[Check Out My P4treon For +30 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!! And get chapters before publishing them here for free on my p4treon][p4treon.com/echotales]
===
"David, I have a favor to ask…"
"I'm listening, Regina."
"Justice needs to be served. There's an underground fighting club in Kabuki… run by a guy named Houdini. Few people have seen him, but the fact is, this guy is also involved in human trafficking and drug dealing."
I frowned.
Not because I had to get to some underground club, but because I hated jobs like this. An assassination job. It's one thing to have to take out gang members during a mission, and a completely different thing to do it like this…
Hypocritical?
Yes.
But it was my hypocrisy, and I was perfectly fine with it. Just as I was fine with the fact that my girls didn't have to get their hands dirty with blood. And in the past month, we had already completed more than forty jobs. And the flow of missions wasn't slowing down. Regina might not be the queen of the Afterlife, who gets all the choicest contracts, but she was the top fixer in the district. It was only because she couldn't handle all the jobs that some of them went to smaller fixers. And also because she didn't take every job.
For example, she would never take a job to smash a street food vendor's stall for five hundred bucks. And neither would I.
In short, she had a lot of jobs. I even heard she had started giving some work to V, though she didn't work very often. She and her friend Jackie worked maybe three times a week, but their demands were huge! They wanted to become Night City legends!
How did I know this?
Well, I get a check-up from Vik every week to check on my Sandevistan, my main cheat that has prevented me from failing a single job since the beginning of my career. And I also talk to Misty, though mostly the girls talk to her. Misty, by the way, is Jackie's girlfriend.
To be honest, I take the girls with me for my check-ups for two reasons. First, they genuinely became friends with Misty and are happy to just sit and talk with her. And Misty herself doesn't mind. Few people come into her shop to buy anything; she mainly makes a profit from rent, so having someone to sit and chat with is a joy for her.
Second, and more important to me, the girls get a chance to compare me—the serious tyrant who makes them work every day except weekends and take on more than one job—with Jackie, who saved up for a whole year just for his motorcycle! There's no talk of romantic dates with Misty. If there's a date, she's the one who invites him and pays for everything. At least he has the brains to pay for the cafes…
But as they say, love is blind, and you can fall for Jackie Welles. So I can only feel a little sorry for Misty, and use her stories to create a much more attractive image of a young solo for myself.
And it's working!
Even Judy is starting to look at me with approval, although lately she's seemed a little troubled by something. And I can't quite figure out what's going on in her life. But I'm hopeful she'll tell me everything, so I'm just waiting and supporting her.
These thoughts didn't stop me from talking to Regina.
"Regina, only for the sake of our partnership… but I hope jobs like this will steer clear of me in the future…"
"Thanks. Wait… what?"
"Well, you know I don't like being a hired killer and…"
"No, no, no! You misunderstood me…"
Regina's image shook her head and smirked.
"…I know you. If it came down to it, I could send an assassination job to V. That girl has no ethical issues with that. So she'll get rid of anyone who gets in my way without a problem. But in this case, there's no need to kill him. You just need to knock him out and get him out of the club, then put him in the trunk of a car."
I blinked.
"Um… I need to kidnap a person?"
"Yes… I hope that's not a problem?"
"Nah…"
I shook my head, thoughtfully looking at the ceiling of my apartment. Today was supposed to be a day off. Regina knew that, and she usually didn't bother me on those days, but since she couldn't wait until Monday…
"…that's not a problem. Especially since you gave me his background. Now, if this were a job from some Faraday to kidnap a little girl, then I would have told him who he was and what he could do with a job like that."
I smirked.
"So I'll take the job. I assume it's urgent?"
"Yes… I know you have a day off, but this is the only day in the last three months that I've known where he'll be. And I don't know when the next opportunity will come."
"Details as always?"
"Yes, I'll send them now…"
The connection was cut, and an email immediately came in. An email with all the details of the job that needed to be completed this evening.
Sighing, I got up from the couch where I had been sleeping. I was sleeping on it because Judy had stayed over last night, and I had given her my spot in the bed. Although, before that, Panam had threatened to bite her if she tried anything.
However, it seemed to me that the deciding factor in Judy's lack of advances toward Panam wasn't the threats of biting—which probably only piqued her interest—but the fact that Panam was busy with me. Maybe I could play on that? I wouldn't mind at all if my girls kissed or did dirty things in front of me, as long as they invited me to join their games.
I shook my head, pushing the thoughts aside. Not now…
Yes, my relationship with Judy has become much closer than it was before she joined our crew, but it will be a while before I can break through the barrier that separates us.
Glancing at the girls, I saw that they were still asleep, and they were snuggled up together.
It looked so cute from my perspective…
I shook my head one more time and went to make breakfast…
About twenty minutes later, breakfast was ready. Judy and Panam had woken up about ten minutes ago and had already showered. And now they were waiting for breakfast.
"Girls, I have some news for you…"
"Are you giving me Panam?"
Judy asked that with a smirk.
"Hey! I only come as a package deal with my boyfriend!"
Panam decided to hit Judy where it hurt. She didn't really like men in terms of forming relationships. Or rather, she just didn't understand why she would form them with men. But the expected reaction didn't happen.
"You know, for the past week, I've been wondering if it's really as bad as I used to think, having a man around. And why boys never attracted me before…"
"Before?"
Panam looked at Judy suspiciously.
"Well, I can't say I've fallen in love with David, but I can say for sure that the thought of sleeping with him doesn't give me negative feelings."
Tch…
Panam shook her head and looked at me with a question in her eyes.
"So what's your news?"
"The day off is canceled."
"No…"
They looked at me in shock.
"Well, it's being moved to Monday. Regina has an urgent job that will be impossible to do later. She managed to track down a guy nicknamed Houdini. Our job is to kidnap him and send him to the clients…"
"Got it…"
The girls didn't say anything else to me and started eating breakfast, looking a little sad. However, the meal managed to lift their spirits, and at that very moment, there was a knock on the apartment door.
Ugh…
Sighing, I got up and went to the door. I opened it.
"Why am I not surprised?"
Becca looked away.
"Did your brother spend everything on chrome again?"
"Uh-huh…"
"Becca?"
Judy got up from the table and looked at her acquaintance in surprise; she definitely hadn't expected to see her at my door.
"Judy? You managed to get Judy into bed?!"
And if the first question was addressed to the attractive braindance creator and netrunner of my team, the second one was addressed to me. And she was very surprised and wasn't hiding her shock.
"Come on in. I'll feed you now…"
"Thanks."
Becca was unexpectedly shy, but she came into the apartment and quickly sat down at the table. I wasn't stingy and put a pretty large portion in front of her. Luckily, I had cooked extra, so there was enough for her, and for seconds for Judy and Panam.
"Judy, Panam, check out the data…"
I sent them a copy of Regina's email. I, of course, already had my own ideas about what and how to do, but I wanted them to think about it, too. Maybe they would figure out something I hadn't…
"Um… but aren't you guys supposed to have a day off today?"
"Usually, yeah… but this is an urgent job…"
I shrugged without going into details, and Becca nodded in understanding. Solos rarely talk about jobs that haven't even started, and they prefer to stay quiet about the ones that are done. So any solo bragging about a completed job is probably a lie from start to finish. But they can gossip about normal shootouts, although there's a lot of lying in those stories, too. Everyone tries to make themselves out to be an invincible hero.
"I heard about you, by the way…"
Becca was stuffing her face, so when she said that, crumbs flew everywhere.
"Chew first, then talk, or I'll make you clean my apartment."
Becca froze, made a couple of reflexive chewing motions, and then swallowed the food that was in her mouth with effort.
"And don't forget to chew. Well-chewed food is much healthier."
Becca nodded.
"…Yeah… you haven't failed a single job yet. You've turned down five out of five job offers from Faraday… why, by the way?"
"Don't you know?"
"Huh?"
"His reputation is shitty, at least among the solos who work for other fixers. Not only does he work for both Arasaka and Militech at the same time, but he also likes to screw people out of their money."
"Hey, hey… that's not true!"
"Yeah? And when was the last time he paid you a bonus? And most importantly, when did he explain exactly how you had to do the job to get that bonus?"
"Well…"
Becca looked away.
"That's exactly it. Fixers usually explain what they want from the solos they hire, and the solos, by doing the job, make money for them and a decent amount for themselves. But with him…"
"Alright, alright…"
"A quiet job won't work."
Panam was the first to consider all the options for the upcoming job and sadly shook her head.
"Yeah, I figured that myself, but let's wait for Judy. As a netrunner, she might have some good advice…"
"Hmm? You were given a job that's not your specialty?"
Becca gave a sly smirk.
"You were just criticizing Faraday, and now…"
"And now I've been given a job where EVERYTHING I need to know is written out, and there's not a single word about a quiet execution in the notes. Just the objective."
"So there's no mention of a quiet execution?"
"Yeah…"
I nodded my head.
"You gonna take me with you as an assault specialist?"
I looked at Becca with some doubt.
"Hey!"
She clearly saw that look and understood it.
"I'm strong!"
"I don't doubt your strength; I'm just considering the possible courses of action. And I doubt your boss would let you go with another crew, even temporarily."
"Maine isn't my boss. He's just a good leader, and we gathered around him, but he never forbade us from taking jobs on the side."
"Got it…"
"I have an idea…"
I looked at Judy questioningly.
"But we'll need two more solos. And I'd really like one of them to be a good netrunner."
"I know a netrunner who's good!"
I raised my hand, stopping Becca.
"Can we afford something like that?"
"Yeah, we can afford it. Our profit will take a small hit, but if we get everything done, we still won't be in the red…"
I glanced at Becca.
"Alright…"
Judy immediately sent me her plan in an email, and I quickly scanned it.
"Perfect… I need to contact Regina and warn her that this won't be quiet…"
===
Note: So far this story is published up to chapter 30 on my patreon, go check it out
exclusive 18+ character images, and early chapters, please visit my Patreon. Thanks for your support!
p4treon.com/echotales
if you want more updates == supports with power stones
Every 20 Power Stones == Bonus Chapter