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***
I woke up to the bell ringing again...
- What the hell are you all doing?!
However, despite my violent reaction I can say that I still managed to get some sleep and even a good night's sleep... So after lying in bed for half a minute I answered the call.
- Go ahead.
- Quiet? It's Dakota.
Interesting.
- Yes?
- I have an order for you. Interesting?
- 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 at least that will convince her to work through me as her fixer.
I sigh.
- Fixer's wishes?
- I want it to be loud... but with the girl herself, and possibly her car, unharmed. But she has to realise that a lot of people had to be killed for her, even if they were Spirits. And the blame for that lies with her, since she doesn't know how to choose who to work with.
I chuckled.
- So louder?
- Exactly.
- Well, I'll do it, though it's a bit out of my profile, but I have a subordinate who likes to work loudly and for her such an order will be a gift from above.
- All right, I'll give you the details.
The connection went dead, and I got a text 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 I'd joined the clan, and she'd fixed a lot of things after I'd taken over. But this fool really doesn't know how to choose who to work with and who not to work with, because now she's with the Stilettos.
I sighed and stood up slowly.
Glancing at the clock I realised that lunch had just finished... well, the girls had a couple of portions of food in special containers, so they weren't hungry. That's good...
I quickly dialled Becca.
- David?
- Sunshine, hi.
- Hey, is something wrong?
- Well... not really, where are you now?
- Oh, I'm just on patrol round the clan.
- All right, come back. There's a job for you.
- Me?
- Yeah... it'll have to be loud and with special effects.
- You're not joking, are you?!
- No.
- Awesome! I'll be there in fifteen minutes!
I grinned and disconnected the connection, then finally left my room.
- How did you sleep, Lucy?
I saw the girl in the small living room, which had also been adapted as a workroom for the rangers due to the very comfortable chairs and the possibility of installing bathtubs for emergency cooling.
- Good.
- Well, if only in my arms....
I chuckled good-naturedly.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- Come on... even tired, I'd determine if it was Kiwi, Judy, Panam or Becca who'd crawled into bed with me. But since it wasn't any of them...that leaves only 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 where I leaned in and kissed her briefly on the lips.
- I'm glad you're taking steps towards building our relationship. And I guess I'm the one who should be apologising.
- Π?
- Of course...
I smiled warmly at her.
- A girl like that in my bed and I slept like a log.
- Pfft... nothing... I didn't mind just snoozing in a cuddle with a log.
- That's good... I'll need the help of a ranger and a driver... do you want to come with me, Panam and Becca?
- Is it something serious?
- Nah...
I shook my head.
- I just need to monitor the situation and hack into the Stilettos' computers. Maybe you can find their bases to make some money...
- All right, I'm gonna go get ready.
- Mm-hmm.
Lucy left and I got ready and went into our little armoury. Where I got myself a set of throwing knives, a silenced pistol, and my tonfa energy blades. Becca showed up when I was about to put my costume back on.
- Hey... you said loud and tasteful!
- Yeah, but the goal is to save the girl and she has to survive. Which means before you start acting loud I'll have to get inside, scout the situation and take up a defensive position.
- Hrm...
Becca chewed her lip unhappily, but after a couple of seconds she stared at my face.
- You're going to leave everyone to me, aren't you?
- Anyone who won't threaten the life and health of the target.
- At least that way...
She sighed, and I jumped a couple of 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 arse and also your driving skills.
- Π?
- I need you to drive me and the girls to the place and then help me get back.
- Okay, about five minutes... and I'll be ready.
I nodded and switched off the connection, and five minutes later we were already loading into the car.
- Panam, catch the address... that's where Iris Tanner is, she needs to be rescued... Catch the details....
And I texted the details of the order to all the girls.
- Iris? What's she doing there, anyway?
- She started working for the wrong people.
- You think she's got stilettos now?
- Well.
I shrugged.
- Not according to what Dakota told me. She just picked the wrong people to do them favours.
- Um.
- It's simple.
I decided not to torture Panam, who just didn't understand how it could be.
- ...she worked without a fixer. She looked for orders herself, she monitored the terms and conditions.
- Is she out of her mind?
Lucy looked at me in surprise.
- When we get her out of the Stylettes, we'll know if she's the right girl. I had a good impression of her personally....
- Yeah, us too...
The girls nodded their heads.
Our car reached the destination point and I got out of it and slowly made my way to the Stilettos' base that Dakota had given me a tip on. Just then Lucy provided us with a link.
- I'm going...
And having said that I activated my sandi at a speed fast enough not to be noticed by normal sentients, even if they have chrome. And the active defence systems shouldn't be able to spot me.
It was a junkyard.
One of the many dumps in the wastelands near Knight City...
But the Stilettos had cleared it up a bit, creating a sort of narrow lanes that led in a tangled maze towards a few dilapidated shacks. Not dilapidated shacks, but shoddily built ones.
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 target. Repeat, there is no target. Snowflake, your job is to hack into everything you can get your hands on. Find me where they're holding our target.
- Copy that, Quiet.
- Bookworm, you can start the fun as soon as Snowflake gives the go-ahead.
- I'm getting impatient.
- You burn, but Tihonya will not be using his hydrant with you today anyway.
Panam commented rather snidely on the fact that Becca won't be in my bed anytime soon, as she and Kiwi still prefer to be alone with me. It is only when it is Judy's turn that she agrees to let Becca into our bed. She doesn't come round when it's Becca's turn, though.
I notice the cameras go off and grin as I activate the sandi and shift so I can control Becca. Still, she needs to be covered. Leaving her alone with the enemy, as much as I believe in her, would just 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 pistols out of the boot. I raised an eyebrow at this, 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....
She just needed to relieve stress, and Stilettos are frankly disgusting opponents, so two guns is even too much....
Becca just walked and shot.
One shot, one dead body.
For Becca, it was just a walk-and-talk.
Actually for me it would have been a walk, and Becca'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 in a piece of cake. And it makes you wonder...
- Interesting.
- Hmm?
Lucy was the only one who commented on what I said.
- I was just wondering how much I don't understand your capabilities at all? Not underestimating, but not understanding? That you are all quite strong and self-sufficient, but... seeing 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.
- Behind her.
One word from me and Becca turned around and rolled away from the possible line of fire, but managed to shoot and kill the very Stiletto who could be a threat to her.
- Careful.
- Well, I'm so relaxed for two reasons... firstly, they're not good opponents. It's like I'm in a shooting gallery on minimum difficulty...
Becca shook her head.
- ...and two, 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 did. And Stiletto wouldn't have been able to do anything in that time.
- I'm glad you're relying on us.
- Who else am I supposed to rely on?
- She's right, Tihonja, 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 everything solo. Not many people can do that....
- You're praising me....
I shook my head.
- In the meantime, I was thinking about the fact that I should run you all through such orders as my main performer. Just to realise what capabilities you possess... no, not to realise, but to confirm it for myself.
- Shall we?
- Yes... first I'll make you go through operative training, just to make me feel better about sending you into combat....
- Well... I don't intend to go into combat... I've got a few demons that can help me even in a combat situation....
- Well, we'll see, but until you finish your operative training, I won't let you go into combat.
- Yeah, we get it.
- Girls, we should change Tikhona's call sign. I think Daddy would be perfect for him.
Becca was just being snide.
- Ew! Bookworm! We're sleeping with him!
- Well, incest runs in the family.
- Snowflake.
Panam tried to stand up to them.
- Girls, let's not go to extremes.
- Come on, I was just kidding...''
Becca grinned and shot another Stiletto....