Chapter 116: The Wheel Turns (Patreon)

Ngl this one is a bit all over the place, but I haven't slept in a good thirty or so hours so this is future Rastislav's issue to deal with.

Might post both second story chaps on friday.

The Veteran

He took a long drag of his cigar as he watched his boss leave the room "Welp." He voiced after a quiet moment "Looks like he's done for the day."

"While we." Svetlana spoke up, looking everyone in the eye one by one "Are not even close to finished."

"Got that right." Mason grumbled then and eyed Schmidt "Say, Nicky." The man shot him a glare which went ignored "Anyone manage to get away 'side from the prisoners?"

"None that I know of." Schmidt shook his head, a grim satisfaction in his eyes "The convoy site got hit with the AV alpha strike, everything around it got mushed. Burned the factory that held Jeremiah behind us too. And thank fuck for that."

"Now, why'd you say that?" Mason frowned.

"Place was a mess." Schmidt said, and something told him if he wasn't a tough motherfucker he'd be shivering right now "We got there about a minute before it was done and I got one good look in, blood and chunks everywhere."

'That's... Not ideal.' Mason decided, side eyeing his superior.

And the woman was looking as angry and worried as he expected.

''s why you don't go giving family positions-' Mason shut the thought down as soon as it came. They'd both earned his trust a bunch of times over today, he wasn't going to spit on that even in his own mind.

He could barely even comprehend a superior officer going that far out of their way to save their subordinates, much less a corporate boss doing as much as Magos did for his boys.

The shit Magos pulled was downright heroic.

And as Schmidt's words implied, completely unsustainable.

'Still...' Mason thought 'Rattles me something fierce that they needed rescuing in the first place. What a shit first showing.'

"Right then." He grunted at his fellow vet "Looks like we've been slacking. Tell the boys we are running drills whenever we aren't on duty."

Schmidt chuckled darkly "Oh? For how long?"

"Until I say so." Mason shot back "This whole situation was a fucking embarrassment."

The Sarge salutes.

"Useful for the future but it doesn't solve anything in the immediate." Svetlana points out "We need to make sure there is not another security breach while Michael gathers the information we need for a counterattack."

Mason went to agree but paused "You sure we should wait for him to deal with everything?" His voice made it clear how little he liked that idea.

"It isn't an issue of whether we should or shouldn't do something." The grey haired woman shakes her head almost sadly "He is already involved, and he will not stop or even slow down until the situation has been dealt with."

"Our job right now is to make it as easy for him as possible." She says after a moment and her face darkens "And then make sure things never reach this point again." 

-----

Rebecca

She hummed merrily from her perch on the driver's seat, the familiar heavy purr of the van's oversized engine almost lulling her into drooping her eyes.

Not that she could fall asleep even if she wanted to! 

"You know." She spoke up softly "You could have just gone to sleep."

The previously completely unmoving Mike shot her an appreciative look.

She admits it was a bit difficult to catch his expressions at first, but after some getting used to she quickly realized he was far more expressive than anyone gave him credit for. It made her all giddy once she finally started getting it!

"I'll be fine." Mike said "Takes a lot more effort to take me out, and I'm not missing your big moment for anything."

"You know..." She said after a few seconds of silence "Being invited to the Afterlife... I expected it to be a lot more scary. N-not that I'm saying it's not exciting, its jusit-"

She wasn't given the chance to backtrack.

"Almost as if you've seen far more impressive things than a morgue with a bit of street grade TLC." Mike's optics twinkled with amusement.

She pouted and punched him in the arm.

Which inevitably ended up with her hair getting ruffled in retribution.

By the time they parked near the infamous bar, they were both smiling, and Rebecca's scalp was surprisingly intact.

The place was pretty crowded today but that was an other people problem. She had a big borg to clear the way for her, even if she felt like shooting some gonks in the head as she heard a few of them comment about a 'corpo' coming to the Afterlife in person.

What kind of an idiot do you need to be to think Mike is just another rat?

She just barely managed to get into the old morgue without pulling iron on anyone.

All of the was completely forgotten as they reached the bar, and she rushed her best choom "Sashaaa!" She called, startling the shit out of the cat themed netrunner while her other guest sat on her stool and laughed her ass off.

Mike gave them both a wave but stayed silent.

"Gah! 'Becca!" Sasha flailed and nearly fell over before getting pulled back up by her assailant, only to grab her by the shoulders and start shaking her "Where were you? We've been waiting for you for hours! Rogue is going to be pissed."

Rebecca shuffled out of her panicked grip with practiced ease "Something important came up, sorry." She looked at the other guest "Yo, Rita. Thanks for coming!" She threw her a high five.

The Mox grinned "Hey there girl, almost thought you forgot about us."

"Never!" Rebecca grinned back but quickly frowned "Pilar didn't show then?"

It was Sasha that answered, sounding quite awkward "He uh did show..."

"And?" 

"Bitchboy got tossed out after waiting for an hour." Rita interjects with a shrug "Said you weren't answering his calls, started making a scene. Bronson had him on his ass in seconds."

Hearing this, Rebecca just closed her eyes and groaned.

Michael 'Magos' Sobronov

"That might be my fault." I admit feeling no actual guilt about it "Want me to call him over?"

Rebecca just huffs "Nah, fuck him."

Before I can ask her if she was sure the sound of a throat being cleared next to us draws our attention, and I see a familiar juicer bodyguard looking at Rebecca and Sasha "Rogue will see you now."

Both of them immediately hop to their feet, Sasha looking just about ready to start dragging Rebecca with her while the latter gave me a questioning look.

I silently shoo her away, making her shoot me a fake glare, and sit across Rita.

"Looking good, borg boy." Said Mox shoots me a wink.

"I'm at least a borg man now, Joytoy." I reply dryly, waving for the barkeep to come over.

Rita snorts into her cup "Knew the corpo life would get to your head."

The unfamiliar barkeep slides me a cup of whiskey I'd ordered digitally, I down it and immediately order another "My humility astounds even myself. How have you been doing, Rita? Been a while since we spoke."

She looks at me coyly "Not my fault you refuse to visit."

Yeah, so I could get harassed by overenthusiastic Moxes "I had a lot of work to do." 

She looks at me strangely for a moment "You don't say... Never imagined the clumsy ass borg Welles brought over less than a year ago would be starting a cyberware empire." 

"Empire is really pushing it." I huff "But please, do go on."

She rolls her eyes.

"How have the rest of the girls been?" I move on.

"None of them got kidnapped again if that's what you are asking." She smiles "Suzi finally got her head out of her ass and started making sure we were safe. Well, safer."

"Oh? How did she go about doing that?" 

"Can't say, sorry." She denies a bit playfully "Gang biz, and all that."

"How professional." I drawl, not particularly disappointed.

"Anyway, care to share what got you and 'Becca so late?" She asks after a moment "She pretty much demanded I get here on time, and then she makes me wait for four hours!"

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't leave." I point out.

She smirks "I don't leave my girls hanging."

"Right." I note dubiously "There was an emergency, some of my people got attacked. Had to go radio silent for a while."

"More than you should have told me, honestly." Rita points out "But I get it. Did you make the fuckers pay?"

"They died screaming."

My immediate response makes the bouncer grin and wave for another round of drinks.

"To gonks getting exactly what they deserve." She raises a glass.

"To suicide by cyborg." I say dryly.

We kept chatting for a good half hour before Rebecca and Sasha returned, the latter looking relieved while the former bounced with each step with a big grin on her face.

"We got a gig!" Rebecca declared.

"Just the two of you?" Rita raised an eyebrow.

Sasha walked over and bonked her "No questions. Bad."

Rita just laughed.

As the two banter, Rebecca leans in over to me and whispers "You sure you don't wanna go and ask Rogue about the whole sitch?" 

"Thought about it already." I shake my head "Would be a waste of time to send her after Militech NC in its entirety. Once I get something more concrete I'll give it a shot."

She just nods and proceed to have a small celebration, buying a few rounds for the other mercs and not getting into any fights or shootouts.

Despite drunk 'Becca's best attempts.

"Ughhhh." She groaned over my shoulder as I took her out of the bar, half slurring as she spoke "Why did you let me drink so much?"

"You gave me your best puppy dog eye." I tease.

"Those ne-er wrk." She lolls her head.

"Just relax." I pat her shoulder "We'll be home soon."

"Oke."

Five seconds pass.

"Never mind get me down." She speaks with surprising coherence as I lower her onto the parking, and it is quickly explained as she rushes over to the nearest hidden corner "Urk!"

'Well...' I think as I help hold up her hair 'At least that didn't end up all over me.'

A few minutes later we were back in the van, taking the long way across Watson so we could pick up our favorite pizza on the way.

"You sure you don't want us to pay Pilar a visit?" I ask.

"Nah, fuck him." She mumbles.

"You can't delay the decision forever." I point out.

"Mikey, thanks for worrying." She tries to sound calm but I've obviously annoyed her "If that fucker can't keep his shit together for a god damn hour I just don't care anymore. Its not like I even ask him for anything!"

"There, there." I pat her back "Forget I asked anything."

But she is in full rant mode now, and I can only smile wryly as she proceeds to explain in excruciating detail how much she wants to wring her brother's neck.

The Brother

Pilar Carmine felt his irritation spike again as he felt his latest hit wear off in less than a minute, quickly reaching over for another huff of glitter as he walked home in the frigid NC night.

He took a snort and immediately felt more awake "Fucking wasting my time like this." He grumbled as he sped up "Could have been through half a pack of BDs by now."

As he reached his apartment he stopped in his tracks, blinking slowly as he saw a big fucker stood on top of a shipping container, pissing off the edge and onto the street and muttering something under his breath.

A small part of his brain told him something was very wrong about this scene.

The much bigger one was too smooth to register it, and pissed off to boot!

"Hey asshole!" He barked at the gonk "That's my turf yo're pissing on!"