As they say, plans only work until the first collision with reality.
That's how it is with us, we planned to marinate the Nilfs for only a day, but we had to do it for almost a week. And all because the Wild Hunt decided that it was too easy for us to repel several attacks in a day and intensified their onslaught.
Of course, when the Nilfs saw what was going on here, they were shocked. They even tried to demand that Ciri be sent through the portal to the Nilfgaard, but it all came down to Ciri's simple explanation. She asked, with a regal arch of her eyebrow, if the capital could provide her with the same security as the Aldecaldo Order.
And no matter how much the chief Nilf would not bravado, no matter how he would not humor, realizing that lying in the presence of mages should not be done, he still had to give an unambiguous answer. And naturally it was negative.
So Ciri sent the Nilfs with a clear conscience, after which we "forgot" about them.
Fortunately for us the Hunt couldn't maintain such a frequency of portal opening, so after a week when the frequency of portal opening dropped, we sent the Nilfs home through the portal.
SUZI had gotten used to her new body a bit this week, and was able to go out into the yard, albeit with the help of someone from Aldecaldo. But that someone was usually my girls, who had taken Suzie into their care after the incident.
Also, we didn't forget about the fact that we need to strengthen the defense and even though it was still not good enough in my opinion, but we were moving towards the ideal.
"Ian, please open a portal to Knight City."
"Okay..."
The girl nodded and opened the portal we had agreed on two days ago. The girl nodded and opened the portal we'd agreed on so long ago.
"So..."
After saying that, I contacted Regina.
"Hey, Regina."
"David, I thought you were done, retired..."
"Not really, I was just in a place where communication was unavailable. On the contrary, I'm going to expand my activities."
"And I take it you're not calling me now to take an order?"
A sneer could be heard in the girl's voice.
"In general, of course yes, but if you have something you can't trust someone else with..."
"Fortunately or unfortunately, I don't have one of those yet. So we can move on to your needs."
"Thank you."
I added a little sarcasm to my voice, but I didn't mean to offend Regina. It was only to emphasize that it couldn't be otherwise.
"Don't pounce..."
I heard a sneer in her voice, which I interpreted as: "I can charge a higher price, too."
"All right, all right, all right."
My avatar raised her hands in a gesture of surrendering to the mercy of victory.
"That's right..."
A victorious smile appeared on the lips of my interlocutor's avatar.
"Catch the list."
Having said that, I sent Regina a large list of what I needed. It was partly for the future, and partly to cover my current needs.
Regina was silent for a long... about ten minutes, scrutinizing the list I'd asked her for.
"You seem a little fucked up..."
Those were her first words after reading the list.
"What am I, a corporate girl peddling what I've been entrusted with?"
"Reggie, exhale. I'm well aware of who you are, and that's why I've come to you. I'll send the same list to Bestia, but, uh."
"But what?"
I could hear the tension in Regina's voice. What was she thinking?
"Reggie, I don't know what you're thinking, but think fast. I was just going to say that I wanted to work with you on this first and foremost, nothing more, nothing less."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah..."
"Okay, uh. I'm gonna try to check some things out, but I don't want to tell you right off the bat that half of what you're looking for won't be available. So you'll probably have to get it. I'll let you know exactly where it's stored, though."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. not yet. All right, I'll get back to you in a day or two. We'll see how grateful you'll be."
There was a slight sneer in Regina's voice.
The connection cut out, and I leaned back in the driver's seat, closing my eyes. The negotiations with Regina hadn't actually started yet, and I could already feel her pulling everything she could out of me.
"What is it?"
I opened my eyes and turned my head slightly toward Triss, noticing the mocking smile on her lips with which she said those words.
"It's nothing. I'm just sensing a trade with Regina for information and materials."
"You yourself realize that we just don't have the ability to solve all the issues ourselves right now..."
Becca joined the conversation.
"I know, but that doesn't stop me from dreading the prospect. Anyway, come on, I've got Bestia to talk to."
So I immediately dialed a second fixer who answered my call very quickly.
"David. glad you're okay. I have just the job for you."
I couldn't hold back a disappointed sigh.
"What's wrong?"
"I just didn't count on having to work. However, if it's my help you need, I'm happy to help."
"Thank you."
You could hear the appreciation in Bestia's voice.
"I'll get right to the point. I need to steal a Borg, or rather his body. It's an experimental model of Biotech. I need to do it now. Will you do it?"
I sighed.
"Bestia, I can guess why you're doing this, but, uh. maybe you could make it a little simpler."
"Easier?"
There was a look of disbelief in the fixer's voice.
"Yeah. Go out and buy a body from Trauma. Have them prepare it to become a proxy, then you just stick a splinter in it and..."
"So what?"
It was extremely easy to catch the tension in Bestia's voice.
"And maybe your boyfriend will get a fully human body."
"Hmmm..."
She was thoughtfully silent; apparently she was quite serious about considering my proposal, and I wasn't going to interrupt her.
"Let's say..."
Bestia, judging by her voice, took my words seriously.
"...However, I wouldn't want to rely on that alone, so I'd still like to steal the body."
I, like my avatar, shrugged.
"Anything you want for your money. No, it's not, and you know it."
"I know."
Bestia sighed.
"Catch the order details..."
I immediately got an email, which I opened and quickly ran my eyes over and realized that it just wasn't going to happen. It just wouldn't.
"Why are you calling, by the way?"
"I wanted to order something from you. Here's the list."
Bestia's avatar nodded, and I immediately threw her the list. There was silence again, punctuated only by snickers from the fixer.
"Yeah. You've got a lot of demands."
Bestia's avatar shook her head.
"However, I have a couple of ideas where to get all this stuff. And I'll even tell you exactly where to get it, but only after you steal Johnny's body from Biotech."
Sighing I shook my head and this action was repeated by the avatar after me.
"All right, uh. it's a deal."
I cut the connection and threw Becca and Triss a task from Bestia, which they spent the next ten minutes studying.
"Mm..."
"Well, I don't see anything super complicated..."
Becca scratched the back of her head.
"Are you saying it's going to be easy?"
A slight sneer sounds in Triss's voice.
"No, I mean, it could have been more complicated."
"Could..."
Triss nodded, agreeing with her friend's similar judgment.
"...But that doesn't mean you can talk about the work ahead with such disdain."
"All right, all right!"
Becca held up her hands, showing that she was giving up.
"Have you thought about what we're gonna do?"
Triss nodded, satisfied with her little victory, and then asked me the question.
"In part..."
I grinned as I reached over to Becky, who was sitting in the back seat, which required me to turn around and almost move into that part of the cabin, and mussed her hair.
"There you go. Now they're messing up my hair."
She tried to make her tone sound resentful, but it didn't work well. She tried to make her tone sound resentful, but it didn't work well.
"Okay, I'm not going to take offense..."
She said those words when she noticed my wide grin.
Next I kissed Triss so she wouldn't feel left out and only then did I return to discussing the order.
"So, look, the main office of Biotechnics, which according to Bestia's data and store the body of the cyborg she needs, is located in one of the central districts of the city, so we get there by car, park, as usual, at a distance from the target, and then ..."
I grinned with the corner of my lips.
"Say, Triss, you can use earth magic to make a dig, can't you?"
"Well, uh. Yeah. it's a little slow, I'm more of a fire person, but I'm sure I can do it."
She nodded confidently.
"That's good..."
I'm sure an extremely wide grin appeared on my lips now.
"...so it's the dig that's gonna get us in."
Triss and Becca glanced over and grinned identical smiles full of anticipation.
"David, if you say now that we're only taking the body..."
"Becca, I didn't mean to say something stupid like that at all..."
I shook my head and my girls' smiles became even more predatory...
"Girls, you should at least watch yourselves..."
I shook my head.
"Is there something you don't like?"
Triss looked at me, and in her gaze I could easily read the warning, "Just try to tell me you're not happy with something."
"I didn't say I was unhappy with anything, I just asked to watch myself..."
I shook my head.
"...you make the same facial expressions when you're in the clan... or rather the Order now. Come on, in the clan."
I sighed heavily.
"...but you also make such faces at Nilfs, and this immediately makes it clear that you are not herbivores, next to whom you can relax, but predators, who are ready to gnaw into the throats of opponents."
"Well, we are the carnivores. Yes, and on my account everyone is well aware, after all, I am a sorceress, and they, that is, we, can not be herbivores. They just don't survive the training."
Triss shook her head as if to dismiss the very thought that such a mask might be appropriate.
"Triss, believe me, a couple of years of wearing the mask of a silly and gullible fool and you will be treated exactly as a silly and gullible girl. And any intrigues against you will immediately become much easier, because it is possible to play out multiple schemes against such a fool."
"Well..."
"This is where another problem arises."
Becca decided to intervene in the conversation.
"We don't like herbivore masks ourselves... No in bed a little submission is fine, especially when you know your man is really strong... but in life."
"I agree with Becca. I don't want to be weak and stupid, even if it's just a mask that people around me see. I want to be a worthy girl, who will not stand behind you, but next to you and everyone will know that I really deserve you..."
"Exactly..."
Becca nodded.
"...and so, as soon as we pull on these herbivore masks, the questions immediately sprinkle in... How did they get near him? Why? Should we move them?"
"Okay, you don't want to, don't want to... let's get started on Bestia's mission."