Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
"...Intensive repair work continues on the abandoned NightMotors plant in Carlsen Street, but even days later no one knows which company is investing in the abandoned factory. Will this bring new life to Watson, or are we looking at another inevitable failure?"
"I'm Angela Pierce and this is Watson Daily, subscribe to stay in touch-"
I shut the TV off with a slight irritated groan "God fucking damn it."
"What is it, Mikey?" Mom asked, looking up from her breakfast.
"I just realized I'll probably have to do an interview or three." I paused, feeling a wave of dread pass through my everything "And will have to keep doing them... Forever." The fork in my left hand cracked at the mere idea.
Mom failed to keep her amused smile from showing "And how is your search for a public rep going? You said it was a pretty important position."
"I've narrowed it down to a few candidates." I shrugged "Currently stuck between the safe option and the 'bold' option."
She raised an eyebrow.
"The safe one is a local down on her luck model." I elaborated "Knows how to speak well, looks appealing, and has confidence. You know, the standard package."
"And the other?"
"Ex Valentino priest if you will believe it." I exhale, baffled by the fact I was even considering it "The man is looking for a fresh lease on life now that he's started a family and can't risk everything in a gang anymore. He definitely knows how to speak and carry himself, and is heavily cyberized so he can 'show off the goods' as it were, but the obvious gang connections are a problem."
"That Jackie's recommendation?" She asked.
"Yeah." I shook my head in amusement "He talks about the man like he can turn a 'Strommer into a devout Christian with just his words."
"And how soon do you plan on interviewing them?"
"This weekend." I informed her "Have to catch up on the patient backlog first. Can't lose the rep, and especially not now."
"And speaking of important positions." I say after chewing down my slice of pizza "What do you think about being the head of security?"
"Nepotism, Mikey. Really?" She smirks teasingly.
Rolling my eyes I give her the only suitable answer "Duh. For all that I want to help my fellow man in my own way, I haven't forgotten what is the most important. Which is keeping us safe. And trusting our security to someone else feels... completely unacceptable."
"Good." She doesn't skip a beat "I'll do it."
And that was that.
We spent the rest of the meal in relative silence, and soon I was walking downstairs, just in time to see a haggard looking Gloria slink into the entrance hall.
"Big crowd outside, Ms. Martinez?" I ask.
She only now notices me and flinches in surprise "No, sir. Just a traffic jam."
"Ah." I nod "Remind me to give you an auto GPS chip when we are done for today. You have no idea how much of a timesaver that thing can be."
She blinks "You... you can do that?"
"Its ridiculously simple actually." I chuckle and wave for her to follow me into the clinic.
"And... how long could you do this?" She asks tentatively.
"Since before I could walk." I chuckle, and as I hear her stop in her tracks I add "You never said anything about transportation issues."
She sighs, and when she speaks it sounds almost as if she is pouting "I didn't want to be a bother."
"You are a family friend now, Ms. Martinez." I shake my head and toss on my 'uniform' "There is no such thing as being a bother."
She offers a genuine smile at that "I'll try to remember that."
"See that you do." I say semi seriously and begin mentally going through the day's appointments and my storage, activating a trio of my Servitor drones to start assembling some missing parts "And your preparations for the move?"
"We don't really have all that much to move to begin with. Our apartment is still tiny." She shakes her head "It will take us only a couple of hours to get ready when the repairs are done."
"Good." I hum in satisfaction.
She would obviously be moving into the residential tower once it was done.
Gloria had long since gone up from a mere convenience to becoming indispensable, and I was more than happy to offer her a large apartment near the top of the tower as part of her work benefits for that dedication.
And that was without factoring in the inevitability she was going to become a massive target once I started stepping on toes. She was far too heavily involved in my plans to leave in the open, and on a less cynical level I'd hate to see something bad happen to her or her kid.
So the solution was evident.
Chugging down the last of her ice coffee, she checked her Optics and stood up "Miss Park just arrived. I'll go and write her up."
I merely hummed in the affirmative and went into my workshop to pick up the necessary heart replacement. How that... chunky woman was still alive with so much clogging in her heart baffled me but I found I was rather content with not knowing the answer.
Before I returned to the clinic, I checked my Agent for a message from Rebecca and found none. She'd left abruptly early in the morning looking all kinds of irritated at something, and refused to elaborate aside from 'someone was being a dickhead.'
I could make some guesses based just on that and was frankly thankful to be kept out of that particular drama. I tended to get punchy around dickheads.
Well, she could take care of herself, and I had a monday to grind out.
Time to get back to work!
---
Rebecca
Getting back to her old apartment, or her bro's apartment now, after months of being away felt... weird. The shitty doors she'd dented the last time she was here were still just as damaged, and barely opened up as she inserted the security code, and the moment they did the smell hit her.
She stopped her face from scrunching up and stepped inside, finding exactly the kind of mountain of trash she'd expected to.
And on top of the sole 'clean' bit of it all sat her bro, still wearing his shitty unwashed jacket, with traces of hard glitter smeared just under his nose. He looked half awake at first and only noticed her after a good ten seconds of her tapping her foot.
He shook his head awake and blinked as if only now realizing she was there "Hey, sis." He waved lazily.
"Sup." She returned "You good?"
He just leaned back into the couch at that and smirked "Juuust perfect."
She felt like punching something but forced the feeling down "So, why'd you call me?"
"Its been a while." He shrugs "Feels like I haven't seen you in years, 'Becca."
Her eye twitches "We were at Maine's bar like a week ago."
"For real?" He blinks "Huh..."
The urge for violence grew as she raised her clutched fist, but she grit her teeth, took a deep breath (regretted it immediately) and gave her high off his ass brother a pleading look "Bro, you are killing yourself. Let me-"
"Again with this bullshit?!" He explodes out of nowhere, glaring at her through his stupid fucking visor.
She went to say something but he just kept going.
"Maybe you enjoy selling out to your chrome joytoy but I'm no one's bitch!" He snarled before his expression twisted into a sneer "Sorry to tell you sis, but these cheeks don't open for money."
The implied 'unlike yours' was obvious.
She growled "I am trying to help you."
And she really was. Once she got the time to just sit down and think in peace, she realized just how over fucked the two of them had been by having to survive on the streets for just under a decade.
She lucked out in finding the Mox to help her through it but her bro only managed to cope by becoming an everything addict.
She couldn't do anything about the drinking, or about the BDs, but she could at least try to help him with the drugs. Drugs that Mike quickly confirmed were going to kill him before 2080 if he kept it up.
So she got to work, saved up so he couldn't say it was charity from her boyfriend, and even tried the slow approach when she tried convincing him.
It all backfired massively, and Pilar reacted like she'd asked him to sell his soul or something. Ranting at her and mocking her whenever she tried to broach the subject.
And as much as she wanted to help, after a bunch of attempts she just kind of stopped trying, both with him... and the crew.
At first it was unconscious, she simply found it more comfortable to work alone and then with Sasha once she got good enough with her 'running to act without constant support.
But then back around new year's work slowed down due to a few fuckups in planning on Maine's end (and a shitty choice in Fixers who couldn't keep their word) she started working on her own more and more often, and it all simply clicked better when she had no one breathing down her neck.
She was damn good at what she did.
"Help me?!" Pilar growled back "You think I'm just going to abandon everything and whore myself out just like yo-"
He didn't get to finish the sentence as a carboard box smashed into his face fast enough to rip in two and nearly bowl him over backwards.
"Ah, fuck!" He cursed, clutching at his bleeding nose.
"I'm not listening to this shit again." Rebecca hissed. She knew her fucking worth, and no amount of bitching was going to make her ruin what she had.
Ignoring her disappointment, she glared back at the gonk and asked "What did you actually want, Pilar?"
"A box sis?" He chuckled nasally, ignoring her question "Too poor for your bullets now, am I?"
"Not being in constant danger is wonderful for the temper." She says with fake cheer.
"Your borg owner tell you that?" He mocked.
And she answered instantly "Yep."
"Well fuck me then." Pilar snorted, bleeding all over his face as he did "He got you nice and tamed, eh?"
"Fuck off, asshole." She flipped him off.
"Hah! No." Pilar barked out.
"Why did you call me, Pilar?" Rebecca's impatience finally won out "You made it sound like some kind of emergency."
Her bro frowned and turned uncharacteristically serious "Just thought I'd tell you. Maine is chasing some new chrome, got a big gig coming from his asshole Fixer. But he's been talking about putting you and Sasha on the bench."
"He fucking what?" She asked, suddenly feeling.... she wasn't sure what she was feeling if she was being honest but it fucking sucked.
"He said he's thinking about benching you." Pilar shrugs and repeats, seemingly not giving a fuck one way or the other "Something about that gig you two refused a month back."
"He's still pissed about that?" Rebecca frowns, voice turning icy "When he can't even get proper info from his stupid asshole of a Fixer?!"
"Hey, I'm not saying you're wrong." Her bro raises his hands placatingly "Just what he's been yapping about. Apparently the four eyed bitch sold him some crap about not being in control of his own people."
'And Maine lapped that up immediately.' She realized with a frown, and felt a sudden spike of cold fury "Is that right?"
Pilar just shrugged, wiping some glitter off his face and licking his fingers.
But she was too furious to feel disgust right now and merely glared "Well then, you go tell Maine he can go fuck himself. I'm no one's bench bitch!" She breathed in "And tell him that until he gets a new Fixer I'm not doing shit with him."
Instantly, it seemed like all the glitter left Pilar's bloodstream "You serious?"
"Deadly." She growled.
"'Becs." He stood up, almost panicked "He'll kick you from the crew over this."
She was not having it "If he likes his pride more than his people he can take his crew and shove it."
Pilar looked hurt for a moment but then shook his head and smiled "You're right sis, you are no one's bitch."
"You're damn right!" She slowly grins, and tosses him a pack of detoxifiers "This is all my money so don't cry too much."
He just snorts "Guessing you don't feel like staying over?"
"Thanks for telling me, bro but..." She trails off, looking over the apartment and feeling herself frown again "But I really feel like shooting something right now."
"Yeah, that sounds about right." He chuckles.
She gave him a wave which he returned and went to leave, but before she reached the door she heard her bro speak up again "For what its worth, sis... I'm happy for you."
Her frown softened as she muttered a barely audible "Thanks, bro." And stepped out of the apartment.
As she walked out of the building she saw the familiar brightly colored Mizutani Shion owned by Sasha waiting for her with the engine still on.
Without a word she entered on the co-driver's seat, and found Sasha slumped over the steering wheel, eyes staring off into the distance while probably browsing the net or something.
Rebecca gently shook her awake and the suddenly very groggy netrunner blinked herself awake, and seeing Rebecca's frown she asked "What happened?"
For a moment, she hesitated, and then told her everything.
By the time she was done, Sasha looked somewhere between tearful and furious.
"You don't have to follow me out Sasha." Rebecca reassured "But I'm sick and fucking tired of Maine doing the same thing over and over again. And I'm not taking that shit anymore."
"No, no." Sasha shook her head lightly "You are right, Maine's stupid ass Fixer is going to fuck him over. I'm just... Things used to be simpler."
Rebecca sighed and nodded "Yeah..."
Slowly, the netrunner turned to face her "So, that's it. Huh?"
"Who would have thought." Rebecca smirked "Sasha thinks suicide by being a gonk is bad."
"Hey!" Her choom points at her "It was for a good cause!"
"You keep telling yourself that." Rebecca laughed before slowly turning serious "That's enough of the depressing shit. Want me to grab us some gigs?"
Sasha's eyes brightened slightly and she cheered "Hell yeah, girl!"
Wasting no time, Rebecca called her favorite Fixer.
[Yo, aunty Wakako. Got some Scavs you need deleted? Me and my girl need to vent a bit.]
Wakako's expression turned amused on the holo [Of course, young Rebecca. I have three spots you might find fun.]
[Gimme all three.] She said immediately.
There was no surprise on the Fixer's face as she sent the data over [Do you want me to call the salvage teams over this time as well?]
[Hell yeah!] Rebecca grinned [Free money is free money.]
[Indeed.] The Fixer nodded [Report to me once you are done.]
[Sure thing, aunty.] She mock saluted and ended the call.
"Hit the gas, Sasha." She told her choom "Guts needs to make some new friends."
Shivering in fake fear, the netrunner began driving to Japantown.
---
Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
The amount of blood that needed throwing out after every monday never stopped surprising me. Intellectually I knew that doing highly invasive surgeries on dozens of people in a short span of time would inevitably result in something like that but seeing is believing as they said, and seeing the results of my work was always impressive.
To the point I had to come up with a system to drain it all away in a short amount of time to a different part of the clinic because most of the patients tended to get all panicky over a few leftover splotches.
It isn't like I left them over anywhere close to where they could act as contaminants but explaining that to confused old people who needed their pacemakers replaced with something more efficient and permanent was a massive waste of time, even for Gloria who had far more patience for that kind of thing than I.
So I just drained it all away as best as I could and did my best to be patient.
My next clinic is going to come with everything pre-built, and that was a fact.
I tossed my uniform over into the washing machine and hung my coat over my shoulders before making my way up to the kitchen for the usual after-work drinks. Just to make sure everything is in order before I finally got to planning out my upgrades.
But I paused as found Gloria frowning, or more accurately glaring at a wall as she listened to someone speak over her Agent "Very well. I will be there quickly."
She ended the call and sighed.
"What happened, Gloria?" Mom asked her.
"David got into a fight with another student." My assistant slumped in her seat "The Principal just called me over for a parent's meeting."
"Did it sound like they are going to try something stupid?" I asked, referring to trying to drop him due to class politics or something equally suicidal.
"No." Gloria shook her head "But they are demanding I come over on principle."
"I could give you a ride. My car is faster than yours." Mom proposes.
"You uh... don't have work?" Gloria blinks.
Mom just smirks at that "My 'work' is just a formality. I mostly just hang out with Reggie and call it keeping her alive." She shoots me a knowing look before turning back to Gloria "I've got the time."
"Thanks 'Lana." Gloria stands up "The sooner I can pull David out of school by the ear, the better. That boy will be the death of me..."
Recognizing the exact tone she was using, I sent a quick prayer over for my poor compatriot.
-------
Moar ston.
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