Outrun - Chapter 469 - Tex (Patreon)

The choppy waters of the bay rocked our small lifeboat as we put up distance from the megayacht behind us. Chaos was spreading across the deck as an alarm rang out. The party was quickly turning into a nightmare, but that was no longer our problem. We had what we came for.

I idly tapped the organ transplant box with my foot to get a full copy of the thing’s blueprint. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever need the tech, but it wouldn’t hurt to have. As for the biocomputer, there was no point. It was half made of biological materials. I couldn’t make it unless I set up a cloning lab in my workshop.

Tex sat at the back of the boat, and steered it toward Aythryn City. Being out on the cold waters of the ocean was… an experience, to say the least. The last time I was anywhere near it, I’d skipped over the waters using my Roughrider. Being rocked by the rough waves made me long for my flyer.

Vox sat perched on the complete opposite end of the boat from him. She had her head lifted high as if enjoying the spray of water while her tail swayed back and forth. Drying her synthetic fur after all this was over would be extremely annoying. 

It was over, though. We just needed to meet back at the drop off point and we’d all get paid. I wasn’t in it for the pay as much as I was for the rep, though. Next time someone requested my services, though, I’d have to make sure it was an actual heist instead of a smash and grab. I was seriously disappointed with how this thing went even with it being a fairly decent plan.

”Nice shooting back there.” I leaned down to check on the biocomputer. An indicator light flashed green on the device. “Should probably—“

“No sudden moves.” Tex coldly called. I looked up to find the barrel of his repeater pointed right at my head. The receiver of it was already crackling with energy. The repeater… I wasn’t totally sure my armor could tank a shot of that. 

I slowly lifted my hands as my thoughts whirled through my head. Vox crouched low behind me like she was about to pounce, though stopped once I waved my hand back her way. “Is this a betrayal?”

“Hardly.” He slid the biocomputer closer to himself with his foot. “Though you know all about those, don’t you?”

”I have literally no idea what you’re talking about?” When was the last time I betrayed someone? I usually tried not to do that kind of thing. A professional had to have standards if they wanted to be hired.

I felt a paw press against my back, which was quickly followed by Luna’s voice. “Do you need help?”

I subtly shook my head. Help would be nice, ‘course. I was worried the man might do something to the biocomputer if given the chance, though. ‘Sides, he hadn’t shot yet. At the very least, he didn’t seem like he was planning on flatlining me alright.

”Did you really think I wouldn’t notice you, Nightshade?” He chuckled, and nodded to me. “The water was freezing when you booted me out into it. Thought I was gonna’ flatline.”

”… how’d you recognize me?” I asked quietly. So this was about the hit on Tornado. I’d been wearing entirely different armor back then, so I was hoping he wouldn’t figure anything out. 

“Chek is a unique voice tick. I only heard it twice before… once was with an absolute bastard, and the second was in the Medevac.” His repeater dropped loosely onto his lap. “Imagine my surprise once I heard it again at the gas station.”

“It couldn’t have been purely off of that.” Who the hell suspected someone based purely on their word choice? Was this guy crazy?

”No, there was more to it, ‘course. Your mannerisms were close enough. I knew for sure once you whipped out that fancy dagger to deal with Ronin.” Tex laughed mirthlessly. “I’m all too familiar with its effects.”

“Regardless, that wasn’t a betrayal.” I kept my word. And look! He was still alive. Not like I got him killed or anything back then.

”You kicked me out of a flyer into Aythryn City's bay in the middle of an active war zone.” He stared at me with vengeance filled eyes. “Now what would you call that?” 

“I gave you a life vest.” I weakly defended myself. I also wasted a bunch of grav pucks to ensure he wouldn’t instantly die when he hit the water.

”The damn thing fell off in the fall.” His glare intensified. A bolt of guilt flooded through me, but that wasn’t necessarily my fault— “Hell, you didn’t even strap it on right.”

”I was having a hard time seeing thanks to you shooting me in the stomach several times, okay? Totally not my fault.” I glared back at him. If anything, this was his fault, not mine. “You shot me, remember?”

”And that wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t stabbed me.” He threw back in my face. “After we agreed to a cease-fire.”

”I said no hard feelings…” He maybe had a point. In my defense, he would’ve died in the flyer if I hadn’t made a move, okay?

“Oh damn, princess. Shoulda reminded me of that while I was drowning. Here I am holding a nasty grudge while you already declared no hard feelings.” He let out a stupefied laugh. “I reckon that makes everything better, doesn’t it?” 

“Chek, it should.” That was just life. Some days you stab someone, the next day you go get coffee with them. Why was he freaking out over such a small matter?

”You have any idea what it’s like to be half drowning and half freezing to death?” Although he kept a neutral expression, his voice filled with passion. “To be fadin’ in and out of consciousness full of regrets, thinkin’ that every moment’ll be your last?”

”Um… yeah?” I actually did, though? Wasn’t that just what I went through with Cold-Blooded back when I got it? Granted, back then the drowning part was kinda my own fault for getting in the shower to try and stay warm.

My response instantly took the guy off guard, and he dropped the repeater slightly. “You, uh, you do?”

”’Course.” I lifted my hands higher, and nodded to the man so he’d lift his repeater back up. What did my counselor always say? I should validate emotions rather than burying them? “Oh, not that I want to take away from your experience. I’m sure that was very scary.”

”Fuck… you make it seem like I’m a kid scared of the dark.” His receiver stopped glowing, and he dropped his rifle into his lap. His eyes still sharply watched me like a hawk for any sudden movements. “Don’t change the fact you stabbed me in the back.”

“The flyer blew up.” I picked my words carefully in a way that'd make me look better. “You were better down there then with us.” 

“Y’all got out of there just fine, didn’t you?” He lifted a brow at me as if to say I needed to try harder than that.

”Chek, well… how about I make it up to you? Owe you a favor or something?” I nodded out toward the frigid ocean water. “Or I could jump overboard and swim back if it’d make you feel any better.”

’Course, I’d cheat given the opportunity. I had a crow set up on the Roughrider, and could tug on it at any time. No way I’d actually swim all the way across the bay back to the city. That sounded absolutely miserable.

”Would you?” He didn’t look serious, and instead pulled his hands away from his rifle. He pulled off his cowboy hat, and ran a hand back through his hair. “I lost my client, my job, and my pay all that night.”

”Then it’s a good thing we’re getting paid right now, isn’t it?” I nodded to the cryo case holding the bio-computer. 

“Easy for you to say.” He sighed heavily. “You still got paid for that Dorren job, didn’t you? Sentinel put up what, 20 million for that job?”

“I didn’t get paid either.” Technically, I owed Sentinel, so I was making it up to them. “It was just one job, anyway.”

”It was just any job, partner.” His jaw tightened, and he looked away from me. “I missed a payment ‘cause of it.”

“So? Just go get another job.” We were mercs. There were jobs literally everywhere. Granted, most of them weren’t exactly high paying ones.

”Not that simple.” He looked back at me like he was trying to decide what he should say. After a moment, he just shook his head. “Medtech jumped the price to treat my sister ‘cause of it.”

His sister’s treatment? What was all of that about? Back when I first heard he was on the protection job for Dorren Gale, I was wondering why a guy nicknamed peace keeper would side with someone outed for running a Savant Lab. Desperation would definitely do it. “How much?”

“I owe 1.4 billion, and need to make sizable payments to keep up her treatment.” He shrugged like it was someone else’s problem. “So yeah. Not just another job.”

”What’s she sick with? If you don’t mind me asking.” I abruptly changed my plans. I was going to counter attack once he lowered his guard further. Instead, I leaned back against the side of the lifeboat.

”Aetherial Wasting Disease… she’s already stage four.” Tex closed his eyes for a moment. When he reopened them, his neutral expression returned. “Not that it matters.”

“Oh… sorry.” Aetherial Wasting Disease, huh? I’d heard of it before, but I didn’t know much about it. It was an exceptionally rare disease Magi magi could catch. “And for ruining your gig.”

”Just the way things go for us.” He shrugged, and slid his repeater onto his back. “Sorry about that. The job’s supposed to come before personal matters.”

”I get it, Tex. I just about did the same thing with Lavender.” Though for a totally different reason. I still planned to plant a micro tracker I made specifically for that guy onto his armor once we met back up for the last time. 

I watched the man carefully. In all the fighting, shooting, and bloodshed, sometimes it was easy to forget that mercs were still people at the end of the day. Some of us, anyway. There were an unfortunate amount that were like Lavender—only in it for the chaos and destruction. 

I ran my hand down my arm. “So, you need rayn?”

“Desperately.” He kicked his foot, and the spurs rang out softly. “If I knew this was the way things would go, I wouldn’t have even come to this cursed city. My luck's been absolutely awful since I first arrived.”

“I’ve found the City of Opportunity to be greatly over exaggerated.” Aythryn City was just as likely to put a bullet in your head. Actually striking it rich was a one in a trillion chance… I was an outlier, but even everything I’d achieved could be seen as luck. I was just in the right place at the right time when the original Scion crash landed from space back then. 

“Worst part is I’m missin’ her last moments stuck in this city makin’ money.” He lowered his head so that the cowboy hat covered his face. “You said you’d owe me one, didn’t you?”

”Chek.” Though if it was forking over 1.4 billion rayn, he was out of luck. I wasn’t that rich. I did technically betray the cease-fire by stabbing him during it. That being said, he definitely shot me before I could stab him? I was willing to be the bigger person here. Assuming he didn’t ask for anything too crazy.

His chrome eyes peeked up from below the brim of his cowboy hat. A ping filled with his contact information filled my HUD. ”If there’s an opening in your next job, flick me the deets? Assuming there’s an opening.”

“I don’t see why not.” It was such a simple thing. I accepted his contact information. Having a top-class merc on speed dial certainly seemed like a good idea. “Are we good?”

“No hard feelings, right?” He pushed the biocomputer back my way as if to make amends. We both fell silent as we cut through the cold waters back to the bright neon of the city.