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I woke up to a phone call again...
"What the hell is wrong with all of you?!"
However, despite my outburst, I can say that I did manage to get some sleep and even wake up rested... So, after lying in bed for half a minute, I finally answered the call.
"Listening."
"Ghost? This is Dakota."
Interesting...
"Yeah?"
"I have a job for you. Interested?"
"What do I need to know?"
"I need to get a girl out of trouble. She's an excellent techie, I'd say the best in the Badlands, but the problem is that she's absolutely terrible at choosing who to work for. So she got herself into some serious shit."
"And what am I supposed to do?"
"Save her and bring her to me. I hope this will convince her to work through me as her fixer."
I sighed.
"Fixer's wishes?"
"I want it to be loud... but at the same time, the girl herself, and possibly her car, shouldn't be harmed. But she has to realize that a lot of people had to be zeroed out for her sake, even if they're just Wraiths. And the blame for that lies with her, since she can't choose who to work with."
I grunted.
"So, loud?"
"Exactly."
"Alright, I'll take it, even though it's not quite my profile, but I have a subordinate who loves to work loud, and a job like this will be a godsend for her."
"Good, sending you the details."
The call ended, and I immediately got a message with the job details.
Iris?
I blinked in surprise. The girl was almost a nomad. She visited the Aldecaldos very often even before I joined the clan, and after my "ascension," she managed to fix a lot of things here. But this idiot really can't choose who she should work with and who she shouldn't, because now she's with the Wraiths.
I sighed and slowly got up.
I glanced at the clock and realized that lunch had just ended... well, the girls had a couple of portions of food in special containers, so they didn't go hungry. That's good...
I quickly called Becca.
"David?"
"Hey, sunshine..."
"Hey, what's up?"
"Well... not much. Where are you right now?"
"Just... patrolling around the clan..."
"Good. Come back. I've got a job for you."
"For me?"
"Yeah... you're going to have to be loud and use special effects."
"You're not kidding, are you?!"
"No..."
"Awesome! I'll be there in fifteen minutes!"
I grinned and hung up, and then I finally left my room.
"How was your sleep, Lucy?"
I saw the girl in the small living room, which was also set up as a workspace for the runners with very comfortable chairs and the option to install tubs for emergency cooling.
"It was good."
"Well, of course it was, in my arms..."
I smiled kindly.
"I don't know what you're talking about..."
"Oh, come on... even when I'm exhausted, I would know if Kiwi, Judy, Panam, or Becca climbed into my bed. But since it wasn't one of them... that just leaves you..."
Lucy looked away.
"I... you're not mad?"
"No..."
I walked up to her, caught her chin with my fingers, and slightly turned her head, lifting her face, and I immediately leaned in and gave her a short kiss on the lips.
"I'm glad that you're taking steps toward building our relationship. And I guess I'm the one who should be apologizing..."
"Huh?"
"Well, you know..."
I gave her a warm smile.
"A girl like that in my bed, and I slept like a log..."
"Pff... it's nothing... I didn't mind just dozing off while cuddling with a log."
"That's good... I'm going to need help from a runner and a driver... do you want to come with me, Panam, and Becca?"
"Is it something serious?"
"Nah..."
I shook my head.
"...I just need you to monitor the situation and hack the Wraiths' computers. Maybe you can find their bases so we can earn a little extra..."
"Got it... I'll go get ready."
"Mmm..."
Lucy left, and I also started getting ready. I went into our small armory, where I took a set of throwing knives, a silenced pistol, and my tonfas with energy blades. Becca showed up when I had almost completely put on my suit.
"Hey... you said it was going to be loud and flashy!"
"Yeah, but the goal is to save someone, and the girl has to survive. So before you start going loud, I have to get inside, scout the area, and take a defensive position."
"Hmph..."
Becca chewed on her lips in annoyance, but after a couple of seconds, she looked at my face intently.
"You're going to leave all of them to me, right?"
"All of them, who don't pose a threat to the target's life and health."
"Well, at least there's that..."
She sighed, and I jumped a couple of times. When I was sure that no component was making any extra noise, I headed for the exit. At the same time, I called Panam.
"Listening..."
"Panam, I need your ass, and your driving skills."
"Huh?"
"I need you to drive me and the girls to the location and then help us get back."
"Alright, five minutes... and I'll be ready."
I nodded and hung up, and five minutes later, we were already getting into the car.
"Panam, catch the address... Iris Tanner is there; we need to save her... Catch the details..."
And I sent all the girls the job details.
"Iris? What is she even doing there?"
"She started working for the wrong people..."
"You think she's with the Wraiths now?"
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...judging by what Dakota told me, no. She just chose the wrong people to provide services to."
"Uh..."
"It's simple..."
I decided not to torment Panam, who just couldn't understand how something like that could happen.
"...she was working without a fixer. She was finding her own jobs, and she was monitoring the conditions herself."
"Is she totally crazy?"
Lucy looked at me in surprise.
"We'll get her out of the Wraiths, and then we'll find out if she's crazy or not. Personally, I had a good impression of her..."
"So did we..."
The girls nodded.
In the meantime, our car reached the destination, and I got out and slowly headed toward the Wraiths' base, a tip about which Dakota had given me. Lucy immediately provided us with a comms link.
"I'm going in..."
And with that, I activated my Sandevistan at a speed that was fast enough to not be seen by regular people, even if they had chrome. And the active defense systems shouldn't notice me either.
It was a junkyard...
One of the many junkyards in the Badlands near Night City...
But the Wraiths had cleared it out a little, creating a kind of narrow path that, like a confusing labyrinth, led to a few half-ruined shacks. Although the shacks were more like poorly built ones than half-ruined.
Of course, on the way, I inserted shards into everyone, through which Lucy would be able to hack both the Wraiths themselves and their few vehicles. But there was no target here...
"Ladies, no target. I repeat, the target is absent. Snowflake, your job is to hack everything you can reach. Find me where they're keeping our target."
"Got it, Ghost."
"Bookworm, you can start the party as soon as Snowflake gives the signal."
"I'm already itching to get started..."
"You can itch all you want, but Ghost still won't be using his fire hose on you today."
Panam's comment was quite sarcastic, alluding to the fact that Becca wouldn't be in my bed anytime soon, since she and Kiwi still preferred to be with me alone. And only when it's Judy's turn, she agrees to let Becca into bed with us. Although she doesn't come when it's Becca's turn, either.
I noticed the cameras shut off and grinned, activating my Sandevistan and moving to a position where I could keep an eye on Becca. After all, I had to cover her. Leaving her alone with the enemy, no matter how much I trusted her, would just be stupid.
"I'm done... Bookworm - go!"
"I'm not a dog..."
But despite her words, Becca got out of the car and took two pistols out of the trunk. I just raised an eyebrow at that, but since none of them could see me, my unspoken question went unanswered.
However, when Becca, with a wide grin from ear to ear, walked directly toward the first enemy, I understood everything...
She just needed to relieve some stress, and the Wraith enemies were, to be honest, terrible, so two pistols were even overkill...
Becca just walked and shot.
One shot - one corpse.
For Becca, it was just a walk in the park...
Actually, for me, something like that would also have been a walk in the park, and Becca's skills were no secret to me. But it's one thing to know what she's capable of, and another to see her nonchalantly wipe out an entire cell of a gang. And that made me think...
"Interesting..."
"Hmm?"
Lucy was the only one who commented on my statement.
"I was just thinking, how much do I not understand your capabilities? Not underestimating them, but just not understanding them? I know you're all strong enough and self-sufficient, but... to see it like this..."
I shook my head.
"Well, I'm not always rushing into fights for no reason!"
Becca finally joined the conversation. I, meanwhile, continued to move, staying a little to the side of her.
"Behind you."
Just one word from me, and Becca sharply turned around, rolled out of the possible line of fire, and managed to shoot and zero out the Wraith who could have been a danger to her.
"Be careful..."
"Well, I'm so relaxed for two reasons... first, these enemies are no match for me. It's like a shooting range on the easiest difficulty..."
Becca shook her head.
"...and second, I'm not alone. I know perfectly well that you're somewhere nearby and you're watching over me, and look, the cameras are moving again, so Snowflake is controlling everything, and she would have warned me a second after you. And the Wraith wouldn't have been able to do anything in that time."
"I'm glad you're counting on us..."
"Who else am I supposed to count on?"
"She's right, Ghost. A long time ago, in almost a past life, we didn't have such good relationships in another group. But counting on each other during a job was a normal thing. You're the one who can do everything solo... Not many people are capable of that..."
"You're flattering me..."
I shook my head.
"Meanwhile, I'm thinking that I'll have to have all of you go through similar jobs as the main operators. Just so I can understand what capabilities you have... no, not to understand, but to confirm it for myself."
"You have to?"
"Yeah... first, I'm going to make you all go through operative training, just so I can be more at ease when I send you into a fight..."
"Well... I don't intend to rush into a fight... I have a couple of demons who will help me even in combat situations..."
"Well... we'll see, but until you finish your operative training, I'm not letting you into a fight."
"Yeah, we get it..."
"Girls, we need to change Ghost's callsign. I think 'Daddy' would be perfect for him..."
Becca decided to get sarcastic.
"Gross! Bookworm! We sleep with him!"
"Well... incest is a family thing..."
"Snowflake..."
Panam tried to stand up to them.
"Girls... let's not go to extremes."
"Oh, come on, I was just kidding..."
Becca grinned and shot another Wraith...
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