Multiversal Mercenary Chapter 6: Learning the System (Patreon)

Chapter 6: Learning the System

Learning magic in the Sixth World was not as easy as just plopping down onto a couch and reading an instruction manual. No, there was a whole process to it that involved meditation to understand the ‘rules’ of the spell, self-hypnosis to memorize the spell diagram to ensure it could be cast in an instant without any bothersome chants, and then something about ‘carve the knowledge into the soul’ which explained the way the spells Gavin already knew were embedded inside of my soul.

I could only hold a certain number of these spells inside of me at a time, though. So, it’d take a couple hours of meditation and hypnosis to ‘override’ existing spell formula with new ones.

Thankfully, at my Essence count, I was able to hold six spells inside at one time, and my soul could ‘grow’ and store more as I became stronger. I’d probably also be able to spend Karma to increase my ‘spell slots.’

My current spells that I could cast without issues were Flashbolt, Stench, and Hot Potato. As for the ones I couldn’t? There was Fling, a minor telekinesis thing for chucking objects but thanks to Gavin’s lack of skill meant he’d always miss his target, Acid Wave, which was supposed to generate flesh-melting acid but Gavin could only conjure watery vinegar, and Fireball, which always exploded too close to Gavin, or it fizzled before it could reach its destination.

So, instead of trying to ‘learn’ new spells which would take time I wasn’t sure I had, I decided to investigate the Karma System.  

[Gavin @%&!^? Lariat “Hotsauce”, Human, Mage?]

[STRENGTH 2 (Close Combat 1, Unarmed 1)

QUICKNESS 3 (Ranged Combat 3, Pistol 3, Dodge 2)

INTELLIGENCE 2 (4)

WILLPOWER 5 (Spellcasting 5)

CHARISMA 3

BODY 3 (2) (Basic Bitch Cyberarm)

ESSENCE 5^6?

SPELL SLOTS 6

Etiquette Shadowrunner

Unspent Karma: 2

Current Nuyen: 2,560]

The stats were pretty much identical to the Shadowrun games. There were the main Stats, and then the Skills associated with it.

Strength was about how hard you hit in close combat, and how far you could throw things, like grenades. I was kinda surprised at first I had Close Combat and Unarmed as Skills, but given that I’d grown up as a street urchin before Awakening, it made sense.

Quickness was speed, dexterity, and how well a person could dodge hits and accurately fire a ranged weapon. My Skills under it were pretty mediocre. Game-wise, at least. No idea how it translated into the real world.

Intelligence was all about brain power. It was how smart you were, but also the Stat for Deckers and Riggers. The more Intelligence, the better a person could handle the strain of having a Deck and drones hooked up to your brain.

‘Pretty sure the ‘2’ is Gavin’s original stat, while the ‘4’ is mine,’ I thought. That made sense. I was a lot more educated compared to him, and I knew plenty of secret lore.

Willpower was the next stat, and it involved casting spells. If your Willpower was low, your spells could explode in your face. It also was a matter of resisting magic being cast on you.

Next up, Charisma. This was an interesting stat. It involved how well you could control Spirits you could summon in the game, but it also involved how convincing you were and what sort of Etiquettes were available. That latter was sort of a backstory thing that gave unique in-game options. Not sure what they did in real life, though. Maybe a sixth sense for that sort of social interaction?

After that was Body. It determined how much Cyberware you could stuff into yourself without going insane, as well as HP in game. Not sure how it mattered in real life, but larger and tougher metahumans like dwarves, orks, and trolls typically had a lot more Body.

‘I guess the cyberarm is why I have a ‘2’ instead of a ‘3’ right now,’ I mused. Guess that means no more Cyberware for this guy.

Essence on the other hand was how much ‘soul’ a person had. Some could have low Essence but high Body, or high Essence and low Body. Low Essence meant fewer Spell Slots for casting, and a higher cooldown for spells.

And then there were the other things, like Etiquette (Gavin having Shadowrunner Etiquette made sense), how much Nuyen I had, and of course, the amount of Karma I’d accrued.

Not sure what a normal, non-Shadowrunner’s stat sheet would look like. I’d have to see if I could check Lucy, find a commonality.

‘My Character Sheet is the same as before, though with that extra Karma from saving Coyote,’ I thought. ‘And [Inventory] is still the same. Only shows me what I’m holding or have on my person.’

I used it to double-check the scroll I was holding, just to be sure.

[Scroll of Stunball – Uncommon]

[An instruction manual on the simple spell ‘Stunball.’ Overloads multiple targets in close proximity with raw mana to cause a temporary seizure capable of knocking a troll unconscious. Written by Aljernon Half-Dream.]

So, about what I expected. But, then there was the [SHOP] option, and that was the most interesting.

‘Hellooooo~!’ I thought, whistling to myself as I looked at what was on offer.

[A selection of artifacts and objects from across the multiverse, delivered straight to your hands!]

[Sparks Spelltome (Elder Scrolls) – 3 Karma]

[Felix Felicis Potion (Harry Potter) – 37 Karma]

[M-8 Avenger Assault Rifle (Mass Effect) – 1 Karma]

[Hotshot Digi-Las Ring (Warhammer 40k) – 5 Karma]

[Excalibur Ruler (Highschool DxD) – 22 Karma]

[Mystic Eyes of Death Perception (Nasu-verse) – 100 Karma]

Magic Books from Nirn and the Elder Scrolls series, which would let me auto-learn spells unlike the slower process in this world, were available alongside potions from Harry Potter and weapons from Mass Effect and many other universes! I could even buy Devil Fruits!

[Ball-Ball Fruit (Paramecia Devil Fruit) – 25 Karma]

[Lion-Lion Fruit (SMILE) – 7 Karma]

[Salt-Salt Fruit (Logia Devil Fruit) – 40 Karma]

So many options! But too few funds!

Of course, as expected of a Shonen powerup item, they were hella expensive! Even for a faulty SMILE fruit that might not even work, they cost an incredible amount.

‘And since I have no idea how easy or hard it is to gain Karma, I can’t say for sure if it’s even worth saving up or not,’ I sighed. 

‘I have to find a way to get more Karma,’ I thought to myself. ‘But so far, I only have suspicions on how to do so.’

I suspected I needed to do things that changed the world. That altered what was supposed to be the fate of one or more individuals. I saved Lucy, and got 1 Karma because she’s just one person. Same with Coyote. So, the more lives I effect, the more Karma I could potentially get.

Now, that final bit of the menu, [PLANESWALKER], was stilled grey out. No matter how I poked or prodded it, nothing happened.

The multiverse was at my fingertips. I knew this, thanks to the [SHOP]. But there was also a chance I could physically travel to new locations. I didn’t have to spend my life in this Dystopian Death World!

‘Could I even return home?’ I wondered.

It was a foolish thought. My body was no longer my own. My friends and family wouldn’t recognize me in Gavin’s body anymore. But the thought made me feel a flicker of hope.

As I stared blankly at the screen, a gurgle of hunger broke me out of my thoughts, and I winced, holding my stomach. Some cheese earlier in the morning had been all I’d eaten today. I needed food.

‘What time is it?’ I wondered, checking the commlink, and I blinked. ‘The hell?!’

How did it become five p.m. already?!

‘Jeez, I must have been distracted,’ I thought with a frown.

Leaving the underground lair, I found the bar starting to fill up. There were people looking for drinks trickling in, and I had a feeling the bar would become quite busy soon.

“Hey, Coyote, does this place serve food?” I asked, walking over to the counter.

She looked up from her glasses and nodded. “Mostly snacks. Some of ‘em are warm, though.”

Grabbing a menu, she passed it to me, and I looked through the offerings.

“I’ll take the triple smothered nachos,” I ordered after a bit. “And a bottle of Punk Pop. Any flavor will do.”

“Got it. Be out in a few,” Coyote replied. “That’ll be sixteen Nuyen.”

I nodded and handed over a cred-stick, and when that was done, settled in to wait.

“So, heard anything about your cousin yet?” I asked idly.

“One of my informants will be getting back to me later tonight. I should know by tomorrow at the latest,” she replied. Then, after a moment, she whispered, “Thanks, for everything.”

I just nodded, and then realized I’d probably have to feed Lucy later.

“Hey, when you’re done with your shift, can you take Lucy some food?” I asked. “I’ll pay for it.”

“Pay for my food, too, and it’s a deal,” Coyote declared.

That was fine, and I nodded at her in agreement.

The triple smothered nachos were damn good, I could barely tell that it was synth-cheese, though the soda was just ‘okay.’ I don't think Cantalope-Watermelon was a good combo, flavor-wise. But it filled me up, and made the rumbling stop, so that was nice.

However, it was around nine p.m. when things took a turn for the interesting. A man with fiery orange hair, red sunglasses, and a data-jack in his temple wearing a black duster coat stepped inside, nodding politely at a few people before coming to a stop in front of Coyote.

“Hey there, Coyote,” Jake ‘Dragonslayer’ Armitage, main character of the SNES game and reoccurring side character in Shadowrun Returns, said in greetings.

“Jake, you’re alive,” she said with a tiny smile.

“Takes more than a few Weeners to stop me,” Jake scoffed, before taking off his glasses. “Hey, I hate to do this, but I got bad news. Sam…”

“Is dead,” Coyote finished for him. “I know.”

“Eh? You do?” Jake uttered. “That’s odd… his body only just came in last morning. And I only found out because he was on Dresden’s slab when I got up. Cops are trying to keep it down tight.”

“Yeah. New guy told me this morning,” she said, gesturing in my direction. Caught off guard as Jake’s piercing eyes swept over to me, I waved awkwardly.

“Yo.”

“Who’s this? How’d he know?” Jake demanded.

“Call me Gavin. Or Hotsauce,” I replied, before offering him my hand. “I must say, it’s an honor to meet a genuine Dragonslayer.”

A thrill of vicious pleasure ran through me at the thought of one of those arrogant bastards kicking it, especially a Dragon close to ascending to Greater status like the one Jake had slain.

‘Whoa now, that’s… that wasn’t me,’ I thought, blinking at the surge of vitriol I’d just experienced.

Jake, meanwhile, had his eyes narrow even further in suspicion. “How the hell do you know that?” he demanded.

“I’ve seen the past, the present, and the future,” I told him in what I hoped was a mysterious tone.

“It’s true,” Coyote said when Jake shot her an ‘are you serious?’ look. “He knew things he couldn’t, Jake. Knew about my mission to the Royale. Knew about the zebra meat. And… he knew about Sam.”

“To be fair, I knew Sam was geeked because of a deadman’s switch in his head,” I explained. “The moment he died at 3 a.m. yesterday morning, a vid-call was sent to me, informing me of his death and to ask me to avenge him.”

“Huh… he did mention that,” Jake muttered. “Thought Sam was fulla hot air.”

“Same. Turns out it was true,” Coyote chuckled.

“Alright… but I’m still skeptical about this here guy,” Jake huffed, turning back to me.

“What does Dog say about me?” I asked, curious. His spirit companion had been a key part of the game Jake had starred in.

Jake frowned. “He hasn’t spoken to me much recently. Doesn’t like the fact I’m leaning too much on my Deck.”

“Hm. Well, if he does speak up, I’d like to hear what he thinks about me.” I was being truthful, too. What did a spirit, especially a powerful one like Dog, see when he looked at someone like me?

“Riiight,” Jake drawled. “So, you still haven’t given me a reason to trust you.”

“Fair,” I admitted. I took a moment to think through the collection of knowledge I possessed about the setting.

“It’s a bit far out there, date-wise, but in 2071, your friend Kitsune is going to be assassinated,” I told Jake, and his hands clenched.

“What?”

“Yeah. Her boss in the ManaSonic label, Jubei Takeshi, wants her dead to capitalize on her death. Dead artists make more money for the company, after all. Sends an Oni assassin after her at the Neo-Tokyo Tower.”

Jake stared at me, and I maintained the stare.

“You’re serious.”

“Deadly,” I replied.

“Hot stuff here also saved a girl from becoming the Ripper’s next victim,” Coyote spoke up. “Knew she was the next one and stepped in to stop her.”

“You know who the bastard who killed Sam is?” Jake demanded.

“Yup. Elf and a troll.”

“I see. Do you know why Sam was targeted?” the hotshot Decker-Shaman inquired.

“I do. Sam and Lucy – and all of the Ripper’s victims – had acquired replacement body parts from a certain Melinda Watts after her death. The Ripper is taking them back.”

“It’s true that the Ripper has been taking trophies from his victims. Always a single organ, surgically removed with a high level of skill,” the veteran Shadowrunner muttered. He then nodded slowly. “You… might be on the level.”

Jake then frowned. “Wait, Melinda Watts? Sam’s mother?”

“That’s her,” I confirmed.

“But why would somebody want to repo Sam’s mother’s organs?” Jake asked, bewildered.

“Sam had a sister,” Coyote spoke up. “He mentioned her once or twice.”

Her eyes then widened. “Could it be-?”

“I don’t want to say anything one way or another, but you should be very careful about what you speak aloud,” I warned. “Sam was a fuck up, but his sister… she became very powerful. And dangerous. We need to deal with her very carefully.”

Coyote and Jake shared a look. A whole conversation passed between them before Jake snorted and put his sunglasses back on.

“Well, I sure as hell don’t trust you fully, but if you’re telling the truth about this… and Kitsune… then I suppose I’ll be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt,” Jake said. “Just don’t forget to geek the Ripper.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll avenge Sam. Honor amongst thieves. And Shadowrunners,” I assured Jake.

“Mm. Somebody amongst us has to have it, I suppose,” he snorted. “Don’t die too soon.”

“You too,” I drawled back.

Jake laughed, and I decided to buy the two of us a few drinks. Two Shadowrunners, just drinking away the night. Was there anything better?

111 &&& 111

“I know where he is!”

I blinked blearily and looked up at Coyote. It was early morning the next day, and I was feeling the effects of drinking too much with Jake Armiger last night.

‘Note to self, never try to drink that ginger bastard under the table again,’ I thought to myself as I stuffed a donut into my maw. I’d bought half a dozen glazed plus a large soykaf from the vendor outside earlier, and the sugar and caffeine was easing the pounding in my head.

“Who?” I asked, still a little confused.

“Gino!” Coyote said in exasperation, and I nodded slowly.

“Ah. Right.”

I bit back a yawn and stretched. “We going after him today?”

“Yes!” she said, bobbing her head. “And I decided to take your advice and get some extra hands for the raid.”

“Oh?” I asked, now intrigued.

“Yup. They’ll be here soon, and I’ll introduce ‘em to you,” Coyote informed me. “Before that, though, you might wanna hit the showers.”

“Good point,” I said with a grimace. I stunk bad.

I scarfed down my food and drink and stumbled to the basement, where a cold shower helped me wake up even faster.

Couldn’t do anything about my clothes, but a bit of deodorant and some spray cologne helped erase the worst of the odor.

I stopped by Raul’s next, having gotten a buzz from him about the job being finished last night. I’d been several cups deep at that point, and so I’d missed it, but now was as good a time as any to check in.

“This all?” I asked, looking over the list of items that could be sold.

“Yup. Not like you scored anything big,” the Native American merchant said with a shrug. “The hard drive and cyber-eye were interesting, but you hit a small-time druggie slumlord. Honestly, I think 3k is generous.”

I grunted at that as I looked it over. Three thousand, one-hundred and fifty-seven Nuyen for my share of the Royale Apartments loot. After Raul took his cut, that is.

That was about as much as a low-risk solo gig, or the share from a medium risk job with a couple other runners. Not terrible, to be sure. That was enough for two to three months rent in an average apartment back in San Fran, or some decent quality arms or armor.

‘And Raul is right. Most of what we grabbed was low-tier, common stuff,’ I thought before nodding.

“Alright, I’ll take the offer,” I told him, and he grinned, one tooth glinting golden in the low light.

“Sweet. Here.” Raul handed over a cred-stick which I took and checked.

On my stat page, the numbers automatically updated themselves. [Nuyen: 5,717]

Satisfied the money was there, I bid the guy farewell and made my way back upstairs, where I found Coyote waiting for me in the VIP section. She was sitting at a booth with two other metahumans, and she quickly waved me over.

I simply nodded and walked towards her while looking over the Shadowrunners she wanted to introduce me to.

The first was a female elf with Asian features, and a body that was hard to ignore. She was tall, but also, somewhat rare for an elf, wide in the shoulders as well, like a cross between elf and troll. She wore a dark purple catsuit that hugged her tightly, which distracted me a bit, as it wasn’t until I looked closer that I realized she was heavily augmented!

The sheer number of cybernetic parts was boggling. Arms, legs, shoulders, torso… everything save her head seemed to be artificial, and even then, I caught the gleam of cyberware in his eyes and along her temples.

‘How is she still sane? Let alone alive?’ I couldn’t help but wonder.

In Shadowrun, if you slotted too much cyberware, you literally died. All living beings had ‘Essence,’ which was necessary for Mages, Shamans, and Adepts, but it was also the ‘limit’ for installing cyberware.

So, somebody with six Essence could slot no more than 5.9 Essence worth of cybernetics, though by that point the individual would be closer to a Cyber-Psycho from Cyberpunk 2077 than a living, coherent person. Half the Essence was a good rule of thumb when it came to getting chrome.

‘This must be a Racter situation,’ I realized with no small amount of awe.

Racter, a Russian Rigger from the Hong Kong game, had most of his body turned into bionics. Far past his Essence limit. And yet, he lived and was mostly sane.

How? Not even he knew, but Racter suspected that it might have been due to his genuine psychopathy and body dysmorphia. He didn’t view his body as his own, anymore, and so it seemed to allow himself to trick his body, mind, and soul into ignoring the lack of Essence.

‘Essence, therefore, is as much a state of mind as it is a spiritual component,’ I mused, giving this elf in front of me a closer look while opening and closing my own cybernetic arm.

If she really had the same mental condition and fortitude as Racter with all of that Cyberware crammed inside of her, she would be a truly dangerous individual to fight against. And the perfect ally on a gig, so long as she didn’t lose control.

After giving the cyber-elf one last look, I turned to the other Shadowrunner, who was a bit of a surprise.

She was a gnome, a rare variant of dwarf that was randomly born sometimes. Gnomes could breed true, too, so they were their own unique species of Meta-Humanity. Perhaps their most notable trait was, besides their height and lack of hair save atop their heads, their nigh immunity to hostile magic.

Direct combat spells could still hurt a little (fire and lightning and acid tended to be painful no matter their origin) and spirits were as deadly as ever, but they could shrug off Illusions and Control spells like water off a duck’s back.

From the gear on her, it was clear she was a Decker. The deck she had looked like a heavily customized Fairlink, and it was attached to her arm like a Duel Disk from Yugioh. She also had a large rifle slung across her back, and fancy electro-goggles that were probably capable of seeing a lot more than normal. She wore a black coat with brass buttons that had a strong Steampunk aesthetic to it, and big heavy boots. A shock of short, spiky blonde hair adorned her head.

She was also busty as hell. A genuine shortstack! It took all of my willpower not to say something stupid and keep my eyes firmly on her face.

“Hey there, Coyote. These your Shadowrunners for the job today?” I asked.

“That’s right,” Coyote said with a nod. “Meet Peach and Cream. Gals, this is Hotsauce.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet the Union’s latest rising star,” the gnome grinned. “Heard stuff about ya. Like being able to see the future. That true?”

“I can see some events, and know other things I shouldn’t,” I replied easily. “Don’t expect anything like knowing how your love life will turn out, or what the lottery numbers are gonna be.”

“Phooey. I was hoping to win big,” she said with mock sadness. She then stuck out a hand. “Names Cream. I can hack damn near anything! And I’m not too shabby with building stuff, either.”

I shook her hand, and, having an interest in what she could do, decided to see what would happen if I used [INVENTORY] on her.

A screen appeared in front of Cream, and I stifled a mad grin. Just as I’d suspected, it showed me her stats! And what impressive stats they were!

[Melody Hardler, “Cream,” Gnome, Techmaster (Decker-Rigger)]

[STRENGTH 1

QUICKNESS 4 (Ranged Combat 4, Rifle 4, Dodge 3)

INTELLIGENCE 6 (7) (Decking 6) (ESP Control 4) (Drone Control/Combat 4) (Repair 6)

WILLPOWER 1

CHARISMA 3

BODY 2 (1.5) (UNITY HyperLink 2.3 data-jack (+1 Intelligence))

ESSENCE 3 (2)

SPELL SLOTS 2

Etiquette Academic]

[Melody Hardler is a daughter of the Ork Underground in Seattle. She grew up around trash and broken tech, and found a knack for repairing things. She runs the Shadows under the moniker ‘Cream.’ Likes to take jobs against those who abuse metahumans. She is curious about you.]

Cream’s stats showed a clear inclination towards the tech side of things. Her Decking alone would put her quite high up there skill-wise. Her Quickness wasn’t bad, either. Everything else was pretty low.

Thanks to Cream and some of the other people I’d checked, I now had a basic level of understand of how Stats worked.

To put it into perspective, a score of 1 in Strength was a lanky teenager, 2 was an adult with a desk job, 3 was somebody who hit the gym frequently, 4 was somebody who did a lot of training for sports or the military, and 5 was gold medal level Olympian athlete. Above that? They were superhuman.

Same went for the rest of a person’s Stats. 1 to 5 in any Stat was basic human (or Metahuman) levels of ability, capable of being obtained through training alone. But once you hit 6 or higher? Superhuman. You needed to be a genius, a prodigy, or have something else, like Cyberware, boosting you.

As far as I could tell, 10 was the Maximum score in any Stat for a human to achieve, which would make them as close to a Demi-God as possible, while other races had their own ceiling for Stats. Some lower, others higher. I doubted a Dwarf (or Gnome like Cream) would be able to get to 10 in Quickness or Body without something breaking.

‘Interesting. It doesn’t show her Karma or Nuyen, which makes sense I suppose,’ I mused, looking Cream’s stats over. Didn’t see much else of note, so once I was done shaking Cream’s hand I offered it to the elf, who just stared at me.

“Don’t mind Peach, she’s shy!” Melody laughed.

From the way the elf was boring into my soul with her eyes alone, I wasn’t so sure that was the case. She did seem twitchy, though, so I wasn’t going to force it and try to touch Peach without permission.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” I said, sliding into the booth next to Coyote. “What’s the plan, exactly?”

“Gino works as a Clocker for Cloud Dreams, a BTL lab up near Kirkland. And, as you said, Hotsauce, it’s a Yakuza front.”

At that, Peach shifted, her eyes now locking onto Coyote. The dark-skinned bartender ignored it with aplomb and continued.

“We’ll have Paco with us as an extra bit of backup, and Cream should be able to handle the enemy Deckers. I also scrounged up the blueprints for the place.” She looked at me. “What else do you know?”

“Well, there’ll be at least one Mage,” I said thoughtfully. “And about a dozen gang members along with an unknown number of chipheads that can be turned into berserkers by the pair of Deckers. A troll will guard the entrance to the labs, but we don’t want to go in guns blazing. We need to get in sneaky like so we can disable the BTLs that control the chipheads. Odds are any survivors from Stevie J’s place might recognize us, though, as they got folded up into this operation.”

I smirked. “But that’s why I’ve got a new spell to try out. Mask ought to get us past the guards so they don’t recognize me, Paco, or Coyote.”

“I’m starting to see the plan. We get inside by posing to be customers, and then we sabotage the terminals and Deckers, taking out as many Yakuza as possible without hurting the chipheads,” Cream guessed.

“Yeah. We want to save people from the BTLs, not hurt ‘em,” Coyote nodded.

“When we do deploy?” Peach asked, her voice soft but beautiful with just the faintest hint of an accent.

“Now,” Coyote said. “Paco will meet us there. He’s scoping the place out for us.”

“Gotcha. Come on, Peach, let’s grab our stuff and hail a taxi,” Cream said, hoping out of her seat.

“So. Can we trust them?” I asked quietly once the two were gone.

“Don’t worry, I’m paying them,” Coyote told me. “And yeah, they’re trustworthy. Served ‘em plenty of drinks in the past, and while Shadowrunners come in all sorts, Mrs. Kubota has an eye for the ones who aren’t… well, easy to flip, if you know what I mean.”

“Makes sense,” I nodded.

The madam didn’t seem like the sort to tolerate the sorts of hijinks certain types of Shadowrunners cultivated. The untrustworthy, the bloodthirsty, and the overly rowdy likely didn’t last long in this place.

She probably carefully curated her clientele and made sure the Shadowrunners kept a certain level of decorum and professionalism around her establishment. Outright betrayals of your partners on a run would see the traitor banned from the Union, and then geeked in short order for the deed.

‘Given how she acted in the game, she still has a sense of morals, and honor is important to her, as is the Asian concept of giving and keeping face,’ I mused as I grabbed my backpack and supplies before meeting the others outside.

The Union was a dive, but it was the good kind, with the right sort of clients. I had a feeling I’d probably be able to make some friends there if I stuck around.

For now, though, I had people to save and gangsters to shoot. It was worryingly easy how quickly I was adapting to that latter bit. Killing wasn’t supposed to be easy, was it?

‘But then again, they have it coming,’ I thought vicious, only to frown a moment later.

That was a bit more bloodthirsty than I usually was. Could Gavin’s leftover memories be influencing me?

I wasn’t sure I liked that idea. Not sure what else I could do though but lean into it. If it kept me from having a mental breakdown, then maybe a little bit of Schizophrenia was a good thing.