Chapter 78

I woke up again to the ringing of the bell...

"What is it with all of you people?!"

However, despite my violent reaction I can say that I still managed to get some sleep, and even slept... So after lying in bed for half a minute, I answered the call.

"I'm listening."

"Quiet? It's Dakota."

Interesting...

"Uh-huh?

"I have an order for you. Interested?"

"What do I need to know?"

"I need to get this girl out of trouble. She's a great technician, I'd say the best in the wastelands, but the problem is, she has absolutely no choice in who she works for. So she's in trouble."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Rescue her and bring her to me. Hopefully that will at least convince her to work through me as her fixer."

I sighed.

"Fixer's wishes?"

"I want it to be loud. but the girl herself, and maybe her car, unharmed. But she has to realize that a lot of people had to be killed for her, even if they were Spirits. And the fault lies with her, because she doesn't know how to choose who to work with."

I hummed.

"So louder?"

"Exactly."

"Okay, I'll take it, although it's a little bit not my profile, but I have a subordinate who likes to work loudly and for her such an order will be just a gift from above."

"All right, I'll throw in the details."

The connection broke and I got a message almost immediately with the details of the order.

"Iris?"

I blinked in surprise. The girl was almost nomadic. She'd been a frequent guest of Aldecaldo's even before my arrival in the clan, and after my "enthronement" she had managed to fix a lot of things here. But this fool really doesn't know how to choose who to work with and who not to work with, as she is now with the Stilettos.

I sighed and stood up leisurely.

Glancing at the clock I realized that lunch had recently ended... well, the girls had a couple of meals in their special containers, so they weren't hungry. That's good...

I quickly dialed Becca.

"Uh, David?"

"Sunshine, hi..."

"Hey, is something wrong?"

"Well, uh. not exactly, where are you now?"

"Just, uh. patrolling around the clan."

"All right, come back. There's a job for you."

"For me?"

"Yeah. we're gonna have to go loud and special effects."

"You're not kidding me, are you?!"

"No..."

"Awesome! I'll be there in fifteen minutes!"

I grinned and disconnected the connection before finally leaving my room.

"How'd you sleep, Lucy?"

I saw the girl in the small living room, which had also been adapted as a workroom à la raner's office due to the very comfortable chairs and the possibility of installing bathtubs for emergency cooling.

"All right. Uh-huh.

"Of course, in my arms."

I grinned good-naturedly.

"I don't know what you mean..."

"Oh, come on. even tired, I'd determine if it was Kiwi, Judy, Panam or Becca who crawled into bed with me. But since it wasn't any of them. that leaves you."

Lucy looked away.

"I... you're not mad?"

"No..."

I walked over to her and caught her chin with my fingers and turned her head slightly lifting her face to which I immediately leaned in and kissed her briefly on the lips.

"I'm glad you're taking steps toward building our relationship. And I guess I'm the one who should be apologizing."

"А?"

"How about this..."

I smiled warmly at her.

"A girl like that in my bed and I slept like a log..."

"Pfft... It's okay. I didn't mind just snoozing in a log cuddle."

"That's good... I'm gonna need a ranger and a driver... you want to come with me, Panam and Becca?"

"Is it something serious?"

"Nah..."

I shook my head.

"...just need to monitor the situation and hack into the Stilettos' computers. Maybe you can find their bases to make a little extra money."

"Okay, uh. I'm gonna go get ready."

"Uh-huh...

Lucy left, and I also started getting ready and went into our little armory. I got myself a set of throwing knives, a pistol with a silencer, and my tonfa energy blades. Becca showed up when I was almost fully dressed in my costume.

"Hey... you said loud and tasteful!"

"Yes, but the goal is rescue and the girl must survive. Which means before you go loud I'll have to get inside, scout the situation, and get into a defensive position."

"Hrm..."

Becca chewed her lip unhappily, but after a couple seconds, she stared intently at my face.

"You'll leave them all to me, won't you?"

"Anyone who will not endanger the life and health of the target."

"At least this way."

She sighed, and I jumped a couple times, making sure that no component was making any unnecessary noises, and headed for the exit. In the meantime, I called Panam.

"I'm listening to you..."

"Panam, I need your ass as well as your driving skills."

"А?"

"I need you to drive me and the girls to the place and then help me get back."

"Okay, uh, five minutes. and I'll be ready."

I nodded and disconnected the connection, and five minutes later we were already loading into the car.

"Panam, get the address. Iris Tanner is there, she must be rescued... Get the details..."

And texted all the girls the details of the order.

"Iris? What's she doing there anyway?"

"You're working for the wrong people."

"You think she's got stilettos now?"

"Well..."

I shrugged.

"...from what Dakota told me, no. She just picked the wrong people to do their favors."

"Uh..."

"It's simple..."

I decided not to torture Panam, who just didn't understand how this could be.

"...she worked without a fixer. She looked for orders herself, kept track of the terms and conditions."

"Is she totally nuts?"

Lucy looked at me in surprise.

"When we get her out of the Steelers, we'll know if she's the right one. Still, I had a good impression of her personally..."

"Yeah, we do too."

The girls nodded their heads.

Our car had reached its destination and I got out of it and slowly made my way to the Stilettos' base that Dakota had tipped me to. Lucy was there to provide us with communications.

"I'm off..."

And having said that, I activated my sandi at a speed fast enough to be undetected by normal sentients, even if they have chrome. And the active defense systems shouldn't be able to spot me.

It was a dump...

One of many landfills in the expanse of wasteland near Knight City...

But the Stilettos had cleared it a bit, creating a kind of narrow paths that led in a tangled labyrinth toward several dilapidated shacks. The huts were not dilapidated, but rather shoddily built.

Naturally on the way I put in all the slivers, through which Lucy will be able to hack both the Stilettos themselves and their few equipment. Except there was no purpose here...

"Ladies, there is no purpose. Repeat, there is no target. Snowflake, your job is to hack into everything you can reach. Find me where they're holding our target."

"Roger that, Tihonja."

"Bookwoman, you can start the fun as soon as Snowflake gives the go-ahead.

"I'm already burning with anticipation..."

"You burn, but Tihonja won't be using his hydrant with you tonight."

Panam commented rather snidely that Becca won't be getting into my bed anytime soon, as she and Kiwi still prefer to be alone with me. It's only when it's Judy's turn that she agrees to let Becca into bed with us. That said, she de comes and when it's Becca's turn, it's Becca's turn.

I noticed the cameras go off and grinned as I activated the sandi and shifted so I could control Becca. Still, she needs to be covered. Leaving her alone with the enemy, no matter how much I believed in her, would be foolish.

"I'm done. Bookworm, go!"

"I'm not your dog..."

But despite her words, Becca climbed out of the car and pulled two guns out of the trunk. I raised an eyebrow at that, but since none of them saw me, my unspoken question went unanswered.

However, when Becca with a wide grin from ear to ear walked directly towards the first opponent I understood everything...

She just needed to relieve the stress, and Stilettos opponents are frankly disgusting, so two guns is even overkill...

Becca just kept walking and shooting.

One shot, one dead body.

For Becky, it was just a walk...

Actually for me something like that would be a walk, and Becky's skills are no secret to me, but it's one thing to know what she can do, and another to see her take down an entire gang cell at random. And it makes you wonder...

"Interesting..."

"Hmm?"

Lucy was the only one who commented on my statement.

"I'm just wondering how much I don't understand your capabilities at all? Not underestimating, but just not understanding? That you're all strong enough and self-sufficient enough, but, uh. but to see it like that.

I shook my head.

"Well, there's a reason I'm always fighting!"

Becca finally joined the conversation, while I continued to shift slightly away from her.

"In the back."

One word from me and Becca turned sharply and rolled away from the possible line of fire and managed to shoot and kill the very Stiletto who could be a danger to her.

"Careful..."

"Well, I'm so relaxed for two reasons. first of all, they're not good opponents. It's like I'm in a shooting gallery on minimum difficulty..."

Becca shook her head.

"...and the second is that I'm not alone. I know you're out there, watching over me, and the cameras are moving again, so Snowflake is in control, and she would have warned me a second later than you. And Stiletto wouldn't have been able to do anything in that time."

"I'm certainly glad you're relying on us..."

"Who else am I supposed to rely on?"

"She's right, Tihonya, once upon a time, almost in a past life, we didn't have such a good relationship in another group. But relying on each other to get the job done was commonplace. You're the one who can do it solo. Not many people can do that."

"You've got me all hyped up..."

I shook my head.

"In the meantime, I've been thinking about the fact that I should run you all through these kinds of orders as a primary contractor. Just to realize the possibilities of what you're capable of. no, but to realize, but to confirm it for myself."

"Do you need it?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna make you go through operative training first, just to make me feel better when I send you into combat..."

"Well. Personally, I'm not looking to go into battle. I got a couple demons that can help me even in a combat situation."

"Well, uh. we'll see, but until you finish your Ops training, I'm not letting you into combat."

"We get it."

"Girls, we should change Tikhona's call sign. I think Daddy will be just right for him..."

Becca decided to snicker.

"Ew! Bookworm! We're sleeping with him!"

"Well, uh. incest runs in the family."

"Snowflake..."

Panam tried to counter them.

"Girls. let's not go to extremes."

"Oh, come on, I was kidding."

Becca grinned and shot another Stiletto...