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"So, ladies, what can you tell me?"
"We can tell you the cop clearly went all out..."
"Hmm?"
"The warehouses are a decade old. They've been forgotten for ages. Now there's just ICE, no security, and the mentions of them are minimal. And the ICE hasn't been updated in a long time. Of course, the tech in there is far from new, but then, we weren't expecting new tech anyway..."
Kiwi opened her eyes and looked at me.
"In total, there are about a hundred Chevillon Emperor 620 Ragnars in the warehouses, in trashed condition, of course, but the parts for them are also available. A dozen and a half old Behemoths. Six Basilisks. And two Manticores. All with parts, naturally, but judging by the data, we're gonna have to do a lot of work to fix them."
I sighed.
"This is really good... to be honest, I was expecting more modest results..."
"Should I call Saul?"
I looked at Panam and shook my head.
"No, news like this needs to be delivered in person, so we'll wait until our dear runners wipe all the data about these warehouses. After that, we'll talk to Saul. Besides, if all the tech is damaged, it'll be more convenient to do the repairs right there in the warehouses, not in the Badlands."
"Then we wait..."
Panam sighed and dropped her head onto the steering wheel.
About twenty minutes passed in a tense silence.
"Oh, for fuck's sake..."
"What?"
I looked at Lucy, who had slammed her fist on her knee in a rage and opened her eyes.
"Just a second..."
Her eyes lit up, signaling that she was answering a call, and after just ten seconds, she focused on me.
"Dex is completely out of line. I dropped his call five times, and he just kept calling and calling. He didn't understand he was bothering me until I told him to fuck off. And even after that, he tried to say something, so I added his number to the blacklist... Girls, I'd suggest you do the same..."
"Give me his contact..."
Panam said these words. After that, all the other girls got Dex's contact and apparently added him to their blacklists.
"I can send everyone Faraday's contact, too..."
"Let's do it..."
The girls seemed to be having a blast and added him to their blacklist as well. Well, all of them except Kiwi; she still owed him something, so it wasn't safe for her to add him to her blacklist.
We stayed there for another twenty minutes, after which the runners finally gave us the all-clear, showing that they had completed the task, and the Thorton rumbled quietly as it drove us toward the Aldecaldos' camp.
"Choom, what happened to you?!"
Scorpion met us by the Behemoth. Well, "met us" probably isn't the right word. Panam probably called him, because he was clearly waiting for us.
"The job went a little off-plan... but hell, it could've ended much worse..."
I shook my head and decided to change the subject.
"...Panam called you, right?"
"Yeah... said it was urgent and couldn't wait..."
I gave my little brunette a disgruntled look.
"But I was right, Scorpion! He was able to get Basilisks! And he's got Behemoths and Chevillon Emperor 620 Ragnars, too! We can put the whole clan on a single standard!"
Scorpion blinked in surprise.
"Okay, I think my chrome's glitching... I just heard some crazy talk about a single clan standard, Behemoths, Basilisks..."
"And she didn't even mention the Manticores."
Becca couldn't keep quiet. I understood her, though, since the expression on Scorpion's face was pretty funny.
"Alright, hold on, I'm calling Mitch..."
"Where is he, anyway? I told him to be here..."
"He's fixing the solar panels... we talked and decided I would be enough. You didn't say the matter concerned a topic like THIS..."
"Was I supposed to tell you everything over the phone?"
"Well... you could have at least hinted that it was of EXTREME importance to the clan."
"Well... I wanted to surprise you..."
Scorpion's eyes lit up, and a couple dozen seconds later, he nodded at us.
"Mitch will be here in ten minutes..."
"Alright, then we wait..."
I shrugged.
Ten minutes passed pretty quickly, and when Mitch arrived, he was a bit annoyed that he had been pulled away from his work.
"What do you need? What happened?"
"It's not what we need, it's what the clan needs..."
Panam decided to get straight to the point.
"...Chevillon Emperor 620 Ragnars, Behemoths... Basilisks..."
At the last word, Mitch grunted and quickly went to the nearest chair and collapsed onto it.
"...and as a bonus, a couple of Manticores."
"Fuck..."
"Exactly! And everything's in secure warehouses, with info that only we have now, so repairing the tech will be pretty easy. There's a ton of parts there, too... In short, the clan could get very lucky."
"Could?"
Mitch looked at Panam carefully.
"Yeah, could. Let's be honest, if Saul stays clan leader, he'll just blow all of this trying to suck up to Biotechnica. It's like his brain's been washed; he can't see any other path for the clan. At first, I thought that at least new chrome for the clan might change things, but it didn't really affect his viewpoint..."
"Well... I can't say I don't understand you, but what do you want?"
"I want them all to be included in the clan..."
Panam nodded toward us.
"...and I want to nominate David for the position of clan leader."
"Now you're aiming high..."
Scorpion shook his head.
"Well, she's right about this..."
"Huh?"
Scorpion looked at Mitch in a daze.
"Just think about it, what has David already done for the clan? Chrome? You got it... or do you really think he couldn't have sold it to someone else through a fixer who would've paid more than us? And now this tech..."
Mitch sighed.
"...and I doubt he'll stop here... compared to Saul, who really has become overly obsessed with Biotechnica lately..."
"Speaking of which, keep a close eye on the news."
"Huh?"
"This..."
I pointed to my arm and leg, or rather, to the chrome that was in their place.
"...is the result of running into that corpo's interests. I'm not sure what exactly they were doing, but they were using Peter Pan's activities as a cover to kidnap young people... I suspect they were doing some kind of experiments with chemicals on their bodies."
"Hmm..."
"He's not lying..."
Panam shook her head.
"You went up against a corpo?"
Mitch's voice was extremely displeased.
"No... I mean, yes, but no..."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means we didn't know what we were getting into."
Judy decided to clarify her friend's confusing explanation.
"Originally, it was a fixer's request to help her friend whose nephew was kidnapped by Peter Pan. There were some warning signs, of course... but we only fully understood what we were getting into when we came across irrefutable evidence of Biotechnica's involvement..."
"And you didn't delta..."
"Well..."
Panam looked away.
"I requested a reward from the fixer, because doing a job to investigate a psycho's activities is one thing, but going up against a corpo is another. So I requested the coordinates of two old police tech warehouses with access points that we could use to delete the info about them. I was counting on her to refuse... well, I was at least hoping for it, but I started getting ready just in case anyway..."
"Let me guess. She agreed..."
"Exactly, Mitch..."
I nodded a couple of times.
"...and this is the result. I lost the ability to do combat ops for the foreseeable future, but at the same time, there's a chance for a significant profit for the clan. Personally, I was ready to give it to the clan for free, without the conditions that Panam laid out. But I'm not going to go against my girl..."
"Yeah, and if David isn't made clan leader, I'm just leaving..."
I blinked in surprise.
That was definitely not in my plans.
"Panam..."
"David... just be quiet. This is a clan matter right now, and you don't belong to the clan yet. I'm not saying we won't sell the tech to the clan, but trust me, there's a difference between how we'll sell the tech to the clan if the conditions I stated earlier are met... and how it'll happen if I'm not even part of the clan anymore."
"Panam..."
"Mitch, Scorpion, you're great guys, and Saul used to be awesome, too. He'll always be the guy who stole a fuel truck, opened its valve, and drew a figure eight in the sand and set it on fire, just so the kids could have some fun. But now... it looks like old age is catching up to him..."
She shook her head.
"Alright, these are issues that are outside our jurisdiction anyway. We need to get the council together... bring the issue to them..."
"I'd prefer not to do that..."
I shook my head.
"David!"
"Panam!"
I gave her a stern look, but she didn't give in.
"Look, Mitch, Scorpion, I don't want to go against Panam's wishes, but I also don't want to split the clan. You've probably already figured out that I had my own plans for the Aldecaldos, which now, because of Panam, I'll have to adjust. But since, as I said, I don't want a split, I'd like to ask you to talk to Saul."
"Hmm?"
"No council, just talk to him. You're the old-timers of the clan; he'll at least listen to you. I'd like to resolve this amicably, since Panam has gotten this idea in her head..."
"I'm afraid Saul won't appreciate that..."
"Well, that's another conversation..."
I shrugged.
"...if he doesn't appreciate it, you can just forget everything and offer to buy the tech from us, or you can go with Panam's plan. It's your choice."
"Ours?"
"Mitch, I'm not a scumbag or a self-absorbed idiot who thinks the world revolves around me. The fact that I found a way to get this tech doesn't mean you'll think it's useful and accept my help. And it certainly doesn't mean you'll decide to oust Saul, despite Panam's words. Even though she doesn't realize it, she has a pretty big influence in the clan."
"Me?"
"You, you..."
I nodded at my little brunette's bewildered exclamation.
"...So the choice of what to do is up to you. Before you make a decision and go to talk to Saul, you can call the other 'old-timers' and discuss the issue with them. There's time, and it's practically unlimited, since only we, the fixer—who won't resell them—and the client—who owes us big time and is the fixer's friend, so he won't get in our way—have the address to these warehouses."
"We understand..."
Scorpion nodded and put his hand on Mitch's shoulder.
"Let's go... we'll talk to the other 'old-timers'..."
He chuckled.
"...and we'll make a decision about what to do."
"Yeah... we'll make a decision... As if we have a choice about what we'll decide and what kind of ultimatum we'll give Saul..."
Mitch grumbled, but he went toward his tent with Scorpion anyway.
"And you still have doubts?"
Panam grinned.
"Come on, we all know what decision the 'old-timers' will make. It's just that they have to be the ones to make that decision."
Judy squeezed Panam's shoulder reassuringly. And with that, everything ended for now, and I got back to making dinner...
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