, quickly typed something into the terminal and sighed sadly.

"You don't have enough money. A couple thousand a man."

"Huh?!"

Jackie was very confused at the cost of a parachute jump, and I was surprised. Still, the money is not small, some chrome of past generations can be bought for less.

"Uh, David?"

Panam looked at me uncertainly.

"Oh, come on. I'm not gonna put some of my own savings toward one jump for the four of us?"

"That's right..."

Judy nodded her head.

"...we're taking Misty skydiving tomorrow."

"I couldn't..."

"Be quiet..."

Panam silenced Misty.

"...you're our friend, so paying for this kind of entertainment for you once won't cost us a fortune. Well, David won't. Right, David?"

"Yes, Panam, I won't be poor."

I grinned.

"Misty, Panam will send you a pick-up time tonight. As well as your preferred style of dress. Still, your casual clothes are probably not suitable for jumping.

"Okay, uh. thank you."

Misty nodded gratefully at me and then showed Jackie her tongue.

"See what a guy's supposed to be like?"

"You're fucking comparing me to him. You like him that much?! Then go to his harem and fuck him, you stupid asshole..."

Boom!

I took one step closer to Jackie, and with a swipe of my hand I brought him to the floor.

"Jackie, no one's claiming your girlfriend. No, Misty's nice, and if she were free and I was free, I'd probably try to have a relationship with her. But that's a lot of assumptions."

I shook my head.

"So you get up now, apologize to her, and tomorrow you buy her flowers and take her to a restaurant tonight. And if you don't have any money, just do the job."

"Tz..."

Jackie slowly stood up.

"David, thank you, but you shouldn't have... Jackie. he's like that. but I love him for who he is."

I shrugged.

"It's your relationship..."

She nodded gratefully at me.

"...but skydiving doesn't cancel it out."

Misty nodded and with a sunny smile at me she walked over to Jackie and with a sigh took him over to the chair she sat him in.

"I'll get some ice..."

The girls and I didn't wait for the conversation to continue and just left Misty's store and went to get my future Behemoth. The one I had my heart set on buying.

"Are you hitting on her?"

Judy asked the question as soon as Torticus picked up speed.

"No, uh. she's not my type."

I shook my head.

"But I had to put her boyfriend in his place."

"Well, none of us are going to argue here..."

After these words of Panam, we drove in silence. And the first words as soon as we arrived at the seller's place, which was a transportation company, also owned by her. And Behemoth used to serve them faithfully, but the time had come and they decided to get rid of him.

"It's junk..."

"I don't know much about cars, but I have to agree with Panam. Even to my layman's eye it is clear that this is junk, not a car."

I shook my hand and walked over to the engine compartment, which the sales rep opened at my request. Surprisingly, he didn't try to make the car look better than it was, but simply complied with my requests.

"Okay, the engine's in passable condition... some tweaking, some changing..."

I nodded my head.

"...but all in all, the car runs... can you get it up on the elevators?"

The man nodded and pressed a button and lifted the Behemoth, after which I scanned the undercarriage and everything was about the same. Sure, it's far from new, but I wouldn't call it beat up. And that's exactly what I need.

"Twenty-five?

"No bargaining. It's either forty or you walk out of here with nothing."

I sighed and paid the man the required amount, and he handed me the license to the car. I immediately started the car and climbed into the driver's seat.

"Uh..."

"Yes Panam?"

I looked at her carefully.

"Do you have a license?"

"Bought it a couple months ago."

"And you're driving?"

"Yeah..."

"Okay, uh. I'm on my Tortilla."

"I'm with Panam."

Judy quickly decided who she would go with. I wasn't going to insist, though; instead, we drove to Judy's apartment, where we decided to stay until the next day. I got out of the Behemoth and walked around it, taking another look at the work to be done.

"You regret it already?"

Panam looked at me with a chuckle.

"No..."

I shook my head.

"Assessing the work front..."

"And how's that?"

"Well, uh. I think I can do it in a couple months. Although, considering I'm working solo, six months."

"Will you need my help?"

Now Panam's gaze was attentive, if not serious.

"I think so... but we need to see if we can hack into something and get the data first, or if we can just search and try to buy..."

"Which is what?"

"Nuclear reactor..."

"А?"

All the new avis run on miniature nuclear reactors. And we need one if we're gonna power your clan.

"Is that, uh. too much?"

"No..."

I shook my head.

"It's not too much, it's exactly what we need, but we'll have to stockpile fuel for a couple years. Although you can get them through the fixers, like the reactor..."

I scrunched my nose thoughtfully.

"That's an idea, by the way."

"А?"

"We should contact Regina, maybe she knows where to get a rector and fuel for it?"

"Uh... well... it's really easier that way."

"Yes, but you'll still need reactor data, because if it goes down, who's going to repair it?"

"Well. if we find the reactor, we'll look for the data, there's also the connection and maintenance..."

I nodded my head at Panam's words.

"Hey, you, hurry up!"

Judy distracted us from our conversation and beckoned us to follow her, which we soon did once we were in her apartment.

"Okay, I don't have any food at home, so I suggest we order pizza..."