"Lucy?"
I was already sitting in the car, as was Becca and now I was looking questioningly at the white-haired Rauner, who was staring out the window thoughtfully.
"There are three bases...which one they hold the target on I don't know."
Lucy sent us all the coordinates of the Stiletto bases, and we plunged into studying everything we knew about the data.
"I would bet on the one up north..."
I cast a glance at Panam then studied the data thoughtfully.
"Hmm... Well. It really is easier to get cars that need repairs and other items there..."
I nodded and looked at Becca and Lucy.
"Don't ask me. I can shoot, but picking a place where the target we need to rescue is more likely to be..."
Becca shook her head.
"It's not for me."
"Well, I certainly have my thoughts, but I'm thinking like a rahner, but in terms of logistics... Panam is probably right."
"So it's settled. we'll go with the northern hideout. Although we could also send the data to Dakota, see if she can give us a clue."
"Well, let's give it a shot..."
Panam nodded at me and I immediately dialed Dakota.
"I'm listening to you, Tycho. You saved Iris and you're on your way to me?"
"Not exactly. I cleaned up the Stiletto base you gave me the coordinates for. Cleaned it up just like you asked me to, with a bang and a bang. Except Iris wasn't there."
"You didn't?"
"Yeah, we got data on three more Stiletto locations. I thought I'd ask you, as the one in charge of the Badlands, where exactly do you think Iris should be? No, we'll zero in on all three if we have to. but I'd like to find the girl sooner rather than later."
"I agree with you... I'll check it out..."
The connection was paused, and I leaned back in the front seat of the car while covering my eyes.
Dakota's back
In about ten minutes.
"Quiet, are you still on the line?"
"Sure..."
"All right, well, according to my intel, she's most likely in the west camp. Of course, the northern camp is more logistically convenient, but it has a smaller contingent and therefore no one to defend it."
"Okay, then we'll start on the west side and hopefully Iris will be there."
"Okay, over and out."
The connection broke, and I looked around at the girls.
"Dakota thinks we should go to the west camp. There's a larger contingent and easier to defend. She thinks it's better to keep an asset like Iris there."
"Well. we're solo, we're indentured servants, the fixer said we had to, we said we had to..."
Lucy commented on what I said about the data I got from Dakota.
"Panam, come on."
The mulatto nodded, and the car started, while I plunged into studying the data on the western Stylet camp. The camp that was to be stormed first by me, and after me by Becca, who was also sitting silent.
The drive to the west campground took about two hours. And I got out of the car and activated the sandi and realized that they were waiting for us. They already knew that one of their camps had been destroyed, and now the whole camp I was headed to was on its ear.
I took the first road, and I have to admit that the Steelers are clearly more prepared here than they were at the last base. And I got to a relatively safe hiding place and turned off my sandi so I could talk to the girls.
"Ladies, especially Scribe, the fighters here are clearly better trained."
"Hey! You promised you'd stay out of this!"
"I'm not going to..."
I shook my head.
"...I'm just warning you that it's best not to use guns exclusively, and to leave some of the work to Snowflake. So she can watch your back if the target's still here and I can't cover you."
"Okay..."
I turned on the sandi again and walked further into camp. And this time Dakota was wrong again, and the girl wasn't in the camp. But that didn't stop me from putting splinters in all the fighters, as well as in all the equipment that was in the camp. And then I froze again in a safe place with the acceleration off.
"Snowflake, your exit..."
"Got it, Tihonja."
The minutes of our rancher's work dragged on...
"Ahem..."
"Uh-huh?
"And our target turns out to be here."
I frowned.
"I haven't seen her..."
"There's a hatch on the side of the garage where the van is. She was lowered down there."
"Is she alone in there?"
"Yeah..."
"Okay, uh. I'm off to liberate and secure."
"Come on, expect..."
I turned on Sandi again and quickly made my way to the garage, where I quickly found the hatch Lucy had told me about. When I activated the optics, I almost swore. If I'd done it right away, I would have known there was some sort of basement.
After making sure that the girl was alone and that there was no system that would trigger the security system on opening the hatch, I opened the hatch without any effort and closed it behind me.
Sandi was disconnected...
Walking over to the girl I touched her neck and she immediately started twitching.
"Are you alive?"
When she heard my voice, she froze and focused her gaze on me. She nods jerkily, and I pull out one of my throwing knives and start cutting the ropes that bind her.
"I'm close to the target. Work."
"Uh-huh...
"Are you okay?"
I finally pulled the gag consisting of a knot out of the girl's mouth.
"De..."
She recognized me, which was good, so I wouldn't have to explain myself. But I didn't let her finish, and I put my hand over her mouth and shook my head.
"No names. I'm Quiet now."
"But, uh."
"Yeah, it's not hard to find out who Tihonei is, all you have to do is buy info from a fxer..."
Shots and screams came from outside, and Iris shuddered a little, but sat up. She looked at the hatch through which I had come down with some fear.
"Don't worry, I'm just here to make sure nothing happens to you."
"I... Okay."
"Snowflake?"
"As long as Scribner is doing well, I'm covering her by disabling those Stilettos who are either holed up in overly secure hiding places or trying to come at her from behind."
"Okay..."
Despite the talk I continued to watch the hatch with my optics and when Stiletto's figure appeared above the hatch, and I was sure it wasn't Becca as she would have warned me of such a thing, I prepared my throwing knife.
Throwback...
I did it as soon as the hatch was ajar and the knife went right into Stylet's throat. The body froze for a couple of seconds and then, grabbing his throat, fell down, and the hatch behind his back slammed shut. I didn't stand still and appeared next to the enemy and made a killing blow with the energy blade of the tonfa just piercing the heart and a couple of other important organs.
I left the brain untouched on purpose so that Lucy would have a chance to go through the chrome memory that was installed in the brain.
"Is this because of me?"
I cast a glance at the girl and nodded.
"Yeah..."
"But..."
"Iris, a fixer is necessary for a solo, no matter what kind of work he's doing."
"I don't need it, they just make money and don't do shit!"
"At the very least, they filter orders into interesting and uninteresting, as well as dangerous and safe. Which, judging by the situation I found you in, you don't know how to do."
"I made a mistake once, so what?"
The noise of gunfire was getting louder, Lucy had brought me the data from the cameras that I could use to track Becca so I wouldn't worry too much about her hearing gunshots.
"You made more than one mistake. and the biggest mistake was working for the Steelers."
"What's the big deal?!"
I sighed as I watched Lucy cut off the vision of several Stilettos who were trying to play sniper. At the same time, Becca, having apparently gotten a readout of their location, moved away so that she could soon be in a better position to take a couple of accurate shots.
"What do you know about the Stilettos?"
"They're nomads..."
Iris shrugged.
"Mm..."
I shook my head and looked at the girl judgmentally.
"What?! It's true!"
"Really... But not all of it."
"What do you mean?"
"Yeah, literally. Stilettos are not just nomads, they are clans of nomads. And often not related to each other and have other designations, such as Hands, Moles, Cubes, I can list ten more clans, which in the presence of self-names are Stilets.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Which means that the Stilettos are more than just a name. Stilettos are both nomads who have been expelled from clans for committing crimes and nomadic clans made up of such renegades."
"And why were they banished?"
"Iris, you're such a little girl. you've worked with Aldecaldo for so long and you didn't even think to know the differences?"
I shook my head.
"I've been a bit out of it..."
"Uh-huh...
I nodded.
"In general, there are not so many laws in the clan, the main one is live yourself and let others live. There is also an understanding that everyone in the clan is one family, well, and a couple more rules-laws that define the clan and relationships within the clan. And let's say in Aldecaldo there are several laws for attempting to violate which is followed by banishment.
"For trying?"
"Yeah..."
I nodded a couple times giving my words weight.
"...such as attempted rape. If the attempt was thwarted, the one who attempted to rape another or another would face banishment."
"What happens if the rape succeeds?"
"Death..."
I shrugged, as if to say it was no big deal. However, I really thought it was no big deal. Especially since now in this world and time there are optics that can record and as a rule, when a rape victim turns on the recording by himself taking the main evidence. And already having such evidence a full investigation is carried out, as still there are known cases when such recordings were made during role-playing games...
"Isn't it too much?"
"No..."
I shook my head.
"...a clan is a family. If you can rape your sister/brother/mother/father, or any relative at all, then you are an asshole and you are lucky to be stopped. However, there is also murder, which is the same as rape..."
I sighed, noting that Becca had almost cleared out the Stilettos' camp. There was less and less gunfire outside, and the cameras transmitting what was happening outside showed me that there were almost no survivors. And not just the cameras, but the chips that showed the Stiletto's status and location. So I knew we'd be in a cellar of sorts for another five minutes until Becca cleared the camp.
"True there is one exception to the above."
"Uh-huh?
"Uh-huh... even for attempted murder or rape of a child, if proven guilty, a reasonable person would just be killed.
"Ahem..."
"Uh-huh... and these are the intelligent ones who were either stopped from such crimes, or they committed them and escaped and are members of the Stilettos. And that's who you've chosen to work with.
"Well, uh. I didn't know."
"And ignorance does not absolve one of responsibility."
I looked at Iris carefully.
"What's not your way of doing things?"
"Well for starters, I'd at least try working with a fixer. Trust me, Dakota, even though I don't work with her, is a pretty reliable fixer who doesn't tend to screw up her solos."
"Fuck. Okay, uh. I'll give it a try. but no promises!"