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We spent about a week on the servers and other tech that was damaged by the Arasaka reps. This was mainly because Judy turned out to be a clever fox and convinced the Mox's management to put in another request to modernize the equipment that was already installed. She didn't even think to mention that she had actually become part of my crew and that she would get a cut of the profits. And, of course, she asked for the new equipment to be delivered to her apartment, not Lizzie's, because, in her words, making pornographic braindances on such equipment would be sacrilege.
And so now I was calmly leaving Lizzie's, with all my business there concluded, and I ran into a familiar lady.
"Hello, David…"
"Hello, Valerie. What brings you to such a…"
I waved my hand in the air, as if gesturing for her to look around.
"…place so unsuited to your status?"
"Hmm… so you didn't know who you were helping?"
"Helping?"
And just then, the pieces of the puzzle in my head clicked together completely. I gave a sad smirk and shook my head.
"So you're the one who got fired from this wonderful place?"
"Yeah…"
She gave a sad smirk.
"…and I wouldn't have been able to get back on my feet for a long time if it wasn't for that little loan you signed for my friend."
She shook her head.
"And how did you find me? And most importantly, why?"
"It's simple. I talked to Viktor, and he told me you came to him through Regina."
She shrugged.
"You're not exactly hiding, so I called the fixer and explained the situation. Given that I had a credit agreement with very convenient terms signed by you…"
"I'm sorry, but I don't believe that Regina would have given out my location info. No matter what evidence you had, she wouldn't have done it. At the very least, she would have talked to me first."
"Hmm… Well, you're right about that. She sent me away. But Wakako Okada, she's not very happy with you and, for a small fee, gladly told me exactly where to find you. She's probably hoping I'll try to get rid of you."
"And you won't?"
"No…"
V shook her head.
"…I may not be very upright—working in counterintelligence does change what goes on in a person's head a little…"
She tapped her temple with her finger.
"…but killing the benefactor who paid for chrome that, while not the best, is good enough for my current situation… It's tempting, of course, but it could harm my as-yet non-existent reputation. So I'm here to thank you personally…"
V bent her body ninety degrees in a very low bow.
"Thank you for your help. Thanks to you, I have a chance to get out of this mess much faster. I won't forget your kindness, and if you ever need my help, you can count on me."
I nodded.
"And I also wanted to personally sign the contract and arrange for the annulment of the contract with Jackie."
I shrugged and sent her the same contract, but with an addendum stating that she, as the reason for the loan that Jackie was forced to take out, was taking on the entire debt herself and would pay it off within a year.
"A year?"
"Can't handle it?"
I looked at her in surprise.
"I doubt you want to be a nobody. Knowing you, I can say that you'll be aiming for the big leagues, and as quickly as possible. For that, you'll have to work like a dog, which means money will be flowing…"
"I was actually thinking of taking a bit of a break from working at that pace…"
I shrugged.
"Two years?"
She nodded, and I corrected the contract and sent it back to her. She signed it, and it came back to me. I nodded, quickly reviewed and signed it, thus confirming the new contract, or rather, the new terms in the old contract.
"So, are you going to tell me how you ended up like this?"
I shrugged.
"The most boring story…"
I waved her over, and we went to the nearest restaurant and sat down.
"…my mother died after the Animals' shootout on the highway. I lost my means of support, and even though the semester at the academy was paid for, I had nothing to eat. To be honest, I wasn't even thinking about what I was doing. I just got to the nearest directory and public phone and contacted Regina."
"And she just started working with you?"
"Well, I guess she felt sorry for me. She gave me a couple of trial jobs for her to test me. They were dangerous, of course, but if I screwed them up, she probably wouldn't lose anything. So…"
I shrugged.
"…that's how I started working with Regina. Thanks to you, by the way…"
"Me?"
"Well, you occasionally gave lectures to our group… Your lectures were even more useful than the ones the regular lecturer gave. And it's because of them that I haven't cracked my head open yet."
Valerie smirked.
"I'm glad someone was listening…"
"And how did you end up here? I mean, I know you were fired, but why?"
"I wasn't irreplaceable enough."
She gave a sad smirk and scratched the red hair at the back of her head. Her blue eyes wandered around the room.
"My boss wanted to get rid of his boss. She figured it out, and she figured me for a specialist they'd send on the job, and she sent her goons, who carried out the termination procedure."
"And you couldn't refuse? And David, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"
I sighed.
"Valerie, allow me to introduce my partner, Panam Palmer. Panam, this girl's name is Valerie. She was in Arasaka's counterintelligence and sometimes gave lectures at the academy where I studied. That's how I know her."
Pff… "Alright, as for your question, Panam Palmer, no, I couldn't refuse. You don't refuse your boss in Arasaka. I even spread my legs. I'm not proud of it, but what can you do to get a little closer to the top…"
Pff…
"Yeah, yeah, you're a proud one and you couldn't do that. But I'm not proud. I would have done it again if it would have saved me from being fired. I would've even slept with the whole club…"
I didn't let on what I thought of Valerie's words, but I was extremely uncomfortable with them. She was a beautiful girl; how could she be like that…
I barely managed to stop myself from shaking my head. Some moments that are normal for certain people in their lives will never be something I take for granted. No, I understand that things don't always happen the way we want them to, but still…
"I see you're not a fan of that kind of thinking, either?"
I just shrugged in response to Valerie's question.
"It's your life, and it's up to you to decide what you think is right or wrong. So my opinion shouldn't matter to you."
"Well, you're right about that."
She smirked and adjusted her hair.
"I don't really care about your opinion."
For a while, we just ate in silence until she finally spoke.
"Wanna work with me? Wakako won't mind… or so I think. I had some business with her when I was still working for Arasaka…"
I shook my head.
"I'm not considering joining anyone yet, and working for Wakako…"
I shook my head again.
"…I'm on bad terms with the Claws, or rather, they're on bad terms with me. I don't give a shit about them."
"Got it… too bad. I was hoping to work with someone who at least had some idea of how to get things done."
I gave a sad smile. No, if she had offered this to me before the confessions about sleeping with everyone for profit, I would have at least considered the possibility of working with her. After all, in David's memory, she was a really decent person. But not now, after her story, I'd be worried that she would sleep with someone and then stab me in the back.
And given that this wasn't a game, and she already had a certain corporate mindset, one that didn't see anything wrong with her boss sending her to kill his boss…
It made me wonder why in the game, if you played as a corpo, nothing like that ever showed up in the main character's decisions.
Then again, it was obvious why.
How much harder would it have been to make the game if they had not only put in a couple of different lines of dialogue related to the backstory but also written in decisions dictated by that backstory?
Although, I think there was something like that…
But not with the main character, but with some other corpo who, after you helped her, would come to your hotel and fuck you in all positions, thereby showing that for her, sex was just sex and a way to say thanks for saving her ass.
A call from Regina snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah?"
It was a good thing you didn't have to speak the messages out loud to talk now.
"David, I have news. A former corpo is looking for you."
"She already found me…"
"Hmm… does that mean trouble?"
"Maybe…"
My image shrugged.
"…but not right now. I just loaned her friend money to save her life, and she decided to take on the debt herself. That's all. Oh, and she's trying to lure me over to another fixer."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah…"
"And who?"
"Wakako. She said that even while she was at Arasaka, she had contacts with her and is now hoping to work for her."
"Well, I wouldn't mind if you decided to do a couple of jobs for Okada."
"I won't. It's better to work with one fixer and be completely sure that you won't be screwed over, and that they'll send help if you need it, than to bounce from one fixer to another and end up with nothing but death."
"Got it…"
We were silent for a moment.
"Listen, I'm supposed to meet with Rogue in a couple of days. You want me to bring you up in conversation with her?"
"No…"
She smirked.
"Not chasing fame?"
"Why not… being famous is nice. For example, I'm famous now. I get jobs from you specifically for me, and they all pay pretty well. But working with Rogue…"
"What? She's the queen of the Afterlife…"
"Uh-huh…"
My image nodded, and it was a very smug nod. Through all this, I didn't forget to use my fork, eating the pretty good dish I had ordered at the restaurant. The girls were also silent, seeing that I was talking to someone.
"…and according to rumors, she's a real schemer who prefers to use solos in the dark. And as you know, I don't really like that. I like to work with a complete understanding of what I need to do, how to do it, and by when."
"That's true… you should have picked the nickname 'Boring' instead of 'Ghost.' It's not too late to change it, by the way."
"No thanks, I'm fine with it."
Regina nodded.
"Alright, you working today?"
My image thoughtfully scratched my cheek.
"Anything interesting?"
"Well… I need to get data from one of the Maelstrom's bases. According to my intel, they've started working too closely with the Scavs and are preparing some kind of major and very loud operation that should cause an explosion of used chrome on the black market."
I sighed. A real-life sigh, too.
"I'll take it. Send me the address. Working quietly, as always?"
"Yeah."
"Killings?"
"Preferably, they won't even realize anyone was on their base. But if you have to, making it look like a normal robbery will work. The main thing is that they don't understand what it was all for."
"Got it. I just recruited a netrunner. We'll test their skills…"
"You've got a new member on your crew?"
"Uh-huh. It's not very convenient to constantly use pre-made daemons. There should be a netrunner on the crew who can hack systems if they have to…"
"I'm glad you came to that conclusion; I was already thinking of pushing someone on you. I know who you decided to work with?"
"Alvarez from the Mox. It's a temporary contract for now; we'll see."
"Alright, I'll send you the details in a message."
My image nodded, and the connection was cut.
"Valerie, I'm sorry, but we have a job…"
I gestured to the waiter and asked for the check.
"You can't just refuse?"
Valerie folded her arms under her breasts, pushing them up a little. And honestly, if Panam and I weren't fucking like rabbits every night, I might have been tempted by the sight. But I didn't have blue balls, and I wasn't going to, which was a good thing…
"No. Not an option. Today's not a day off for us, so if a job comes in, we work, even at night."
"What? But you're a solo…"
"Exactly. And to live well as a solo, you need a reputation and a lot of jobs…"
I stood up and sent a message to Judy, paid the bill, and then Panam and I left the restaurant…
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