Kenny raised his hat as he watched the giant gates of Hydro-Core, he sighed at the feel of several turrets trained on their RV.
"I get being more secure than sorry but all it takes is a single malfunction and we are going to be left looking like swiss cheese." Kenny said as he moved to prepare their identification documents. He himself was surprised that they still used paper in an age line this.
"And you worry too much about machinery. it hasnt malfunctioned since. Why start worrying about it now?" Ed said with a simple smile as they walked up to the front to wave at the guards that would come out of the barely open gates.
"Welcome back to HC, I hope you aren't going to beat me in another game of poker tonight. I can't lose another paycheck like that, you know." The guard would say to Kenny as the old man simply shrugged at the question before handing over their papers.
"Hey, Michael. I hope you haven't gone and sold off those hallucinogens that I payed for." Ed said as the guards tossed a small plastic packet at the ever transforming body modder.
"Now, get in and don't make trouble, you're one of the only few licensed Carriers that we have between these settlements." The guards said as the gates swung open the force kicking up gusts of wind that sent a few small dust whirlwinds rushing all over. As the massive RV drove in past small cottages with children either playing in the streets or stay at home parents gossiping between each other, Kenny sighed in nostalgia.
"I miss these days."
"You mean when you had to deal with a global disaster every single week?"
"Yes, better days." He said rather confidently as the RV moved to head into what could only be called a natural parking lot foe their large vehicles stopping alongside many others.
Before Kenny had even gotten to the door, he heard knocking and moved to pull open the door and saw that similiar woman to the one from before awaiting him.
"If you would please, our boss doesn't like waiting." She said as he looked back to his team before Ed jumped onto his shoulders riding atop him.
"Okay, okay, Miguel. Make sure to get all of your equipment ready and make sure Annier doesn't buy too much. Our budget for when we retire is always scary as is." Kenny said as he began to walk with the woman through the more outer homes of Hydro-Core.
"It seems regardless of whatever age we are in, there is always poor people. Then again, Corporations do rule the world as of late." Kenny said with a playful tone wanting to gauge just how snobby she was.
"Yes, it is only the way that it meant to go. But we are still living lives far better than those decades when people used to go hungry. At least everyone sleeps full." She would retort as they walked through the streets receiving occasional glances, more so because of how proper and well dressed the woman was.
"You ain't wrong there and I can now get body mods like in all of those old games that had 8k pixel quality. Can you imagine that?" Ed said with a smile as they kept their legs bouncing against Kenny's chest.
Having let the conversation run its course, they would pass further and further into the city in silence until they had arrived at the inner city trams with the logo of Hydro-core plastered across its side.
Watching it zoomed forward rushing past folks now dressed in more casual yet cleaner clothes, Kenny sighed at how some things never changed much.
As they came to a stop before a towering structure with a number of guards in frames littered across the entire area, Kenny wondered how many fools had tried to destroy Hydro-Core knowing full well how powerful they were. Walking into the ground floor, Kenny was nearly left holding up his arm to block how pristine and shiny everything seemed to be.
He almost felt sorry knowing how dirty his boots were as he walked across the practically spotless floor and stepped into the skin elavators which had food containers lined across the walls for its occupants.
"So, are we at least going to know how hig of a thing we are transporting? I know the what is going to be mysterious and all so I'd like to at least know how easy it will be to get stolen knowing those highwaymen types that are out there."
"I'm not knowledgeable about such things. I am merely a simple assistant whose purpose is to escort you and your friend here and leave afterwards to return to my normal duties." She said as the doors opened to an office that overlooked the city.
A woman sat at a desk turned to the view as several guards in more casual frames were busy on their Watches as their arms stayed strapped to their backs.
"Welcome Kenny Josephine." The woman said while a smile grew on her face as she raised her hand out to shake his.
"Just call me Kenny. Or Ken. Or Pup. Whatever you feel like. Not everyday I get to meet the CEO of Chem-Tech." Kenny said shaking her hand before he sat down while Ed slipped off of his shoulders and sat down beside him.
"I can assume that is Ed, your little helper. Now that you have arrived. I have come to inform you about something that you should know if you're going to take this job. Eveleth." She called as a rather bulky guard walked over and saluted before her.
"You will be traveling with her to ensure the safety of our cargo."
"And said cargo is, Miss Jaycee?" Ed asked rather curious about what they had in store for them.
"Do you know what are the differences between demons or devils and humans? These creatures from another dimension or realm or universe or whatever theory you believe are able to use magic. Well, the Devils anyway,. these demons have bodies that can out the most well trained athlete to shame in seconds. Hardy skin, superhuman strength and even breathing fire st times."
"Your point is?"
"We have been testing on a way to create human demon hybrids. We are trying to find a way to harness that raw genetic advantage that these creatures have over us and use it ourselves. With true magic that doesn't rely on so many layers of frames and advanced power stations, we could easily make this world a paradise-
"You just want to be the first in the extreme body mod market don't you? You don't have to give us the play by play. You want to make mods that can be both applied at a domestic and war scale level." Ed said as with a smile that was too forced to even be hard to miss.
"Right you are. And we have been as humane as we could with it, though some of the previous prototypes have died, they died willingly and their families were obviously compensated for it. And before you think I'm merely greedy for more money, I also see how those can benefit earth as a whole. " Jaycee said never changing her smile.
"Yeah, that's decent at least. But what is the big but that always comes."
"Only one survived and was able to perfectly integrate their body with that of a devil."
"You got a devil?! What class was it?" Kenny said almost jumping out of his seat as the guards had their sights on him in mere seconds.
"Supreme Class. We found it nearly dead and it seemed to have been fighting a similarly strong devil."
"So you want us to transport some little child who has enough power to make a nuclear power plant look like a single remote control battery? How did you even survive that encounter?" Kenny said as the woman's smile dropped.
"We barely did. Even though we had tried our hardest with the best of technology and frames that we had access to, were nearly died sedating it. Half of my forces didn't make it back. But the end justifies the means. Every one of my employees knew what it at stake."
"So why should we help? You have dozens of couriers and that big RV of yours that your employees used to meet us could do a far better job than we could. Why us?" Kenny asked as the woman grabbed a holographic clip board of held it to Kenny and Ed.
"That girl is 16 years old. She has power at her hands that is only restrained by the several chains and locks lining her arms and legs. She has had a rather hard life and has a hard time trusting people. She is scared and will likely be much trouble but since she is the only person to survive our tests and since we dont know when our next lucky break will be, we need her to have people who don't care about her power. Power that will treat her like family. You and your crew are by far the closest we have seen. She needs people that she can trust, people who will see her than more than just her cargo status. My employees can barely look her in the eye considering how many died to even her her where she is." She said as Kenny and Ed just looked at each other.
"Are you sure? I'm an old fool, Ed is a gender switching face swapping gene modder, Miguel is a priest with the body of a Greek God and Annie is well Annie. We aren't exactly the best examples of what a family is."
"But you are close. Or would you rather I give this missions to someone else?" She said as she looked at them dead in the eye.
"No. But know this, if you go back on your words, we will make sure that this deal goes south. There is honour even amongst hard asses like us. Now to the terms of payment."
"We will pay for any and all RV services up to 2 million credits and any other supplies that you may need before you start off and you shall be payed 2 million when you accomplish this successfully."
"But how long would we even be traveling for us to get that close? That-
"You're sending us to the abandoned Continent aren't you?" Ed said as Kenny looked as if someone had just slapped him.
"You're sending us to America?!"
"Would that be a problem? I was assured that you were brave voyagers who could go anywhere without fail. It was even in your services."
"Yeah but America?! Gods, this is going to take so fucking long. Fine. But if we die, I'm going to haunt you for life, woman. Where is the angsty teen that we will be meeting?" Kenny asked as a loud flushing was heard as they all turned to face the door that had bathroom written across it.
"What kind of pompous rich bastard puts a bathroom on the same floor as their office?" Ed asked as Jaycee smiled.
"I do. Meet Leslie." She said motioning to the door as a girl in a cardigan and a concerning amount of chains over her sleeves and jeans walked in.
"Uh, Yo?"