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A call from Rogue made me let out a sigh of relief.
"David, I've got an urgent job for you..."
"Listening, Rogue..."
And Rogue told me about a job whose details I already knew. From her tone, I knew that she knew that I knew that she knew... but rules were rules, and she told me about the job, heard my acceptance, and sent me the details in a message. I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
"A job?"
"Yeah..."
"Did you take it?"
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...I'm the one who suggested it to her. And she decided to pay a decent amount... though I would have taken the job for a lot less."
"Well, that's good."
Becca sighed in relief.
"Exactly... it's good that she came to her senses..."
With a low roar, three motorcycles stopped next to us. And the girls sitting on them made my mouth water greedily. All of them are mine...
My gaze fell on a tall girl in a red suit, a red helmet, on a red bike... I was ready to pound her right there and then! And judging by her gaze, Kiwi knew exactly what kind of impression she was making on me.
I shifted my gaze a little and saw a girl in a green suit on a green bike. She also had a helmet on, and it, just like her suit and bike, was green. And this bundle of joy also belongs to me... I'm so lucky!
My gaze slid to the last figure, a girl who was a little shorter than the first two, dressed in a snow-white motorcycle suit and a snow-white helmet. She was sitting on a white bike... But this miracle doesn't belong to me yet...
Well, at least not technically, but in practice, she was already in my nets. And I could see it by the way she was showing off for me. The way she was arching her back...
"What are you guys talking about?"
Judy was in a very good mood.
"That we don't have to zero out V."
Becca didn't spare the girls' feelings and dumped everything on them in one sentence.
"Cough?!"
All the girls coughed in sync and even forgot that just a second ago, they were supposedly trying to show themselves and their tight suits in the best possible light.
"No, it's not a joke..."
"David, Becca's joking, right?"
"Not at all... V walked a fine line... she called me and suggested that we blow up a power plant to shoot down a corpo av. And she didn't even care that an explosion like that would cause a lot of civilian deaths."
"And?"
"And I think I managed to get her to take a different path. And now I have to build a super-powerful, narrow-beam EMP cannon for her."
"I see..."
The girls exchanged glances and, without saying a word, they rode toward the vehicle bay, where they left their motorcycles and quickly went into the Behemoth.
"We're going to work!"
The girls disappeared inside, and I couldn't help but shrug before I went back to working on the weapon for V. And at the same time, I was hoping that she wouldn't take the easy path that she had to take in the canon...
I sighed... only time would tell... maybe I made a mistake when I helped her after Arasaka threw her out...
Ugh... only time will tell...
With those thoughts, I threw myself headfirst into my work...
Two Days Later
I struggled to straighten up and let out a sigh of relief.
"Becca..."
But Becca wasn't next to me. I looked around and realized that it was actually night. I was working inside the Behemoth, because while I could work on the computer outside and create models of weapons and parts, making the parts themselves and assembling the weapons had to be done inside, where sand couldn't get in.
I stretched and got up from my workspace, realizing how hard the work had been for me. Yeah, my muscles are synthetic and don't get stiff, and my bones and everything else are also artificial, but something in my brain still made me stretch after sitting for a long time, and it brought a certain inner satisfaction.
I sighed and looked at the workbench, on which lay two large cannons.
I went outside and saw that everyone in the clan was still asleep. But I didn't feel like sleeping myself. I knew—or rather, I wanted to sleep, but I knew I couldn't. If I went to sleep now, I would sleep for at least a full day, and that could lead to tragic consequences. So I decided to start making a very early breakfast...
Or a very late dinner?
Lost in such philosophical questions, I made myself a snack.
When I finally finished cooking, I sat down at the table and indulged in the sin of gluttony. After that, I got up and, moving away from the building, I started my workout. All to keep myself from falling asleep. And that's exactly what my girls found me doing when they came out of the Behemoth early in the morning.
"You finished?"
Panam asked this question, but I could see that everyone was interested.
"Girls, David's not in the worksho...p..."
Becca came outside a little later than the others, with the massive cannons I had left in the workshop slung over her shoulders.
"Good morning, everyone..."
I waved at them and pointed to the table.
"Breakfast is on the table; it's a little cold, of course..."
Plates covered with special foil lay on the table, and under them was breakfast for my girls.
"It's fine... we'll eat it cold."
"Becca, one request... can you eat a little faster? I need to test the cannons so I can see if anything needs to be fixed..."
"Alright..."
Becca nodded, and I went back to working out. The girls, meanwhile, went to the table, and after a short while, I heard a few powerful shots, a short break, and then a few more powerful shots, and this went on for a couple of hours.
"It's great!"
Becca came back and put the cannons on the table.
I sighed in relief and called Rogue.
"Listening, David."
"The job for the two cannons is ready..."
"Good. Are you going to deliver them to the client yourself?"
I winced a little.
"I can, but do I have to?"
"No... it's not necessary; I can send a courier."
"Send one."
I sighed.
"I'm so exhausted that I might just flatline on the way."
"You worked that hard for your acquaintance?"
"Well..."
I tiredly shrugged, and my avatar repeated the gesture.
"...you could say that."
"Alright, I won't pry. A courier will be with you in an hour."
"Got it... end of comms."
"Yeah... later."
I sighed... just a little longer, and I'll be able to get some decent sleep...
The courier arrived right on time, and I gave him the weapons, which he carefully put in a specially equipped trunk for transporting weapons. And naturally, he disappeared in the direction of the client he had to deliver the weapons to.
I was finally able to relax. I went into the Behemoth, lay down on the bed, and just flatlined...
I woke up to a persistent call...
I looked at the clock and didn't hold back the urge to swear, and only after my vocabulary of swear words was exhausted did I answer the call.
"Listening, V..."
"I got the weapons... I wanted to thank you."
"Yeah..."
I yawned.
"You were sleeping?"
"Yeah... I hadn't slept for a few days to get your cannons done on time. So I figured I had the right to get some sleep."
"Ahem... sorry?"
"Yeah..."
I yawned again.
"...anything else?"
"Well... no..."
"Well, then later, I'm going back to sleep."
I hung up and went back to sleep, but the phone rang again.
"Yeah?"
There was not a drop of joy in my voice, and I didn't even pretend to be happy.
"I was just..."
"V... I haven't slept for a few days... so if you have something to say, say it. If you don't, then don't bother me while I'm sleeping."
"I want to hire you."
"No."
"You haven't even heard what it is yet."
"You've come up with some stupid shit again..."
"Don't worry, it's not corpo-related..."
I sighed.
"Can this wait?"
"Well... I just wanted to get it sorted out right away..."
"And? Don't beat around the bush; all the cats in the city are neutered anyway, and even the rare street cat doesn't have one."
"Ahem..."
I slowly inhaled, and then even more slowly exhaled.
"V... I'm going to hang up now and just put you on the blacklist."
"Alright, fine! Fine! I need to take over a club."
I blinked.
"Fuck..."
"David?"
"No, V, I'm out. One of my girls has friends who work there, and your little stunt with Parker, if it's successful, will get them zeroed out, because the Claws won't let it slide."
"But you haven't even heard the plan yet! We'll zero out the top brass at the same time, and there'll be no one to get revenge!"
"V... you're an adult, a former corpo, and you believe in fairy tales...
I shook my head.
"David, you're... out again?"
"Yeah, I'm out again. And I don't get you. You're going to get involved in this. Let's say you're successful, although you'll have to turn off the EMP generator again for that, and that's an extra percentage of your brain being rewritten. Do you realize that the Claws will be the least of your problems?"
"The corpos?"
She sighed.
"Exactly. The top brass of the really big gangs, like the Claws, are tied to the corpos. And a corporate suit will come to you and, very calmly, ask, 'And where's our cut?' Are you going to refuse to pay? A bullet to the forehead, and this time, you won't survive. I wouldn't count on your chip pulling you back from the dead a second time, and even if your body survives, it might not be you, but Silverhand."
"You... fuck, are you really not a corpo?"
"V... I just use my head, something you, for some reason, have almost given up on."
"I'm not..."
"You are..."
I cut her off.
"...and working with Dex is a good example of that. You didn't even check the info on the fixer you were going to work with! I gave you the info straight up, and you decided to just wing it on luck."
I sighed.
"And now you're going to stick your head in the tiger's mouth. By the way, the Claws are rumored to be under Arasaka, and you're going to be messing with that corpo again..."
I shook my head.
"That's it... end of comms..."
I could hear the irritation in V's voice, but I didn't say anything or try to calm her down. I just hung up and finally fell face-first onto my pillow...
Sweet sleep...
I was almost asleep when I heard the quiet creak of the door, and a couple of minutes later, a girl's body climbed into bed with me. I didn't open my eyes; I just turned over and hugged the girl who was pressing against me.
"I'm going to sleep a little more..."
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