Clouds covering the sky, everything seems gray and unjoyful. The sun slightly breaking through the clouds, illuminating the alleyways and main roads of the City.
"Hey, you got anything to drink?" A woman, a bit over average height with long hair and glasses, looked over to someone else as they were walking down the sidewalk.
"Nah, you know we don't got the money to keep buying so many drinks. We gotta start working more," said the male that was walking next to her. The man was about the same size as her, having hair going down to his shoulders and sharing the same hair color.
"I guess you're right…" She reached her hand into her pocket, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it as they kept walking further down the sidewalk.
They walked in silence for a few minutes before the man started to speak again. "Hey, I just remembered, we could do some fixer work. I'm sure they got more than enough tasks for us to do." He stopped walking for a second, looking at the woman, waiting for a response.
The woman stopped and turned around to look at him. "You know we are only grade 9 though, right? We are barely gonna get any decent tasks. But I guess it would make sense to do at least one small job for them so we can buy something."
"You got your phone, right? Could you look at what they currently have to offer?" The man looked her in the eyes as he waited for her to check her phone for the tasks posted.
She reached her hand inside the pocket of her gray coat as she pulled out an old phone, barely enough to go on the internet.
About one to two minutes passed before she started speaking again. "I think I found something. Espresso Office posted that there is a task to accompany another fixer. Guess we could go to their location and help them out."
She put her phone back in her pocket before slowly starting to walk again. The man quickly followed her and started talking again. "Yeah, let's do that. Better to help someone out than to do something risky with just the two of us."
They kept walking along the sidewalk for about 15 minutes before they finally arrived at the location posted by the office.
They arrived at a large building, many people going in and out, the streets full of people going from one side to another, cars passing by, and everything just seemingly full of life.
"Did you get a description of what he looks like? Might be hard to find him under all of those people if we don't know what he looks like," the man asked as he turned to the woman again.
"Nope, didn't get one, but he should have gotten one of us when we accepted it. Let's just keep walking around; maybe he sees us and approaches us." She once again picked up the pace, and both of them walked through the bustling streets looking for the other fixer.
Walking around for a few more minutes, seemingly helpless in their effort to try and find the other fixer, they were suddenly approached by a younger-looking male, carrying a well-designed gun on his hip.
"Ah, there you are. I'm guessing you are the fixers that will help me, right?" The man stood there, looking straight at the pair.
The male of the two began to speak. "Yes. I'm Avi, and this is my sister Veronica. We are Grade 9 fixers here to help you with your task."
The man started to look at them a bit strangely. "Only grade 9? Damn. You sure you wanna do this? It could get very risky."
Avi and Veronica looked at each other for a moment before Avi began to speak again. "No worries, we might only be grade 9, but we aren't totally useless."
The man stared them up and down again, examining them before speaking up. "Alright, fine. I guess I'll take any help I can get; don't wanna end up dead because I came alone."
He started moving away from the masses of people and the large building while motioning at Avi and Veronica to follow him.
They kept walking through the streets of the city, the sky still gray and the light barely illuminating everything. The whole district they were in just didn't seem like the happiest place to be.
As they kept walking, they eventually started questioning the man about what task he had that needed help. "Hey, uh, could we know what we are doing before we continue? I just think it would be good for us to know what to prepare for before we get surprised by something."
The man kept walking forwards as he slowly answered their question. "Secret, I'm afraid. Most I can tell you without my bosses putting me in trouble is that it has something to do with collecting debt."
They didn't say anything to follow up. They just kept walking for a few more minutes before turning a corner and arriving in the alleys of the backstreets.
The backstreets were a dangerous place to be. If you didn't mind your business or looked like an easy victim, you might end up being robbed or killed by people, which is why most people avoid going anywhere near this place.
"So the people we gotta collect the debt from are in the backstreets? That's something I'm not looking forward to," said Avi as he kept following the man.
As they walked through the alleys of the backstreets, they got many people staring at them, as if they were being examined, trying to see if they were prey or not worth the risk of robbing.
The walk through the backstreets continued not for much longer, as after a few minutes they arrived at another turn when the man suddenly stopped walking.
"Alright, around here it is. I need you two to just stand behind me, don't do anything stupid or aggravating, just try and look imposing so they might give in easier." He looked at Avi and Veronica, waiting for a sign of approval before he continued.
Both of them nodded their heads in approval of what he said. After that, he turned around again and kept on walking for a few more seconds before finally coming to a halt again.
They now stood in front of a door, leading into a big, long building, probably an apartment complex.
The man, now with his hand shaking slightly, slowly knocked on the door loudly. Avi and Veronica stood a few feet behind him. Avi held his hand behind his jacket, ready to grab hold of the halberd on his back at any moment, while Veronica stood there with one hand behind her back too, ready to grab her rifle if needed.
A few minutes went by, and nothing happened. The knocks seemed to be ignored before they suddenly started hearing loud music coming from inside. Whoever was in there didn't seem to want to open the door, turning the music on so loud that the knocks would be drowned out either way.
After having waited for a bit, the man knocked on the door again, this time knocking louder than before, still shaking slightly.
Once again, the music seemed to be too loud for the person inside to hear. The man turned around, looking at Avi and Veronica. "For fuck's sake. They just won't open the door. I'm kind of happy about it but also not. If I can't get the debt, my boss is gonna get really mad, but I'm scared that if I keep on annoying them, I'll end up like the last fixers that were here."
Avi and Veronica looked at him, intrigued, not fully knowing what he was talking about. "What do you mean? What happened to the last fixers that came here?" Avi asked him.
"Last time, there were multiple people in that apartment, and when asked for the debt, they nearly beat them to death. My boss was furious. He gave me a chance to do it, else he will have to do it himself."
Avi, now knowing that the ones inside that apartment didn't seem to be the friendliest, grabbed his halberd tightly while still holding it behind him.
"I think we should give it one more try," Veronica said, now standing more ready to fight than she had before.
"Alright, I'll try one more time, but if that doesn't work, we will cancel this job." He reached his hand out one more time, now basically punching against the door with all his force, echoing in the silence of the backstreets.
Again, a few moments passed by, but this time, they heard the door open. As it swung open, they saw a tall man looking straight down at them. His face seemingly filled with annoyance.
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