Cyber 2

Cyberpunk New Game plus

Save File David

By BigTofu

David Martinez

Viktor had given Gloria a clean bill of health, but with the caution that she would need to keep it easy for at least a week. If she couldn't keep things easy for a week it could rip her stitches or put her body in an even worse condition. It was a good thing that Vik was one of the good docs around. The man didn't press us to get new ribs to replace the busted ones or anything. He did us a huge favor and I would forever be in his debt. For now, though, I collected all of the information he could give me.

Gloria fell asleep halfway through his lecture, I made sure to listen until the end. Once everything was set and I had the meds, I went and collected Gloria. It didn't take much for me to wrap her in the EMT jacket and pick her up in a princess carry after paying Vik the entire sum of what was owed. He knew where I got the eddies from but didn't ask any questions and gave us an invite to come back. Naturally, I said of course and took the man's deets because only a gonk wouldn't take a legendary ripper docs information. And hell, if I did decide to get some chrome installed, he was the exact one I would want, man had golden fingers.

Would need to see if I couldn't get him on retainer, it would be good if I could have him on call once I put a crew together.

Well, with those plans in mind, I had Becca give us a ride even as I carried Gloria out of Viks shop princess carry style. The milf complained and blushed the entire way, even during the car ride as I had her sit in my lap, the car seat pushed as far back as it could go to give us leg room. After getting her deets and delivering a toe-curling kiss, I let Becca go and carried Gloria and our stuff up to our apartment. This time the rent was paid since I had collected the eddies and the door opened with no problems. A hot synth meal and some light tunes were all it took to bed after a nice bath.

Waking up and rolling over, I realized that at some point, I had removed my exo-frame and forgot to plug it in. That was alright though because I wouldn't need it until later today. Not when the first half of my morning would see me taking care of Gloria and working on my tech.

Gloria shifted her sleep and curled into my chest more, the feeling of her warm body shifted my mental drive. With a groan, I had to push those thoughts away for now as I remembered how long David and his mother's been sharing the bed. The kid could never remember a time that he wasn't sharing a bed with his mother. The apartment was so small and I made a promise right then and there that I would get us a far better place. Gloria shifted again and I just couldn't see Gloria as my mother. She was warm and plump in all of the right places with a hole in her heart that I would gladly fill. Pulling her closer, I hit a mental snooze on my alarm and went back to sleep.

The shifting in my chest woke me this time, I woke to find the lady in my arms crying silently, her shoulders shaking with each sob. Yeah, that track, brush with death would realign everyone's view on life. It was a good thing that little gun gremlin was there and was so cool with going at it like rabbits. Wasn't even in this world twenty-four hours and I was not only already zeroing fools, but screwing the timeline six ways from Sunday. Gloria should have died, but snap judgment and quick thinking kept her alive and I had met Rebecca far sooner than later. I had busted my nut and post-nut clarity had helped a lot in settling my mind and nerves, now I just had a mission and some goals. Alot would need to be done before I could deliver on the task asked of me by Johnny Silver hand, but that was for later. For now, I had to comfort the crying woman in my arms.

Pulling her closer, I ignored the stiffening of her shoulders while rubbing her back. Gloria cried even harder and all I could do was sigh and hold her to my chest. We stayed that way for a time until she was all cried out and I was alright with that. Once Gloria had cried herself back to sleep, I decided to swap myself out with a pillow and went to prepare some breakfast. There were only two eggs left in the fridge and I tried not to think about how expensive the damn things were. Pancake mix was still cheap and easy so I didn't have to look far for that. What did grunt my gears was the fact that I couldn't trust the water or that I had to buy something from the damn vending machines.

After everything was ready, even the realH2O that I got from the vending machine, I went to wake Gloria. Before we got to the food, I filled a bucket of warm water along with some soap.

Gloria stared at me, then narrowed her eyes, "What are you about to do with that?"

With a snort, I still walked over to the bed, our gazes locked, "Sponge bath, you don't have enough strength to take a shower yet."

She pursed her lips at me, a light blush on her cheeks, "I can do that myself."

"You sure?" I asked while placing the bucket down in front of the bed. Standing there, I waited for her answer, it only took me a second to figure out why I didn't get an immediate reply. That was because I was far too intense and I was screwing up the vibes, forcing myself to relax. I allowed my shoulders to droop a little, then added some slouch to my posture before walking over to the little table.

Sitting down and eating my food, I pretended I didn't hear as Gloria grunted and cursed as she shuffled herself around to get clean. Halfway through my meal and trying to think about what I wanted to put my current charges into, I got tired of Gloria's fumbling attempt at cleaning herself.

"Alright, that's it," I stated as I put down my plate and got up. I walked over and tried to look Gloria in the eyes, but she was blushing far too hard and trying not to look at me, "Let me help you."

"Okay," Gloria spoke up, voice too low for me to hear, but the hand that was holding out the sponge was all I needed. With a sigh, I knelt and took the sponge in a hand, then dipped it down in the warm water and soap. Gloria went quiet as I sat on the edge of the bed and went to work wiping her down. Starting from her legs, I worked on her toes, calves, and thighs while I worked my way upwards.

Skipping past her inner thighs and shifting the bandages, I wiped down her abdominals, then back and worked my way up to her shoulders. When I got to her shoulders, I pressed my fingers into the knot of muscles and worked them in circles. Gloria let out a gasp, then moaned as I worked over her body. I kept at it until I felt the knots in her shoulders loosen, then worked my way down her arms. Then flipped her over, pressed my bare chest to her back, and then worked over her stomach again, and up her chest. Keeping myself focused, I crushed the urge to tweak her nipple and scrubbed her upper chest and then arms once more.

"Thanks, D," Gloria blushed as I let her hands go and allowed her to pull her shirt back on. If she didn't notice it yesterday, then she was sure to notice it today. "Are you, are you planning on going back to school?"

With a hum, I brought over her breakfast and handed it over while ignoring the peaked nipples standing at attention in her light blue shirt. Leaning against the wall next to the bed and looking out the window, I finally came to a decision, "Yes, today will be my last day. I have a data shard that can handle a few petabytes. There are a few choice bits I would like to get my hands on and share with you."

"D, I… I want you to finish school," Gloria spoke with a sigh.

A grimace almost flashed across my face but I forced it down, and spoke, "You have already sacrificed enough and I refuse for you to sacrifice any more." Then I shrugged my shoulders, "I want this burden off your shoulders. The sooner I can lift it the better."

"You're not a burden D, you're my son," Gloria lifted her hands and then plopped them onto the bed in front of her, "I have some time saved up so I can use that to keep my job secure, but what about money D?"

Now I shrug, "I know of another Animal location and I plan to ghost the place, after visiting the school."

"And how long can you keep this up before they plan an ambush?" Gloria growled in frustration.

"That's what I hope," I answered and the look I gave her had to be far too intense because she looked away. "They hurt you and killed me, they won't survive my wrath…"

"Damnit D, you're not dead, I'm looking right at you," Gloria stated with clear exasperation. Instead of answering, I shrugged, grabbed a shirt, threw it on, and then went to my exo-frame.

"Get that time off from your job, and if they don't want to give it, let me know," I said and then equipped my exo-frame. I made it to the door, but Gloria's speaking up stopped me in my tracks.

It was easy to spot the sorrowful note in her voice as Gloria spoke out and stopped me, "You're all that I have D, you're all that I have."

Tapping my hand on the door frame twice, I looked back, "You're all that I have too."

[Ten Minutes Later…]

Sitting on the train, I slowly released a breath that I was holding as two charges went into Borderlands. Knowledge of bandit tech, Maliwan elemental weaponry, and even Hyperion stabilization all filtered in and out of my brain. Even basic hover technology was provided, but what stroked my fancy was the medical technology along with the real Holy Grail. The digi-construction technology tree of borderlands was just filled with all kinds of interesting things, not only could you store and pull ammo, but you could do the same with vehicles.

Settling myself with some more controlled breathing, I placed a charge in programming which brought me to three charges used for today. With the settling of that knowledge, I placed another in Call of Duty Advanced Warfare exo-frames. Controlling my breathing again, I finally opened my eyes at the ping of the train systems, it was time to go. I would save my last charge for some other time.

Standing up and walking off the train, I dusted myself off, checked to make sure I still had my wallet, then walked the rest of the way to school. While passing familiar buildings and ignoring the jive calls, I felt something tingle along my senses and I couldn't stop myself from looking up and around. I noticed the hair first, then the cig, legs for days, and then that booty. Tearing my eyes away with a grunt, I had no time for a Remona Flowers in my life right now, I could just have Becca introduce us later. Now though, I had things to do and would see them done as I walked into Arasaka Charter High School.

Yeah, it was time to get down to business.

Once I was on school grounds, I made my way to class, took the bullshit from the teacher about detention, and got into my spot. Gloria had paid a pretty fucking penny to get me back into this hell hole. So I was going to use it for all its worth and I knew exactly what I needed.

Ignoring the bully wannabes, I put on my gear and opened a standard sandbox, it was time to crunch some code. The school had the policy to wipe computers among other things, but David already had the programs that he ran in tandem with his connection to the school network. Tearing the little script that David had made apart, I built it up bigger and better, then streamlined the edges to help secure my terminal before unleashing it amongst the school's servers. Skim some eddies, and collect some data, so I might as well get a parting gift to keep on my way out.

Seeing the warning for the coursework, I blasted through that with David's already impressive knowledge, then got back to my coding. With various data folders open, I was transcribing the knowledge from Borderlands onto the data shards. Gloria would need all the medical tech that she could get her hands on and I could just say I skimmed it from the school.

When I was done, I checked the clock and found that we only had five minutes before the bell rang for lunch. Getting up and stretching, I checked my terminal and smiled at the four data shards waiting for me to take. Checking them over, I slotted each into my neural port one at a time and made sure the information was correct. Since Gloria already had her own EMT training, I just kept things on that side basic. No point in doing full medical treatment so soon. I can just say I knocked over Bio-technical labs later and stole the skill shards for her.

The hyper-advanced but basic medical tech and understanding would be good for now. Since I wasn't about to go to lunch, I hung around like usual but made sure my terminal was wiped off all backups or anything showing what I did. Right on time, the bullies showed themselves, it was showtime.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little street rat," The lead bully sneered. "Look at the little street rat, heard his mother was whoring herself out to pay his school fees."

Okay, that's it. I moved, the sandevistan activating on reflex. The world slowed but it was still far from a crawl as I gave one punch, a kick, and then the fat one a closeline. They did not survive their chance encounter with the real world. Walking over to their sprawled-out forms, I plugged my neural jack into their neck ports and cleaned out what little allowance they always bragged about. It didn't take long for my little program to shred through the little security he thought made him invincible.

My motions paused as 80k appeared in my account, shit. After wiping any traces and standing up, it was time to go. Making my way down the hall, I played everything cool and made it to the school gates before I heard the first shouts of the security guards. That was my cue to boogie, and I jumped the gates as they tried to slam shut in my face.

Activating my wiper program, I took off at increased speeds, the sandevistan in my exo-frame pushing my body to the limits. Even though I was watching where I was heading, I kept an eye on the overclock meter, it would be the height of foolishness to burn myself out here. Once I was a good enough distance away from the school, I deactivated the sandevistan, then walked onto the train as if nothing happened. Sitting down, I checked my haul and could only shake my head at the little bastard for walking around with eighty grand on his person like it was nothing. It was even more laughable how easy his ice was to crack. Keeping ten grand, I sent the rest to Gloria.

Sticking a hand into the inner pockets of the EMT jacket, I pulled out the four data shards and smiled. Putting them back into the secure pocket, I looked up and checked the lane. I would need to transfer since this was heading towards upper Chinatown. Getting up and heading towards the door since I didn't want to head into Tiger Claws territory, I stood and waited for the train to come to a stop.

*faint click*

Sum'bitch, my sandevistan activated full power as I turned around at blazing speeds as someone had the sheer balls to pick my socket. Turning around with my fist already raised and flying out to crush this bastard's face, I had to stop myself inches from her face when I finally got a proper look. Guess fate had it out for me because the school's basic Arasaka key shards were still mid-flight into Lucy's hand. With a snort and roll of my eyes, I snagged my shard and broke the chip since I wouldn't need it anymore. Then picked the ice queen up and relocated us to the back of the train car where we could get a little privacy.

The little tech pistol at the holster was pulled and then I plugged the nanowire port with some synthetic paper. Dropping the time dilation since the sandevistan was on the way to cooking my neurons, I would need to sit down and create a better buffer once I got my hands on some tools. Releasing her, I made sure to take two solid steps back, just in time because her leg came up quickly. When she noticed that I was out of reach, she pulled a twist, her hidden hand going into her jacket pocket.

Back against the door, I watched with a raised brow, "are you finished."

She snorted, leaned against the other wall, and eyed me as if I wouldn't notice her trying to clear her nanoport.

"So what do you want, kid?" she asked with a glare on her face.

"Well, first off, hi, I'm David, and you owe me half of today's take for hurting my feelings and putting me through all types of untold trauma, blah, blah," I said with a chuckle.

She gave me a look, then her face shifted to a deadpan glare. "You're going to try and shake me down."

"Yup," I replied, popping the P. "Now, this is the part you introduce yourself, happily pay me and we part ways amicably."

She snorted, "And what makes you think I'll share my name?"

"ohh that's easy, due to all the pain and suffering you have put me through, it's only right you share your name." I answered with a smirk on the edge of my lips. "or I can call you the terrible ice queen."

*snort* "Nice try, now take a nap," she replied, then her brows pinched when nothing happened to my cyber wear.

As if I wouldn't shore up my defenses, smiling at her, "Ohh naughty, naughty, little miss net runner."

Her eyes narrowed at me, "you got pretty good ice for a gonk you a corpo kid?"

Now it was my turn to snort, "please don't add insult to injury, I'm just good and you're just not. I'll just call you pick-socket then."

She flipped her hair over a shoulder, then pushed her bust forward. As if I would peek at her now, my hormones did not rule me. Then my eyes slid down a little, goddammit David. When my eyes shifted back upwards, I caught the smirk on her lips. Rolling my eyes, I turned to leave even as my EMT jacket shifted showing off the sandevistan Maine was probably bitching about.

From the reflection of the door window, I could see her eyes widen when the parts fell into place for her, hook, line, sinker.

She stepped forward and grabbed my shoulder, "alright, fine how about we finish this cart and split it the take 80/20."

I snorted, "70/30, I'm doing all the hard work here."

She rolled her eyes," if you can't keep up, then it's 90/10."

"deal," I answered, then made a motion of ladies first. She walked by and when I noticed the height difference, I made a mental note to fix my malnutrition because damn I was short. Shaking those thoughts away, I pinged her with my deets.

*you there*

*yeah*

*striped suit*

*I see him*

*3…2…1…now*

The world froze as I moved, none were able to react as I blitzed through. My reflexes weren't where I wanted them, but it was enough to pull this little stunt off. I had his data shard and was back in my seat before anyone could even notice.

"Not bad kid*

*You call me kid, I call you princess.*

*Urgh, my name is Lucy*

*See, that wasn't so hard.*

*Whatever, green jacket, female with a blue bag, sumo guy red tie.*

*Let's hit that triple then. *

From there it was far too easy to finish the entire cart, and as we got into the flow, I learned why it was so easy for David to fall in love with her in the anime. The damn girl was certainly on the crazy hot scale, but she also had personality. I figured this out as she tried to probe conversationally into my programming skills. We went back and forth with technical information and before we got off the tram system, it was clear she was impressed with me. Unfortunately, Lucy had her whole ice queen persona and didn't want to show how impressed she was. That was alright because I had her just where I wanted her as we got off the train and were about to part ways.

"So where are you heading now?" Lucy asked, posted up against the railing, a lit cig in her mouth.

I shrugged, "West and 3rd."

Her motions stopped, "You don't mean the Animals do you?"

My smile was sharp and dark, "They owe me a pound of flesh."

Lucy looked me up and down then scoffed at me, "You're not even a buck fifty soaking wet."

My shoulders went up and down in a shrug, "Weight doesn't matter with what I have planned."

She went quiet for a bit, then put her cig out before kicking off the wall. "I'll watch your back but I want half."

Shrugging, I turned to walk alongside her, "That's fine, it's not about the money for me."

Her brow raised, but I ignored that while handing over her cute little handgun.

"Do you have a plan?" Lucy asked after a while.

"I have half of a plan, but it's a good one." I started, then pointed a finger upwards. "No one ever pays attention to things above them."

"What… that's it?" Lucy huffed.

Turning, I smiled at her, wrapped my arm around her slender waist, then jumped.

"Aaahhhhh...."

[ Six minutes later…]

With a chuckle, I let down a very breathless Lucy with flushed cheeks. With the first jump she screamed her lungs out, but the second one had her whooping in joy. The third and fourth had her on my back asking for me to do little tricks. The upside was I figured out wall running, the downside, my gear was very much still lacking. Now though, I had enough for my next moves.

Standing at the side, I waited for Lucy to pop the code on the door and then pulled it open. Like usual, no one decided to watch the damn roof access, and, future or not, they were still human and fell into the very same predictable models of actions. Lucy was a good find, but she also fell into predictable models. I knew she was still poking at my tech's ice because I got reports now and then, but I would pretend that she wasn't checking for weaknesses or gathering information to share with Maine later.

Then again, I don't remember her giving away anything on David until Maine showed up and even then, she still kept a lot of what she learned close to the vest.

Hand in the door, I pulled hard, opening it the rest of the way. The blade Lucy had hidden in her boot was in my hand after the activation of my sandivestan. Two flights of stairs were ignored as I ran along the wall, back onto the ground and through the gangster talking in the hall towards the bathroom. The blade in my hand slid through his neck like a hot knife through butter. Remembering that I would need to take their eddies. I put the knife away and I punched the second ganger in the stomach.

Deactivating the sandevistan so it could vent heat and cool down, I caught the first body even as his friend doubled over. The first body had a hypo spray but I couldn't get his eddies. The second one on the ground had about eleven hundred on him which I split with Lucy.

Looking towards the sound, I smiled as Lucy came into the hall with a low slow walk. "Damit, warn me before you do that."

I shrugged, "Okay," then I pointed things out. "No servers but plenty of cameras. Put them down and signal me, I'll take care of the rest. Like the train."

She gave me a huff, then a nod of the head, and I was off like a bullet once more. Five more were ghosted before I reached the sixth. My arm was wrapped around his neck when I noticed sparks flying out from a few gangers as their cyber-wares short-circuited. Good, twelve people total and from start to finish and no alarms were raised.

Throwing another body onto the pile, I gave Lucy a nod as she jacked into another ganger. All in all, it wasn't that bad of a haul, out of everything I got another thirteen thousand to add to my name while also getting three more locations I would raid soon. I would need to plug more charges and build up my tech. I would also need weapons, but my Borderlands tech tree covered that along with shields, it was time to build.

With plans set, I made my decision as I checked the key locker and found six sets of car keys. With a shake of the head, I went back down into the chop shop and started popping trunks to see what goodies might be hiding inside. I found standard and substandard guns, drugs, and even a body. Checking the body out, I found he had some ID and keys to a garage at the edge of the city. The address tickled something in my hindbrain but I paid it no mind as I checked the man over. Died from a blow to the back of the head, he also was wearing Militech gear, but the name Grayson was sticking out to me even if I couldn't put a finger on why.

Before we left, I gathered all of the bodies, then dropped them in one of the vans before feeding them to the crusher. Lucy cleared the ceras for me and we were golden. With everything looted, I loaded up one of the vans and then met Lucy at the front of the building. "So what's next?" I asked, one hand on the wheel and the other searching music stations.

"Meet someone and offload these shards," Lucy replied with a small smile gracing the edges of her lips.

"Want me to drop you?" I asked to be polite as I pulled us out and into traffic.

"Sure…" Lucy answered before my implants pinged with a text packet. Putting the location into the GPS, I settled in for a decent drive. The location was on the upper East Side near Valinito territory, but where I dropped her didn't have any tags so I was fine with that.

Pulling out, I sent her a text. *I had fun, we should do this again.*

*You asking me out?*

*If that's what you want to call it, sure.*

*You're gonna have to try harder than that to get a date with me.*

*You haven't even seen me trying hard. This is just rookie stuff.*

*Well, don't you have a big head.*

*If you want to call it that, but for real. We don't even have to zero anyone, we can just hang and talk tech.*

*Inviting me into your lab already?*

*Maybe, but it's gonna take some work if you want me to be your input.*

*Later David.*

With a chuckle, I closed that chat and threw a call at the gremlin.

*David my man, what's up?!*

*Hey Becca, was checking up on you, see if you wanted to hang out.*

*Ohh. Well, I can't right now, going to see that gonk head, Maine. I heard from my girl, Dorio, he's still bitching about the gear you took.*

It was easy to hear the eye roll in that statement.

*Alright, tell him we can meet in a neutral spot and I'll pay, I don't like owing anyone.*

*I'm here, I gotta go David.*

*Later Becca.*

Hanging up, I pulled into one of the few grocery stores around and loaded up on food. Sending a quick text to Gloria made me know that she was awake and in good spirits even if she was a little miffed at how I got all the money sent to her. Ohh well, might as well rip the bandages off now instead of later. It didn't take me long to arrive at my mega building's parking lot and find some parking space closer to the elevators. Getting out, I ignored all the guns and cyber limbs trying to grab my two bags of food, then made for the elevator.

When I got out and into the hall, I found Gloria standing in the doorway to our apartment with a pensive look on her face. With a smile, I walked up to her and placed a kiss on her cheek then followed after when she made way for me to enter through the door. Putting the food away, I retreated from the kitchen after Gloria gave me a look that made my spine straighten. So instead, I made my way over to the computer desk and started my work on the data shards and the few bits of tech I brought up with me. Sitting down at the computer desk, I built myself a little makeshift workbench, uploaded my scripts, and got to work.

Cracking some optics, I stripped them and repurposed the entire fake eye while also cracking my tablet and doing the same to it. Food came and was eaten while I hummed and praised everything even as I worked with one hand. It was about an hour later when I was ready to test things and man was I nervous. I threw my hands up in the air with a finish.

(It doesn't look this clean.)

"Ohh, and what did you finish, D" Gloria asked from her spot lying on the couch.

Looking up, I looked at her with a smirk, "This is a hail mary for hopes, prayers and a dream."

"Okay, but what is it?" Gloria pressed, "You've been working on that thing non-stop since you got here."

"A little something called a digistruct device," I replied with a hum. "It's just a theory that I came across in the Arasaka archives, I've been sitting on this for some time now." Lying left a bad taste in my mouth no matter how easy it was. "It's all theoretical for them, but I only need it to work once or twice."

Now, Gloria was very much interested as she got up and came to stand by my side, "What does it do?"

"It's supposed to shift digital code into real matter, but Arasaka could never get it to work," I replied even as I got up and gave Gloria my chair.

She stared at everything with a pensive look, "I want you to put this in the closet with my work gear, there is a heavy appliance outlet you can use. Company is coming and if this works like you say it does, I don't want them to see it."

Looking at her, I waited with the tv speaking in the background until Gloria shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Then I nodded and started to move everything. The storage room wasn't large enough for another bed, but it was large enough for the table and the rest of the items hooking up. With my makeshift digistruct device set back up, I double-checked the programs and firewalls before leaving the device to build a few things. The first was a slim-sized fusion power cell that worked by combining hydrogen. The second was a more updated digistruct device like the echoHUD that you could find in Borderlands. The sooner I could get portable storage the better.

I still needed time to load in all the other tech that I wanted to be built but this would be the one time I would be able to really draw power from the building. After today, we would need to find a new place to live. Standing back, I stared in fascination as the little laser acted like a 3D printer as it built the device from the bottom up, lines of code and structure by lines of code and structure. Closing the door, I made sure that the lock was secure before throwing myself back onto the couch.

My head landed in her lap and I tried not to groan as Gloria ran her fingers through my hair. My hands curled around her waist and pulled her in close as I drank deep of her scent. Gloria's heavenly hands trailed around my ears, worked my neck, and then down parts of my upper back, all the while humming a tune that tugged at something inside of me. There were no if, and, or buts about it. I would wipe the city off the map if someone hurt my woman. Honestly, I didn't know how long we stayed like that, but what I did know was that I wasn't very happy when the bell rang and spoiled the moment.

We both got up, Gloria to get the door and me to slip into my exo-frame, I would need to either unlock the Crysis tech tree or get some decent augments. The good thing was my little upgrade spree had me also improve the exo-frame while I was at it. Sitting back down on the couch, I gave Gloria a nod, then crossed one leg over the other. The big man, Maine himself, was in the front and the anime didn't do it justice to how much cyberwear the man was packing. He was also massive at an easy six to seven feet tall, then Dorio, that fine amazon, followed him in along with Pilar, Becca, Kiwi, and Lucy right after.

Becca being the little gremlin that she was instantly jumped over the couch and latched herself onto my side. "David my man, what's up choom."

With a chuckle, I brought a hand down on top of her head and started to pet her like the little gremlin that she was. "I have a clue, but I would rather hear it from the walking borg," I stated, then shifted my focus, "Lucy, a pleasure to see you again," Then I shifted my attention to the big lady, "Tall stacked Amazon," Shifted my attention to the one with legs and the face mask, "Legs for days," Then looked at Becca's brother Pilar. "Skeleton."

Dorio snorted even as she let out a husky chuckle, a light blush on her cheeks..

Pilar busted out laughing, but my attention was shifted to the big man that took a seat across from me with a scowl on his face. "Watch it, kid, now I heard you got something of mine."

"Yeah, I bet, and from what I could tell, it was from multiple sources. Small world I guess," I replied with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Well, I want my chrome that I already paid for," Maine stated with a scowl.

With a shake of my head, I removed the petting hand I had on Becca's head, "Fortunately, it's being put to good use, but seeing from all the chrome you're packing. I did you a favor, especially with you being anything from six months to a year out from going psycho if you don't slow down on that chrome."

His gaze shifted to look at Gloria who was seated to my left, "I thought we had a deal?"

Gloria grimaced at my side, "Things happen, Maine, you should know that." Then her eyes flashed as she did something with her implants. "There, I sent your money back with a little extra."

The man scowled, but I wasn't paying attention to him as I sent Dorio a wink. She rolled her eyes at me, then leaned in closer to whisper into Maine's ear. After she finished whispering in the man's ear, Maine got a look in his eye that I ignored as I plopped my hand on Becca's head once more.

Maine looked at me and cocked his head to the side, "Kid, what crew are you running with?"

The smile I gave him was very shark-like, "No crew, I'm just an awesome solo that's just doing my part in this sinful town."

"HA!, kids got a silver tongue, don't he," Pilar chuckled out loud then did a thing with his mouth.

"Alright fine, you can keep the gear, but to make up for it, you can run with us on a job I have lined up," Maine stated with a raised brow.

"Rep?" I questioned with a raised brow.

"Yeah, rep," Maine answered with a nod of his head.

I shrugged. "Sure, but I want to partner up with the princess over there."

"Aye, what am I chopped liver?" Becca squawked.

"No, good chance you're going to be the distraction during the job. I would ask for the Amazon, but it looks like she is into toys at the moment." I replied with a shrug.

The room fell silent for half a beat before Pilar, Kiwi, and Gloria busted out laughing.

"Watch it punk, I'm giving you a shot to get your name out," Maine growled, at his side, Dorio was trying to hide her chuckles.

This time I snorted, "I already got my name out when I ghosted a few Animal chop shops, I'm just waiting for the contact."

Pilar sat up straight, hands on his knees, "Shit kid, that was you?"

My answer was a shrug, even as I held my gaze on Maine. He looked away first to look at his team, then stood up. The rest followed him as he stood. Standing up myself, I juiced the sandi for a short burst and was at the door holding it open before they could even react. When I did stop though, they did react, but I was quicker as I disarmed them, and put the weapons back on safe, while also removing all the magazines.

"No pulling weapons in Gloria's house," I stated with a smirk, and in my outstretched hand, I had all of their ammo waiting.

"Shit, kid, don't do that again," Maine growled on his way out of the apartment.

As they all left, I stopped Dorio with a touch and gave her my best roguish grin, "When you feel like you want to cuddle up to some real meat instead of cold steel, call me." Then I pinged her with my deets as she left with a deep throaty laugh.

Becca pouted at me as she held her nose high in the air, but I didn't even let her get a step out before I pulled her into a kiss.

"Let me go, you two-timing sonova."

That was all she was able to get out before she melted into my arms from the kiss. There was no hiding the giggle or the jelly legs as she left the apartment.

Kiwi gave me a nod of the head as she left and all that was left was Lucy.

Looking at her, I raised a brow, "Okay princess, how did it go trying to crack my ice?"

Lucy raised an eyebrow at me, then turned and walked away with a sway to her hips. With a smirk playing at the edges of my lips, I sent her a ping, along with the keys to her encryption. There was no point in watching her catwalk failing as she almost missed a step from the data packet I sent. Turning around, I closed the apartment door and found Gloria watching me..

"Really?" Gloria asked with a raised brow.

My brow raised in return, "You already know my answer to that unspoken question, now let's go check and see if the digistruct device is finished."

When I opened the door, we found that the new hydrogen fusion cell was finished along with the brand new digistruct device. Ohh, this was good, it was time to grind some tech and the first on the list was a set of multitools. Then I would need to finally look into upgrading my exo-frame with gravity tech, grapple hooks, and so much more.

Author Notes"

Dorio

Kiwi