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I opened my eyes…
"So, Vik?"
"I replaced some of your torso muscles, but you'll need one more operation to replace all of them. You can come back in three days. Of course, no strenuous activity, but a light workout is allowed."
I nodded my head.
"What about the Sandevistan?"
"I don't recommend using it until all the muscles are replaced. This isn't chrome; I don't program any limits into it, so wait until all the muscles are replaced. Just don't forget to take the medicine for your bones and ligaments. I do injections to strengthen them during the operations, but…"
"I won't forget…"
I nodded my head.
"Good… now you're free."
"Uh-huh…"
I got up from the chair and headed for the exit. I needed to go to Misty's shop to pick up Judy and Panam, but as I approached, I realized things weren't going to be so simple.
"I'm so sick of you! Can you be even a little more attentive?! I'm your girlfriend, by the way! Do you hear me?! I am, not V!"
I glanced through the glass window of the door and saw that everyone was inside, so I didn't hesitate and walked in.
"And you spend ten times more time with her than you do with me!"
"But Misty, I'm working…"
Jackie looked confused and a little annoyed.
"Working?! You are?! You're a fucking dreamer! You wanna be a legend! And you're not doing a damn thing! You just keep listing off names! What are you doing to become a legend?! Have you saved up for better quality chrome?! Are you doing at least three jobs a week? Do you have a good reputation with fixers?!"
I shook my head.
Misty was on a roll…
"David, is Vik free?"
I looked at V and nodded.
"Yeah, he's free now."
"Good…"
The girl walked past everyone in the room. As she passed me, she 'accidentally' hit me with her long scarlet hair, which smelled of something citrusy. That little devil…
"David?"
Misty turned to look at me, and I was surprised to see that she was a little flustered.
"Hey again, Misty, Jackie…"
I just nodded to the latter. He answered with a much grimmer nod and a very unfriendly look.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
He even tilted his head forward a bit, as if he was trying to intimidate me.
"Me? I came for the girls… we have plans for the rest of the day…"
"Then take them and get the fuck…"
"Jackie Welles! This is my shop! Panam and Judy are my friends! David is my friend! So. Don't. You. Dare. Talk. To. Them. In. That. Tone. While. You're. In. My. Shop."
She said the last sentence word for word, making it clear that she wouldn't tolerate any arguments.
"Misty! They've gotten into your head!"
"What?!"
"That's what! Working like them… when are you supposed to live?!"
"Well, we have plenty of time and money to live."
Panam interjected.
"Yeah, I even send a decent amount of eddies to my grandma and grandpa, and I still have enough left over to live. Movies, restaurants, entertainment centers, clubs… We visit all of them regularly."
"Um… what about the bar?"
Jackie was clearly confused.
"Why? None of us are interested in that…"
I shrugged.
"We'd rather go skydiving…"
I said that and then went quiet.
"Girls, we haven't tried that yet…"
"Hmm… I'm in… besides, while you're in recovery at Vik's, you can't go on missions, but you can have some fun like that…"
Panam nodded her head.
"I'm not against it either…"
Judy nodded.
"Damn, I want to go too…"
Misty bit her thumb.
"Listen, will you take me with you?"
I shrugged.
"Of co—"
"I'll take you myself!"
Misty looked at Jackie, quickly typed something into her terminal, and sighed sadly.
"You don't have enough eddies. It's a couple thousand per person…"
Kha?!
Jackie was completely shocked by the price of skydiving, and so was I. The money wasn't a small amount. Some chrome from past generations could be bought for less.
"David?"
Panam looked at me with uncertainty.
"Come on… am I not going to set aside some of my own savings for one jump for the four of us?"
"That's right…"
Judy nodded.
"…we're taking Misty with us, and we're going skydiving tomorrow."
"I can't afford it…"
"Shut up…"
Panam made Misty be quiet.
"…you're our friend. We won't go broke paying for your entertainment just this once. Or rather, David won't go broke. Right, David?"
"Right, Panam, I won't go broke."
I smirked.
"Misty, Panam will send you the time we'll come pick you up tonight. As well as the preferred style of clothing. Your everyday clothes probably won't work for jumping."
"Alright… thank you…"
Misty nodded gratefully at me, and then stuck her tongue out at Jackie.
"See what a guy should be like?"
"I'm so sick of you comparing me to him… you like him that much?! Then go join his harem and fuck him, you stupid bitch…"
Wham!
I closed the distance to Jackie in one step and knocked him to the floor with my hand.
"Jackie, no one is trying to take your girlfriend. No, Misty is sweet, and if she were single, and I were single, I would probably try to start a relationship with her. But there are too many assumptions…"
I shook my head.
"So you're going to get up now, apologize to her, and tomorrow you're going to buy her flowers and take her to a restaurant in the evening. And if you don't have the eddies, then just go do a job."
Tch…
Jackie slowly got up.
"David, thank you, but you didn't have to… Jackie… he's just… but I love him for who he is…"
I shrugged.
"That's your relationship…"
She nodded at me gratefully.
"…but the skydiving is still on."
Misty nodded and, giving me a bright smile, walked over to Jackie and, with a sigh, led him to the chair and sat him down.
"I'll get some ice now…"
The girls and I didn't wait around for the rest of their conversation and just left Misty's shop. Then we went to go get my future Behemoth. I was set on buying it.
"Decided to make a move on her?"
Judy asked that question as soon as the Thorton picked up speed.
"No… she's not my type."
I shook my head.
"But I had to put her boyfriend in his place."
"Well, none of us can argue with that…"
After Panam said that, we drove in silence. And the first words, as soon as we got to the seller—a company that did transportation—were from her. The Behemoth had served them faithfully, but the time had come, and they decided to get rid of it.
"This is a piece of junk…"
"I don't know much about cars, but I have to agree with Panam. Even to my amateur eye, it's clear this is junk, not a car."
I shook my head and walked over to the engine bay, which the sales rep opened at my request. Surprisingly, he wasn't trying to make the car seem better than it was; he was just doing what I asked.
"Alright, the engine is in decent condition… I'll need to fix a few things, replace a few parts…"
I nodded my head.
"…but overall, the car runs… can you lift it with the jacks?"
The man nodded and, pressing a button, lifted the Behemoth. Then I scanned the undercarriage, and it was pretty much the same. The car was far from new, but I wouldn't call it wrecked. And that was exactly what I needed.
"Twenty-five?"
"The price is non-negotiable. It's forty, or you leave here with nothing."
I sighed and transferred the amount he asked for to the guy. He then handed me the ownership papers for the car. I immediately started it up and got into the driver's seat.
"Um…"
"Yeah, Panam?"
I looked at her intently.
"You have a license, right?"
"I got one a couple of months ago."
"And you're getting behind the wheel?"
"Yeah…"
"Alright… I'll follow in my Thorton…"
"I'm with Panam."
Judy quickly decided who she was going with. I wasn't going to insist, though. Instead, we calmly drove to Judy's apartment, where we decided to stay until the next day. I got out of the Behemoth, walked around it, and looked at the work ahead of me one more time.
"Regretting it already?"
Panam was looking at me with a smirk.
"No…"
I shook my head.
"I'm just evaluating the work ahead of me…"
"And what's the verdict?"
"Well… I think I can get it done in a couple of months… although, with my solo work, it'll probably take six months."
"You need my help?"
Panam's gaze was serious now.
"I think so… but first, I need to figure out if we can hack and get the data, or if we can just look for it and try to buy it…"
"What exactly?"
"A nuclear reactor…"
"Huh?"
"All new AVs run on miniature nuclear reactors. And we need one if we want to provide your clan with energy."
"That's… not too much?"
"No…"
I shook my head.
"It's not too much. It's exactly what we need. We'll just have to stock up on fuel for a couple of years. We could also get them through fixers, just like the reactor…"
I thoughtfully scratched my nose.
"That's an idea, by the way…"
"Huh?"
"I need to contact Regina. Maybe she knows where to get a reactor and fuel for it?"
"Um… well… that would definitely make it easier."
"Yeah, but we'll still need the data on the reactors. If it breaks down, who's going to fix it?"
"Well… if we find a reactor, we'll look for the data too. There's still the connection and the maintenance…"
I nodded my head at Panam's words.
"Hey, you guys, come on!"
Judy interrupted our conversation and called for us to follow her, which we did, and soon we were in her apartment.
"Okay, I don't have any food at home, so I suggest we order a pizza…"
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