Chapter 5

Stepping into the apartment I looked around...

There didn't seem to be anyone else in it. Which is good on the one hand, but on the other hand I don't know if I was being followed... or did they decide not to go for the rougher stuff like searching?

Shaking my head, I quickly undressed and showered before falling into bed. I called Regina on the way over, and she was cool about the fact that the task wasn't quite done yet. As she admitted, she'd thought I'd be kicked out of the bar, but when that didn't happen, she realized that I'd found common ground with the Helms.

Well...

I can't say I found it with all the Helms, but I found it with one particular one.

Falling asleep I woke up early in the morning, right on my alarm clock and after taking a shower I got dressed and left my apartment.

I called Judy when I was halfway to the bar and she was glad I called and said she'd meet me. As soon as I got there, I realized she just wouldn't. There was a Tiger Claws car parked exactly in front of the bar entrance and one of the gang was hovering over the guard who had let me inside the bar yesterday...

"You're a fucking doll! I'm gonna fuck you and then I'm gonna party at the club! You're all skanks and should be between a real man's legs!"

The gun was in my hands, and when I approached the gang representative, it was immediately pressed against his groin.

"Che..."

But he couldn't say anything when he saw my kind smile.

"Listen, far from being a gentleman of honor, why are you bothering my friend? She's obviously not very happy with your company. and tell your chumbas to stay out of the car and don't reach for their guns. They may kill me, but I'll blow your pod off so they won't be able to reattach any implants. Comprende?"

"Y-yes...

"And you're ready to turn around and walk out of here right now?"

"Y-yes...

"So go."

I pulled the gun away from his groin, but I didn't put it away and he slowly backed up and got into the car and leaned out of it slightly.

"I'll find you, bitch!"

"I'm not hiding... new solo, call sign Quiet and it looks like I'll start taking orders for Teague Claws soon..."

I shook my head.

"I remember you!"

The car skidded to a stop and only then did I holster my gun.

"Thank you."

The girl smiled quite welcomingly at me.

"You're welcome, I'm David, by the way."

"Vicki..."

She grinned.

"...and they're waiting for you."

"Uh-huh. I'll see you later.

I made my way to the bar and immediately ran into Judy.

"That was awesome..."

"Thank you."

I grinned and we walked to her fiefdom.

"You know, I thought about your words for a long time yesterday...well, after you left."

"And what decision did you come to?"

"I want to get revenge and already even sent a request to one lawyer and you know, he didn't even send me a rejection right after receiving the letter. So now I'm waiting for a reply..."

"That's right. You can forgive only those close to you, and the rest..."

I shake my head.

"...The rest of us have to be taught not to hurt you."

Once we got to Judy's fiefdom we got to work and we didn't bring up any difficult topics. We just talked about our hobbies. I told about David's hobbies before I got into it, that I'd pushed black brenes at the academy, and I didn't mind watching them myself. Judy suggested we look at her work, you know, the non-porn stuff.

So I agreed, but only after the job was done.

This time we worked until lunchtime after which Judy gave me glasses and a chip and I disappeared to the world for the next half hour. All because the realism of Judy's break was unbelievable.

David was a guy of skill, but his recollections of the brains said that, despite the high realism, there was always a sense of some wrongness, but Judy's brains didn't have that. She gave me first a braine of a concert by an old band, Samurai, and I immediately realized that she was a master...

In those days there was not yet the technology to record exactly brans...

"Geez, Judy, you're a magician!"

Having fallen out of the recording I spent another ten minutes just staring at the ceiling of the basement until I was finally able to voice the given thought.

"Come on..."

"No, seriously..."

I shook my head.

"...I'm scared to imagine how many tapes and music tracks you processed to get the effect just right... It's like I've been to the concert myself."

"Glad you liked it..."

Judy scratched the back of her head shyly.

"Yeah I'd say liked is a bit of a misnomer..."

"Yo, Joodsy!"

I blinked in surprise to see the petite girl from next door entering Judy's fiefdom as if she'd known her for a long time. But what was even more surprising was that she was dressed in tight panties and bra, open jacket and high boots. So her whole body, mature enough for such a small girl, was clearly visible.

"You got a boyfriend? Aren't you a girl person?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Becca!"

Judy stood up and walked over to the little one and gave her a hug, lifting her off the floor and making several revolutions around her axis.

"It's good to see you..."

The girl was placed on the floor and now I could see a genuine smile on both girls' faces.

"Me too, girlfriend, me too."

"...As for David, he's a solo who the shemales hired to help me fix the equipment."

"Does he know his way around profile equipment?"

"Nah..."

Judy shook her head.

"...but while he was fixing the server and the old computers, I was able to fix the core equipment. We were just finishing up, so I let him check out my Samurai Brain."

"Cool!"

"Well..."

I grinned.

"...Now that we're done, I should probably go."

"А?"

Judy looked a little confused.

"Judy, if you have my contact info, call me. I'll help you with both technology and assholes..."

"Okay..."

"Hey, what's up, chum, you're leaving already?"

"Well, I'm not going to interfere with girl talk..."

I shrugged and walked past Rebecca.

"Wait, tent! I'm actually here for you!"

"Uh-huh...

I nodded my head.

"Your surveillance was hard to miss, but I have nothing to say to you..."

I waved and walked on with ease avoiding the petite one's grasp I climbed the stairs and passed through the bar where I noticed all the painted girl crew except the blonde. Which meant I was scheduled for another meeting... well, or the girl decided not to join the wait at the bar.

"Regina, hey, I'm done."

Leaving the bar I contacted the fixer.

"Yeah, the Helms just texted me. They're happy with the results, so you'll get two in two days."

I nodded my head contentedly.

It's certainly less than what I got for the first mission against the Scavengers, but on the other hand there was a risk to life and if it wasn't for Sandevistan I would have had a good chance to get stuck there and maybe even die. Scavengers are losers, but even they stand a good chance against a solo loner if he doesn't have the right weapons. And I didn't.

So two grand. Assuming it's still only lunchtime...

"Regina, I can take another assignment. I'll have lunch and I'll be ready for defense and defense."

"Pfft! There's a pioneer..."

The image of Regina grinned and shook her head.

"Do you have a preference?"

I wrinkled my nose slightly.

"If there's a scavenger or animal sweep, I'd love it. I just need some cash to go to a real ripper. Cause I have a sneaking suspicion the last one wasn't a very good one."

"Hmm... Well, there's nothing on Pets in my neighborhood, but against Trashmen..."

The image of the girl nodded thoughtfully.

"There's an underground base of these freaks where they work, and I have an order to destroy it."

"Come on, man. I'm gonna eat and then I'm gonna take the Trashmen out to the garbage."

"Here you go."

The gist of the assignment was relayed to me and I nodded my head.

"Thank you, Regina, I won't let you down."

"I hope so..."

The girl's voice went from friendly to professional.

"...I gave you a very large advance on the job."

"All right, Regina, I'm gonna go to lunch and work..."

"Come on, I'm waiting for the report."

The connection was broken, and I calmly walked down the street to the nearest eatery, where I got a decent hafchik and sat down at a table. The table was free, but as soon as I took it, a blonde woman came to sit down with me in five minutes.

"And?"

"А?"

"I said what do you want from me? You're friends with that girl who looks like a little girl, right? I drew the rest of them, too, the ones who followed me, but I'm too lazy to list them. So something about you following me."

I shrugged.

"Well, uh. we're just wondering about this girl. Gloria."

"Martinez?"

"Yeah. (chuckles)"

"Tall, red hair, worked as a medical technician?"

"Yeah. (chuckles)"

"I don't know one of those..."

The girl blinked and five seconds later frowned.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Uh-huh...

I nodded my head.

"she's dead. So don't bother looking, the urn is in my new apartment waiting for me to find a scenic place to scatter it."

"And you..."

"Her son."

"Son?"

"Yeah..."

"And how did she die?"

"The animals got into a gunfight on the freeway, after which she got to the ripper, who seemed to be able to stabilize her... but as it turns out, not for long. And she died. Here we go."

I shrugged.

"Do you know about her business?"

"From where? I went to the academy until recently, all I know is that she worked her ass off. So I could pay my way through the academy."

"I... sympathize."

"Uh-huh...

I nodded my head and finally finished getting up from the table.

"Wait!"

"What?"

I looked at the girl.

"Can you meet with Man?"

"Who's that?"

"That's my boss..."

"Nah..."

I shook my head.

"...I'm working now. Then I have to rest and work again... I don't have any time to meet with left-wing reasonable people.

Having said that, I left the coffee shop and went to work after all...