Chapter 14

The servers and other equipment that had been damaged by the Arasaka Corporation representatives took us about a week to fix. Mostly because Judy was a sly fox and convinced Helm's superiors to give us another request to modernize the installed equipment. She didn't even think to tell me that she had actually become part of my group and that she would get a share of the profits. She asked me to deliver the new equipment to Lysis, and to deliver it to her apartment, because according to her, it was sacrilege to write pornographic braindances on such equipment.

And now I was quietly leaving Lysis, where all business had ended, and at a meeting I ran into a lady I knew.

"Hey, David..."

"Hello Valerie, what brings you to such a..."

I swung my hand through the air as if to suggest she look around.

"...inappropriate for your status instead?"

"Hmm. so you didn't know who you were helping?"

"Helping?"

And then the puzzle in my voice finally came together and I grinned sadly and shook my head.

"So you're the one who got fired at this great place?"

"Yeah..."

She grinned sadly.

"...and I would have been out on my feet for a long time if it hadn't been for your little loan that my friend co-signed for me.

She shook her head.

"And how did you find me? And more importantly, why?"

"It's simple, I talked to Victor and he told me that you got to him through Regina."

She shrugged.

"You're not very secretive, so I called the fixer and explained the situation. Considering I had a loan agreement with very favorable terms signed by you..."

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe Regina would pass on my location. No matter how much evidence you have, she wouldn't have done it without at least talking to me."

"Hmm... Well, you're right, she sent me away, but Wakako Okada, she's not too happy with you and she easily told me, for a small fee, exactly where to find you. She's probably counting on me to try to get rid of you."

"Aren't you going to try?"

"No..."

Vee shook her head.

"...I may not be very virtuous, working in counterintelligence does change a bit what a person has going on right here..."

She tapped her temple with her finger.

"...But killing my benefactor, who paid for, even if not the best, but good enough, in my current situation, chrome. It's tempting, of course, but it could damage a reputation that doesn't even exist yet. So I'm here to personally thank..."

V bowed her body at a ninety degree angle in a very low bow.

"Thank you for your help. Thanks to you, I have a chance of getting out of my ass a lot faster. I won't forget your kindness, and if you ever need my help, you can count on me."

I nodded my head.

"I also wanted to personally sign the contract and see to it that Jackie's contract was canceled."

I shrugged my shoulders and sent her the same contract, but with the added note that she, as the perpetrator of the loan that Jacky had been forced to take out, would assume the entire debt and agree to repay the loan within a year.

"A year?"

"Can't handle it?"

I looked at her in surprise.

"I doubt you want to be mediocre, knowing you, I can tell you'll be aiming for the big leagues as soon as possible. To do that, you'll have to work your ass off, which means money will flow..."

"I was actually thinking of taking a little break from working at this pace..."

I shrugged.

"Two years?"

She nodded her head and I corrected the contract and sent it to her, after which it came back to me already signed and I nodded my head and quickly studied and signed it, thus confirming this new contract, or rather the new conditions in the old contract.

"So, you want to tell me how you got to this life?"

I shrugged.

"A banal story..."

I waved her off and walked towards the nearest restaurant we were settled in.

"...my mother died after an animal shootout on the freeway. I lost my livelihood, and I still had a semester of tuition at the Academy, but I had nothing to eat. Honestly, I didn't think about what I was doing, just got to the nearest directory and public phone and contacted Regina."

"And she just went to work with you for no reason?"

"Well, I guess she took pity on me, and gave me a couple of trial assignments to test, which were dangerous, but she probably didn't lose anything by screwing them up. So, uh."

I shrugged.

"...that's how I started working with Regina. Thank you very much, by the way."

"Me?"

"Well, you used to teach our group from time to time. Your lectures were even more useful than those of a regular lecturer. And they're the reason I haven't broken my forehead yet."

Valerie grinned.

"Glad someone was listening to me..."

"How did you end up here? I mean, I know you were fired, but why?"

"Wasn't irreplaceable enough."

She grinned sadly and scratched the red hair at the back of her head. Her blue eyes wandered around the room.

"My boss wanted to move his boss, she calculated it, as she calculated me, as a specialist who will be sent to this task and sent his thugs, who carried out the dismissal procedure."

"You couldn't say no? And yes, David, would you introduce me to your friend?"

I sighed.

"Valerie, let me introduce you to my partner, Panam Palmer. Panam, this girl's name is Valerie, she was in Arasaki Counterintelligence and sometimes lectured at the academy I attended, which is where I know her from."

"Pfft... Well, as for your question, Panam Palmer, no, I couldn't refuse. In Arasaka, you don't say no to your superiors. I've spread my legs, and I'm not proud of it, but the things you do to get a little closer to the top..."

"Pfft..."

"Yeah, yeah, you're proud and you couldn't do that, but I'm not proud. I'd do it again if it would save me from getting fired, I'd even sleep with the whole club..."

I didn't give away my attitude to Valerie's words, but I was very uncomfortable with it. She's a beautiful girl, how can you do that?

I barely refrained from shaking my head. Some of the ordinary moments of certain people's lives would never be taken for granted by me. No, I realize that not everything doesn't always happen the way we'd like it to, but still...

"I see you're not thrilled with that kind of reasoning either?"

At Valerie's question, I only shrugged my shoulders.

"It's your life and it's up to you to decide what you think is right or wrong. So you don't have to worry about my opinion."

"Well, you're right about that."

She grinned and fixed her hair.

"I don't really care what you think."

For a while we just ate and were silent until she finally spoke.

"Would you like to work with me? Wakako won't mind. well, I guess so. After all, I did some business with her when I worked for Arasaka..."

I shook my head.

"I'm not considering joining anyone at all yet, and working for Wakako..."

I shook my head again.

"I have a beef with the Claws, or rather they have a beef with me. I don't give a shit about them."

"I see. Too bad, I was hoping to work with someone who understands a little bit about how to work."

I smiled sadly. No, if she'd offered me this revelation about having sex with everyone for profit, I'd probably have at least considered working with her. Still, in David's memory, she was a really nice person. But not now, when after her story I'd be afraid that she'd sleep with someone and stab me in the back.

And considering that this is not a game at all and here she already has a certain mindset of a corporate girl who sees nothing wrong in the fact that her boss sent her to kill her boss...

I wonder why in the game if you play as a corporat nothing like that was seen in the decisions of the protagonist?

I can see why, though.

It's how much heavier the game had to be made to not only insert a couple of different phrases related to the backstory, but also the decisions dictated by this backstory.

I think there was something like that though...

But not with the Protagonist, but with some corporate girl, after whose help she comes to the hotel and has GG in all positions, thus showing that for her sex is just sex and the ability to say thank you for saving her skin.

A call from Regina pulled me from my thoughts.

"Uh-huh?

It's a good thing that conversations now don't require speaking messages out loud.

"David, I've got some news, there's an ex-corporate girl looking for you.

"Already found it..."

"Hmm... does that bode well?"

"Maybe..."

My image shrugged.

"...but not now. I just loaned her friend some money to save her life and she decided to take the debt. That's all, and she's trying to lure me to another fixer."

"Seriously?"

"Uh-huh...

"And to whom?"

"To Wakako, she said while still in Arasaki, she had contacts with her and expects to work for her now."

"Well, I wouldn't mind if you decided to run a couple errands for Okado."

"No, I won't. It is better to work with one fixer, but be completely sure that you will not be thrown away, and in case of anything and help will send, than to rush from one fixer to another and end up with nothing alone with death."

"I see..."

We fell silent.

"Listen, I'm supposed to meet up with Bestia in a couple days, do you want me to mention you to her?"

"No..."

She grinned.

"You don't want to be a celebrity?"

"Well, why not? it's nice to be famous. For example, I'm already famous now, you get orders for me, and they all pay well enough. But working with Bestia."

"Why, she's the Queen of Postmortality..."

"Uh-huh...

My image nodded its head, and it did so in a snide manner. The girls were silent, too, seeing that I was talking to someone. The girls were silent too, seeing that I was talking to someone.

"...and she's also rumored to be a schemer who prefers to use solos in the dark. And you know I don't like that very much. I like to work fully aware of what I need to do, how I need to do it and in what time frame."

"That's right. you should not have taken the nickname Quiet, but Zanuda, by the way, it's not too late to try to change it."

"No, thank you, I'm fine with that."

Regina nodded her head.

"All right, you gonna work today?"

My image scratched my cheek thoughtfully.

"Anything interesting?"

"Well, uh. we need to get data from one of Malstrom's databases. According to my information they have become too closely cooperating with the Scavengers and are preparing some big and very loud deed after which there should be an explosion of used chrome on the black market."

I sighed. In reality.

"I'll do it, give me the address. Work quietly as always?"

"Yeah. (chuckles)"

"Murder?"

"It is desirable that they didn't realize that someone was at their base, but if anything, a simple robbery will also do. The main thing is that they don't realize what it was all about."

"Roger that, I've just recruited a Rauner, let's try out his powers..."

"You got a new addition to your team?"

"Yep, still not very comfortable using off-the-shelf daemons all the time, there should be a raner on the team as well, who if, if anything, can hack the system...

"I'm glad you've come to that realization, because I was thinking of putting someone else on your service. Do I know who you've decided to work with?"

"Alvarez from Helms, we're on a temporary deal for now and we'll see."

"Okay, I'll text you the details right now."

My image nodded, and the connection broke.

"Valerie, I'm sorry, but we have an assignment..."

I gestured to the waiter and asked him to count us out.

"There's no way to back out?"

Valerie folded her arms under her breasts, raising them slightly. And honestly, if we weren't fucking Panam like rabbits every night, I might well be tempted by this sight. But I don't have spermotoxicosis and don't expect to, which is good...

"No. Not an option. It's not our day off, so we can work even at night in case of an order."

"Huh? But you're solo."

"Exactly, and to do well solo you need a reputation and lots of orders..."

I got up and discounted Judy's message and paid, after which Panam and I left the restaurant...