Outrun - Chapter 455 - Sentinel (Patreon)

Sean Sentinel adjusted his tie, and looked around the room. I took a step back, and suddenly felt the urge to jump out the window. Did he set this up? He knew, didn’t he? Why go through all this effort to corner me here, though? I was just a street rat he met in passing, and definitely not somebody important.

His chrome eyes passed over me without more than a slight curiosity. Unfortunately, I just so happened to be standing beside Brunhilde. He approached the two of us. “Brunhilde?”

“Ah, here he is now.” Brunhilde nudged my arm with hers. She had a playful look in her eyes that made me want to be anywhere but here. “Isn’t he quite handsome?”

Handsome? That was one word for it. He had the type of face that made me want to run screaming out of the room. ‘Course, that wasn’t entirely his fault. It was mostly my own. I was hoping I never had to face the guy again after dropping the Meno Maeni identity. I didn’t know how to even approach this situation. Half of me wanted to drop kick him, and the other half said I should play it off like this was our first meeting.

”Brunhilde? What’s this about?” He looked past us toward the Sentinel-Tsukuyomi Roughrider on display in the middle of the room. With his attention off of me, I slowly started to slink away—

“Sean! Just who I was hoping to see.” Brunhilde slapped me on the back, and unceremoniously pushed me back into the conversation. “Look who it is! Recognize her?”

“I don’t think we’ve met.” His eyes settled on me in confusion. The red lens twirled as if running through an internal database. “Sorry if we have.”

He really didn’t recognize me? Wait, stupid question. ‘Course he didn’t recognize me. Master of Disguise was hopefully blocking any chance of that happening. If he didn’t recognize me, then Brunhilde… why would she set this up? She knew I was Meno at the school. Was this a threat? 

“Probably for the best.” I rubbed at the crook of my arm, and looked away from him. Should I shut off Master of Disguise? I doubted he’d recognize me now. I was totally different than back then. More than that, my temperament was totally different. That mattered a surprising amount when it came to recognition. 

”That’s not very nice.” Brunhilde pouted like I’d just stomped on her favorite toy. For an elite operator of Sentinel, she was surprisingly expressive. “I know you’re going for eccentricity, but—well, you should know who this is?”

”Who?” I glared at her. She knew I knew, ‘course. That didn’t mean I’d make this easy on her. Especially not after she ambushed me with this. 

Her eyebrows twitched, and she looked between the two of us. Her expression practically screamed ‘so this is how we’re playing it?’ “Shiro Tsukuyomi, meet my nephew, Sean Sentinel. Sean Sentinel, meet our newest business partner and blah blah blah, Shiro Tsukuyomi. I thought you two would get along, but…”

Wait… wait, wait, wait, wait. Sean Sentinel was Brunhilde’s nephew? How? How was that even possible? Like, by blood? Or was it one of those found family things? Back up even further, who was Sean’s mom? No, wait, it didn’t matter. I wanted nothing to do with Sentinel, let alone the CEO’s son. Especially not after what went down back at Sentinel Private School.

Recognition flashed in his eyes, and I instinctively took a step back. I half expected him to call my other name. Instead, he just put on his corporate smile like I was any other business partner. “Ah, the inventor of the Roughrider.”

”Chek… heh, that’s me.” I dipped my head, and the bill of my worn-out Slasher’s hat covered half of my face. After hesitating a moment, I let him through Master of Disguise. “Nice to meet you.”

“I’m so sorry about this.” He glared at his aunt even as he tried to remain cordial with me. “I was wanting to meet Cold Moon’s genius inventor, but definitely not like this. Valkyrie Brunhilde has a nasty habit of sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong.”

The Valkyrie raised her hands to her heart like she’d just been shot. “Ah, they grow up so fast. Just the other day, I remember changing your—“

”Brunhilde.” Sean’s voice dipped in warning. A flash of red traveled down along the circuitry of his arm, and pooled in his arm. “Don’t think I won’t have you redeployed somewhere else.”

“Yeah, yeah. Oh, that’s the Head of Acquisitions." Brunhilde backed away from us with an uncaring laugh. “You kids have fun.”

She practically ran away before either one of us could say anything. The two of us just stood there in silence for several uncomfortable moments. I didn’t even know how to approach the guy given our past, and he apparently didn’t even know we even had a past.

“Again, I’m sorry about her.” Sean rubbed a hand at his face. His posture broke slightly, and he slipped into a casual voice. “She told me this was one of the executives’ birthday parties.”

“You come to things like that?” I asked before I could stop myself. Somehow, it never occurred to me that he’d attend corporate things. Back then, I was under the impression he was totally disinterested in the corporation. 

“Recently, yeah. Boosts morale.” He nodded to a table off to the side. Two Sentinel employees that’d just been sitting there bolted like their lives depended on it. “Mind if I sit down? I just got back from the gym.”

“No, go on ahead.” While he moved to sit, I stood rooted right where I stood. I tried to ignore his questioning gaze when I didn’t follow after him.

I shot a glance at the door, but the guards that came with Sean stood in the way. Somehow, I doubted I’d be able to get by them. Not to mention people were starting to stare and whisper around me. Suck it up, Shiro. It’s just a conversation. How hard can this be? ‘Sides, he has my check.

I unwillingly moved to take a seat across from him. I made plans for this in the past, ‘course. None of them were coming to mind. Damn you, Past Shiro! “Sooo… my check?”

”Check?” Sean frowned. Every single one of his Cues read with confusion. That only lasted a moment before understanding dawned on him. “Did Brunhilde tell you I had it?”

”Chek…” If he didn’t have it—that bitch! I twisted my head to the side and glared at Brunhilde. She looked up from whatever unimportant conversation she was having, and tauntingly twirled a thumb drive between her fingers.

’Be there in a minute.’ She mouthed and winked at me. I was going to kill her. 

A minute. She expected me to just sit here and talk to this guy for a minute? How? No, why? This was surely a threat, wasn’t it? Was it because I said something about signing with Raijin? It was just a joke! Really, I’m just such a jokester…

“You, uh, you wanted to meet me?” I asked after a moment of steaming in my own bitterness. “Do you take an interest in all Sentinel’s business partners?”

”Passing interest, at least.” He looked a little surprised that I took the initiative to speak up. “I heard the CEO of Cold Moon Solutions was my age. Not too many of us running through corporate circles in this city.”

That sounded pretty plausible. Somehow, though, I felt like there was something off. He genuinely seemed to be surprised to see me here, but something told me his reasoning for wanting to meet me wasn’t quite right. “Yeah, well… now we’ve met.”

”Not much of the social type?” He tapped on the table lightly. After a moment, he moved to stand up. “I’ll go get the Valkyrie.”

“No, wait.” I stopped him just before he could stand up fully. “There was something I wanted to talk about, actually.”

This situation wasn’t exactly ideal, but maybe I could make it work to my benefit? He obviously didn’t recognize me, so as long as I played my cards right, I could get quite a bit of rayn out of this. He’d be able to move resources much more effectively than a Valkyrie, anyway.

”Oh?” He leaned forward in interest. 

“Here.” I pulled the piece of Gravitite out of my pocket, and slid it across the table. The instant it appeared in the light, I felt dozens of eyes snap my way. 

Sean likewise noticed, and smoothly cupped the piece of metal to hide it from view. After a moment, he pulled out a puck and tossed it onto the table. A scrambler—next generation by the looks of things. “What is it?”

”An alloy I just made. I thought Sentinel might find it interesting.” I leaned back in my chair, and crossed my arms.

”If it's from our friends at Cold Moon, of course we’d be interested.” He lifted his hand slightly, and looked down at the metal. “You made it?”

”Ahem, I meant my technicians.” The ones that didn’t exist since it was just me and Luna in my company. We were basically two people in a corporate trench coat at the moment. I really needed to get around to filling in that little issue… maybe once we got back from Lathvin.

“Right, ‘course.” His lips twitched, and his thumb traced the purple metal. “Can I have some technicians take a look at it?”

”… I’m surprised you even asked.” I totally thought he’d just take it and run it off to some R&D lab.

“It is yours, after all.” He moved to push it back across the table to me, though stopped when I shook my head.

”Whatever.” It didn’t really matter. I was just excited about it, and wanted to show off the metal to people who’d understand. Somehow, I doubted anyone here would.

’Course, there was always the chance that they’d reverse engineer how it was made or make their own variant. That’d make me obsolete. I wasn’t too worried about it, though. First off, Gravitic was insanely expensive. Only an absolute loon would go through it as fast as I did. Not to mention the ratios of the metal had to be exact or the whole thing would fail to bond.

“So… are you happy with Sentinel so far?” Sean asked after a few moments.

”Mostly. You guys have done a pretty good job at leaving me alone.” I waved a hand around me. “Up until now, anyway.”

”Sorry…” He actually looked a little embarrassed. “Brunhilde has a mind of her own. It’s good in the field, but at times like these…”

What would a CEO say in this situation? Something to demean my corporate rival, right? A few thoughts went through my head, but honestly, I couldn’t care enough to play corporate politics. “I’m familiar with the type.”

He simply nodded his head. “Some of the higher ups have been pushing for investor meetings with Cold Moon recently.”

”As long as they’re every once in a while, I guess I wouldn’t mind too much.” If they became an annoyance, though, I’d try to wiggle out of it. Maybe rob or frame whichever higher-up made the recommendation. “And on neutral ground.”

”I think I can handle that. They’ll be happy to hear it.” He stared absentmindedly at my face. Specifically, at the scar running down my cheek. I knew I should’ve left Master of Disguise on.

“Something on my face?” I snapped at him.

“Ah, sorry.” He blinked. After a moment, he scratched his head and looked away from me. “You just look a little familiar.”

”Probably saw me in the dossier. I imagine you guys keep one on me?” I asked rhetorically.

”Ah, you’re probably right.” He casually admitted to Sentinel keeping a file on me. I knew they did, and he knew they did. That didn’t mean it should just be openly claimed like that, though. “Your file’s a little short.”

I sat up straighter, and lifted my chin to look a little taller. ”You trying to say something?”

”No, no… sorry.” An uneasy silence settled across the table once more. It was only broken once Brunhilde worked her way back to us.

”What’s with the long faces?” She asked as soon as she slipped within range of the scrambler. “Did a deal gone wrong?”

”Something like that.” I shook my head. “Where’s my money?”

“Here.” She pulled out the thumb drive with my cut of the Roughrider profits, and slid it across the table to me. “We’re expecting a lot more once sales officially start. That’s just the preorder stuff. Oh, and I didn’t have it bugged this time.”

“If you say so.” I snagged the thumb drive. Even with her saying that, I’d naturally have Luna check it out first. I wanted money, but I didn’t want money that bad.

I pushed away from the table. With my money now in hand, there was no reason to stick around. Brunhilde must’ve seen that thought on my face. She just pouted and crossed her arms. “Not sticking around, I see?”

”I’d rather not.” I fixed my jacket, and nodded to Sean. “It was nice to meet you.”

”I wish it’d been under better circumstances.” He glared at Brunhilde with eyes that promised a serious conversation later. “The pleasure was all mine, though.”

I looked around the room at executives and the people of rival corporations living a debauched life. It took all I had in me to keep the sneer off my face. “Next time you ask me to come to something, make sure it's not a party. I won’t come otherwise, even if you hold the check over my head.”

”Of course, of course. I truly am sorry about Valkyrie Brunhilde’s handling of the situation.” Sean nodded his head in understanding. His red eyes pulsed dimly. “I’ll ensure further collaboration between Sentinel and Cold Moon Solutions is handled more directly.”

“Nova.” I shook my head and moved for the door. This place seriously wasn’t my scene. Now that it’d been pointed out to me, I could feel the eyes of several corporations on me like I was some juicy piece of meat. 

At a glance, that was a good thing. A slag would even be happy about moving up in the world. Corporations were horribly corrupt by nature, though. I was new at the moment, and Sentinel offered me some protection. Some. Once I made something new and proved the Roughrider wasn’t just a fluke, that’d change. Corpos were like rotten kids that subscribed to the idea that if they couldn't have something, then no one could. I’d have to start watching over my shoulder.

There were a few things I could do to safeguard myself, though. For one, my next product should go to one of the other Big 7. It’d piss Sentinel off, but it’d also prove I wasn’t a Sentinel lap dog. That’d delay thoughts of having me removed. After all, if I sold a product to, say, Raijin, then maybe my next would go to Shen Kang? Or Mystech? Or one of the smaller corps?

The other idea was to make something extremely valuable that only I could make. Like, say, a personal shielding device that any high-up exec would kill for. I could say every one of them had to be handcrafted, so they were impossible to mass produce. That’d grant me a bit of protection too. Assuming I got it off the ground, anyway.

‘Course, those were just social pressures. The best way for me to safeguard myself was to do what I’d been doing. Be a ghost, don’t let anyone know where I was or how I operated, and always have enough firepower to protect myself if things went south. Simple.