Nightshift Avengers (Cyberpunk 2077)

[WestOrEast]

The AC was really struggling to keep up with the noon heat. The unit was chugging and whirring and generally sounding pretty desperate. At least it drowned out, more or less, the Top Pop radio station that Auntie was listening to. Reiko found it easier to focus on her reading if there was no cheesy music playing.

Right now, she was looking over immune-depressants and how to tell which of them should be used for which kind of person and with which bits of chrome. And Auntie would be quizzing her on it later.

One day, Reiko hoped that she would be able to go to an actual medical school and get an actual degree that would open up so many new doors for her. Until they got the money for that, though, she was just going to have to study on her own and do what she could. It wasn't like Auntie's clients were hugely bothered with diplomas or the lack thereof hanging off the walls, anyway.

The shop door opened and Reiko looked up from her work. She smiled and waved at the two customers stepping inside. She recognized Grace from her earlier visits and the woman she was with wasn't a complete stranger, even if Reiko was struggling to remember her name right now. She put down her tablet and sat up straight behind the front desk, giving the pair the biggest smile that she could.

"Welcome to Itou's Quality Clinic," Reiko said, making sure that her shoulders were squared, her posture was correct, all that sort of stuff. "How can I help you today?"

"Hey, kid," Grace said, as if three years meant anything when they were both adults by now. "Your aunt around?"

"She's looking over some parts in the back," Reiko said, gesturing towards the door that led to the storeroom. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yeah," the other, white woman said, stepping forward and resting her forearms (one of them sleek and gleaming, with wickedly sharp talons idly scraping across the counter) in front of Reiko. "You accept trade-ins, right?"

"Yes, we do, though the details depend on what is being offered and what you're looking to buy," Reiko said. "Are you planning to install something today?"

"You bet," Grace said, a gleaming smile appearing on her black face for a second as she lifted a bag up and dumped it on the counter with a loud thump. "Whadda ya think of this, huh?"

Reiko opened the bag and looked inside. There was a whole lot of chrome laying inside. A whole lot. Put in a brain and you'd have most of a body, in fact. But…

"Damaged parts are worth a whole lot less," Reiko said skeptically as she reached inside and lifted out a leg. "This is a SpiderClimb leg, right? Arasaka?" She frowned as some exposed, severed wires brushed against her hand. "Or it was a leg. It's spare parts now."

"Still worth something, though, right?" Grace said with another winning smile. "I've got my eye on a new eye, after all."

"And what sort of eye would that be, dear?" A new voice said from the back.

"Hello, Auntie," Reiko said, smiling at the older woman as she stepped through the door and into the front area of the clinic.

"Hello, dearest," Auntie said, leaning over to plant a quick kiss on the side of Reiko's forehead before turning to look at the two customers. "Grace, Madison. But no Lily?"

"She's off scaring up some work for us," Grace said with a shrug. "Anyway, I'm hoping to hear that you've still got that EagleEye in stock."

"I do, in fact," Aunt Emi said, leaning against the counter as she stared at the younger (and taller) black girl. "And it's still just as expensive as it was the last time you were in here, drooling over it."

"And that's why we came with the stuff to pay for it," Grace said with a beaming smile. "Pulled this stuff off some pussy cats and figured you'd be so appreciative of it that you'd be cutting us a special deal."

"Ah yes, with tigers still painted on some of it," Auntie said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes as she looked into the bag. "At least you cleaned the blood off of it all this time."

"Hey, it's the little gestures like that that show that I care," Grace said, reaching across the counter to pat Auntie on the shoulder while looking serious and stuff. "So, what do you say? Got a few thousand in cash to help make up for whatever the parts don't cover."

"Rather, the parts will close the gap for what you can't pay in cash," Auntie said with a sniff as she reached down to examine a cyberhand that had a bullet hole straight through the palm. "I'm going to have to spend a long time fixing and purging this chrome before I can put it on the walls."

Which meant that Reiko was going to be the one doing most of it, Reiko knew. Auntie thought that it was good for her to get more familiar with cyberware and how to fix it up. That it was also really boring work that took a long time was just another reason for Auntie to insist on Reiko doing it.

"But, fine, fine, you want an eye? You've got the eye, if you can shell out the cash for it," Auntie said, dropping the hand back into the bag. "And I'm guessing you want it today?"

"I'll be the envy of my peers when I show up tonight with some new flash," Grace said with a chuckle, reaching up to rap her knuckles against the side of her head. "They'll all love it."

"And I'll love the money you'll be handing over," Auntie said with a grumble. "Okay, come on into the back. Reiko, start cataloguing all this… scrap, would you?"

"Right, Auntie," Reiko said, grabbing the bag and tugging it over closer to her.

The stuff in the bag was actually a bit better than how Reika and Auntie were making it sound. But that was just good business, wasn't it? Undervalue what you were getting and overvalue what you were giving. Though you could certainly take it way, way too far.

"So is there anything you're interested in today?" Reika asked, glancing up at Madison as the older woman leaned against the counter.

"Getting wasted and getting laid," Madison said breezily. "But I don't think either of those are going to happen in here." She licked her lips as she stared down at Reika. "I would be happy to be proven wrong, though."

Reika blushed and coughed, bending over the chrome as she studied them, jotting down notes on the parts and how damaged they were. It wasn't like she was a virgin or anything! There had been some very… awkward and kind of uncomfortable fumblings with other girls during high school, after all. Not much since then and nothing that rose to the level of proper sex, not in the past seven months since graduation.

"Um, um, um," Reika said, her brain spinning around inside of her skull as she tried to think of a good answer to that.

And Madison laughed and laughed the whole time, still leaning against the counter and grinning. She reached over and patted Reika on top of the head, metal palm pressing down against synthetic green hair (for when Reika could afford to get the pseudo-hair spikes from the waste heat of the mental mods she was also planning to get).

"Well, if I'm striking out with the younger, maybe I'll try my luck with the older," Madison said with another chuckle. "How does your aunt look in a lab coat? And nothing-."

"No, no, not thinking about that, not thinking about that at all," Reika said firmly, squashing the whole line of conversation right then and there.

Especially because the odds were way too good that if Auntie knew there was a chance, she'd take it. And she, um, wasn't quiet when she took a lover to bed. Or to the floor, whatever, Reika didn't know what all the sounds she heard from Auntie's bedroom were caused by but she knew what they meant. A long, sleepless night for Reika, that was what it meant.

"What a pity," Madison said, grinning from ear to ear and obviously having just as much fun teasing Reika as she would actually having sex with her. "Well, if that's zero for two, maybe I should go two for two."

She nodded at the back room where Grace and Auntie had vanished. Reiko didn't get what she meant at first but eventually, the light dawned. Her mouth dropped open as she tried to wrap her mind around that idea.

"You don't- they're sisters, there's no way- you're joking, right?"

"Yeah, I am," Madison said. "They got forced into that sort of work back when they were under the Fifth Street Champs but these days…" she laughed. "Actually, I probably shouldn't be talking about their sex lives without them in the room, huh?"

Reiko wasn't opposed to hearing some good gossip but this was pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable, yeah. She nodded and made some notes on a pair of cybereyes. Middle of the road with integrated zoom and no other features that an organic eye wouldn't have.

The door slid open again and Reiko turned towards it, smiling. Then her smile just vanished from her face as she saw who was stepping through the door. She had never seen these men before but they looked rough, a lot rougher than Madison and Grace and they were carrying guns in their hands instead of leaving them slung over a back or in a holster.

"Alright, hands up, the both of you," the one in front said, leering at the two of them behind his integrated shades. "You, get the money on the counter now."

"I, I, we're electronic-only," Reika lied, feeling sweat breaking out all over her body as she stared at the man. "We don't-!"

Reika's squeak was lost in the roar of a gunshot as the man pumped a round into the desk right in front of her. Splinters danced against Reika's body as she drew back, pressing herself against the wall.

"Don't you fuck with me, bitch!" The leader said, taking a few quick strides across the shop floor and pressing the smoking barrel of his pistol right up against Reika's face. "The money! Now!"

Behind him, his two friends were grabbing the merch on display, yanking legs and eyes and arms off of the walls and shelves and throwing them into a duffel bag. Reika stammered, eyes crossed as she stared down at the barrel of the pistol, which looked large enough to fit her head down.

"Listen," Madison said, still leaning against the counter, a hard look on her face. "This place is under the protection of the Moxes and if you don't fuck off…"

"You think I care about a bunch of ex-whores?" The leader asked with a shout. Reika could see the veins on his neck throb. What was he on? "And you, your wallet! Right now!"

There was another gunshot and Reika flinched, wondering how long it would take to start feeling the pain. Then she realized that one of the thugs was on the floor, screaming as he clutched at himself.

Grace charged through the door to the back, her machine pistol in her hands as she swung around to one of the other men. Reika could see Auntie appearing in the doorway, her mouth open as she stared at what was happening in her clinic.

"Shit!" The leader said, swinging his pistol around even as he squeezed the trigger again and again.

The noise was loud enough that Reika just went down to the floor, clutching her hands to her ears and closing her eyes. She was not a fighter. She was far, far from it. She just wanted this to all stop.

Reika could feel tears trickling from underneath her closed eyes as she heard the loud gunshots filling the air of the store. And the screams. She could hear the screams, too.

Finally, they stopped, though Reika still couldn't make herself lift her head or straighten up to see what had happened. She just felt herself shaking and trembling as her stomach churned, sweat standing out on her skin.

Then a hand reached down and grabbed her wrist, tugging her upwards. Reika squeaked as she lifted her head, staring into Grace's tense face as the black woman leaned across the counter.

"No time for that, girlie!" Grace shouted, tugging Reiko up onto her feet. "How much has your aunt taught you?"

"I, I, I, what?" Reiko stammered as she stumbled, leaning against the counter. "What do you mean?"

"I mean she caught a bullet and she's bleeding bad," Grace said in a tight, terse tone. "Can you stop it?"

"What?" Reiko shrieked as she looked around the room.

There were way too many bodies on the floor. Reiko's eyes lingered on the growing puddles of blood before she turned to look at the one who mattered most. Her aunt. Laying there, slumped against the wall, one hand pressed to her lower right torso, with a red stain on her lab coat. A stain that was getting larger and larger even as Reiko looked.

"Auntie!" Reiko shrieked, dashing out from behind the counter and falling down next to her aunt. "How, how, what can I do?"

"Just keep some pressure there," Auntie grunted, letting her red-stained hand fall away from her side. "Don't let up, alright?" She gasped several times, the sound tinted with pain as she turned to look at the others. "Listen, I've got, ah, a silver-level contract, fuck, with Trauma Team. When someone comes through the door, don't shoot, got it?"

"Don't need to tell me twice," Madison called out as she dragged the bodies of the robbers out of the way of the door. "Silver? You going to last until then?"

"She… she should," Reiko said, swallowing hard as she tried to get her mind into gear. If she was going to be a medic, she should be able to handle this sort of thing, right? Even when it was her only family in the world that was laying out bleeding instead of some paying customer resting on a surgical bed. "Um, the pressure is working."

"Still, argh, shit, still hurts a lot," Auntie said with a grunt, closing her eyes as her shoulders rising and falling. "Okay, listen…" she panted several more times. "Girls," she turned her head to look at Grace and Madison. "Can you three look after the shop until I get out of the clinic?" She laughed. "Funny, isn't it? Having to get healed up when I run a ripperdoc."

"It's a laugh a minute here," Grace said. "And do you mean look after the place or look after the kid?"

"Not a kid," Reiko grumbled as she kept on pressing down. "You're what, three years older?"

"It's not the years, it's the mileage," Grace said vaguely. "So which is it, Doc?"

"Both if you can manage it," Auntie got out through clenched teeth. "But, ah, Reiko if you have to choose!" She swore several times and shook her head back and forth. "Damn, and I always thought the gutshots were just being big babies about this. Damn, it hurts."

"Should I go and get some anesthetics?" Reiko asked worriedly as she kept on pressing down, feeling the blood seeping along her fingers and painting them red.

"Trauma Team will be giving me the good stuff anyway," Auntie said, her voice laced with pain. "Just keep on doing this, darling. And," she reached up to pat the side of Reiko's face, "you be a good girl and listen to those three, alright? They'll keep you safe."

"Yeah, we can talk proper payment for this once you're out of the chop shop," Madison said from where she was standing close to the door, looking out through it. "And here comes the armored ambulance."

Both Madison and Grace took several steps back, putting themselves against the wall with their hands in clear view, far from their weapons. Reiko looked up, not sure if she should do so as well.

Before she could decide, several bulky, armored figures came storming through the door. They crossed the room in a flash and Reiko squeaked as she was pushed, hurled, really, to the side. She rose to a kneeling position but didn't go any further, not when one of the team was pointing a gun at her just like two more were doing with Grace and Madison.

But there was another kneeling down over Auntie, pulling open a medkit from their belt as two more hurried in with a stretcher. She could hear them talking to each other in clipped, precise tones as a bandage was wrapped around Auntie's torso and then she was gently and smoothly lifted up to the stretcher.

"I love you, Auntie!" Reiko called out as her aunt was wheeled out of the front door. "I'll, I'll come and visit!"

Auntie lifted a hand at that and she might have smiled behind the oxygen mask that was being fitted onto her face. Then there was a whirl of dust coming through the open door as the half-seen ambulance lifted up into the air and went screaming off towards… towards whatever hospital Auntie was being taken to.

Then it was just the three of them in the shop. Reika sagged down to the floor, aware that she was sitting in a puddle of blood but not quite up for moving from it just yet. She panted, feeling tremors breaking out all over her body.

"Damn," Madison said, shaking her head as she squatted down next to Reiko, rubbing her shoulder with her flesh hand. "What a day, huh? Think we'll get in another shootout today and make it three for three?"

"Not with my good eye turned off," Grace grumbled, leaning against the shop counter and panting. "God damn."

Reiko shuddered as she let herself get pulled up onto her feet. She looked down at herself and winced at what a mess she was. She was going to have to toss these clothes out, wasn't she? And get the floor cleaned of all of this and… and there was a window broken by a stray shot and there were these bodies on the floor and what was she supposed to do about dead bodies, huh?

"Whoa, okay, deep breaths, alright?" Madison asked, glancing down at Reiko. "This your first shootout, kid?"

Reiko nodded, putting her hands behind her head and taking some deep breaths. She could remember that this was what you were supposed to do after a trauma like this. Right, focus on breathing deeply, in and out, in and out. Just… just calm down and try to stop her thoughts from flying apart as her aunt got flown off to who knows where with a bullet inside of her, leaving her alone and… and… oh god.

"Hey, you need to throw up, do it in the bucket," Grace said, nudging the can over with her foot.

Reiko shook her head. That, at least, was something that she was going to be spared. A pretty minor thing but she was still glad for it. She just panted some more, closing her eyes and trembling at everything that she was feeling right now.

"So, how long do cops usually take to show up in a place like this?" Grace asked. "Bit on the lower side for middle class but it's not an outright free fire zone like some parts of the city."

"Did you call them?" Madison asked as she eased Reiko down into a chair. There was a negative grunt from Grace. "Hell if I know, then. Wouldn't want these bodies sitting around for too long, though. Going to start stinking bad soon, hot as it is."

"Yeah, who are they, anyway?" Reiko looked up as Grace squatted over one of them, going through his pockets. "Your aunt refuse to pay protection money to someone, Reiko?"

"No," Reiko said numbly, shaking her head back and forth. "They were just wanting money and chrome."

"Not seeing any gang tags on them, either," Grace said, switching between the three bodies. "Thinking these might just be some independent operators, hoping for a big score."

"Idiots," Madison said with a snort. "That's what they were. Anything good on them?"

"Some shitty chrome and…" Grace turned out their pockets. "Enough cash that one of us could have a cheap meal. Christ, maybe we can flog their guns for something if the cops don't take them."

"Thank you!" Reiko said abruptly, the thought suddenly coming to her and feeling like she absolutely had to say it. "You… they would have…" she shivered and hugged herself, shaking her head back and forth.

"Hey, no problem," Madison said. "Sorry about your aunt catching a round, mind. Usually better about keeping shots contained than that."

"Yeah, I could hear them all the way in the surgical prep," Grace said. "Way they were sounding, someone was going to die even if we didn't pull a gun. Better them than us, right? Or you."

Reiko nodded again, feeling the sweat cooling on her body as she slowly started to recover from everything that she had just gone through. That had just been… a lot. Really a lot. Geez. Yikes.

She sagged down on a seat, staring at the trembling hands in front of her. Grace said something as she pressed a cup of coffee into her hands but Reiko couldn't focus on what it was, exactly. Instead, she just squeezed down on the paper cup, feeling the warmth from the liquid soaking into her hands through the paper. Her bloody, bloody hands. She- this was not hygienic.

Putting the bloody cup on the counter, Reiko quickly stood up and went into the prep room. She had cleaned the surgical tools off in here before but she had never had to clean off her actual body. She shivered as she lathered her hands up, watching the proper skin tone return to them as the reddened water washed down the drain.

She was also aware of Madison leaning against the doorway, watching her. Not saying anything, just looking at her. Reiko couldn't think of anything to say either. The best she could do was in text, not in words, and that was still just sending a message to Auntie, who certainly wasn't awake enough to respond to it.

But she was alive, right? She had to still be alive. Otherwise what was even the point of paying for Trauma Team if they let you die after getting to you? Reiko shuddered and squeezed down on the casing of her phone, panting softly before sliding it away into a pocket. There had to be something else she could be focusing on right now. Simply had to be.

The cops came and left. They had seemed terribly uninterested in doing much of anything. Three guys had tried to rob a clinic, three guys had been shot, that was as far as the police were interested in pursuing matters. Reiko had been a lot more glad to see the corpse-handlers showing up to haul the bodies away, in fact. That meant that she could get started on cleaning the place up.

Grace and Madison helped out with that, in fact. And even Lily, Grace's sister finally showing up. The floor was left gleaming, a cardboard panel was placed over the shot-out window and by the time the sun started to set outside, Reiko could sit down and see a clinic that actually looked like it was a place you could trust to take care of you.

"Hey, kid, just how qualified are you on the whole medtech side of things?" Grace asked Reiko as she pushed the mop bucket away to the closet.

"I mean… Auntie is a good teacher," Reiko said. "I haven't done anything yet, though. Um, why?"

"Itou got my good eye turned off before the shooting started," Grace said, tapping the side of her head as Reiko realized that the multi-colored iris in the left side of her head wasn't moving. "And now that your hands have finally stopped shaking, I'd like you to either pluck it out and replace it with the new one or turn it back on."

"Wait, you've been doing this all with one eye?" Reiko asked, blinking as she stared at the other woman. "I- you were firing a gun!"

"Yeah, and I was spraying and praying in a small room, not sniping a bird from halfway across the city," Grace said, rolling her eyes. Her eye. "Wasn't exactly tough to do, you know? But it's a pain in the ass to only have one peeper working, so can you fix it?"

"I… I can certainly try," Reiko said with a firm nod. "Um, no charge, either."

"You're damn right on that," Grace said dryly.

Reiko lead Grace into the surgery room. The black woman sat down on the bed and got comfortable while Reiko fiddled with the equipment, trying to remember what she should do to reactivate a cyber part. She might never have done this but she had watched Auntie do some pretty complex operations and listened as the older woman had explained what she was doing and why.

Plugging the wires into the ports hidden on the side of Grace's face was easy enough. And then… and then make sure that there was no corporate loyalty code left that would need to be bypassed. If there was, then the eye wouldn't work even when it was drawing power again. Reiko felt proud of herself for remembering that before she had to take care of it.

It all happened a lot slower than it would have if Auntie was the one doing it and Reiko stopped several times to consult her training materials, just in case. But at the end of the process, Grace was sitting up in the bed, her cyborg eye twitching and rolling around in its socket as it took in the world around her.

"Yeah, that's nice, Reiko," Grace said with a nod. "Damn, it feels nice to see properly again." She paused. "Think I'm going to pass on asking you to do any upgrades on me."

"Hey, I'm going to get better at this, alright?" Reiko said, pouting a bit. "Just you wait! Give me some time to get good and I'll be able to install any bit of chrome you want."

"That will be something to look forward to," Grace admitted. "For now, though… hell, let's talk with Lily about how things are going to be shaking out between you and us."

That had been something that had been lingering at the back of Reiko's mind for a while now. It was one thing for Auntie to ask these three to look after Reiko but what did that actually mean? Reiko had trouble picturing the three of them sitting around in the front part of the clinic, staring at anyone who came in. And she had even more trouble seeing herself joining the three of them as they did whatever it was that earned them money.

Shaking her head, she followed Grace out into the main area of the clinic. Lily was fiddling with some of the racks of parts out on display, cleaning off any blood or gunsmoke that had gotten on them. She turned to look as the two of them made their appearance again.

Reiko knew that Lily and Grace weren't twins but they looked a lot like twins. Twins who knew how much they looked like each other and tried to differentiate themselves, at that. Grace was outright bald, with just a few ports gleaming on the top of her skull. Lily had long, flowing hair that was a blend of five different colors that must make it really hard to color coordinate her outfits with.

Clothes wise… well, they both had the same job, so they both tended to military-punk for their clothes. Tough, rugged, covered a lot of skin. Unlike Madison, who didn't mind silently bragging about how great her breasts were. Madison herself was hunched over her cyberdeck, doing… something that didn't involve her moving a lot. She only stirred when Grace shook her shoulder.

"So, what do we do now?" Grace asked, glancing over at Lily as her sister hopped up onto the counter to take a seat. "And I don't just mean where we're going for dinner tonight, either."
"The doc's been good to us," Lily said, idly drumming one heel against the counter. "I'm willing to keep an eye out on her niece until she's out of the hospital."

"Every group of heroes needs a spunky tagalong kid," Madison agreed, shooting a smug grin at Reiko and getting a face made back at her that just made her laugh. "Got a grating catchphrase to bust out once per episode?"

"Go fuck yourself," Reiko said.

"Oh, shooting for a R rating, huh?" Madison said with a laugh. Grace rolled her eyes and reached over to slap her upside the head. "Okay, okay, more seriously, sure. I mean, hell, you know what you're about, right, Reiko? How to stop bleeding and all that?"

"Sure," Reiko said, nodding with a lot more force and firmness than she felt.

"Well… hell, maybe this shop really will end up under the protection of the Moxxies after all," Grace said. "Think the doc will have a problem with that, Reiko?"

"Well… do you have any groups that will hit this place because the Street Walkers are protecting me?" Reiko asked, trying to call up everything that she could remember of the street gangs in Night City.

"Tyger Claws might," Lily admitted. "Though only part of that would be because it's the Moxxies looking out after you. The rest is all us, baby."

Reiko could remember the tiger emblems on some of the gear that Grace and Madison had dropped off this morning. No prizes for guessing where that had been sourced from. She frowned, looking down at her hands.

"I… Lily, you're good at talking and stuff, right?" Reiko asked.

"With that SilverTongue implant she's got?" Madison said with a giggle. "She can use her mouth in all sorts of ways."

"Can it, Mads," Lily growled, glancing at her comrade. "And yes, I know how to turn a phrase, Reiko. Why?"

"Well, I'm thinking that I'm not up for doing actual cybersurgery just yet," Reiko said, glancing over at Grace. "But I still know a lot about the parts and everything we have in stock," she waved her hand at the two dozen cyberarms dangling from a rack near Lily's head. "People can still buy the stuff, even if they need to go somewhere else to get it installed. And if you're the one behind the desk, you're a lot more… you'd be a lot better at getting a good deal than me, right? I can focus on the parts themselves, you can make the sales, Grace and Madison can…"

She trailed off, not sure at all where those two would fit in the business model she was dreaming up. Madison chuckled.

"I can drain dry the accounts of everyone who steps into the shop," she said with a smirk. "And Grace can do the same to their wallets."

"What a great idea," Lily said brightly. "Maybe you can help Reiko if there's some security code she needs purging."

"Yeah, or something," Reiko said vaguely.

"You know, when I got out from under the Chiefs, I said that I was done selling my body," Lily said with a chuckle. "And now I'm selling parts of other people's bodies. Funny how the world keeps on turning, doesn't it?"

"Is only offering half the services of a ripperdoc really going to bring in enough money?" Grace asked doubtfully. "Especially if it's four people living off of it?"

"No, I can't really see it working," Lily admitted, making Reiko's stomach sink. "But what the hell, it can be a nice little sideline to bulk out the payment we get from the actual work." She patted the pistol on her hip. "And will you be joining us for that, Reiko?"

"I, um," Reiko didn't even like violent video games. She had never actually held a gun once in her entire life and she didn't think she had what it would take to pull the trigger when it was pointed at someone else. But could she let them down after they were helping her out? "I can… try."

"Hey, if you're worried over being a triggerman, don't be," Madison said. "Most jobs, I never even pull my piece out. All the magic happens on this baby," she patted her 'deck, "and if you can stitch up the Wonder Girls after they eat a round or two, that will pay for your share."

"It would be nice to get healing right after I'm shot instead of limping back to a safehouse," Grace said musingly. "Not sure if it's worth giving you a full quarter share, though."

"It might vary per job," Lily acknowledged with a nod. "If we get shot, if we're likely to get shot, that sort of thing. You interested, Reiko?"

"I… I'm more interested in keeping the clinic open for Auntie when she comes back but if I can still put the hours in here, then…" Reiko took a deep breath, wondering if this was the bravest thing she had ever agreed to do or just the stupidest. "Yes, I'm willing to come along with you on your work."

"Good to have you on the team, kid," Madison said with a smile. "And that makes for an all-girl team, doesn't it? Suppose that might be pretty rare, if we weren't running with the Moxxies."

"On that note, if you want to make some extra coin, even someone kind of bad at healing will still be a step up, if you want to help the Moxxie girls out," Grace said. She saw the look on Reiko's face and paused. "Ah, not that I think you're bad at this or anything. You just… have so much more room for improvement, that's it!"

"Gracie, remember how I'm the one that talks to the clients and gets as much money out of them as I can?" Lily asked, staring at her younger sister. "Remember why I'm the one who has that job?'

"Um… sorry, Reiko," Grace said, having the, ah ha, grace to look embarrassed. "You might still be learning but I'm sure you're going to be great when you're finished."

"Thank you, Grace," Reiko said, shaking her head back and forth. "Anyway… um, how much should I be expecting? Work-wise, I mean."

"Getting shot sucks, so I avoid it when possible," Grace said. "If we're lucky, we'll just be calling you inside to chop some chrome off a corpse."

"Christ, Grace," Lily said, burying her head in her hands even before she looked at Reiko. "What my sister means is that with any luck, you're going to be peace of mind for us rather than something that actually gets used on every mission."

"That sounds a lot better," Reiko said. She was aware of where a bunch of the chrome in the clinic had come from but there was a big difference between knowing that fact and actually going out and selecting the best scalpel for the task as the meat cooled in front of her. "And, um, I'll make sure to send you off on each job with plenty of prayers for good luck."

"I already carry a four-leaf clover around," Madison said, patting her bio-arm, which, sure enough, had a green tattoo on it. "I'm not going to knock a good prayer."

"Final note, I'll be wanting your actual number, not just the clinic's," Lily said. "We can take jobs at all hours, don't want the line here to ring and ring while you're a mile away, sleeping."

"Oh, right, good idea," Reiko said, quickly exchanging numbers with the other three girls. "And should I be buying anything? Clothes?"

"Hell, with what some of the people on the streets wear, the only way not to blend in would be wearing a corpo suit," Lily said with a smile. "What you've got will do fine, if you don't mind blood and dirt on it."

"Guessing you'll turn down a gun," Grace said, to a quick nod from Reiko. "But grab something to defend yourself. Flashbulb or something. You ain't too heavily cybered, are you? Mads might be able to give you a toy, that wide-burst something or other?"

"There's ways to make a 'plant seize up," Madison said with a nod. "And yours, too, if you're in the blast radius. Want to risk it?"

"No," Reiko said after a minute. "And I don't have any chrome yet. Anyway, I'm already carrying some pepper spray. This is Night City, you know. I might not be like you but I can't completely avoid all the nastiness."

"Good to hear," Lily said with a shrug. "Lots of creeps out there won't notice spray but what the hell, if you're taking shots, everything's gone to shit as it is."

"Speaking of shots, I could use some in me," Madison said. "It's been a hell of a day and I want some overpriced booze, some loud music and some dancing. Anyone else feeling the same?"

"We can start at the Inferno, just for you," Lily said with a roll of her eyes. "But I'll just be putting an hour in there before heading off… somewhere." She turned to look at Reiko as Grace grabbed her stuff. "Care to join us? Now that you're officially part of the team and all?"

"I… okay," Reiko said with a nod. She took a deep breath and made herself smile and then made herself feel like smiling. "Let's hang out."

And boy, oh boy, was she hoping that she was making the right call here.

 

[WestOrEast]

Nightshift Avengers Chapter Two​

"Alright, boys and girls," Grace said with a chuckle as she slapped a clip into her rifle and yanked the whatever that lever on the side was called back. "Who's ready for some fun?"

Reiko gave the black woman a smile that was pretty weak and that was still looking a lot more confident than she actually felt. At least Madison and Lily looked a lot more secure and assured right now. She took a deep breath and fingered the shock pistol she had been given. Reiko was pretty sure that if she put the muzzle right up against the target, then she would be able to hit whatever she fired at. She really hoped that success wouldn't come down to her shooting skills.



"Okay," Lily said as she parked her car. "There's the target." She pointed at a burned-out building at the far end of the block. "Remember, the guy needs to come back alive, so look into the rooms before tossing a grenade in. Grace."

"Hey, with how shitty that building looks, I'm not going to be tossing happy fun balls around anyway," Grace said with a smile, her pupils small pinpricks as whatever she had injected took hold. "I'm not Adam Smasher, I'm not living through a building coming down on top of me."



"Right," Lily said with a grunt. "You stick with us, kid," she added, turning in her seat to look at Reiko, "and you'll get through this just fine." She winked as she fiddled with the stern-faced mask that lay in her lap. "Don't worry, these guys are nothing."

"Certainly nothing online," Madison said in a flat, empty tone as she sat in her seat, tapping away at the 'deck mounted on her forearm. "Not seeing any kind of chatter from out here. Might be something more when we get close in."

"Well, let's go say hi, shall we?" Grace asked, slipping her helmet onto her head as she stepped out of the car door.



Reiko swallowed, nodded hard and followed after the other three women. Oh man, this was really happening. Oh man, she was about to get into a gunfight, even if nobody was expecting her to pull any kind of trigger. She patted the medical bag she was carrying and watched as Grace started to move forward, Lily behind her and Madison behind her. Reiko followed after, because she did not want to stay in this dark, creepy part of town by herself.



It felt strange to want to attack, want to kill people that you didn't even know, that had never done anything to you. And all for money. A whole lot of money, even split four ways that was a sum that had made Reiko sit up straight when Lily had finalized the deal. But still, this wasn't the sort of thing that Reiko thought made you a good person. Even if they were looking to rescue some guy who had gotten dragged out of a bar by some chromehounds and get him back before too much got sliced out of him to sell.



The similarities between that and what Grace and Madison had been offering when they had visited the clinic two days ago were so very strong that Reiko had to tell herself that the team had had other reasons to go after the Tyger Claws and that they had certainly killed the, um, donors, before removing the hardware from them to sell to Auntie and Reiko. Still not a hugely comfortable thought for Reiko to consider, really.



Then she found something else to focus her mind on. Grace raised her rifle and two shockingly loud bangs ran out on the street. A guy who had just stepped out of the doorway of the building they were heading to fell down hard and even from here, it was pretty clear he was never getting back up again.



Grace let out a whoop and picked up the pace, sprinting along the sidewalk and then slamming through the front door that hadn't properly closed. The rest of the team followed after her and Reiko could see some flashes of light and hear some more gunshots inside. And hear some unhinged female laughter as Grace did whatever it was she was doing in there.



"Come on, don't want to miss the party!" Lily shouted, her voice boosted by the mask she was wearing. Her multicolored hair flowed out behind her as she charged through the door, her shotgun booming.



Madison had her pistol drawn but didn't shoot anything as she ducked inside. Reiko did the same, keeping low and heading for a desk to hide behind. The bullet holes in it showed how little that would do to protect her but she sure wasn't going to be moving from here. At least the bullet holes let her look through them to see what was going on.



Grace was already into the next room of the old, ruined storefront that this had once been, rifle chattering as she shot at whoever was in there. Lily was pressed up against the wall of a stairwell, her shotgun aimed up along it. There was another bright flash as she shot at something or someone along it and then ducked back as a few bullets came down to crater the floor.



Madison was crouched behind a chair, looking very calm and empty, even as Reiko felt like screaming at the top of her lungs before throwing up at everything that was happening around her. Then she cursed and yanked a wire out of the side of her head.



"These shits don't have anything to hack," she said in a disgusted voice, raising her pistol and looking down the sights as she called out to Lily. "Not even a single turret or lifter bot!"

"Then go and help Grace!" Lily called out over the roar of her shotgun again as she pumped two more rounds up along the stairwell. "I've got this locked down!"

Madison nodded and headed for the door deeper into the building, plastering herself against the wall and leaning into the doorway to snap off a few shots. Then she ducked inside and Reiko couldn't see her anymore.



And what should Reiko be doing? She was clutching the handle of her stun gun so tightly that it felt like it should splinter underneath her grip and she could feel the cold sweat along her back and neck. And feel the tingling of her skin. And the sickness in her stomach.



And all that still didn't mean that she was going to start firing off shots or anything. The thought of lifting her head up, out where anyone could see it- no, no, no. Not what she was going to do. Reiko shivered and kept on crouching behind the desk, listening to the whistling sound of bullets and the screams of pain from further in the building.



"Hey, new girl!" Reiko looked over at Lily as the black woman thumbed some more shells into her shotgun. "Watch the front! Anyone comes through, zap them!"

"Wait, where are you- going?" Reiko's voice trailed off as Lily charged up the stairs, firing as she went.



And then Reiko was alone in the front room except for a few bodies. She swallowed and got an even tighter grip on the taser, feeling the textured grip pressing into her palm. She shifted herself around to look at the front door, hanging open and giving her a slice of a view of the outside street. If someone came through- what could she do? Would she be able to pull the trigger, even for a stun gun like this?



What would they do to her if she didn't pull the trigger? That was another, much worse thought that made Reiko shiver and lift her arm, pointing the barrel at the door. She might only have school rumors, news reports and ominous implications to go off of but she did not want to be captured. Especially not if her friends had killed a bunch of their friends.



Reiko could feel her heart pounding in her lungs as she stared at the doorway, her shoulders heaving as she breathed in and out, again and again. Her world seemed to narrow until it was just the doorway and her, nothing else.



So the hand grabbing her shoulder made Reiko scream her head off and squeeze the trigger. The two darts shot out from the muzzle and embed themselves in the doorframe.



"Boo," Grace said, lifting her eyebrows as she hauled Reiko up onto her feet. "Feeling a bit jumpy?"

"I, I," Grace stammered, before shutting up. What could she actually say right now that would do any good? "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah," Grace said with a frown. "Got your bag? Follow me."

Reiko did so, seeing Lily appearing in the stairwell as she hurried across the room. The black woman had her shotgun resting on her shoulder and a hard, satisfied smile on her lips as she nodded at her sister.



There was no time to talk, as Grace hurried Reiko through the maze of nasty little back rooms that made up the rest of this floor. Reiko shuddered at the bodies on the floor. She had to have seen half a dozen dead men and women in here and she wasn't paying that close of attention to the body count.



"Here's the VIP," Grace said, stepping through some hanging plastic strips and into what looked more like a abattoir than a surgical room. "Still breathing but…"

"But that's about it," Reiko said, pushing down her nerves and focusing on what she could do, right now.



She stepped up to the man they were here to rescue. He hadn't had any chrome installed in his head, so except for a few bruises, he still looked like what he had in the photo his boyfriend had given the four of them. The rest of him, though, ugh. It was a really, really good thing that he had minimal augmentation, because whatever ham-handed butcher had been responsible for yanking the chrome out of him had done some horrible, horrible things to him.



And without sedatives, either. Reiko quickly changed that, pressing a hypospray against his neck and plunging the button down. The wretched whimpering quickly died down and Reiko looked around the room.



This blood-soaked slaughterhouse was not the kind of place she would like to work in. But she also didn't think that she'd be able to move him and keep him alive, so she'd just have to load him up on antibacterials once she had stopped the bleeding.



And pull out her medical text tablet and open it up to the section on gross physical trauma, because Reiko was well aware of just how good she was at playing EMT. She glanced over her shoulder at Grace, still standing there and watching.



"Um, do you need anything more?" Reiko asked as she opened up her medical bag and started to pull out the stitch kit.



"Need you once I start coming off the Slaught high, right?" Grace asked with a giggle, slapping Reiko's shoulder. "Be nice to have an actual doc there for the crash instead of just sweating it out on the couch."

"Right, but if you haven't taken a bullet yourself," Reiko said, bending over the man and getting to work on stabilizing him, "then you don't need to be here."

"Nah, those assholes couldn't shoot straight," Grace said, rapping her armored vest which rather seemed to contradict what she had been saying. "Just shitty autopistols and the like, anyway. No sweat, Reiko, no sweat at all."

Well, at least her drug blend was keeping her energetic and boisterous instead of twitchy and mean. It was still getting in the way, though and Reiko tried with part of her brain for a way to make that clear, even as the rest of her focused on a much more important task.



Reiko nodded to herself as she worked, constantly glancing at the propped up tablet to make sure that she was doing the right stuff. It was a good thing that the man was out of it by now because she didn't think he'd be reassured by her double-checking a textbook as she worked on him.



A bad thing was that while even if they could find the metal fingers he had had on his right hand, there was no way that she could reattach them. Even if Reiko was as good as she wanted to be, she'd need an actual surgical suite and stuff because of how far down whatever butcher had worked him over had cut. She hoped he had good health insurance because he was going to need a long while in a therapy clinic. Or maybe just cut the entire hand off and get a cyber model.



Well, whatever he did, he was going to be able to choose to do it, as Reiko kept on working. She could distantly hear the sounds of the rest of the team as Grace left her alone, but no more gunshots. Good, good, good. Reiko nodded and started stitching things up.



"Alright," she said finally said with a sigh, stripping off her bloodied gloves and dropping them into an overflowing trash can. "You aren't going to feel good when you wake up but you are going to wake up, mister." She patted his shoulder. "And now, uh…"



Well, if this had been at Auntie's clinic, he would have been wheeled into the recovery room before Reiko administered the anesthetic antagonist to wake him up and recover before sending him out the front door. Not so much an option right now, so Reiko ran one final check of him before heading out to find Lily.



It wasn't hard to find the leader, as she was sitting down at a desk, going through some scraps of paper and datapads, her impassive mask resting to one side. She looked up at Reiko as she appeared.



"How's the VIP doing?" Lily asked.



"He's as fine as I can get him and I'd say he's ready to get wheeled out for some proper care now," Reiko said, realizing even as she spoke how tight and tense she was. Her shoulders especially but the rest of her body was still feeling kind of unsettled.



"Hey, don't sell yourself short," Lily said, rising up from the battered desk, her shotgun slung over her back and grabbing her mask as she stood. "All any of us could have done would be to put pressure on the wounds and that's it."



"Yeah, well, fully-trained professionals with more equipment than just this could do a lot better," Reiko said, blushing a bit. "They will do a lot better."

"Yeah, I'll make the call," Lily said, sticking her head through the hanging plastic strips and looking at the still form of the man as he lay there. "You did good, kid."

"Not a kid," Reiko muttered underneath her breath. "And thank you," she said in a much louder voice.



"Hey, everyone after me is a kid and everyone born before me is an old geezer," Lily said with a chuckle, giving Reiko's shoulder a tight squeeze. "And I'd say you just earned the payday for us all."

Reiko's mind flashed back to what she had gone through in the foyer and she repressed a shudder. Lily didn't notice, turning away to call in a report to… that woman they had gotten the job from. Someone with a Japanese name, that was the most Reiko could remember of her right now.



With nothing else to do, she stepped back to the side of the patient and made sure that he was doing as good as he could with what Reiko had on hand to treat him with. She'd feel a lot better about all this once he was in a properly antiseptic environment, though. A place like this could only be cleaned out with a flamethrower.



"Alright, the client's shelling out for a Meatwagon express and we're just waiting for them to pick him up," Lily said. "Help me carry him out to the front. Don't want those greedy chucklefucks trying to grab any gear left in here."

"That's what they'd do?" Reiko asked, making sure that the man's hand was properly swaddled in gauze before grabbing his feet and whimpering as she forced herself to straighten her legs. "Heavy!"

"You need to spend some time lifting weights," Lily said with a chuckle. "Right, got his shoulders, so follow me."

Reiko moved very quickly indeed as she staggered underneath even half of the weight of the man. She was panting and her arms were quite, quite sore when they got him out to the front lobby or foyer or whatever this place was. It was a relief when an armored ambulance came whirling down the street and slid to a halt in front of them.



The Meatwagon crew weren't quite as friendly and considerate as Trauma Team had been but they still took the man off of the hands of Lily and Reiko and that was good enough for her. Good enough for Lily, too, since she got back on the line and a big smile blossomed over her face soon afterwards.



"And that's some ebbies for you, some ebbies for me and some ebbies to be spent at the nearest bar," she said with a chuckle, turning around and heading inside. "Hey girls, the money came through!"

"Hot dog, time to plump out my bed a bit more," Madison said, appearing down the stairs with a smile. "You know what they've got up there?"

"A toilet that doesn't work, yeah," Lily said, making a face. "Not that it stopped them from using it."

"Yeah, yeah, that too," Madison said, waving a hand of dismissal. "But they've also got some humanoid security bot."

"Oh yeah, that thing," Lily chuckled. "Pumped a round into it before I saw it was dead."



"Yeah, I figured that was you," Madison said, fingering a dent in the chest armor plating that had destroyed some of the graffiti spraypainted onto the bot. "Dead but not dead for good, I think…" she trailed off as she stuck a fiber optic cable into a gap and wiggled it around. "Yeah, they didn't strip out all of the parts for this thing."

"Do you think you can get it working again?" Lily asked.



"I can get it working right now if I give the batteries a charge," Madison said with a nod. "All it will do is stand in one place and give you error reports, mind."



"Useful!" Lily said with a chuckle, giving the boxy head (with one optic in place and a tangle of wires in the other socket) a light slap. "I don't want to spend the night here, so if you can get that thing down to the car, we can put it in the trunk and take it back to your place."

It just took a single glance for Reiko to know that she wasn't going to be volunteering to carry that thing down the stairs. It had to weigh a whole lot than her, even stripped and looted like it had been. Wait… stairs…



"Could we push it down the stairs?" Reiko asked brightly. "It's a combat mech, it can survive some skidding, right?"

"Hell, do that and give me some warning so I can record it all," Lily said, laughing. "Maybe Grace is dumb enough to ride on top of it to really make it prime comedy."



"Yeah, I can get this thing down to the front door," Madison said, smiling as she shook her head. "And yeah, there's still some good quality metal here that hasn't been stripped off yet."

"What model is it, anyway?" Reiko asked, looking the spray-painted metal corpse up and down. "It's Militech around the head," she waved her hands around her own head to show how boxy it was, "but beyond that…"

"Hell if I know," Madison said with a shrug. "I'd need some proper light and an identification guide to really have a chance at saying. Doubt it's a high-end model, though."

"It's an extra payday, that's what it is," Lily said with a wave of her hand. "Call me if you need help getting it downstairs, otherwise…"

"Wait, boss," Reiko said quickly as an idea came to her. "You said that we'd be splitting up all the loot we get here, right?"

"Yeah, sure," Lily said, turning back to Reiko. "All the cash, guns, whatever they might be carrying around. Why?"

"I want this," Reiko said, reaching over and patting the robot. "I don't care if it takes all of my share of the loot, I want this."

"What on earth for?" Madison asked doubtfully. "I'm not going to strip it, sell it and then hand the cash over to you, if that's what you're thinking."

"No, no, I think… I didn't like being down there," Reiko said, pointing at her feet and the atrium or whatever on the floor below there. "All by myself with only a taser. If we can fix this up, it can be my bodyguard so you all can fight and I can still be safe."

Madison and Lily glanced at each other for a moment. Reiko stared at both of them, feeling kind of nervous over this, even though it seemed like a very sensible idea to her, something that shouldn't be a problem.



"You don't want to fight but you're fine with having an armed bodyguard shooting stuff for you?" Madison asked skeptically.



"I'm not a pacifist, I'm a coward," Reiko said quietly, staring down at the ground as her cheeks burned.



"Whatever you want to call it is fine if you keep on coming on jobs with us," Lily said easily, patting Reiko's shoulder. "And sure, you can have the bot if you want. Mads?"

"Yeah, why not, means a bigger slice of the loot pile for me," Madison said with a shrug. "And it will save me time from stripping this thing for parts."

"Um, actually, while I'm sure I can find the parts to repair this thing," Reiko said quickly, "I'd really like it if you took a look over the code for me. I'm not so good at that side of things but you really are."



Reiko was laying it on a bit thick there but it wasn't like what she was saying was wrong or anything. Madison looked at her and then at the bot and sighed.



"You're lucky I'm weak to a pretty face," Madison said, shaking her head. "And that I like fiddling and tinkering so much. Okay, okay," she said with a heavy sigh, "you handle the screwing and the fiddling and I'll make sure that all the code talks nice to each other when you get it ready to turn on." She chuckled and turned her head to Lily. "You were asking what kind of mech this was? I can tell you right now that it's going to be a Frakenmech by the time we get done finding shit that will fit in it."

"Well, if it's going to be your protector and your hobby," Lily said, backing up as she glanced at first Reiko and then Madison, "you two can certainly be the ones to figure out how to get it downstairs. I'm going to go make sure that the car hasn't been stolen."

"Well, congrats," Madison said, slapping Reiko's shoulder with her flesh and blood hand. "Looks like you've got your very own pet to call your own."

"Bit of a size difference from the robot dog I got for Christmas one year," Reiko said, nodding her head as she held her hands a foot apart to show off the size of that long-lost toy.



The two of them chatted a bit more and grunted a lot more as they worked the bot to the staircase. Then, thankfully, Reiko thought to check some of the other rooms up on this floor. And managed to find a dolly that could be slid underneath the feet of the squatting robot. It was still really tricky to get that thing down the stairs, but at least Reiko's arms didn't feel like they were about to pop out of her sockets as she did so.



When they got downstairs without crushing Madison underneath the weight of robot (Reiko was going to have to come up with a name for this guy, wasn't she?), she could see a slice of the car outside through the door that was hanging open. Oh good, it hadn't been stolen and they wouldn't have to walk home.



It was a bit tricky getting the thing fitted in the trunk of the car and it didn't leave much room for anything else but that was alright. Reiko took a deep breath as she stared down at the thing, picturing what it would look like when it was finished. Something big, something tough, something that could protect her and keep her safe while she waited for her skills to be called upon.



Speaking of that, Reiko headed inside to find Grace. And sure enough, the black woman was sitting on a stained couch, head in her hands as she slumped forward. Even from here, Reiko could hear the raspy breathing. She shook her head and pulled out some stabilizers from her medical pack and sat down next to Grace.



"Ugh," Grace groaned as Reiko started to roll up a sleeve. "Hey."

"Does this always happen, when you start to come down from the 'Slaught?" Reiko asked as she pressed a hypospray against the inside of Grace's elbow.



"Yeah," Grace said in a low voice. "Really sucks. Great way to keep me from riding the redline all the time, though. Not even for every job. Ow." She rubbed her forehead again.



"I don't have a full listing of all the side effects and health consequences right now but I will be pulling a list together and talking to you about it," Reiko promised. "So you can see exactly what this does to your body."

"I know what it does, alright?" Grace said with a bit of a snarl in her voice. "That's why I cut it with KeepCalm and a bunch of saline. I don't want to be taking pure 'Slaught. I'm not that dumb or desperate. Just need the edge, you know?"

"No kidding," Lily said, stepping into the room with a computer monitor held in her arms. "Back when we were under the Chieftains, there was this one guy, Big Dave, he took it raw pretty much every day. He was never all that smart or all that stable, but towards the end…" she shook her head and whistled as she kept on moving through the room.



"What was the end?" Reiko asked as she held Grace's wrist in her hand and counted her pulse.



"Took too much of it and killed three other Chieftains before the rest of them blew his brains out," Grace said with a grunt. "A really keen lesson on why I shouldn't take it raw." She paused. "Also, not to cheat at cards, because that's what got the whole shit started."

Reiko snorted at that and nodded as she decided that Grace's pulse, while high, was an understandable high with what she had done less than half an hour ago and what she was coming down off of right now.



"At any rate, I'll draw up a treatment plan and maybe take a look at that cocktail you take," Reiko said. "See if I can make some improvements to it and make the come-down less crappy." She paused. "It's still a really stupid idea to be doing this, Grace."

"Is it less stupid than running into a room to kill everyone inside?" Grace asked, which Reiko had to admit was a point. "Trust me, I'm not addicted to the stuff," which was exactly what addicts said, "and when I stop being an edgerunner, I'm going to stop taking this stuff."

"And when is that going to be?" Reiko asked as she started to pack her medical bag again. "When are you going to quit? Does the job have a good pension plan?"

"Yeah, a twelve millimeter pension," Grace snorted, miming shooting herself with a finger gun. "Eh, there's something out there that I'd like doing that would still give me some freedom. Not sticking me in a uniform and reporting to some stuffed shirt."



"Like what?" Reiko asked as she passed the other woman a water bottle. "What do you like doing that you could get paid for?"

"Well, I like sex," Grace said casually. It was a good thing she had the water and not Reiko, otherwise she would have sprayed it all over the floor in front of her. "And I like getting money, so I wouldn't mind getting paid for sex."

"What, like with your old gang?" Reiko asked, staring at Grace.



"Fuck that, I wasn't part of the gang, I was part of the gang's property," Grace said, her fingers tightening on the water bottle. "And no, my ideal job isn't me getting rutted in some stinking back alley by some fat bastard who might throw up on me before he finishes." She shook her head back and forth. "Nah, I'd want to be some sort of courtesan. You know, getting taken out to a fancy restaurant like you see in the flicks before coming back to a big bed and all that, you know?"

Reiko turned slightly to get a better look at Grace full-on. Well, Grace was kind of pretty, though Lily might be a bit prettier. Of course, with enough money and chrome, someone could look like anything if they were willing to put the time in.



"And that's your career path?" Reiko asked.



"Nah, that's my dream path," Grace said, standing up and only swaying back and forth a bit as she rubbed her forehead again. "Figure it's more likely I'll get in deeper with the Moxxies and get to be a heavy hitter who only gets called out when there's a big dust-up brewing. Spend the rest of my time running some little cover shop to excuse where my spending money's coming from, you know?"

Reiko thought that Grace's first idea was a lot more romantic.



"And what about you?" Grace asked, looking at Reiko out of the corner of her eye. "What's your big life plan? Working at your aunt's for the rest of time?"

"It would be become my clinic eventually," Reiko said quickly. "Auntie won't live forever, after all."

Though, thankfully, that wasn't a reality Reiko was going to have to confront with her heart instead of her brain any time soon. She had visited Auntie yesterday and even though it had been hard to understand her with the oxygen mask still over her face, there had been plenty of color in Auntie's face and all the vitals on her sheet had looked fine. Well, fine when you were lying in a hospital bed, at least. Maybe not so fine if you were planning to be up and about.



"But… yes, work for her, work for someone else, work for me," Reiko shrugged. "The human body is fascinating on its own and when you add in all the many, many kinds of chrome, it only gets more so. I like working with that stuff."

"I like working with people's bodies, too," Grace said, waggling her eyebrows and making Reiko stare in puzzlement for a moment before the light dawned. She groaned and rolled her eyes as Grace softly chuckled. "Well, for however long we have you before some big corpo scoops you up, I'll feel better knowing that medical care is just a few yards away and not at the other end of a phone line."



She could tell when a conversation was over, though, so she just nodded and stood up as well. Lily was coming back through the door carrying a big bag, so Reiko supposed that it was time to get down to looting.



For Reiko in particular, that meant turning her attention to the bodies. Reiko wasn't shy about admitting that she was glad that most of the dead kidnappers had chrome that had either been busted up by Grace's gunshots or was so crappy that it wasn't worth the time to do the surgery to get them off of the bodies. There were a few, though, that she had to bend over and get to work on, carefully slicing and cutting.



And, in her opinion, doing a rather job of removing the cyberware with less damage to the organic bodies than whatever incompetent had been 'operating' on their VIP, even though everyone here was dead and wouldn't be worrying about quality of life anymore. So just imagine how good she was going to be when she was working in a proper surgical suite with proper training.



That was a nice thought that helped distract Reiko from what she was doing and where she was doing it. She wrapped things up, wiping off each piece of chrome with an antibacterial spray and carefully nestling it inside of a box.



Reiko had heard the sounds of the rest of the team, her team, working around her and when she stood up, the place looked even emptier, nastier and gloomier than it had when she had first stepped inside. Reiko shook her head and headed towards the front, seeing Madison coming down the stairs again with her arms full of… crap, really. Odds and ends of electronics was the closest that Reiko could get to identifying them.



"Sure you don't want to strip the power cabling out the walls?" Reiko asked as she held the door open for Madison.



"I'll leave that for someone with more time and more desperation," Madison said, stepping through and dumping her load into an open sack. "Speaking of time, what are we going to do for the rest of the evening? Hit the clubs?"

"Ugh, no, nothing with loud music or bright lights," Grace said, shaking her head quickly. "Not for me."



"I want to put some work in studying," Reiko said, shaking her head as well. "And maybe start cleaning up the bot," she added, jerking her thumb behind her at the trunk of the car.



"Okay, how about you, Lils?" Madison asked, looking at Lily as the black woman moved around the front of the car and climbed into the driver's seat. "Want to go make some bad decisions with me?"

"You make it sound so very tempting," Lily said dryly as the rest of them got into the car as well. It was a lot more stuffed with all of the bags of stuff they had taken from this place. "Why would I want to say no?"

"Exactly," Madison said with a nod as she buckled her seatbelt. "Start with Ruby, see who's there, then head on over to Lucky Seven, what do you say?"

Reiko had no idea where those clubs or bars even where. She glanced at Grace, who had her head tilted backwards and her eyes closed.



Okay, first job done and dusted and Reiko was still alive. That was a very, very important point for her! And with a way to make sure that she kept on staying alive for a much, much longer time if she could get the bot fixed up and able to protect her.



Hell, it could protect her in more ways than just watching her back during an edgerunner job. If that had been inside of Auntie's clinic a few days ago, looming near the front of the place, would the scavs have come in to rob the place or would they just have kept on going, looking for someone else to steal from? The thought of having security that actually stayed in place instead of hoping that Grace or someone would be in the clinic the next time it got robbed was a reassuring thought to Reiko.



"You did good, Reiko," Lily said, glancing into the rearview mirror at Reiko as she kept on driving through Night City. "I felt a lot safer, having a medic at my back."

"Yeah, same here," Grace said, not opening her eyes but giving Reiko a thumbs-up. "You did good."

"Thanks," Reiko said with a blush and a smile. "And next time… next time, I'll keep on making sure to do as good of a job as I can for you."

"Ah, that's so sweet," Madison said, twisting around in her seat to smile at Reiko. "And don't worry, we'll be happy to take good care of you, too."

Reiko blushed at that a bit, looking down at her lap before looking back up at Madison and flashing her a smile. Madison smiled back before turning around to look out the front window. Reiko took a deep breath and sagged backwards in her seat.



After a bit of internal debate on the subject, Reiko got dropped off in front of the clinic with the bot. She managed to get it inside eventually, locking the door behind her as the sun started to set, shining right through the front door. Damn, it was hot in here. Reiko wiped her forehead as she switched on the A/C.



"Okay, big boy," Reiko said to herself, looking the squatting mech over. "What should I do with you?"

Well, first things first, she was going to get this cleaned off. Sure, Reiko was sure she was going to paint it and customize it later but she didn't really want this thing to be walking around behind her with a bunch of misspelled profanities on it. Some hot, soapy water should do the trick and it would give her some time to think over just what she wanted to put into this thing.



Like did she want to use any of the stock the clinic had? It was just possible to turn chrome into parts for a robot, or vice versa. Kind of (very) tricky, though. And it wasn't like the clinic had much in the way of military-grade parts hanging off the walls. A hand optimized for fine, delicate, repetitive work wasn't going to fit on this sucker, that was for sure.



Not to mention that Reiko had trouble seeing Auntie being thrilled at learning the clinic's stock had gone into this instead of being sold for profit. Okay, okay, bad idea. She should call Madison up and see if the hacker had any idea about where proper parts for this could be found.



And what else… restock her medical bag, of course. Hopefully it would stay full and unopened on the next job that they did but it was way better to be safe than sorry, right? Right, right.



And maybe get herself some new clothing as well. Reiko thought that she looked nice and pretty dressed up like this but if she was going to be running through smokey buildings while bullets whickered overhead, she was going to, at the very least, look like a badass doing it.



Though looking like one and being one were two different things, Reiko thought with a snicker as she dipped the sponge into the bucket and then got back to work at rubbing off the graffiti littering the sides of the mech. In fact… she blinked and reached down with her dry hand to pull out her taser.



Yep, several hours after she had fired it at nothing and it was still empty. Reiko blushed as she pushed a new cartridge into it and then, remembering what Lily had said in a very high-pitched voice when Reiko had pointed the stun gun at her with the finger on the trigger before leaving this afternoon, unloaded the gun entirely. Okay, next time, remember to reload after she fired and remember to make the gun safe or whatever it was called after the fighting was over.



Reiko was still glad that nobody had actually seeing her doing that. And that the blush on her face died after a while. She kept on working and, after a while, turned on her medical tablet's audio function. She didn't learn hugely well by listening instead of reading but what the hell, at least it would prime the pump for when she had some free time to properly sit down and study.



Okay, she had gone in, she had stuck close to people during a gunfight, she had stopped some guy from bleeding out. Reiko had done good today, hadn't she? It was a nice, warm feeling to be thinking about that sort of thing and it helped her not think about how she had felt like crying and vomiting while it had actually been happening. If Reiko ever bragged about what she had done, she would only be sharing part of the story, she was sure of that.



How could Grace and Lily and Madison make this their whole thing? Maybe she should ask them about that sometime, see why they had ended up here. And if Reiko should learn from their mistakes or emulate their examples.



On that note, Reiko skipped ahead on the textbook she was listening to, to the chapter that dealt with physical trauma. Maybe she should look into studying up on gunshots, in particular. That might be a really useful skill to have in the very near future.



Finally, Reiko stepped back from the mech and nodded. Yeah. Yeah, she liked this! The machine was shining and looking good underneath the clinic lights. Sure, there were many holes and gaps in it, proof of where parts had been taken out, but Reiko could see what was waiting for her and Madison (mostly Madison, probably) to fill in and fix and what would come out the other side. She smiled and snapped a photo of it to show her… friends the next time she saw them.



And yeah, they were her friends, weren't they? Too many of Reiko's school friends had drifted apart over the past half year since graduation and her most consistent social contact had been Auntie. It felt nice to have some people a lot closer to her own age, even if they were all a few years older than she was.



That put an even bigger smile on Reiko's face and she started humming to herself as she cleaned up after herself, getting things put away. After all, tomorrow, she was going to open for business, as best as she could without Auntie around to actually do the surgeries and removal. And if she couldn't bring things up to the perfect standard, she could certainly at least make things look all neat and clean. Doing things the corporate way!



Chuckling to herself, Reiko finished putting stuff away and managed to lug the bot over to a corner. At the very least, it should be a great conversation starter with whoever might end up visiting her tomorrow.



Sitting down behind the counter, Reiko took a deep breath, held it for a long minute and then let it out. Okay. Things might not be going just as she had thought that they would have just a few days ago but they were still going forward. That was… enough.



Yeah, that was more than enough. Reiko nodded in satisfaction at that thought and then leaned back in her chair.

And if she was really, really lucky, things would keep on going well and moving forward, too. Someone had to win at life, so why shouldn't it be her, right?

 

[Kylia Quilor]

You have my interest.

 

[WestOrEast]

You have my interest.

Click to shrink...

Glad you like it! I plan to release two to three chapters a month until... I either lose interest or finish the story, whichever comes first.

 

[waito_x]

Posting to definitely watch this. As well as...

Spoiler: Facts?

I am raising my eyebrows at GPT-4 produced description of Reiko game-wise. That, going with an article by PC Gamer contributor Sarah (which gives no indication to the names or appearances), GPT thinks Reiko is one of the 3000-eddies-tier prostitutes, that players may unlock in Act 2 after completing the questline for Kerry Eurodyne by checking around the 'Dark Matter' fast travel point in Westbrook...?

Well, I'mma go with she is flirtatious and super nice to our illustrious Choco Bun game lore wise and give her votes some more caliber here...

document = "Nightshift Avengers.Cyberpunk_2077.Mature.Novella.SciFi"]
pattern = /pogger/g
replacement = "ファクス"
new_document = document.replace pattern, replacement
console.log new_document

reiko_votes = ヴァンプ_aplenty
min_votes = ヴァンプ_very_much
vote_toggle = "ファクス"
console.log "（ねえ、彼女がセンターに~[B]立つ[/B]~のはワクワクす!）"

Viva.

 

[WestOrEast]

Posting to definitely watch this. As well as...

Spoiler: Facts?

I am raising my eyebrows at GPT-4 produced description of Reiko game-wise. That, going with an article by PC Gamer contributor Sarah (which gives no indication to the names or appearances), GPT thinks Reiko is one of the 3000-eddies-tier prostitutes, that players may unlock in Act 2 after completing the questline for Kerry Eurodyne by checking around the 'Dark Matter' fast travel point in Westbrook...?

Well, I'mma go with she is flirtatious and super nice to our illustrious Choco Bun game lore wise and give her votes some more caliber here...

document = "Nightshift Avengers.Cyberpunk_2077.Mature.Novella.SciFi"]
pattern = /pogger/g
replacement = "ファクス"
new_document = document.replace pattern, replacement
console.log new_document

reiko_votes = ヴァンプ_aplenty
min_votes = ヴァンプ_very_much
vote_toggle = "ファクス"
console.log "（ねえ、彼女がセンターに~[B]立つ[/B]~のはワクワクす!）"

Viva.

Click to shrink...

Thanks. I'm not entirely sure what all you mean but if you want a fuller description of Reiko, she's nineteen years old, short, with naturally black hair and brown eyes. Surprising for a Japanese-American girl, I know! Her build's on the broader side of average, though not by much. The closest she's got to cyberware at the moment is dying her hair a quite bright green and keeping it in spikes thanks to plenty of hair gel. Her clothes, during a Night City summer, trend to light and brightly colored, though poorly matching with one another. As for being a joygirl, she's not shy but it would be a struggle to catcall people passing by and trying to get their attention, never mind the risk of attracting guys when she's only interested in girls.

Hope that helps. If people are interested in similar writeups of the other three, I can do the same. V, though, is included more as a joke than as someone who's going to be a major player in the story.

 

[waito_x]

Thanks. I'm not entirely sure what all you mean but if you want a fuller description of Reiko, she's nineteen years old, short, with naturally black hair and brown eyes. Surprising for a Japanese-American girl, I know! Her build's on the broader side of average, though not by much. The closest she's got to cyberware at the moment is dying her hair a quite bright green and keeping it in spikes thanks to plenty of hair gel. Her clothes, during a Night City summer, trend to light and brightly colored, though poorly matching with one another. As for being a joygirl, she's not shy but it would be a struggle to catcall people passing by and trying to get their attention, never mind the risk of attracting guys when she's only interested in girls.

Hope that helps. If people are interested in similar writeups of the other three, I can do the same. V, though, is included more as a joke than as someone who's going to be a major player in the story.

Click to shrink...

That's fantastic! I think your characterization clearly inspired the GPT choice of results, since a few weeks have elapsed since her introduction. Though, I am liking where the bot got it wrong, down to the idea that she isn't someone unlockable but central to this telling of the story.
In any case, I apologize for any amount of confusion that was caused. One of my pastimes is lurking on a Discord server where members try to crack puzzles and identify clues that game developers typically or atypically weave into the mix, such as easy to overlook side characters and their backstories.
Though, as it becomes clearer to me now that Reiko is a distinct presence unto herself, I will dismiss the likelihood that some programmer at CD Projekt RED is nodding knowingly. XD

 

[WestOrEast]

Nightshift Avengers Chapter Three​

Reiko looked over the Frankenbot and saw that it was good. Or, at least, as good as it could be with the parts and labor that she had to work on it.

For instance, she had found some arms to attach to the torso, so it could actually do stuff instead of just walking around. Yes, one arm was from a stocker bot, the kind that refilled shelves. And, yes, the other arm was from a sex bot that had been found in a garbage heap with some white stains Reiko had refused to touch or think about and its chest caved in from something heavy.

But they were still both arms, even if one looked almost human and the other was painted in a bright orange and white, neither of which matched the color scheme of the Militech 'Centurion' security bot. The important thing was that, after a lot of work, the computers in the arms were talking to the main computer in the Frankenbot and it could actually lift stuff and carry stuff around.

There was still a lot more work that needed to be put into this thing, like either finding some optics that would actually fit in the sockets or taking some power tools to the bot to cut open a bigger socket to work with, but Reiko was feeling happy over what she had managed so far.

And she hadn't managed it alone, either. Wiping her forehead (it had been dark for an hour, why wasn't it cooling down), she turned to look at Madison, who was perched on the counter of the clinic, a whole mess of wires leading from her and her equipment into the bot.

"Thank you for your help," Reiko said as she smiled at the older girl. Woman, really, though Reiko still had trouble thinking of herself as a woman. "It means a lot to me."

"Hey, no problem," Madison said, waving her hand. "If this thing is going to be heading into a firefight after me, I want to know just what it's thinking in that silicone head of its."

Reiko nodded at that and leaned against the counter, grabbing a bottle of water and twisting the top off. She chugged most of it as she rolled another over to Madison. The white girl grabbed it and nodded her thanks as she fiddled with one hand to open it without stabbing into it with her metal claws.

"So, why are you still using a cyberdeck?" Reiko asked, looking over at Madison. "They're pretty out of date, aren't they?"

"Yeah, they just can't keep up with what's going on in a properly-modified braincase," Madison said, drumming her sharp claws against the side of her head with an ease that made Reiko wince. "But this isn't just any old deck, you know?"

"It isn't?" Reiko asked politely, leaning over to stare at it.

"Nah, I'd say the only part of it that was in it when it left the factory is the negative key," Madison said with a chuckle, tapping the red x button. "I've been grabbing parts for it all the time." She sighed and shook her head. "Still not as good as plugging in with your mind, but, hell, some other runner tries to Black ICE me? I want them fragging some metal, not my meat."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Reiko said with a nod as she leaned against the counter, finishing off her bottle. "Kind of hard to keep up, though, yeah?"

"Yeah," Madison sighed in agreement. "It's mostly working against scavs and stuff that hasn't seen a security update in five years. But if we ever get into the big leagues? It just isn't going to cut it. I'll need to put my big girl pants on and run the same risk Grace does every time she charges into a room."

"I, uh, I'm sure you're good enough to not need to worry about it," Reiko said awkwardly, patting Madison's thigh.

"Yeah?" Madison asked skeptically. "Know a lot of old netrunners, do you?"

"Well…" Reiko scratched her head. "Are there a lot of old edgerunners, period?"

Madison didn't seem to like that thought any more than Reiko had and made a face. Reiko looked around for something a bit less morbid to talk about.

"So how did you get to be a netrunner, anyway?" Reiko asked. "What did you practice on to get good enough and all that?"

"Oh well," Madison drummed the fingers of her real hand on the counter. "It's… listen, I'll show you mine and then you'll show me yours, alright? I ain't just whipping this out for nothing."

"You mean about where I'm from and all?" Reiko asked awkwardly, not sure just how literal Madison might be here.

"Yeah, that's it," Madison said. Reiko nodded Madison took a deep breath. "Well, my mom died because Night City kills you, you know? Got her when she was stepping into a taxi, some gangers chasing each other sideswiped the cab and that was that for her."

"I'm sorry," Reiko said softly, feeling mortified at putting her foot in it like that.

"I mean, I was two," Madison said with a shrug. "What do I remember of it, right?"

She paused to take several deep breaths as her lips moved silently, trying out different words. Reiko just sat there, waiting. She had told her own story before and she never liked getting rushed through it or being led with questions.

"Had over a decade that I remember with my dad," Madison said, staring off into the distance. "As well as a selection of girlfriends and a boyfriend that one time. Never really cared for them much, it was just enough for me to have Dad and for Dad to have me, you know?"

"Children are selfish," Reiko said, nodding sagely and making sure to look blank when Madison turned to stare at her.

"While adults are so much more enlightened," Madison muttered underneath her breath. "Anyway, my dad, he was a corpo guy. A netrunner in fact, working for Integrated Security Services."

"Never heard of them," Reiko said, shaking her head and glad that they were on a better topic now.

"Yeah, I was using the past tense for a reason," Madison said with a sigh, rubbing her face with her artificial hand. "Orion, you know the bodyguard people?" Reiko nodded. "They did a real damn hostile takeover of ISS. Their own net team fried Dad on their way to grabbing the accounts lists of ISS to hold it hostage until the transfer papers were signed. Just like that," she said in a voice that was a lot too casual, "Orion got bigger and all it cost them was an employee they'd probably have let go as surplus to staffing requirements anyway."

Reiko reached over and squeezed Madison's hand. Madison nodded and took a deep breath though she didn't turn her head to look at Reiko.

"Anyway, I was too old to get sent into foster care after that, not with how overloaded they are," Madison said. "And Dad had been awfully pleased to see his little girl showing interest in his job, so another rookie netrunner, hacker, cracker, whatever you want to call it, joined the Night City scene. Managed to smuggle this," she tapped her cyberdeck, "out of my old home before the landlord repo'd it. And… yeah, ended up running with the Dawson sisters but that's a story for another time, I guess." She flashed Reiko a smile that wasn't much more than showing her teeth. "A funnier story, for what it's worth."

"I'm," Reiko wasn't sure if she should say sorry or not. She felt bad for Madison after hearing this but would Madison want to hear it? "That sort of thing shouldn't happen."

"Lots of things should happen but they do," Madison said, stepping down hard on that line of conversation with her tone of voice. "Anyway, what about you? Is Auntie really your aunt?"

"Yes, actually," Reiko said, taking a deep breath. "She's my mother's sister. Okay." She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and figure out the best way to put this all.

"So, both my dad and my mom had jobs at Biotechnica," Madison whistled and Reiko shook her head. "It wasn't that impressive. They didn't have offices or desks or anything, they were just vat tenders, checking leaky pipes, that sort of thing. Part of Verdant Fields, a little town built and owned by BT, out in Kansas."

"Ah, lots of yellow fields, waving in the breeze and all that?" Madison asked.

"You ever been to a company farm?" Reiko asked, cocking an eyebrow at Madison, who shook her head. "Anyway, it was dedicated to Chooh-2. The stink of that stuff getting refined and distilled and fermented into fuel…" she sighed. "Some people doused themselves in the most pungent perfume you've ever smelled and it still didn't cut through it."

"So, from Kansas to here," Madison prompted.

"Right, right," Reiko said with a sigh. "Well, Dad died. A really, really stupid thing, too. Carrying a box, going down some stairs, put his foot wrong," Reiko gestured with her hands before chopping herself on the neck. Madison winced but nodded in understanding. "That was that. Just so stupid," she shook her head and took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. This time, it was Madison who reached over to squeeze Reiko's hand. "Anyway…"

After a minute spent staring off into the distance, she was ready to continue.

"Anyway, the pay for two vat-stirrers was just enough to support a third person," she tapped her chest to indicate who that person was, "but one? Not really. So Mom called up Auntie and she said that she had a couch that could turn into a bed each night and that she wouldn't mind having an extra set of hands around the place to help at the work. So I got a ticket, got a suitcase and came out here at thirteen."

"Damn, you weren't born and raised in Night City?" Madison asked with a wince. "I mean, jeez girl, it sucks enough when you've lived here your entire life, not knowing anything else. Seeing how things could go?" She shook her head and whistled.

"I don't know," Reiko said reflectively. "I like it a bit more." Reiko saw Madison's skeptical eye cast on her. "I mean, in Verdant Fields? It was all BT, all the time. You weren't going anywhere, you weren't doing anything, you weren't buying anything that didn't have their logo slapped on it. Here? There's Biotechnica, Militech, Arasaka, all the others. And they hate each other and they fight one another and that leaves some room for people like us to make something for ourselves."

"Never thought of it like that," Madison said with a nod after a bit of thought. "And I did hear that there's a lot more wealth here than in the center of the country."

"I've heard some horror stories about how awful the Great Lakes are," Reiko said in agreement. "Breathing Choom-2 fumes isn't great but at least BT understood that you needed clean rain to grow it in."

Madison shook her head reflectively before sliding off of the counter and stretching, twisting her torso from side to side a few times. Something popped in her back and she sighed in relief before glancing over at Reiko.

"You ever seen your mom since then?" Madison asked as she continued to stretch, making her body move in ways that Reiko found interesting.

"Video calls every now and then, yes," Reiko said with a nod. "But going in person, no. Too expensive for either one of us." She frowned. "Too dangerous, too. Nomads and rippers and all that out beyond the cities."

"Stuck in Night City with your aunt, huh?" Madison asked, getting a nod from Reiko. "Speaking of your aunt, when is she getting out of the chop shop?"

"Soon, I hope," Reiko said. And Auntie hoped, too. The bills were piling up and the work wasn't really matching it, despite Reiko doing the best that she could and helping out on whatever jobs were offered by anyone Lily talked to. "Real soon."

"I'm sure she'll be impressed with what you've managed on your own," Madison said with a smile that made Reiko blush and nod. She hoped so, too. Though she had been keeping Auntie briefed on that and anything else that came to mind on her daily visits. "You'll be ready to do actual surgery one of these days, without having a book cracked open in front of you while doing it."

"Yeah, maybe," Reiko said, sounding far surer about the idea than she actually felt. "Anyway, this guy here…" she slapped the shoulder of the mech and frowned in thought. "Or maybe it should be a girl? Since it's an all-girl team, after all."

"I'll see if I can scare up some pink paint or something," Madison said. "But yeah, let's see how it functions."

She closed her eyes and suddenly the mech twitched into life, rising upwards as small lights started to gleam around its eyes. Reiko smiled and clapped her hands together in satisfaction at seeing the movement. Nice, nice, nice! She looked over at Madison, who had opened her eyes and was looking mighty pleased with herself right now.

"Good job, Mads," Reiko said, rubbing her hands together in excitement. "It's looking great right now."

"Yeah, still need to get some programming in for it to move around on its own," Madison said, her voice a touch distracted. "Make sure it can decide who to shoot at it without me walking it through each and every step. But the basics are in here. Probably." She paused for a moment. "Hold out your hand, would you?"

Reiko did so, lifting her right hand up into the air in front of her. The metal arm of the bot lifted up as well and carefully moved towards her, fingers splayed before wrapping around her hand in a tight and firm grip. Reiko squeezed back, though she was able to use a whole lot less force than it could. That was alright, though, and she just smiled as she shook the hand.

"Good, good, getting some fine motor control here," Madison said with a nod. "Now to see how good the other hand is."

"Wait," Reiko protested as the bot let go of her hand. "You're testing for that on my hand? What if it was busted? What if it just popped my hand right off?"

"We're in a ripperdoc clinic," Madison said with a wide-eyed look of innocence. "We'd get the doc that works here to put a new one on you."
"Shake your own hand," Reiko said, tossing a pen at Madison who just laughed. "Can't believe…" she trailed off into grumbling.

"Relax, the amount of pressure that it can exert is less than is needed to break any bones or anything," Madison said with a chuckle. "It was stocking fruit cans on shelves, not lifting engine blocks out of cars, alright? And the hooker hand is just as weak. Wouldn't want to pop a boob like a balloon once things were getting hot and sweaty."

"Oh ew, Madison," Reiko said, making a face. "That's disgusting."

"Hey, you think that's disgusting, just think about how many disinfectants and sterilizers you used on that hand before you took your gloves off," Madison said with an easy grin despite it not making all that much sense as a retort.

Reiko just shook her head and looked at the bot again, admiring how it looked. Yeah, put a stretcher on its back, more medical supplies than she herself could carry and maybe give it a shotgun or something to protect her with and she'd feel a lot more comfortable the next time she was expected to get out of the car and follow Grace into a drug den or whatever the latest job Lily had scrounged up required of her.

"Oh, never seen this option before," Madison said with a chuckle. "Hey, Reiko want to have some fun?"

"What do you mean?" Reiko asked, turning to look at Madison and not entirely trusting the big, bright smile on her face.

"I mean… this is working," Madison said.

Reiko was about to ask what this was when she got her answer. She heard a buzzing sound coming from the mech. In fact, it was coming from the second arm of the mech, the one that had belonged on a sex bot. Blushing as she realized just what was going on, Reiko looked down and, sure enough, the fingers on the pinkish/tannish arm were vibrating slightly.

"Um," Reiko coughed, glancing down at that and then at Madison. "That's really something." She coughed and felt her cheeks darkening. "Not something I would have expected."

"No shit?" Madison asked, grinning from ear to ear. "What, don't you have a little lady's friend tucked away?"

"I sleep on the couch in the main room of Auntie's apartment," Reiko said, shaking her head. "I don't have the privacy for that sort of thing!"

"Ah, sticking with a BD and a hand down your pants whenever she's out shopping?" Madison said with a chuckle. "You should be living it up while she's gone, Reiko."

The first part of that was far too accurate and Reiko blushed even harder than before as she tried to come up with a response to that which wouldn't be too embarrassing for words to describe. Nothing really came to mind so she just swallowed again and tried to look stern and serious instead of blushing so hard it would be visible in infrared.

"How did this topic even come up in the first place?" Reiko grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and scowling at Madison.

"Well, seems to me that we'll be looking for some more programming than just a bodyguard module," Madison said as the bot raised its hand and flexed its vibrating fingers. "Need to find a courtesan program so that you can really test your new acquisition out to its very limits."

"I, I, I," Reiko stammered, both floored at the idea of what was being suggested and finding it kind of intriguing, not that she would ever admit that to Madison. Madison seemed to know about it anyway, though maybe that was just her guessing than actually knowing. "I would never even dream of doing something like that."

The smirk on Madison's face said that she knew Reiko was lying. And Reiko was lying. This idea had come to her and it was making her really blush as she considered what it would be like to get to mess around with her very first sex toy. The BDs and the movies she had seen sure did make vibrators seem good, after all.

"While I would totally dream of seeing a cute girl squirming and moaning as she shifts around on top of a toy," Madison said, walking around behind Reiko and draping her arms over Reiko's shoulders. "It would just be so sweet to see this girl, whoever she might be, moaning in time with the vibrations I'm sending through her."

Reiko could feel the blush still resting on her face as she opened and closed her mouth, trying to figure out a response to that. Madison was really close to her right now and for the very first time, Reiko became aware how pretty Madison was. Well, she had already known that but now Reiko was aware of it. Very, very aware. She swallowed hard and licked her lips.

"It's late, the store's locked up and there's nothing going on any time soon," Madison said, her breath puffing against Reiko's ear. "What do you say, huh?" Her hand slid down to rest on Reiko's hip. "Want to test out Frankenbot's full functionality?"

"I…" Reiko stammered and blushed. This was way different than anything that had happened in high school. And she kind of liked it. "Okay." Alright, she liked it more than kind of.

Madison laughed and kissed her on the cheek before stepping backwards even as the bot stepped forward. And then it took another step forward and another. Reiko ended up pinned against the front of the counter, the bot looming over her (not something that was very hard to do, admittedly) and staring down at her with… a head that had nothing resembling a face on it at all but some glowing eyes. Not very romantic or sexy so Reiko turned her head to look at Madison, who had a lewd grin spread across her face from ear to ear.

Madison gave Reiko a thumbs-up and then the bot was touching her, the vibrating hand coming up to press its fingers against her shoulder. Reiko gasped, becoming aware that this really was happening unless she did something to stop it. And she didn't. She just blushed again and kept her legs spread, biting her lip as she wondered just what this was going to feel like and how much fun it would be.

Oh, and when she would have the chance to actually masturbate with this thing like Madison had implied. Auntie would probably comment if Reiko tried to bring this thing into the apartment and doing it right here in the front room of the clinic… it was a good thing the shutters were already closed, because those were some big windows at the front of the store.

Then the hand went down to her breast and Reiko forgot all about that. She just loudly moaned as she felt it being gently squeezed, the fingers surprisingly gentle as they stroked her breast through her shirt and bra. She swallowed hard and glanced over at Madison, who was obviously enjoying every single moment of this, grinning from ear to ear as she stared.

Reiko shivered, hormones kicking into overdrive and flooding her brain with enough lust that this not only seemed like a good idea, it seemed like a great idea that she really wanted a whole lot more of. She moaned again as she felt the fingers moving against her boob, cupping it and gently squeezing it.

This was so much better than masturbating by herself. Heck, it was better than what she had done with some other girls a time or two back in high school. No risk of a parent or a teacher coming by, after all. Reiko just shuddered and moaned, leaning back and allowing Madison to do whatever she wanted.

If Madison wanted to get in on this herself, instead of working through the bot, then Reiko would be pretty fine with that as well. But Madison stayed right where she was, four, five feet away, just staring at the scene and smirking as Reiko kept on trembling and twitching.

"You know what you look like right now?" Madison asked, heat in her voice as she stared at Reiko.

Reiko thought that she could guess and didn't answer. She just blushed some more and then gasped again as she felt herself getting touched, the fingers moving back and forth against her body as she kept on getting toyed with. It was all feeling so amazingly good and she whimpered as she gripped the edge of the counter as she kept on getting toyed with, feeling the buzzing fingers stroking her.

The other hand came up and started fiddling with her clothing. Reiko swallowed hard, glancing over at Madison and trying to figure out if she wanted to be naked in front of Madison. And if her desire to stay clothed outweighed her desire to do what she was told.

Okay, yes, Reiko was a submissive, she knew that. It had just never really come up before because, well, why would it? But that was changing very, very quickly right now and Reiko was trying to figure out just what to do. It might have been nice to have talked this over with Madison before all this started but it was too late now. Or, at least, Reiko didn't want to stop what was going on to try and hash things out. She was feeling too good and too horny right now to dream of that.

Instead, she just moaned as her pants and underwear were tugged down around her knees, putting herself on display. And the stocker arm came up to her shirt, trying to do the same there, as well. Reiko swallowed as she felt it getting tugged at and glanced at Madison again.

"It's, it's not fair if I'm getting naked," her voice dropped to a whisper on that word, "and you're not, Madison."

"Mm, it does seem a little lopsided, doesn't it?" Madison asked with a chuckle, drawing her hands up and down along her body. "You want to see me naked, is that it?" She licked her lips as she kept on staring at Reiko, a smug smile forming on her face. "See every single part of me, from my beautiful boobs to- ah ha ha!"

Madison would have obviously kept on going but the moaning sound of pure lust that Reiko let out cut her off as she laughed. Reiko flushed at that and tried to look serious and composed and dignified but that was awfully hard to manage when she was functionally naked and pinned down by a sex bot.

Madison smirked as she lifted her blouse up off of her body, tossing it onto the counter and letting Reiko stare with hungry eyes. Madison actually had a smaller chest than Reiko did but size was not something that Reiko was choosy about. She just stared with hungry eyes, devouring what was in front of her as she kept on getting touched.

"I'm not surprised you like it," Madison said with a chuckle. "I look great, after all."

"You're so humble, too," Reiko said softly, getting another chuckle from Madison.

"It's one of my best traits, everyone tells me as much," Madison said with a nod as she reached up to cup her bare breasts, squeezing them while smirking at Reiko. "And as for you…" she stared at Reiko and nodded. "Yeah, there's a whole lot going on here that I'm liking."

Reiko blushed and smiled at that. Then moaned again as she got touched some more, the hand moving down her torso to her crotch. Reiko was pretty wet down there and she took a deep, deep breath, trying to prepare herself for what was about to happen.

Which wasn't as much as she had hoped. Reiko frowned as the bot only lightly prodded at her pussy, slowly drawing its fingers along her lower lips without applying the kind of pressure that would really be needed. She moaned softly as she rocked from side to side, trying to get what she wanted and not really managing it.

"What's the matter, darling?" Madison asked with a smug smirk. "Something wrong?"

"Can you," Reiko paused to take a deep breath, tilting her head backwards as she panted. "Can you please… I would really like it if it pressed against me some more."

"You know, I bet you would," Madison asked. "But Reiko, I think you should ask yourself. Is giving you an orgasm the right call at this very moment?"

"Yes," Reiko said instantly. "It is." Madison laughed and Reiko shot her a look that just made her smirk some more. "Come on!"

"Now, now, darling," Madison said, licking her lips, "I'm sure I'll push you over the edge sooner or later. But not quite yet. Let's draw this out, see just how far we can take you. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"I…" Reiko swallowed, her thoughts feeling kind of confused and muddled right now as a buzzing fingertip was pressed right against her clit, making her squeak and her entire body jerk around, banging her back against the counter. "Please!"

"Oh, don't act like it's so awful right now," Madison said with a smirk. "Save that up until it's been half an hour of me building you up and bringing you back down without ever letting you cum. Then you can complain about how worked up and horny you feel."

That… was a joke, right? Reiko stared at Madison, trying to decide if it was or not. The smirk on Madison's face suggested that it wasn't and Reiko shuddered, trying to imagine just what it would be like to go through all of that, to get constantly teased and toyed with like that, over and over again. It actually sounded kind of… hot if it was happening to someone else, so that Reiko could imagine going through it without having to actually go through it. Happening to her, she was a whole lot less enthused on the idea.

She shivered and then moaned as two buzzing fingers moved back and forth against her lower lips, stroking them without actually sliding inside. At least there was the right amount of pressure, actual contact instead of just some light ghosting that slid back and forth without actually doing anything. Reiko moaned and shifted around, feeling the grip of the non-vibrating hand on her shoulder, keeping her pinned against the counter.

"You know, I have a pair of handcuffs at home," Madison said with a smile. "Maybe I should bring them over the next time we stay late here, working on this bot." She smirked. "You could call it training, trying to figure how to slip out of restraints while not letting the person molesting you be aware of it."

Reiko really didn't think that would work or teach her any useful skills at all. Though the mental image that blossomed inside of her head as Madison spoke about that was something that Reiko found very interesting indeed, something that made her blush strongly as she swore she could already feel Madison's naked body pressing up against her own.

"Damn, you really are a horny thing, aren't you?" Madison asked with a chuckle.

"You're the one who keeps on coming up with all these ideas," Reiko grumbled.

"Yeah, and you're the one who keeps on getting really, really turned on by them whenever she hears them," Madison replied. "Also, you're the one getting assaulted by a sex bot and loving it right now."

Reiko wouldn't call it an assault but, uh… okay and it wasn't a sex bot, it just had one arm from a sex bot. That obviously made everything Madison said completely wrong and not worth paying attention to. Obviously.

Then she moaned again as the buzzing hand stroked her breast, pressing the fingers against her nipple and making her squirm at the sensations. It wasn't as good as it was when it was down at her pussy but it was still making her feel awfully nice right now and Reiko really wouldn't mind getting to feel some more sensations like this.

She glanced over at Madison and swallowed hard, watching the white girl squeezing her boobs with both hands, a big smile on her face as she held Reiko's gaze. The way that she was touching and stroking and grabbing herself, putting on a show right in front of Reiko, well, that was obviously the kind of thing that Reiko was going to be remembering for a long, long time.

"Geez, you know the idea is to edge you for a while but the way you're acting," Madison shook her head back and forth and smiled, "I'm kind of thinking that you're going to be cumming if nothing touched you at all, you know?" She giggled. "Which would be really hot, mind."

Reiko didn't think that she was that worked up, to the point where that sort of thing was possible. She was feeling really good, though, of course. Really, really good. She had to take several more deep breaths as she kept on getting touched and stroked, feeling the burning need deep inside of her belly that was pulsing against her inner walls and demanding, outright demanding that she give in and give herself an orgasm.

She probably could manage it, too. It wasn't like her limbs were restrained or anything. She'd be able to just reach down and squeeze and rub and make herself feel great. Really, really great. It was just… Reiko could masturbate when she wanted to, but sex with a pretty girl wasn't the sort of thing that happened to her very often. Reiko really, really wanted to see where this went and to have as much fun as possible. Even if it was kind of… weird.

"That look on your face… thinking, huh?" Madison asked. "Well, we can't have that, can we?"

Then the robot pressed its fingers against Reiko's pussy again, sliding inside of her. Reiko did forget all about anything else, right at that very moment. She just moaned loudly and trembled as she felt the pulse of pleasure go running through her. It wasn't an orgasm but it was very good and she moaned again as she shivered, her wet inner walls clenching down around the fingers.

For a very brief amount of time before they pulled out of her, at least. Reiko moaned and her grip on the edge of the counter tightened as she took several deep breaths, panting as she felt the bliss of pleasure go running all through her body, from head to toe. Such an amazing sensation but it could be so much better and Reiko knew that it could be so much better. So not getting what she wanted really was a problem, here!

Reiko cast an imploring look at Madison, as if that was going to matter or change anything else. Sure enough, Madison just kept on looking quite, quite smug about the whole thing, with a certain amount of lust on her face as well. Reiko closed her eyes and trembled before moaning again as she kept on getting toyed with, her body built up and brought to the limit before getting pushed back down again.

"This, this, this is all just too much," Reiko moaned, closing her eyes as her crotch throbbed with need and desire, the wetness spilling out of her and running down her thighs. "Please, Madison."

"Please what? Please keep on coaxing these beautiful, beautiful sounds out of you?" Madison asked with a grin. "Well, if you insist, darling."

"That's not what I meant," Reiko moaned, in between letting out some more of those sounds that Madison so enjoyed hearing. "I meant, ah, oh, oh, it's, I need an orgasm."

"You don't need an orgasm, you just want one," Madison corrected, as if that difference really mattered to Reiko right now. "Remember, baby girl, I'll give you one eventually." She licked her lips and didn't comment on just when eventually would be.

And Reiko couldn't call her out on that because the hands of the robot were moving along Reiko's body again and they were being very good and very distracting and Reiko could only moan loudly as she felt herself getting worked over and built up, the pleasure bubbling inside of her and demanding release.

Reiko would be really, really happy to give in to that desire and let herself cum but she also didn't want to end the game so quickly. It was hard to decide just what the right call here was and Reiko whimpered softly as she closed her eyes, feeling the pulse of pleasure running through her once again as she got touched by the buzzing hand that could stroke her and tease her and do all these wonderful things to her.

Reiko realized that her hips were jerking forward and then slamming back, doing that again and again. She blushed but was unable to do anything about that that really mattered. With how she was feeling right now, she could only gasp and moan and keep on getting touched, letting her body do whatever it wanted without her being able to influence it very much.

The pleasure was rising and rising inside of her, coming to a point in her belly that was just so strong and so good. If it kept on going for just a little while longer, Reiko was sure that she was going to cum. She could feel the orgasm there inside of her, pulsing against her insides and letting her know that if just a little bit more happened then she would get to cum.

Then the buzzing hand moved away from her and Reiko let out a very loud, frustrated sound as she sagged downwards, barely able to keep herself upright by clinging onto the counter. Her crotch felt like it was on fire right now, burning up as she felt the heat pulsing inside of her. She whimpered, shaking her head back and forth as she whined.

"God, do you have any idea how sexy you look right now?" Madison asked, a wide grin on her face as she took care of herself without any of the die-down that she kept on doing to Reiko. "It's just so hot to see you so turned on and so frustrated."

Reiko tried to glare at her but she was feeling too lustful to really put much behind that. All she could really do was take some deep, deep breaths and swallow as she felt the buzzing fingers continuing to move back and forth against her. She had to shake her head and grind her crotch against it, trying to get that sudden burst that would just be so very good if it happened.

And it didn't. Madison drew the fingers away once again, tracing them down along Reiko's thigh and getting a whimpering whine from Reiko as she felt the throbbing ache in her pussy.

"Kind of wish that I had a camera to take some photos right now," Madison said casually as she kept on staring. "Record just how nice and fine and cute you are right now."

"No!" Reiko said quickly, shaking her head back and forth. "No photos! If anyone saw them…"

She thought that she'd pretty much shrivel up and die of embarrassment, really. Having Madison here right now, staring at her as Madison made stuff happen, that was one thing. Especially with Madison's own body on display, her boobs and her crotch and her face and everything that Reiko could appreciate. But someone else? Even if that someone else was just Madison and these photos didn't leak? Looking at Reiko's naked body while Reiko herself wasn't in the mood?

No, that just sounded pretty bad. Nothing that she cared for at all.

"If you say so," Madison said, dropping the issue. "Though maybe you won't object to getting some photos of me in a certain situation, huh?"

That was a completely different story, one that Reiko would be more than fine with. She blushed and bobbed her head up and down in a nod. And blushed again when Madison let out a knowing chuckle as she smirked from ear to ear. Reiko turned her head to the side and blushed a bit more.

Then she got completely and thoroughly distracted by the fingers returning to her pussy. She whimpered, closing her eyes and loving the sensations as the digits moved back and forth against her folds, stroking, teasing, working, doing such amazing things to her that made her feel so very good. Reiko nodded, biting down on her lip as she stared along her body, down at her widely spread legs.

Hearing some lustful, wet sounds from Madison at least got her to glance over there. Madison was making herself feel excellent as well, pumping her fingers in and out, again and again. And she wasn't drawing it out for herself like she was with Reiko. Reiko wanted that but she didn't do it. Because… because… because she could masturbate any time that she wanted to but this was the first time that she had done anything with another girl since high school and unlike in school, there wasn't the risk of someone else opening the door and finding two teenagers half-naked or more with one another.

Also, Madison was far kinkier and more self-assured than anyone else Reiko had ever been with. That counted for a lot, as she kept on making Reiko feel amazing as the pleasure bubbled up inside of her and pulsed against her inner walls, making her twitch and throb and ache.

Madison moaned as she gave herself an orgasm, a shudder running through her entire body as she jerked forward, leaning against the counter with one hand as the other kept on working between her legs. It was hot to watch and stare at and Reiko tried desperately to remember as much of this as she possibly could. She could feel her chest rising and falling and her skin tingling and pricking as she looked at the blissful expression on Madison's face.

It didn't distract Reiko from her own orgasm and in fact, gave it a real boost. Reiko made some desperate, whining sounds that she wasn't really capable of stopping herself from making as she stared, watching the look on Madison's face and feeling really, really pleased that it had been something that she had managed. It was a nice, warm feeling inside of her to know that she had brought this kind of pleasure to someone, even if it was tempered by the fact that there were some problems with it.

Like how Reiko hadn't orgasmed herself yet. She really wanted that to happen. She really, really wanted that and she whimpered as she felt herself rubbing against the buzzing fingers of the bot, feeling the heat spreading all through her. Oh man, she was close, she was close and unless Madison pulled the hand away from Reiko right now, she was going to get what she wanted and then-

Then it was happening! Reiko didn't think that she had ever enjoyed an orgasm as much in her life as the one that she was enjoying right now. She whimpered and moaned, trembling in pleasure as the tightness built up inside of her lower belly, throbbing and demanding and making her- making her-

Oh, it was so good, it was so good to feel this happening and Reiko couldn't think of anything else she would rather be doing right now besides letting herself cum. The pleasure ran right up her spine and into her brain, making her melt as she finally got pushed over the edge, made to feel the great, amazing, wonderful pleasure that came with an orgasm. Reiko smiled from ear to ear as she felt it happening.

It was a very long orgasm, too, one that seemed like it was never going to end as she smiled and twitched and squirmed. Reiko couldn't believe just how good this was, how amazing and special and everything it was making her feel as she kept on orgasming. The only thing that she was really certain about was that the hand stayed pressed right up against her pussy the entire time, rubbing back and forth and making everything she was feeling so very good and the sort of thing that she just never, ever wanted to give up on.

Finally, it did end. It felt like it had lasted for an hour, even though Reiko knew that even a minute would be a shockingly long orgasm. She just panted softly, realizing that at some point she had ended up sprawled across the counter with her legs widely spread. She shivered, not quite feeling up to changing that position just yet.

Instead she stayed right where she was, taking several deep breaths as she felt the heat and the bliss throbbing inside of her still, only slowly fading away and dying down. She smiled as she lay there, waiting for something to happen to stir her out of this comfortable feeling, because there was certainly no way that she was going to be moving on her own accord.

Eventually, what happened was that Madison came over to Reiko, looking her up and down and smiling. She ran her organic hand along Reiko's belly, the fingertips trailing along until, just for a moment, Reiko thought that her boob was going to get grabbed. She wouldn't say no to that but it didn't happen in the end, Madison instead grabbing Reiko's shirt and tugging it down a bit.

Reiko sighed and pulled it down the rest of the way, covering up her torso. Pulling her pants up was going to have to wait until later, though. She'd need to clean herself up and clean… wow, quite a bit of other stuff, too, huh? And drink some water to replace all those fluids that she had lost.

"That was really hot," Madison said. "Pity I got so distracted, though, with my own orgasm. I could have kept on going and drawn this out for another hour, I bet." She giggled. "Think you would even have been able to stand at the end of that?"

Reiko didn't think so and she shivered at the idea of going through all of that. Though now that she was flying high on the bliss of her orgasm, the warm afterglow slowly fading inside of her, she didn't find it to be such a bad idea as she would have even five minutes ago. Still, this had been very…

"One, one of these days," Reiko panted, still feeling the twitching and trembling in her legs, "I'm going to get back at you for this."

"Darling, you don't have a dominant bone in your body," Madison said with a chuckle. "Don't make empty threats."

"It isn't going to be a sex thing," Reiko promised. "I don't know what it will be but it will make you…" Reiko couldn't think of a good way to finish that sentence. "Watch your back."

"I'm living in Night City, I always do," Madison said, obviously not worrying in the slightest about what Reiko was saying. "Oh, and Reiko? If you ever want to do a repeat of this, give me some advanced warning so I can bring over the good stuff."

"I'll," Reiko knew that she should tell Madison that there was no chance of anything like that happening at all. "I'll keep that in mind," she finished lamely, feeling her cheeks heat.

Madison laughed as she stepped away from Reiko, running her eyes along Reiko's body once more. Reiko was no longer feeling flushed and eager from all of that but it was still kind of nice to see the naked lust in her friend's eyes as she stared at her. She swallowed and checked Madison out in turn, liking what she was seeing.

"Well, I'd say that this fellow has passed with flying colors," Madison said, slapping the security bot on the shoulder. "And I can always take control of it again, too." She smirked. "Or load it up with some special programming and turn it into DomBot for you to enjoy by yourself when I'm not around.

"No!" Reiko said quickly, her mind overheating at the idea. "No. It was hot when I could see you as you controlled it but otherwise it's just, well," she waved a hand at the bot, taking in the barely humanoid chassis and faceless hunk of metal. "If I get horny I won't be turning to this for relief."

"We'll have to talk about what does get you going some time," Madison said with a smile.

"Only if you do the same," Reiko said in an instant.

"Sure," Madison said, not seeming bothered at all by something that had been intended to shut the idea down. "In fact, I bet that we share some of the same fantasies. Two older black sisters, for instance?"

"No," Reiko lied through her teeth. She even managed to sound convincing enough that Madison didn't instantly call her out on it.

"Anyway," Madison said with another smile, leaning over to kiss Reiko on the cheek, "I need to get going. See you… whenever I see you, alright?"

"Yeah," Reiko mumbled, the pressure of the kiss burning on her skin and making her feel fine. Well, not as fine as she had been feeling but Reiko was never going to feel bad over being kissed by another woman. "See you then."

She watched Madison strolling out of the front door, blowing her a kiss over her shoulder as she left. Reiko swallowed hard and shivered as she watched the other woman step out. Wow, that had been… wow. That about summed it up, really. Reiko blushed and patted her cheeks before looking around.

Alright, she just needed to… clean up all of this stuff because Madison had managed to slip out without helping with any of it. Oh damn it. Though Reiko had to admit that Madison had done it so smoothly that Reiko had only clued in once she was out the door and down the block.

Grumbling to herself, Reiko shook her head and grabbed a spray bottle and some cleaning rags. She wasn't ashamed over what Madison had done to her but she didn't want to leave anything behind for anyone to see tomorrow. That would just be really embarrassing and unprofessional and unhygienic.

She glanced at the bot, still standing in the middle of the room and blushed. Okay, the fact that it could be controlled to molest Reiko and even make her cum was going to be a little secret just between Reiko and Madison, right? Right. Something that nobody else needed to know about at all. Reiko blushed again at the thought of the Dawson sisters finding out about that and what it could do and… okay, she didn't know for sure how they'd react to any of that but come on, it would certainly be at least some level of embarrassing.

Shaking her head and blushing again, Reiko directed the bot to stand in a corner of the front room, where it could still warn people off from trying anything funny without actually getting in the way. Or raising questions about exactly what model of arm it had and what its full range of functions were.

Still, getting to have sex with another girl, that had been nice. Yeah, that had been really nice and Reiko wouldn't mind doing it again. Though with maybe a few minor changes, like actually having any idea that she was going to be having sex before it started. That could be nice.

And maybe it wouldn't just be with Madison. Because beautiful sisters suggested a certain kind of fantasy to Reiko's mind that she really found to be very, very enjoyable indeed. She had absolutely zero idea how to make it happen with either Lily or Grace, never mind that it would probably be impossible to get both of them to agree to something at the same time. But in her dreams (or at least thoughts that came to her on the bed), that wouldn't be a problem at all.

Giggling softly to herself, Reiko finished cleaning up, approving of the lemon-esque scent that filled the room now instead of a, uh, different smell. And now…

Now time to head back home and enjoy the privacy there while it lasted. It was nice to have some space to herself for the first time in her life but it would still be a lot better when Auntie came back home. Reiko missed her and, well, on a less noble note, having someone qualified to actually do surgery would make a real difference when it came to running a ripperdoc clinic.

Though if Reiko ever wanted to be one of those herself, she should probably crack open a book and start studying again, huh? It wouldn't replace hovering over Auntie's shoulder and watching as she explained what she was doing and why but it would certainly give a lot of context to what Auntie did and let Reiko know why she was doing it.

That sounded like a good plan for tonight to Reiko. And tomorrow… well, she'd just have to deal with tomorrow when it happened.

 

[WestOrEast]

Nightshift Avengers Chapter Four

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"You up for hitting a club soon?" Lily asked as she leaned against the counter of the clinic, idly tracing a pattern on top of it with her finger. "Dance, drink, have a good time?"

"Um, if I can finish all of this," Reiko said, popping a cord out of the cyberhand she had been checking and putting it on top of the cleared pile. "What club are you thinking about?"

"I know a nice place called Oasis," Lily said. "Over on the waterfront. Got a great singer in there tonight, name of Naro. You'd like them, I think."

"Is it expensive to get in?" Reiko asked with a frown, well aware of how thin her entertainment budget was. And if she had ever played any music around Lily to give the black woman the slightest hint of what she liked to listen to.



"Nah, close to the docks, not to the rich people part of town," Lily said, shaking her head. "And the bouncer's a Moxxie, he'll probably just wave us on through if I ask him nicely enough."

"Well, like I said, if I can finish checking these out," Reiko said, waving her hand at the pile of cyberware that had built up from the jobs that the four of them had done and the business of the clinic, "I'll be happy to step out for a few hours."

"How much longer do you think that will take?" Lily asked, moving over to prod the small mound with her hand. "Anything I can do to help?



"It depends," Reiko said, grabbing a metal eye and plugging it into the scanner. "If they all come up as green, maybe another… twenty minutes?" The lights on the scanner unit flashed red and she grunted. "And if I find many more that have a virus in them," she said, yanking the eye out and putting it on the dirty pile, "it could take a lot, lot longer to get them ready for sale." She paused. "And no, I only have the one scanner. Thanks, though."



Lily grunted and picked up another eye, tossing it over to Reiko. Reiko caught it and glanced down at the yellow pupil, wondering who would want something like that shining out of their eye socket. Well, at least it wasn't like that multi-optic array that she had seen on some Malestormers, that required cutting away part of the skull and part of your brain to put in. Replacing meat with metal was one thing, when that metal did the same thing your original body did but better. Cutting it away to do something else entirely? When did that start sounding like a good idea?



"Where's Grace, by the way?" Reiko asked as she started the scanning unit up again, checking for viruses, bugs and any lingering corporate loyalty code in the part. "Thought that she'd be here with you."



"You know, we're not actually tied together at the hip," Lily said dryly. "We can go and do our own shit without needing to drag each other along on it. She's off hanging with some friends at their apartment."

"Sorry," Reiko said with a flush, hunching over the scanner and watching the lights flash in a pattern as it thought over what had been installed. "I just, um…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lily said with a smile in her words. "You're not the only one to think that we should be spending all our time together." She snorted. "Hell, back when we were working on the streets, the Chieftains advertised us as twins, you know? Scare up some money, because surely people would be willing to pay more for a session with a pair of twins than just a pair of sisters, never mind just a random pair of girls."

"I'm, um, sorry?" Reiko wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to that.



"It did have a fucking thin silver lining, mind," Lily said with. "Meant that if we ever got sold off to another gang, it would be both of us, not just the one. They actually turned down an offer from the voodoo boys to buy me because they weren't shelling out for Grace." Lily shook her head. "Don't know what I would have done if I'd gotten separated from her like that."

"Did you two often get grouped together as twins?" Reiko asked, not sure if this was something that she actually should be asking but the mental image of Lily and Grace together like that around… a person (not a Japanese-American young woman, just a person) lingering in her mind.



"Well, the street scum we were advertised to weren't rolling in money, so paying for the both of us was a big ask, thankfully," Lily shook her head. "I love my sister but there's different kinds of love, you know?" She snorted. "At least we actually were sisters. I know there were some working girls who got advertised as mother and daughter or, yeah, twins, and the only thing that they really had in common was both being women."



"Not even the same ethnicity?" Reiko asked with a giggle, getting a shake of the head and a smile from Lily.



"Well, alright, the pimps running that line didn't have quite that level of disrespect for their customers, but yeah, it didn't take a keen eye to see that there was no kind of relation of any sort between those girls." Lily smiled and then frowned. "Don't miss those days."

"How did those days end?" Reiko asked, grabbing a pair of lungs (she could still remember cutting it out of the woman it had been installed in and stilled a shudder).



"Well, after we recovered from the surgery," Reiko's head went up and she stared at Lily with wide eyes. "Okay, right, back it up a bit. You know how Grace has lungs a lot like those?" Lily asked, pointing down at what Reiko was holding. She nodded. "Well, she didn't get a choice in them. She'd gotten this nasty wet cough that wasn't going anywhere on its own. And Big Mike, well, he decided that if they had to pay for a hospital visit in the first place, they might as well go all out and upgrade her. Had a pair of cyberlungs sitting around that were a bit undersized for all those barrel-chested steroid guzzlers but they'd fit fine in Grace."

"Ah," Reiko said with a wince. "I think I see where this is going."

"Yeah, they thought something with a bigger lung capacity was just a fine idea, because it would let Grace hold her breath for longer when she went down on a guy." Lily frowned. "And this SilverTongue implant I have?" She opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue (which wasn't actually silver) and waggled it around. "It lets me really precisely control my tongue and lips to put just the right spin on words. But I'm sure you can guess why they cut open my mouth to install it."

"I, um, I'm…" Reiko swallowed, "surprised that's it. That they didn't install that Midnight Pleasure, um, you know," she wiggled around on her chair.



"Hah," Lily said without humor. "Well, if they actually had those fake pussies sitting around, I'm sure they'd have installed them on us, too. But the boys would have needed to buy or steal them while this stuff," she tapped the bottom of her jaw, "was just sitting around waiting for a buyer. So they put them into us to make us better whores and try to squeeze a bit more money out of our customers."

"And it didn't work?" Reiko asked, fascinated and appalled. She knew this sort of thing happened in Night City, of course, but knowing about it and hearing about it directly from someone it happened to were two completely different things.



"It worked in a different way, yeah," Lily said with a snort. "Getting held down and sedated to be chopped up to make more money that we'd never get to touch? Neither of us had ever liked what we were doing or who we were doing it for. That was just the final straw because we could both picture what might happen to us next. Surgery to make us look identical to really sell the twins angle?" Lily shrugged. "So as soon as we were both up for walking, just hours before we'd get put back out on the street, Grace and I came up with a plan to get out."

"Which was?" Reiko asked, finally remembering to check the readout and see that these lungs were good to go. She unplugged the scanning cord and grabbed a leg to check out. "You can't leave me hanging here!"

"Hey, trust me, we're past the hump," Lily said with a snort. "It was pretty easy, really. It wasn't hard at all to make Big Mike think that it was his idea to test out just how good my new mouth was. And while he was distracted, Grace got up behind him." Lily drew her finger across her throat pretty slowly. "Then we got the key to the cash box off of his body and we were out the back door, heading to the nearest transit station. Heard good things about the Moxxies, so we showed up on the front steps of a former hooker we knew was part of them, with cash in hand, a bloody knife in Grace's waist band and a story."

"That's where you met Madison?" Reiko asked.



"Nah, that's another, better story," Lily said, waving her hand. "But I'm feeling a bit talked out right now."



"Mads said the same thing yesterday," Reiko grumbled. "What is the story?"

"Tell you later," Lily said with a smirk. "But while I rest my throat, how about you share your life story? Hope it involves samurai."

"Man, my dad's side of the family spent World War Two in an interment camp," Reiko said, rolling her eyes. "Mom's line is more than half white. It's amazing I look as Japanese as I do." She frowned. "Or even have a Japanese name, really. Mom's called Amy, not Ami, you know?"



"So tell me something about them," Lily said. "And I'm guessing that's a no to an ancestral katana hidden underneath the counter to stop any thieves?"

Reiko tossed a nut at Lily, who just laughed as it bounced off of her upper arm. She took a deep breath, mustering the story she had shared with Madison yesterday, adding in a few bits that she had realized overnight she should have said to make it all sound better or, at least, make Reiko herself sound cleverer.



Running through all of that took up enough time that by the time Reiko finished, her to-do pile of hardware to check was almost completely done. And, thankfully, the clean pile was much bigger than the dirty pile. It shouldn't take long at all to purge the infected hardware of whatever crap was lingering on it. Heck, Reiko might not even need to ask Madison for help.



"Always wanted to see something outside of Night City," Lily said, toying with a few strands of her hair, neon green, black and pink right now. "Though maybe not Verdant Fields. Acres, whatever."

"I wouldn't mind seeing some actual nature," Reiko said. "Up in Alaska, maybe? Not just the concrete and chrome of here," she waved her hand around to take in Night City, "and not just endless rows of corporate greenery."

"I think if I sold everything I owned, I could afford a one-way ticket up to Nome or wherever," Lily said with a sigh. "Maybe one of these days I'll be able to take a vacation and still have money left in the bank afterwards."



"That would be nice," Reiko said with a matching sigh. "One of these days." She paused and shook her head. "Anyway, I think that we're almost done here." She attached the cable to the next piece of hardware to be scanned. "Also, thanks for hanging out with me."

"Hey, anywhere that has a functioning AC is a good place to be," Lily said. "I heard black people are supposed to be better at handling heat but that just makes me wonder how white people don't melt in this city."

"Where on earth did you hear that?" Reiko asked with a frown, trying to remember if she had ever heard anything remotely like that from anyone she would trust.



"Can't remember," Lily said with a shrug. "Anyway, I was thinking-!"

Whatever Lily had been thinking would stay a mystery as the front door flew open. It had been locked and that thought skittered through Reiko's mind before larger problems became evident. Quite literally, too.



The man was absolutely massive, both shoulders brushing against the door as he barged in. And his crested helmet almost hit the top of the door as well. Reiko made a high-pitched sound as she stared at him, eyes wide and brain barely working at all.



"Doc, you've got to help!"

That, at least, was unexpected enough to give Reiko's brain a kick and get it into gear. And to note some more of what her eyes were seeing, like the blood splattered all over the giant's body and the small, limp body held in his arms.



"What the hell?" Lily asked, jamming her gun back into its holster as she stood up. "The fuck are you?"

"W-what's going on?" Reiko stammered as she stood up, seeing a woman slipping in after the man and closing the door behind them. "What's wrong with her?"

"She caught a bullet," the giant said, stretching his arms out and offering the small body of the young woman towards Reiko. "You've got to help her, man!"

"I, uh, I'm going to…" Reiko stammered as she moved along the counter, trying to get her brain into gear and figuring out what she should be doing right now. "I," she swallowed and tried to think of what Auntie would do. Okay, that made things easier. "Just, um, wait right there!"

She dashed into the back of the clinic and grabbed a stretcher, wheeling it out as her free hand grabbed the medical bag that she took out on jobs. When she got back into the front, she could hear Lily having a hissed argument with the other woman.



"-heard about this place and saw some lights on in the window," the woman was saying.



Anything more she might have said was cut off by the massive man (with tears in his eyes, Reiko realized) putting the shot woman down on the stretcher. Reiko took a deep breath and looked her over as she started to push it back into the operating room.



"No, wait, I want you out here, watching the street!" The woman called out as Reiko heard the lumbering footsteps of the man behind her.



"Wait, you weren't followed, were you?" Was the last that Reiko heard from Lily before the door closed behind her.



This woman, this kid (maybe even younger than Reiko herself and certainly shorter) looked like she was naturally pale but now, she was unnaturally pale. And with the red pool forming on the stretcher, if she had been bleeding like this the entire time since she had been shot… Reiko swallowed nervously as she got into the operating room. The man followed after her, looming over Reiko.



"Listen- if you're going to be in here, help me get her onto the operating table," Reiko said, flicking the lights on.



"Yeah, sure, doc, whatever you say," the man said, sounding like he was sick with worry. He scooped the girl up and visibly flinched as she moaned with pain. "Hey, don't worry, Ginny, we're here at the doc's, she's going to take good care of you. Real good care."

Reiko thought about pointing out that her aunt was the actual, trained professional and that she wasn't here. Then she looked at the man again and the way his face was twitching and the big gun on his hip and decided not to say anything.



Instead she started cutting away at Ginny's- at the patient's clothes. Reiko had a sick feeling in her stomach that she wanted to be as detached from this girl as possible. She nodded as she looked down at the wound in the side of her stomach. That probably meant that the kidney had been hit. Not good.



Taking a deep breath, Reiko got to work, looking for the bullet inside of the girl and keenly aware of the man looming over her shoulder and the deep breaths he was taking. And the girl was still twitching, too, obviously in pain. Reiko had given her a pain patch but it wasn't working enough and with the side effect of anemia, she was worried about giving anything more to someone who had already lost so much blood.



"Just hold still, ma'am," Reiko said as she worked, wincing at each twitch the girl gave, especially when they happened at the same time that her probe moved inside of the wound. "I think… okay, I've got it."



Well, she had found the slug, at any rate. Now the question was if Reiko could get it out without doing too much more damage. Especially with her hands shaking like this. Reiko took a deep breath and grabbed her hands, forcing herself to calm down and to just… just think of this as being like a simulator. Only with her senses of smell and touch enabled and no gentle female voice to guide her along. Yeah, just like the sims.



Putting in some more cotton swabs to soak up some of the blood that was still leaking out, Reiko carefully, carefully reached in with one hand, the other gripping her wrist to provide some stability. She tapped the slug with the forceps, wincing at the small gasp of pain that the patient let out at that. But then she managed to get a grip on it, slowly pulling her hand backwards.



A small, red-coated ball came out of the wound and Reiko quickly dunked it under a wash before holding it up to the light. Good, good, a flattened sphere, no dents or smooth planes to suggest that it had fragmented inside of the torso. The only foreign objects still inside should just be strands of her shirt.



"Things are going good, it's all going fine right now," Reiko said, much more confidently than she actually believed to be the case. "You're doing fine, Ginny, I'm sure that this will all be over soon."

She might have been speaking to Ginny but she was talking to the man, who was still looming over her and still looking stressed and worried enough that it was making Reiko feel really worried. She glanced at him and then focused on the patient again, bending over her and bringing the light in closer to see just what was in the wound.



Reiko was having trouble finding the threads that had been pulled into the wound, even though a glance at the bloodied crop top laying on the floor showed a hole in it. Biting her lip, she tried to remember what to do. Maybe… wash the wound out again, either have the water take the fibers out with it or at least get rid of enough blood to have a chance at seeing the fibers.



Taking a deep breath to still her trembling hands and twitching thoughts, Reiko kept on working, irrigating the wound and watching closely, hoping that she wasn't messing up really bad here. The bleeding seemed to be slowing, which would have been a better sign if Reiko had been stitching the wound up.



"Ma'am, can you hear me?" Reiko asked, glancing up at the taut, drawn face. "Don't, um, don't worry, everything's going well, I'm going to start stitching you up soon."

That didn't get any kind of response at all, unless a faint flutter of the eyelids counted. Reiko tried to tell herself not to panic and instead turned back to her work, finally finding at least one thread. Carefully plucking it out, she put it into the biohazard bin.



There were probably still more to be found inside of the patient but Reiko was getting really worried about how much blood had leaked out by now. An infection could kill you but it would kill you a lot slower than blood loss would. Reiko decided that, if worse came to worst, she could always do another surgery after spending some time brushing up on exactly what she should be doing.



So she grabbed the needle and thread and started to get to work. She was feeling sick to her stomach as she worked, shivering at the press of the woman's flesh against her gloved hands. It wasn't very neat stitching, either, and Reiko was well aware that there was probably going to be a scar. If the patient was lucky.



"Okay, ma'am, that's all cleaned up," Reiko said, hoping that it was. "And now… ma'am?" She swallowed, patting the girl's cheek. "Ma'am, can you hear me?"

"Ginny?" The man asked, leaning over and taking her hand, completely hiding it in his own massive gauntlets. "Ginny, everything's going to be okay now, she's gotten you fixed up all nice and good. So please…" he swallowed hard, his throat visibly moving. "Ginny, say something."

Reiko silently cursed, realizing that she had forgotten to hook the patient up to the various monitors and equipment in the operating room. A stupid, rookie mistake and the fact that she was still years of study to go before she could qualify as a rookie didn't help. She belatedly grabbed the heartbeat monitor and wheeled it over, attaching the sensor pads.



And wincing as she heard and saw the flatline on the monitor, the green line not moving even slightly as the screen kept on refreshing. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.



Okay, if it hadn't been for too long, there were still some injections that could fix this. Reiko tried to remember what they were as a cloud of doubt and self-loathing rose inside of her head. Restart, that was it, the brand name for… god, Reiko couldn't remember. She turned and scrambled through the cabinets for the drugs.



Grabbing the right vial, she loaded it into a hypospray and pressed it right up against the patient's chest, right above the heart. Plunging the trigger down, she stared at the monitor, hoping for any kind of flicker there at all. But there was nothing.



A few more attempts produced nothing but wasting some more drugs and inflicting burn marks on the patient's… corpse, with maybe some cracked ribs in the bargain. Finally, Reiko had to admit that she had screwed up and she had killed the woman who had been brought to her. She stepped back and sighed, bloodied hands falling to her side as she stared at the half-naked woman on the table.



"I'm sorry," she said softly, peeling the gloves off. "There's nothing more I can do."

"NO!" The man shouted, straightening up and wheeling around on Reiko. All of a sudden, she was staring down the barrel of a gun large enough to fit her fist inside. "She's still alive. You're going to save her!"

"I, I," Reiko stammered, all thoughts pushed right out of her head as she stared down the black muzzle, "I've done all that I can and she's dead and-!"

Reiko screamed as she was suddenly flung against the operating table, barely able to cushion the blow with her hands. She hadn't even seen his free hand move as it grabbed her.



"She's still alive and you're going to keep on working on her!" The man shouted. "She's not going to die!"

Reiko could feel the barrel of the gun pressing against the back of her skull, which completely kept her from thinking about anything else, like what she could possibly do to bring a corpse back to life. Would she even feel anything or would it just be instant?



"What the hell? Oh shit."

Suddenly there were some scuffling sounds from behind Reiko. She slowly turned her head and sagged in relief as she saw the other woman of the group grabbing the man's gunhand and twisting it upwards as Lily hovered in the doorway. She sagged in relief and turned around, almost sitting on the edge of the operating table before deciding that just wouldn't be right.



"Come on, Burnsie, just put the gun away," the woman said in a soothing voice as she stared up at the man, who was starting to cry. Reiko felt like crying herself. "That's right, just leave it in its holster, alright?"

"She can't be dead, Jones," the man whispered, looking past her and Reiko towards the body. "Doc's," he waved at Reiko without moving his eyes towards her, "she's got to do something. She's got to."



The woman glanced at Reiko and Reiko shook her head, feeling small and ashamed. Maybe if she had been better, maybe if she had gotten to the patient sooner, things would have been different. But now? Reiko didn't think that there was anything anyone in Night City could do that would make an ounce of difference.



The man, Burnsie, lumbered over to the operating table. He loomed over it, staring down at the small corpse there. Reiko looked up at his face for a minute before glancing away, not wanting to stare at what was written there.



She started going through the motions of cleaning up, feeling her body starting to shake even more than it had before. She swallowed, feeling a tenseness all through her body right now from what had happened, what she had done and how she had failed.



"Man, what are we going to do with Ginny's, um, remains?" The woman asked, scratching her head as she stared down at the body. "When my mom died in surgery, the hospital just cremated her onsite and gave me a jar."

"We don't have one of those here," Reiko said, shaking her head and trying to remember if anyone had ever died on the table with Auntie in charge of things. She didn't think that they had. "Um… I'm sure there's a funeral home around somewhere near here that you could go to?"



The woman made a face at that and Reiko didn't like the sound of it all that much either. The man didn't say anything, just kept on staring down at Ginny while holding her hand.



"Can't wander around the streets with a dead body even in Night City," the woman muttered. "Call a cab, maybe. Probably not the weirdest load they've ever carried."

"Um, before you go," Reiko said awkwardly, seeing how this conversation might go and not liking the mental picture but still seeing that it needed to be done. "There's the matter of payment."

"Payment?" The man asked in a dangerous rumble as the woman scowled. "She's dead and you want money?"

"I'm sorry that she died, I really am," Reiko said as sternly as she could, glancing at Lily for support. "But medical supplies are not cheap and I used a lot of them to try and keep her alive. I'm going to need to buy some new ones. Someone needs to pay for them."

"Do you have insurance?" Lily asked, stepping forward and talking in a much more reasonable tone than the anger born of fear that Reiko had been sporting. "Billing them wouldn't be a problem."

"If we had insurance, we wouldn't have been running around the streets, looking for a chop shop that had lights on," Jones said with a snort and a shake of her head, her pale bald head gleaming in the light. "No, we can't flog the bill off to someone else."

"We shouldn't be paying them anything," the man said, straightening up and turning to send a burning glare at Reiko and Lily. "She didn't do a lick of good! I said we should have gone to a hospital!"

"Listen, we understand how upset you are and for such good reason," Lily said soothingly. "That's why Reiko's just going to draw up an invoice of what supplies she used up on Ginny and charge you for that. You know what more a hospital would have charged you for, everything from time and labor to a fee for drawing up the bill. Regardless of if Ginny lived long enough to get through the door."



Jones nodded in agreement at that, staring back and forth at Lily and Reiko for a long moment. Reiko sensibly shut up and just tried to look cool and composed and collected and any other words that started with c that would apply.



"Fine," Jones said after a moment. "We'll," she sighed heavily and rubbed her head, "be willing to reimburse you for the materials used. Right, Burnsie?" That got a grunt from the man, who had already turned back to… his girlfriend? His sister? A really close friend?



"Just give us an email address and Reiko will draw it up, get it to you soon, alright?" Lily said. "Also, well, you heard about us from some mutual friends in the Moxxies?" Jones nodded. "I'm sure we can hear about you, too. I don't want to send my sister over to talk about repayment, understand?"

Jones sneered at that but nodded. She muttered something to the man, who lifted the corpse up in his massive arms and slowly turned, trudging out of the operating room, leaving Reiko along with Lily and a blood-stained… stretcher and bed and plenty of other stuff. Ugh, she needed to get to work cleaning this all up.



Immersing herself in the mindless routine of sanitizing the room and mopping up the path from the door to the front of the clinic took long enough that Reiko started to slowly settle down, no longer feeling so tense and worried. Instead, she just started to feel sick and disgusted with herself, for letting her very first real patient, someone who was in a lot worse shape than missing some fingers, die in front of her.



"So how big of a bill are you sending to them?" Lily asked after a bit as she helped out a bit.



"I'm not sure," Reiko said, rubbing her forehead as she looked over the operating room. "The cotton swabs and the sterilizing solution, that stuff is easy and cheap. But I'll need to look up the market value of the drugs and… yeah, those are going to be costly, I know that much."



"Let's hope it's not more than they can pay," Lily said with a grunt.



"Are you really going to send Grace over to break some legs if they don't pay up?" Reiko asked hesitantly.



"Hopefully they'll just pay up by tomorrow night," Lily said with a scowl as she stared off into the distance. "If they don't… well, if they can't pay, there's no sense trying to squeeze blood from a stone, you know? But if they just don't want to pay, yeah, that's a different question." She glanced at Reiko. "Then again, since it's all going to be your money for your work, maybe you should be the one to go and demand that they cough up the cash."


The white gleam of teeth against Lily's black skin said that she was joking but Reiko still didn't see anything funny in the idea of her trying to convince armed people to hand over money in any way, for whatever reason. She made a face and finished cleaning up.



And then the work was done and there were still the thoughts weighing down on Reiko's mind, not having gone anywhere at all. She wandered out to the front of the clinic and sighed as she stared at the front door. She'd have to add the cost of the locksmith to the bill she'd send to the other edgerunners.



She'd put that together later. Right now, Reiko just sat down behind the counter and buried her face in her hands as she propped her elbows on the counter. She stayed like that for a while until she heard the sounds of Lily joining her, standing next to her.



"I…" Reiko sighed and stared down at her hands. "I wasn't good enough, Lily."

"I was talking to Jones while we were on watch," Lily said with a shrug. "They'd been running for a good twenty minutes after their netrunner got shot. That's a long time to be nursing a bullet wound."

"But she was still alive when she came in through the door," Reiko said, a note of heat entering her voice. "She could have survived. She should have survived! If I had just been a bit better, if I had known what I was doing, then…"

"Hey, I can just about stick a band-aid onto a paper cut," Lily said. "I'm leaving the medical stuff to you, but… there's a reason surgeries in the films always have half a dozen people in scrubs working over somebody, you know? Not just one girl all by herself."

"Yeah, and what about next time, when it's you that takes a bullet, huh?" Reiko asked, lifting her head. "You just going to shrug off that I'm apparently no good at all?"

"You're hearing stuff that nobody's saying, Reiko," Lily said, standing up to lay a hand on Reiko's shoulder. "I'm not feeling betrayed or anything by this, alright?"

"I need to get better," Reiko said, rubbing her head. "I can get better." She took a deep breath. "I've got some money. I can find another ripperdoc, go in for some headware surgery. Get some skillsofts installed," she tapped the side of her skull where the implant would go. "And Arasaka has some pretty fancy hands, I can replace this," she cradled the flesh and blood hand she had been born with, "and get something with finer motor control and slender fingers, that can really get in and do some good."

"Chroming up is a good choice, most of the time," Lily said, giving Reiko's shoulder another squeeze. "Even with how I got what I've got, it's still works a lot better than a flesh tongue and mouth would."

Reiko nodded, cradling her hand and rubbing it. It would be really different with a new one, wouldn't it? But if it let her be better, let her break past her limits, then it would be worth it. Same for getting some holes drilled into her skull to let the implant and the uploaded medical skills talk to her brain as she kept on studying medicine.



Reiko really hoped that it would be a long time before someone ended up in front of her with only herself able to save them. But if it did happen, then she wanted to actually be able to save them. She'd have to be able to keep them alive. Anything else, well- why was she studying medicine in the first place if she didn't want to keep people alive, right?



That opened some questions about what she did with Lily and her crew, how Grace could go through a room like a buzzsaw through meat and how Reiko tagged along afterwards. They were also questions that Reiko refused to give any further thought.



The question she should be considering was if she should wait until Auntie was out of the hospital and could do the surgery herself or if Reiko should find another ripperdoc who could do it all as early as tomorrow. Yeah, ignore the ethical worries, focus on chroming herself up and becoming a better doctor.



Oh yeah, this was such a better way to be spending her night than hanging out at a club with Lily.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

Absolutely love this fic, these chapters are a lot of fun.

 

[WestOrEast]

Absolutely love this fic, these chapters are a lot of fun.

Click to shrink...

Thanks. I've got another five written and waiting to be published in March and April as well.

 

[WestOrEast]

Nightshift Avengers Chapter Five​

"Welcome home, Auntie!"


Reiko threw a handful of confetti up into the air as her aunt stepped through the front door of the apartment. She lightly hugged her aunt and got a smile in return as well as a pat on the shoulder.



"Thank you, darling," Auntie said as she stepped inside. "It is good to be home."

There had been a limited amount that Reiko could do to prepare a party for her aunt coming back home, especially with the funds that she could justify to herself as being worth spending. But she had at least invited her friends and all of Auntie's friends that she had phone numbers for, so the apartment was a lot more packed than it had been in… years, really.



"Good to see you upright," one of the older people said, slapping Auntie on the shoulder as she was guided towards a chair. "Heard gut shots are a real bitch."

"It wasn't that good, no," Auntie said as she settled down into her chair. "But every day, it's getting a bit better."



"Not going to be jogging up and down staircases tomorrow, though?" The older friend, one of Auntie's unregulated supplies of cyberware, asked with a chuckle.



"Oof, it was a struggle getting from the taxi to here," Auntie said, shaking her head. "But I know just what will help me get over it."

Both of them chuckled as they looked at each other and Reiko looked away. Her aunt's sex life was something that she knew as little about as possible and she hoped that Auntie would return the favor. She actually wasn't sure if there was anything going on between Auntie and Mr. Roebuck but she also didn't want any kind of confirmation, either.



Reiko had spent quite a bit of money getting a watermelon, a real, organic watermelon (and it had still been cheap at only eighty eurobucks) but at least the size of it meant that there was enough for everyone to have a slice. Though Auntie, obviously, got the first slice.



"Ah, so much better than the TT hospital," Auntie said, taking the plate from Reiko as she handed it over. "Did you put all of this on yourself, dear?"

"I got suggestions from people," Reiko said with a smile and a blush. "And some of them came over to help set it all up."

"Wouldn't want my doc thinking that I didn't care about her getting better," Lily said, leaning over Reiko's shoulder and flashing a wide smile. "And I'll always take a reason to party."

"Though it's kind of a sad party without any beer around," Auntie said, craning her head and looking at the bottles of soda and synthetic juice that were up for grabs. "I know why I can't be drinking but none of you, either?"

"Just wouldn't be right to be doing shots in front of you while you can't join in," Mr. Roebuck said. "And it's not like Ni-cola will kill us if we drink it."

"Can't remember the last party I went to that didn't have booze," Auntie chuckled. "What was it, your fifteenth birthday party, Reiko?"

"I think so," Reiko said with a nod, grabbing a can of cola and cracking it open. "I'm sure you can have some soon, though."

"I just can't afford it," Auntie said with a chuckle and a sigh. "I'm hoping you're here because you're needing some work done on you, Ms. Dawson."

"You should be talking to Grace about that, not me," Lily said, shaking her head. "I'm just here to have a good time until the neighbors start pounding on the wall."

Auntie snorted at that and nodded. She picked up the slice of watermelon and bit into it. A smile spread across her face and it made Reiko feel really nice and warm inside to know that she was responsible for that.



"That is good," Auntie said, closing her eyes and nodding. "Oh yes, that is very good indeed." She opened them and smiled at Reiko. "Well done, my dear."


Reiko smiled at that and nodded. Then some of the older set came forward to offer their congratulations to Auntie, so Reiko stepped backwards and enjoyed the party as best as she could.



There were a lot of people inside of here, and the apartment was packed to capacity. Maybe a bit over, really, even Auntie's bedroom had been commandeered into storage space for some supplies. But everyone who was here wanted to be here, so that wasn't a bad thing, right?



There were a few people sitting on the couch (which was also Reiko's bed) so instead, she leaned against the kitchen counter and slowly sipped from her can. Yeah, it had been a while since Reiko had been at a party like this. Though the last party had also been one that had more people her age and louder music, so that was kind of… a whole lot better, really.



"You hear the news from Dogtown?" One of the older ladies next to her said, talking to… her friend? Someone else, at least.



"No, actually. I don't have anything to do with that horrible place," the other one said, something Reiko could completely agree with. Pacifica was supposed to be bad enough, a part of the city so nasty that there were actual walls around it to keep anyone from getting out? Nowhere she ever wanted to go to. "Do you?"



"Well, apparently Kurt Hansen finally bit the dust," Reiko perked up a bit at the news, shifting around to look at the pair of them. "Some firefight or something."

"Hmp," the other woman snorted. "It's been a long time coming, if you ask me. Should have eaten a bullet when he first invaded us."

"True, but still," the first woman shook her head. "Not a good month to be a leader in Night City, hm? First the mayor having a heart attack and then old Suburb finally biting the dust after a century and a half? Then the president and now Hansen?" She chuckled. "Don't think Governor Gorquist is going to be coming to give a speech about unification here anytime soon. Who knows what would happen to her?"

"Think the president is dead?" Reiko asked. "I heard that she made it back to Washington."

"I'm sure someone who looks like her made it back," the first woman said with a snort. "But some stuffed shirt who can only do figurative backstabs, making it out of Dogtown?" She shook her head. "I don't believe it for a second. There's some body double settling in for a really long performance in the White House."



"Just so long as they stay well away from us," the second woman said with a sniff. "This is Night City. Not America. We don't need Militech coming in to be Our Friend."

"The question is if Arasaka is going to be keep on being a good counterweight now that Yorinobu is in charge," the first woman said, which was Reiko's cue to slide away. "Arasaka has never known anyone in command but…"



There were enough things that Reiko needed to think about without political and economic analysis getting in the way. Like if it was time to pull out the second platter of snacks and finger foods from the fridge yet or not. Reiko was thinking not, so that gave her time to wander the party and exchange a few words with the people that she recognized.



Lily and Grace were both talking to each other in one corner of the room. A pity that Madison hadn't been able to make it, but, well, the apartment was pretty cramped as it was. Though if she couldn't come, she certainly wasn't going to get a selection of the best snacks for her to enjoy later, like her text had asked for.



Finally, the party wound down. Almost all of the guests left. Even Lily had popped out saying that she needed to buy something. Time spent not cleaning up was Reiko's guess. But that still left Grace around and even though Auntie wasn't quite up for doing much, an extra set of hands still made things get cleaned up decently quickly.



"You know, if the doc was about thirty years younger, this would have reminded me of a kid's birthday party," Grace said as she started stacking plates and cups in the dishwasher. "No booze, in the afternoon, all that stuff."

"The only present I needed was the one I got," Auntie chimed in from where she was sitting, swallowing a pair of pain pills. "Getting out of that bed and back home."

"How was the Trauma Team stay, anyway?" Grace asked. "If I ever get a steady surplus of cash, I might want a membership."

"It's expensive, certainly," Auntie said with a sigh. "Very expensive. Excellent levels of care, though, even at a silver plan." She sighed and shook her head. "And certainly a better option than laying on my clinic floor hoping that the bleeding would stop on its own."

Reiko winced. She was certain Auntie hadn't meant anything hurtful by that but Reiko had been right there, getting her hands red in her aunt's blood and she hadn't been able to stop the bleeding or pull out the bullet. Not then. Not even now. But… that just had to change, didn't it? And Reiko knew how it would have to, as well.



"Um, I've been making some… decent money with Grace and all of them," Reiko said, wiping her hands clean on a towel. "I'd be really happy to give you some of it, Auntie, to help pay off any bills Trauma Team stuck you with."

"That… would be appreciated, yes, darling," Auntie said with a sigh, shaking her head. "Though I do wish that you could spend your money on you."

"If you can't make rent and get kicked out, that's Reiko gone, too," Grace pointed out. "She's covering her own ass by chipping in."

That kind of brought down the mood but it wasn't like Grace was wrong, either. Reiko shrugged her shoulders and sighed, wondering if there was something else that she could say right now that would be a good idea, that would help her aunt perk up and feel better.



"Well, I'll be opening the clinic back up tomorrow and getting as many patients in as I can," Auntie said with a nod. "That will help the money start flowing back in. And you said that you've got a nice pile of cyberware for us to sell off, Reiko?"

"Yes, Auntie," Reiko said with a nod. "There's a full inventory at the clinic for you to look over."

"Good, good," Auntie said, slowly standing up and just staying there for a moment, taking some deep breaths and rubbing her torso where she got shot. "I'm sure you've done an excellent job of running the clinic in my absence, Reiko. It will be just like stepping into a pair of comfortable shoes to get back to work."

Reiko blushed at that and nodded. She certainly hoped that she had done the best that she was capable of. She was just kind of aware that there was a difference between what she was capable of and what needed doing. Really, really aware of the difference between the two, actually.



Reiko went over to Auntie and offered a hand but the older woman just waved her off. Her pace wasn't fast as she set off across the apartment floor but it was steady, without any swaying or sudden pauses. That was good to see.



"How bad is it, Auntie?" Reiko asked in a low voice.



"I've certainly felt better," Auntie said, the corners of her eyes tight. "But I can stay on top of it." She chuckled and patted her pocket. "I probably won't even need all of the painkillers I was given. Good, we can resell them at the clinic."

"That's good to hear," Reiko said, keeping pace with Auntie as she slowly walked up and down the length of the apartment a few times. "You'll let me know if you need any help, right?"

"You've done more than enough for me already, darling," Auntie said, stopping by the couch and leaning against the armrest, taking a few deep breaths. "I'm sure that I can handle this all on my own. By the end of the month, I'm sure that I'll be back to normal, just as good as I ever was."



"Hey, Reiko, Doctor," Grace said, cornering the two of them. "Got a minute?"

"This business?" Auntie asked, getting a nod. "Sure, the chance to be making some money instead of just spending it, well, it puts a smile on my face."

"I was thinking of getting some more implants," Grace said, slapping her chest. "And I've really got my eye on some SteelSkin Mark Five, by Arasaka? Heard great things from some other solos about how well it works."

"SteelSkin, SteelSkin," Auntie said, looking up at the ceiling. "Not ringing a bell."

"It's a kind of subdermal armor," Grace continued, glancing back and forth between the two of them. "Supposed to bounce bullets right off of you and still move as easily as silk. Guy I was talking to swore by it."

"Subdermal?" Auntie asked with a wince. "That stuff is kind of hard to source, you know? At least the really good stuff. Reiko, dear, do you remember what we have on hand for that?"

"Um," Reiko rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet a few times as she thought things over. "We've got two units of SureGuard, I'm not sure on the version number, one of, oh, something that Militech makes that just has a model number and not a name and… one other…" she searched her memory for something that she hadn't thought would come up at all today. "and TrollHide, also by Arasaka."

"Nothing like Steelskin, though?" Grace asked with a frown. "That's a pity. Supposed to be top of the line."

"Which means that it must be really rare," Auntie pointed out. "Especially because subdermal armor is a bitch and a half to take off a body once it's been installed. At least if you want to reuse it, anyway. Wrapped around every limb, your torso, woven into the underside of your skin?" She shook her head. "You're getting virginal stuff or you're not getting it at all. Really craters the availability of it."

"And jacks the price way up?" Grace asked, getting a nod. "Damn. Cause I really want some of that. Kevlar vest doesn't cover the entire body, you know? Not like a armor wrap would."

"Um, something else I know about the cheap kinds we have," Reiko said, holding up her hand and tugging Grace away, off to the side where they could have a touch of privacy, "it's really bulky. Not very advanced and streamlined materials."

"Yeah, I know," Grace said, her lips tight as she folded her arms across her chest.



"I mean, like, it's… you're not going to be pretty anymore," Reiko said awkwardly, feeling like she was stumbling in the dark. "Your skin is going to be all bumpy and rigid and maybe not even all that black anymore and you aren't going to feel pretty much anything through it." She looked up into Grace's face, which wasn't showing much of any kind of emotion. "If you want to be a courtesan or something someday…"

"I'd need to be alive to make that happen," Grace pointed out. "Ugly and alive is still better odds than pretty and dead." She sighed and rubbed her face. "And it can be taken out afterwards, right? Bring me back to normal, looking like this?"

"I… think so?" Reiko said slowly. "I'd need to study the designer specs to see just what they say. There might be scarring from where the skin would have to be peeled back to get at the plating?"

"Yeah, I'll be wanting to be under the sleepy gas for that," Grace muttered. She stared off into the distance for a moment before nodding her head. "Alright, sorry for that, Doc," she said in a more normal voice, stepping back up to Auntie and tugging Reiko along with her. "So, well, I'll do some asking around and see if I can get something better than what you've got in stock. That earns me a discount, right, if I supply my own chrome?"

"I'm sure we can work something out," Auntie said with a smile. "And I look forward to your business, whether it's for subdermals or not."



"I've got a shopping list of what I want, all the way up to a Dragoon full-conversion body," Grace said, smirking when Auntie snorted. "What, outside your wheelhouse?"

"Just a little bit, yes," Auntie said dryly. "Even assuming you could find one, you'd want a proper lab and team to pluck your brain out of your skull, wire it up and place it back inside of some full-borg body."

"Eh, shoot for the moon, if you miss, you might hit a star," Grace said with a shrug. "Wait, is that how the saying goes?" She added in a much quieter voice, looking off to the side. "Anyway, I've got the eddies, so it will either be subdermal or something that can make me a better fighter."

"Come on by and we can go through what I have in stock," Auntie said with a chuckle. "There has to be something that will suit your needs."

"Actually, Auntie, I was thinking it's time that I get some cyberware of my own installed," Reiko said, rubbing her wrist and looking down at it, wondering how many more times she was going to see her 'ganic hand at the end of it. "I just can't afford the time it will take to get good the normal way, so…" she took a deep breath. "I want to get upgraded. Make me a better ripperdoc in a few weeks than in a few years."



Auntie took a deep breath and slowly let it out, slouching backwards in her chair as she looked at Reiko, her hand drumming against her chin. Reiko flushed a bit under the gaze but kept her eyes steady, looking at her aunt.



"You're old enough by now to let your body handle the chrome, I know that," Auntie said after a minute. "No need for all those anti-rejection drugs any longer. What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing too complex," Reiko said, the list already prepared in her hand. "Just the usual slots to load skillsofts into my head to cram all the medical knowledge I need and a new hand with lots of fine control and attachments for tools."



Especially the skillsofts. So that even if Reiko got panicked and flustered she wouldn't forget the basics, the very fucking basics of the trade and allow someone else to bleed out in front of her without turning on a single monitor. If Reiko couldn't trust herself to manage something like that, then she was just going to have to get her brain enhanced so that she could.

"The ripper special, yeah, makes sense," Auntie said. "And I suppose you want me to be the one holding the knife, huh?"

"I mean… you're the one I trust the most," Reiko said awkwardly, only just now thinking about what it would be like if Auntie came to her to ask about surgical procedures for Reiko to do on Auntie. "And you're the best in the city."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, darling," Auntie said with a chuckle. She glanced over at Grace. "Feeling the need to keep up with your friends?"

"It can't hurt," Reiko said, though all of the edgerunning crew had been really lucky so far about not getting shot and everything. "I can help a lot more if I know what I'm doing and can do what I know."

"Alright, fine, we can look over the options tomorrow and figure out when to install them," Auntie said after a moment, before shaking her head back and forth. "You aren't going to want your hand to be pickled and preserved, are you?"


"Ew, no," Reiko said with a frown. "That's even worse than the people who keep their lopped off parts and mount the bones on their walls."

"Shit, people do that?" Grace asked, her eyes wide. "Seriously?"

"One person did, at least," Auntie said, shaking her head. "And that was enough to really stick in the memory." Reiko made a frown and nodded in agreement. "But, no, your hand will just get tossed into the biowaste bag and sent off to the incinerator."

Reiko nodded and rubbed her wrist again, squeezing down on it and wondering just how soon she would be feeling metal underneath it instead of flesh. And just how different that really would be to feel. Well, pretty much everyone she knew had some level of chrome, if they could all handle it, so could she.



Yeah, giving up her hand, well, it was just the one hand, right? And she would still have the other. And afterwards, she would be better. Able to keep up with what was asked of her.



Reiko nodded to herself. She was making the right choice here. She knew she was.

 

[WestOrEast]

Nightshift Avengers Chapter Six​

Reiko was still wearing a support glove that was wrapped around her new hand, encasing it and making sure that it would stay attached to her hand and not get rejected by her immune system or anything. It wouldn't need to stay on for much longer, thankfully, but since the surgery had only just happened this morning, it was still a good idea to take things easy and follow all the proper precautions about how to make sure that her body integrated the new addition properly.



At least with the padding over the left side of her skull, that was a lot easier to ignore. Meant that Reiko had to alter her hairstyle to what was pretty much a mohawk to let the ripperdoc get in with his tools to open up her skull and implant the skillsoft reader but that was a small price to pay. It was also healing up nicely and the next time that Reiko needed to do a surgery, she wasn't going to be making stupid, inept mistakes that left the patient dead on the slab. God, she hoped that she was never going to make a mistake like that again, such a stupid asshole move.



"Pity you can't have anything to drink," Grace said from the far side of the table as she nursed her own drink. "I mean, something proper to drink," she added with a glance at the glass of water sitting in front of Reiko.



"Not until the sedatives get flushed from my system," Reiko said with a sigh as she picked up the glass and took another small sip from it. With her real hand, of course, she was going to be doing as little as possible with the cyberhand for now. "So this is where you hang out?"



"Lizzie's? Yeah," Grace said with a nod. "HQ for the Moxes and with how much work we do for them, yeah, Lily and I know a lot of faces around here."



"Is it where you met Madison?" Reiko asked, shifting around in her seat to glance around the club.



"Why would you think that?" Grace asked, swinging her booted feet up onto the table and leaning back against the wall.



"Because both Madison and Lily have said that you all met after you joined the Moxes but neither of them will tell me how you all met," Reiko grumbled, rolling her eyes.



"Well, then who am I to ruin the surprise?" Grace asked with a laugh, prompting another roll of her eyes from Reiko. "Tell you what, give me a bit to make up two convincing lies about how we met, then I'll tell them to you and the truth as well and you can figure out which is real."



"Or you could just tell me the truth," Reiko said, making a face.



"Nah, where's the fun in that?" Grace said, still enjoying herself far too much. "Let's see, how do you feel about cowboys?"



"Okay, moving on if nobody is going to tell me the truth," Reiko grumbled, reaching down to rub her wrist, which was dully aching, "I'm glad that I got this upgrade. Makes me feel like a real edgerunner."



"That's what makes you feel like one and not going on jobs?" Grace asked, lifting her eyebrows. "That's weird."



Reiko shrugged, not able to put a better answer to the question. She sat up straight, deciding that it would be better to put this question to just Grace instead of the entire team.



"So, now that I am an edgerunner, that means I'm getting a nickname, right?" Reiko asked, feeling embarrassment heating her cheeks but still going on. "Like Morgan Blackhand or something, right?"



"Girl, you are as far from being the next Blackhand as I am from being President," Grace said, laughing into her drink. "I mean, geez.'



"I know I'm not going to be some nutty gunslinging badass," Reiko said peevishly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "But I'm still going to get a nickname or something, right?"



"Okay, listen," Grace said, dropping her boots off the table with a thump and leaning forward. "Nicknames? Sure. But you get given a nickname, you don't go out to make one for yourself, got it? You try to force a nickname for yourself, you're going to get called something like Lil Yapper. Trust me, nothing gets a bar going like some newbie coming in through the door and saying that his name is Mike Thundercrotch, you hear me? Everyone in the room will start laughing and they won't stop until the kid's long gone."



"I… yeah, I hear you," Reiko said, not liking what she was hearing but seeing that there might be some sense in it. "What should I do to get a nickname, though?"



Grace rolled her eyes and sighed, shaking her head back and forth.



"You keep on coming along on jobs and you keep on making sure that we don't end up bleeding out and sooner or later, something will come up, got it? Don't try to make it happen, it will manage on its own."



Reiko slumped back in her chair, pouting down at her drink. Well, at least she hadn't had any nicknames that she wanted to be known as or anything, so it didn't hurt too much to hear that she wasn't going to be getting something cool to be known by any time soon.



"Sorry we're late," a voice said from behind Reiko as a hand patted her shoulder. "Night City traffic, I tell you, man."



"Hey, Lily, Madison," Reiko said, turning around to smile up at the other women. "It's good to see you."



"You two looked like you were having a pretty deep convo while we were walking over," Madison said, sitting down next to Grace as Lily took the remaining chair. "What about?"



"Nicknames," Reiko said with a frown. "And how you can't make them happen."



"What, you mean like Ironeye Gra- ow," Lily said with a wince.



"Shut it, sis," Grace said, finishing off her drink and avoiding Reiko's eye. "Though speaking of nicknames, I've been wondering, what should we all call ourselves? As a group, now that Reiko's a solid part of it all."



"Thinking of finding a handle that will make us stand out from the crowd?" Madison asked, getting a nod in response. "Hm, Lily, you do the most dealing with our fixers and stuff. What do they call us?"



"Mostly they just call me and tell me that there's a group job and ask if we want it," Lily said with a frown. "Have been called the Dawson Group or Gang or whatever a few times."



"Yeah, but only half of us are the Dawsons," Madison pointed out. "And I'm not marrying either one of you to bump that up to three-quarters."



"Fine, then what would you call us?" Lily asked, leaning back against her seat and dangling her arms off the back.



"The Four Comrades?" Grace suggested. "Wait, four means death in Japanese, so maybe…" she trailed off, muttering to herself as she stared down at the table.



"That Group, You Know, The All-Woman One," Madison said breezily, smiling as she said it.



"Nightshift Avengers?" Reiko asked, blushing a bit as Lily glanced over at her with an expression of surprise. "No good?"



"It certainly sounds a lot more badass," Lily said. "And Nightshift, well, Grace and I certainly worked nights quite a bit. But Avengers? Don't know about that part. Killing people for money isn't really vengeance."



"I haven't taken it yet but I sure wouldn't mind getting vengeance on Orion," Madison said, any trace of good humor vanishing from her face. "Don't even need a big payday for it, just the chance to do something. Spoiling a gig they were doing, all the way to pulling a Silverhand, I don't care."



"Okay, never thought I'd need to say this but I'm going to have to veto any ideas for nuclear terrorism," Lily said, shaking her head back and forth. "Fine, that's vengeance for one of us. The rest of us?"



"The Chieftains might be dead and most of the actual gangoons that made it up are dead too," Grace said, narrowing her eyes, "but hell, every gang in the city keeps girls in spots as bad as anything we were in, Lils. They all deserve to die for it."



"…Yeah," Lily said after a moment of thought. "Yeah, you're right, Grace." She nodded. "Okay, that makes three of us." She turned to Reiko. "It was your idea, who do you want vengeance on?"



"I, um," Reiko felt very put on the spot, especially because there was nothing that quickly came to mind about any wrongs in her life that really needed revenge to right. "I'm not sure?"



"I am," Lily said. "You said your dad was killed by Biotechnica, right?"



"I mean, I don't think that he was killed, he was just working there when he died…" Reiko said, the last half of her sentence trailing off.



"You told me he slipped and fell," Madison chimed in. "Couldn't see the next step on the staircase because funding maintenance was less important than the next stock buyback? Leaky pipe making the stairs all wet because it would take an extra hour at the end of a half-day shift to fix? Carrying a bunch of boxes that really should have gone up an elevator on a forklift?"



Reiko didn't know the exact details of how her dad had died, actually. But everything that Madison was saying, it all fit with what she had seen of the refinery plants back in her hometown. The cut corners, the endless demands to squeeze out more and more from less and less, how Biotechnica saw its workers as a source of money and not what made the money…



"Yeah," Reiko said slowly, nodding her head as it all made more and more sense. "Yeah, you're right. And if BT bothered to pay a woman who had worked with them for a decade and a half more, I could have kept on living with Mom."



"So the gangs, the corpos and hell, I'll toss in the government that just cuts sweetheart deals with them to stand by and do nothing," Lily said with a snort. "Just a few minor groups for us to try to go and fuck over, yeah?"



"If I was fine with aiming small, I'd be standing outside the front doors with a baseball bat," Grace said, nodding towards the front of Lizzie's. "Eating a bullet taking down some real assholes in a nice suit is no different from taking a bullet fighting some scavs in a ratty t-shirt."

Reiko smiled nervously, not having expected her suggestion to be taken this far. This seemed like the sort of thing that could end in trouble, but trouble was kind of expected when you were an edgerunner, right? Reiko took a deep beath, hoping that she wasn't getting herself in over her head with all of this.



"Well, I'm not going to say that we should load up on iron and go kick down the front doors of Arasaka Tower tonight," Lily said. "But I'll certainly keep my ears open for any jobs that let us put a spoke through the wheels of someone more important than just another group of street trash."



That got a round of nods from the rest of the table, some of them a lot more firm and confident than others. Reiko finished her glass of water to give herself some time to think and then looked over at Lily.



"So why did you want us all to meet here tonight?" Reiko asked. "Is it because of the music?"



"These guys?" Lily said with a frown and a glance at the speakers. "Nah, this stuff isn't worth listening to at all. Live music is the key, trust me."



"Oh boy, here we go," Grace said, rolling her eyes and slouching down in her seat. "The job, Lily, what about the job?"



"Fine, fine," Lily took a deep breath and composed herself. "We're doing some work with one of the Moxes, Alverez. She should be by to give us the details soon and we can all talk about if we want to sign up for it."



"Probably shouldn't get boozed up then," Grace said with a sigh, taking a small sip from her glass and pushing it away. "Anyone else want to finish this off?"



Reiko took it, tried it out and regretted it and not just because she remembered she shouldn't be touching alcohol as it filled her mouth. She bent over the table, wheezing as she felt a line of fire burning down her throat. Her eyes watered and she greedily grasped the water that was pressed into her hand.



As she was recovering from that, she was aware that some people had joined them. One was a very pretty woman with lots of tattoos and, like Lily, had multi-colored dyed hair. Though for her, it looked like it was her real hair instead of the long, synthetic hair that Lily had, that could change colors on a whim.



The other woman with her was obviously an edgerunner, a Hispanic woman who would have been outright handsome if it wasn't for the collection of small scars peppered over her face, which took her down to just attractive. She also moved in the unnatural way that said she was heavily chromed up and you didn't need to be an expert in cybernetics to see the SMG on one hip and the pistol on the other.



"Ladies?" The first woman said. "I'm Judy Alverez and this is V."



There was a round of exchanged greetings as everyone introduced themselves and Lily and Madison, since they were closest, shook the offered hands of Judy and V. Then Judy waved her hand and gestured for the front door.



"Let's walk and talk, alright?"



That got them out the door and headed into the parking lot of Lizzie's. Two new cars had appeared since Grace and Reiko had entered the club. One was a familiar sight, the rugged, battered sedan that Lily owned. The other was a much flashier ride that even Reiko, who was no car person, could appreciate the style and color of. And that was about as much as Reiko could describe it as.



"So, any of you ever heard of a place called Clouds?" V asked once they were outside and standing next to both cars. To a general round of shaken heads, she kept on going. "It's a brothel run by the Tyger Claws and we have a plan to free them from the gang. I'll be going to talk with the man skimming the profit from the brothel while you four, if you accept, will be going to the club itself to drive the Claws out the doors."



"We have two joytoys inside who will help you," Judy said, glancing at V. "In fact, they should be able to handle it all on their own."



"The Claws won't respect joytoys, no matter how many arms they might break," V said, shaking her head, sounding like this was a discussion that they had already had before. "But a small squad of mercs will look a lot more serious, especially when the survivors report back."



"Do you want survivors?" Lily asked, nodding along.



"I'm not insisting that you kill everyone or spare everyone," V said. "Anyone who makes it, makes it. But," she held up a finger. "Not a scratch on the joytoys, not a scratch on the customers. Clouds is getting given over to the women and men working there and they'll need people to keep on coming back. Is that understood?"



"Yeah, no problem," Lily said, glancing around and getting nods of heads from the rest of the Avengers. Or Nightshift Avengers? Reiko would have to figure out what version felt most natural in her head.



"But there is one guy there that we are interested in," Judy said. "Fat, white, middle-aged guy by the name of Forester. You can manage it, you bring him down alive. The workers at the brothel will want a piece of him."



"Fat as he is, those will be some big pieces for each of them," V said underneath her breath. "We'll all be heading to Mega 8, where you'll be able to sneak in through the back way into Clouds. None of you are scared of heights, are you?"



"Just of falls," Madison said to muted laughter from the group.



"Some questions before we agree to this," Lily said. "One, I'm noticing that we're having this chat out in the parking lot instead of in Lizzie's. Is this something we should keep to ourselves?"



"Nah, nah, once it's done, nobody will have a problem with it," Judy said, waving her hand as a trace of a Hispanic accent crept through. Worried? Reiko was feeling a bit worried herself. "We just might hear the word 'no' before it's a done deal." She chuckled, glancing at V who squeezed her shoulder. "The Dawson gang," she blinked, looking confused at the groan that came from Madison and the chuckle from Lily and Grace, "works with the Moxes but you aren't the Moxes, so you don't need to run to anyone for permission, right?"



"Alright then," Lily said. "Second, what's the pay?"



"A thousand for each of you," V said, "cash up front." There was a ding on Reiko's phone and she slipped it from a pocket to see that her bank had just sent her a message. "And another fifteen hundred for each of you afterwards."



"Once you crack open the Clouds accounts?" Grace asked, not waiting for an answer. "I say go for it. Fits right in with what we were just talking about."



"Yeah, one hell of a way to start the group off with," Lily said, making eye contact with each of the others. Reiko nodded, taking a deep breath and doing what she could to steel herself up. "Looks like you've got yourself some huscle for this gig, Alverez."



"V's the one who said we needed you," Judy said, shaking her head and sighing. "Well, let's get this started. Remember, you're looking out for Tom and Roxanne outside of Clouds. They know the place, they'll help you out."



"Got it," Lily said as she opened the door to her car. "Let's go, girls."



The drive across the river was spent studying the floorplans that V had sent them. Grace took the lead on that, since she wasn't driving and did know combat. By the time they pulled up underneath the shadow of the megabuilding, Reiko was feeling about as nervous and about as confident as she could. Two rather different emotions that conflicted pretty strongly inside of her.



Reiko was really glad that she didn't live in a megabuilding. It was just too big and too dark and too generally nasty and unpleasant. And the fact that there were some Tyger Claws lounging around the entrance they used didn't help, loudly talking to each other and accepting some fawning tribute from a man worried about his plumbing or something.



There was a short meetup with Judy, V and a handsome white man and a pretty black woman who were their contacts inside of Clouds. Then the first two left for their mission at the top of the building and the latter two left to head inside of Clouds. And that left the remaining four to creep their way along the backways.



"God damn, she wasn't kidding about the height," Madison muttered as they inched along the unrailed maintenance platform. "This looks a hell of a lot higher than eight stories."



"Don't look down at all then," Reiko suggested, taking her own advice and looking at the window to the back area of Clouds that they would be slipping through. Just a few more yards and a ladder, no problem. "Just think about, um-."



"That we're getting twenty five hundred each for this," Lily suggested as she shimmed up the ladder. "And quiet now."



The four of them piled through the window and into a storage area. Grace took the lead and the rest of them formed a line behind her, pressed up against the wall as Grace peeked through the door.



"Right, VIP area, four guards, five patrons," Grace muttered. "Madison, the staircase is to the left, Lily, our door is to the right. Ready?" She got a round of nods. "Flash out, then."



Grabbing a flashbang from her vest, she pulled the pin and lobbed it through the door. Someone noticed it and started to shout and then it was drowned out by a very loud bang and a flash of white light so bright that Reiko still blinked, even on the far side of the wall.



But everyone else was pouring through the door and there were already gunshots. Gripping her stungun tightly, Reiko charged in as well.



There were already a lot of bodies on the floor. Madison was heading for the door that connected to the lower half of Clouds and the sisters were heading in the opposite direction. And that meant-



That one of the guards hadn't been taken care of! Of course, he was on his knees, clawing at his eyes and cursing a storm.



A kneeling, deaf, blind man was just about the level of gangoon that Reiko felt comfortable handling on her own. She grabbed her new shock stick with her left hand and snapped it out, watching the blue crackle of electricity run up and down along its length. And making sure to keep a firm grip on it despite the thick padding of the support glove that she was wearing on that hand.



The first blow got the Tyger Claw thug sprawled on the floor and the next stopped him cursing. Reiko panted as she looked down at him and then around the room. Madison was working at the door, doing something with the wires that was making a charred scent fill the room. And the patrons here were starting to recover, clutching their heads and swearing up a storm.



"Sorry about this, folks," Reiko said as she headed for the door Grace and Lily had gone through. "Just going through a change of management right now, nothing to worry about!"



That got a laugh from Madison that Reiko didn't have much time to appreciate as she headed into the much less fancy backroom areas of Clouds. She had to step over a dead body sprawled in a doorway and stuck her head around a corner, just in time to see Grace go jumping through a window, her gun chattering as she shouted at the top of her lungs.



Lily was backing her up, pumping slugs through a doorway and into a desk that looked beat to hell already. Reiko stayed back, looking up and down the hallway that ran the length of Clouds. If that elevator at the far end opened and had a bunch of thugs on it, that could be a problem, even with that metal gate halfway down it.



Even as Reiko thought that, a door did open and a man went charging out on the far side of the gate. Reiko's hand twitched upwards and then her brain realized what she was seeing. Fat, white, middle-aged man, shit, that was the guy!"



"Hey, you, stop!" Reiko shouted, charging after him and barely even hearing the question that Lily sent her way.



The guy didn't stop and just kept on running towards the elevator. Reiko slammed against the gate and stuck her arm through the bars, aiming the stun gun at his back. She took a deep breath, held it and squeezed the trigger.



The man shouted and crumpled to the ground, his upper body propped up against the elevator door. Reiko shouted in triumph and pumped her hand. She had done it! Holy shit, she had actually managed it! Now, uh, to get to him.



He was groaning and twitching when Reiko finally found her way through a very fancy office to him. Reiko stood over him, feeling pretty proud of herself. For, um, shooting a man who didn't seem to be armed in the back as he ran away.



Okay, maybe she wasn't going to brag about this to Grace but she had still done it all on her own! That was worth something, right? She nodded as she grabbed the man's collar and started tugging him backwards. Okay. Well, wow, okay, this seemed to be going pretty good so far.



"Holy shit, holy shit, this is Roxxie," a voice said in Reiko's earpiece. "I've, we've, all the Tyger Claws are down here."

"Good," Madison said. "Unsealing the door now." She probably meant to turn the radio off as she started to grumble. "Three seconds after getting it locked up real tight, too. Just typical."



"This is Grace," was the next message. "Doing one last sweep up here but I think we're clear up here."



"And I've got Forest or whatever his name is," Reiko said with a grunt as she kept on slowly tugging the heavyset man along the corridor. "Could use some help carrying him."



Lily appeared soon after that, chuckling as she stared down at the man, who was starting to recover from being shocked. She reached down and hauled him up, both her and Reiko holding onto the shoulder opposite from them to move him along.



"Wakey, wakey, my friend," Lily said, tilting her masked face down to look at him. "There's some people who are just dying to meet you."



The man just groaned at that as he got hauled into the VIP lounge. There weren't any guests still there and Reiko didn't blame them for that. Hopefully they'd come back here after they calmed down and not go to another brothel.



"Pile up the bodies," Grace said, joining them with another corpse slung over her shoulders. "Sending a message here."



"And that message is that the janitor is going to be cursing us," Madison said as she glanced up at the camera that was swinging back and forth above their heads. "Hey, you two!" Two of the guards, including the one that Reiko had beat up, had survived. "Hands on your heads, assholes!"

Madison didn't cut the most intimidating figure (though she still looked tougher than Reiko) but the bleeding bullet wound in both of the men managed to get them to do as they were told. Reiko wondered if she should be offering medical aid to them and then decided that until they were cuffed, that was just an invitation for a hostage situation. Instead, she sighed deeply and grabbed the collar of a corpse, tugging it over to the pile that Grace was making.



"Good, glad to hear that," Lily said, getting Reiko to glance at her since that didn't seem to make much sense. "Techie, get the door unlocked, downstairs is secure."



"Close the door, open the door, close the door," Madison said with a sigh. "And if we're not using our real names around prisoners, I want a better code name than Techie."



"Here, watch them, make sure they don't try anything," Grace said, nodding at Reiko. "And who's this fat fuck?"



She glanced down at Woodman or whatever his name was, the one that Reiko had managed to tag. She squatted down to get a look at his face and grinned before rising back up.



"Damn, landed yourself a real catch, huh?" Grace said with a smirk. "Think this will make for a nice bonus."



"I can pay you right now," Woodman groaned as he lifted his head upwards to stare at them. "And I can even forget your faces when the Tyger Claws come back."



"How sweet," Grace said, patting his cheek. "But no need for that."



The door slid open before anything more could be said. The two joytoys came through the door, both holding pistols in their hands and with a few gangoons in front of them, hands on their heads and looking like they were in quite a bit of pain. Well, Reiko didn't mind that.



"Okay, get them on their knees and then…" Lily looked up at the camera. "Yeah, right there," she said, pointing. "That will let their bosses see what's going on." She turned to the side and started talking in a low voice to Alverz. Reiko could pick out the name but nothing more of the conversation.



So Reiko just stood where she was, covering the prisoners with her stun gun. And Grace doing a lot better job of it with her own, actual bullet-spewing gun, unslung and pointed at the backs of their heads.



It lasted for a minute or so before Lily looked up with a smile on her face. She clapped her hands together, getting everyone in the room to look at her.



"Okay, my fine fellows," she said, standing in front of the kneeling men. "You're in luck. You're getting to walk out of here with everything you've still got on you not you Forester!" Her voice rose to a shout as her pistol swung to point right at the man as he started to rise. "The rest of you, though," her voice instantly dropped back to normal, "get on out of here and be glad for it!"



There wasn't any outpouring of loyalty to their boss as the surviving gangers limped and bled their way down the stairs, escorted by Grace. That left the two joytoys in the room, their expressions getting outright ugly as they looked at Woodman. Reiko figured it wasn't that hard to figure out why the head pimp in a brothel wouldn't be inspiring love and trust from the workers there.



"Okay, the camera feed is off," Lily said after another short conversation. "Madison, go and delete all the footage, alright? I don't want a highlight reel getting out."



"Sure," Madison said, holstering her pistol and pointing at a door. "Security terminal through there?"

A nod sent her off and Reiko wondered what she should be doing. Before she could ask that, Lily turned to the two joytoys and smiled at them, taking off her mask. There were some more workers peering in through the door that led downstairs and when they saw Woodman, their faces darkened.



"Well, it seems that the plan upstairs fell apart, so it's on all of you to decide how things are going to be run," Lily said, leaning against a couch and smiling at the sex workers as they came into the room.



"It what?" The black woman (Reiko should get her name if she spent more time around her) asked in a hiss. She turned around and she started talking to Alverz as well. What a popular woman she was. "She sold us out?"



Reiko glanced at Lily who shook her head. Okay, Reiko could press for details later. For now, she looked over at an Asian… girl, really, smaller and younger than Reiko herself, who had picked up a pistol and was aiming it at Forester.



"Hey, listen So Mi," Forester said as he saw it too, "I know I've used a firm hand in keeping order here but-!"



Reiko wasn't the only one to jump when the gun went off and she heard Grace swear softly. But mostly she heard Forester swearing a lot more loudly as he clutched his left arm, red already soaking into his shirt sleeve.



"Use both hands and give yourself," Grace started to say before another shot rang out. This one sent Forester slumping backwards, his throat a ruin. "Yeah, that's the way. Um, shit."



The last was added in a quieter voice as the girl turned away and started crying. An older woman stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, talking in a quiet voice. Reiko looked at them and then shook her head, stepping over to Lily.



"Should we have stopped that?" Reiko asked, not sure what she would do if the answer was yes.



"Nah, he was the head pimp here. He had to be some sort of scum or other," the joyboy (Tom? Maybe) nodded in full agreement with that, "and he was never getting out of here alive once the workers got hold of the place."



"And now we need to keep it," the black woman said, stepping in at the end of that and clapping her hands, drawing the eye of everyone in the room. "Okay, everyone working today in here?"



"Lucy ran screaming out the front door when you kicked Arika in the dick, Roxanne," one of the women in the back volunteered. "No idea if she's coming back."

"Well, this is still the majority of the staff here," Roxanne said, not dissuaded at all. "And that means we need to start deciding some stuff. First thing, anyone want to leave and go ask the Tyger Claws for a job in a new whorehouse?" There was a pause for a moment. "Didn't think so! Now, next…"



Reiko tuned her out as Madison reappeared, looking as smug as well, someone who was very smug indeed. She gestured towards Grace, who joined the four of them.



"Not only did I wipe us from any security footage," Madison said with a grin and a lowered voice, "I poked around some other computers and found Cloud's bank account. How does a bonus to the tune of-!"



"No, don't say it," Lily said, holding her hand up and wincing. "I don't want to hear how much money I'm turning down." At Madison's confused face (not that Reiko felt less confused) she sighed. "The Clouds might be under new management but it's still running. They're going to need that money so just… put it back, alright?"



"I don't know how well you're doing but I could really use some more money," Madison said back in an equally quiet voice. "Two and a half thousand helps but I've still got rent coming up and I'd like to not be eating fucking kibble for the next week."



"You want money?" Grace asked. "I can get you a few extra eddies. Reiko, how much would you charge for a routine physical?"



"What?" Reiko blinked at the sudden turn in topic and she wasn't the only one. "Um, I'm training to be a ripperdoc, not a normal doctor." Grace made an impatient gesture with her hand. "I don't know, a hundred and fifty?"



"Great," Grace said, grabbing Reiko's shoulder and turning around to the meeting that was still going on under Roxanne's leadership. "Now something you haven't talked about," she said in a much louder voice, "is health and security." She tugged Reiko after her as the conversation fell silent. "Doctor Reiko here will check all of you out for any problems for a flat fee of five hundred for the entire group. And I can help you all figure out how to keep what you've got for five thousand."



"You offering yourselves up as security?" One of the women asked skeptically.



"Nah, just professional consultation. For now, at least," Grace said.



"That's not worth five thousand," Roxanne said, shaking her head. "Two thousand at the absolute most."

"Trust me, you want someone who knows this biz talking to you and it had better not be the next Tyger Claw to come through the front door," Grace said easily as Reiko stepped off to the side and grabbed her medical pack off of her hip. "It's easily worth four thousand, five hundred."



"With how things are right now, I couldn't possibly shell money out willy-nilly," Roxanne said. "Three thousand and that's it."



"Done," Grace said as one of the men in the crowd came over to Reiko. She got to work looking him over as Grace kept on talking in a loud, confident voice. "Now, the Tyger Claws were scumbags, obviously." That got a nod of agreement from everyone in the room, "but the security they offered wasn't just keeping you down. You'll need someone to throw out the drunks and the sadists when they come by again."



"We can do that," Tom said, waving his hands around in some sort of martial arts move. "We've got the knowledge up here now."



"Yeah?" Grace asked with a snort. "That Mr. Studd 'plant big enough to stop a bullet?" She shook her head. "Nah, you need someone with a gun and some combat 'ware."



"Someone like you?" Roxanne asked skeptically.



"Four of us?" Grace asked in turn, waving her hand around the VIP lounge. "Nah, that's too few. And, being a good bouncer is just about as looking tough as it is being tough. Who's going to get scared staring into the face of Reiko or Madison?" She ignored the sound of discontent that Madison made at that. "Even my sister is only scary when she has that mask on."



Reiko heard Lily mutter something about 'fucking comedy hour' as she ran through the general checkup that she would do on a patient before signing them up for an operation. Body check, blood pressure, all that sort of thing. Half of that was from what she already knew how to do, half of that was from the skillsofts in her head whispering what the right action to take was. And, luckily, the man didn't have anything wrong with him that would need Reiko to take off her support glove and actually use her new hand.



"Now, what you want to do is get on the phone with Suzie Q, the head of the Moxes," Grace was saying. "Say that you've got one hell of a deal for her. Brand new brothel with workers and a location and a client list, all set up and ready to go. And all you need is for her to send some of her girls over to look over things and smash the Tyger Claws flat when they come back to grab this again."



"And they will be coming back," Roxanne said with a nod. "I know some of the ones who ran with their tails between their legs. They won't want to lose the free pussy they get working here." She sighed heavily. "Changing one gang for another, huh?"



"This is Night City," Grace said with a shrug. "You can't go it alone."

Grace moved on to other security changes that should be done as Reiko kept on working on the people lining up for her to look them over. No modesty on display with them, quite fine with stripping off their clothes in front of everyone. Well, that made sense.



"So, doc," a white woman said, sitting down across from her. "What do you know about brain medicine?"



"You shouldn't get hit in the head," Reiko said, glancing up at her. "Why?"



"Well, it's these chips we've got," the woman said, tapping the side of her head. "That make us the perfect personality for whoever hires us." She made a face. "I've been here for five years now and it's like… like every time I finish a session, there's these voices at the back of my head, Sally Sadist and Nancy the Nympho and whoever else, talking louder and louder and I'm getting quieter and quieter." She shook her head and Reiko could see the fear in her eyes. "Got any pills in that bag to help with that sort of thing?"



"That is… outside my area of expertise," Reiko said slowly, feeling appalled at what she was hearing. "But I would say you should either get rid of that chip or stop using it."



"Can't stop using it and keep working at Clouds," the woman said with a shudder. "Though maybe now…" she looked up at Reiko. "But you don't think it will be a problem if I don't do any more deep dives?"



"I don't have the details on the chip and I don't have a lab to study it in," Reiko said with a shrug. "If you can find either of those, then you can get a better answer."



"Right," the woman said with a sigh. "But there's nothing else wrong with me?"



"Nothing that I can see," Reiko said, shaking her head. "Let's hope it stays that way."



The woman didn't look thrilled over what she was hearing but she also didn't demand that Reiko pull a miracle out of her ass, either. She just went over to the bar and poured herself a stiff shot of something amber. Reiko turned to the next and spared a thought for the woman before getting to her work.



After a while longer, there were no more checkups to do. Reiko packed her bag back up, feeling very pleased with how well that had gone. She still had a way to go before she could actually call herself a proper ripperdoc but at least she had done something today. Something useful and productive.



"Hey, Reiko," Lily said, twirling her mask around her fingers as she came over to Reiko. "Ready to head out?"



"I think so," Reiko said, looking around the lounge. "This is a pretty nice place, actually, you know?"



"Mm," Lily said with a grunt. "Peeked into one of the booths," she jerked her hand over at some of the doors that Reiko hadn't gone into. "A whole lot better than the nasty back alleys I had to work in. But man, those chips…" she shuddered. "Nasty physical circumstances or nasty mental circumstances, which is worse, huh?"



"Yeah," Reiko said, fastening her pack back to her hip. "I hope that they don't have to use it any more."



"And make themselves just another brothel without much of a hook to lure people in with," Lily said with a sigh and a shake of her head. "Deep in the heart of Tyger Claw territory, too. Well, it's their problem to decide on now. We've got a payday to enjoy."



"Smaller payday than Madison would have liked," Reiko said softly, even though most of the joytoys had scattered out through the building to do whatever.



"Yeah, but there will be other jobs later on," Lily said with a shrug as they headed down the stairs. "We did this job today well, we did it without getting hurt and Grace even managed to swing a few extra eddies our way to be split out."



"About as much as can be hoped for, huh?" Reiko asked, getting a nod in return.



"Just about, yeah," Lily said with a small smile. "And hell, we even did some good today. Nice feeling to know that, right?"



"Doing good and getting paid, what could be better?" Grace asked, joining in as she pushed herself off the wall by the front door. "Beyond doing good and getting paid a whole lot?"



"Some celebratory wild sex would fit the bill but I'm not going to be asking anyone here for it," Lily said with a chuckle. "Head on back to Lizzie's, find some preem BDs and have fun that way?"



"Think that all of the jobs of the Nightshift Avengers are going to go this easily?" Madison asked, rejoining them. "Who would have thought that overthrowing every organized group in a massive city would be so easy and painless, huh?"



"Yeah, yeah," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "It's a work in progress, sure enough. For now… let's just go relax and have some fun for a job well done, alright?"



That was certainly something that Reiko could get behind, no problem at all.

 

[WestOrEast]

Nightshift Avengers Chapter Seven​

"Looking good, Reiko," Lily said, nodding in approval as she looked Reiko up and down. "How does it feel to get properly chromed up?"

"Kind of nice," Reiko said, sure that if she said that often enough, she would start to convince herself about how true it was. She looked down at her new hand, flexing it and wiggling its fingers around, seeing the slim, shining digits moving with a fluidity that a normal hand could have managed. "Getting used to it."

"And it will be a comfort to all of us to know that our medic is even better at fixing up our mistakes," Lily said with a pat on Reiko's shoulder. "Anyway, care for a drink while we wait out the rain?"

"What do you have?" Reiko asked, glancing out the apartment window and seeing the acidic rain pouring down. "And thank you for letting me shelter in your apartment."

"Hey, no problem," Lily said, waving a hand as she crossed over to the minifridge. "Well, that's Grace's whiskey she's saving for something special and…"

"And it's too early in the afternoon to booze up anyway," Reiko said with a frown. "Something soft, please."

"Lemon-lime cola it is," Lily said, grabbing a can and tossing it over to Reiko.

"You call pop cola?" Reiko asked as Lily grabbed another can and straightened up.

"No, I call cola, cola and I call soda, soda," Lily said, cracking open the top of her black can and sipping from it.

"Oh," Reiko said, looking down at the can and seeing just what was printed on it. "Aren't I in for a treat."

"There's a reason it's been sitting in the fridge while I drink other stuff," Lily said with a shameless smile. "So bottoms up, girly!"

It wasn't as bad as Reiko had been worried about and if she took long enough pauses between sips, it was even kind of tolerable. Or maybe it would be better to just gulp it down quickly and get it all over with? Reiko couldn't make up her mind so she focused on something else.

"This is a nice apartment you and Grace have," Reiko said, putting the can to one side and making sure she would forget to finish it off.

"You are getting good at lying, aren't you?" Lily asked with a chuckle as she looked around the place. "It's not all that bad, I suppose. Not a patch on where you live, I know that much."

"Okay, so the rooms are smaller but you and Grace both have your own rooms," Reiko pointed out, waving a hand at the two closed doors right next to each other. "That's better than what I have."

"Thinking about moving out once you get some more money?" Lily asked, draining her can and lobbing it into the trash.

"I don't know," Reiko said with a sigh. "I'll either need to make more money on surgeries or more money working with you guys. Or not give Auntie something to help with her medical bills."

"Well, for what it's worth, got a new job from a new fixer that I want to talk over with all of you," Lily said. "As soon as we can all get together." At Reiko's interested expression, she added, "Lady named Regina, over in Heywood. Give you the deets when it's all of us."

"Well, if it comes with pay, then I'm all for it," Reiko said, holding up her hands. "Until then…" she looked around the apartment again. "Hey, is that a lab coat?"

"Oh, um," Lily's skin was too black for the red of embarrassment to easily show up on her cheeks but the rest of her face communicated that just fine. "Yes. Yes it is."

Reiko gave Lily a look, inviting her to continue on that. Lily sighed, shook her head and then laughed, pushing herself away from the wall and heading over to closet and opening the door all the way.

"Yes, it is a lab coat and yes, it is a real lab coat," Lily said, holding a sleeve in one hand. "I've just never seen it in a lab."

"So…" Reiko joined her, looking it up and down. No corporate logo sown onto it, so it could have come from anywhere in the city or even outside of it. "How'd you get it?"

"Well, you know how one-night stands are famous for clothing get scattered all over the place?" Lily asked with a chuckle. "You'd think that a coat this big would be hard to miss but in the rush to get out the next morning, it was left behind. And, well…"

"You like dressing up in it?" Reiko guessed.

"No," Lily shook her head. "No, it's not me that I like seeing in it."

"Oh," Reiko said, staring at Lily and then deciding to study the coat instead. "You know, um, I could qualify to wear a white coat like this. And Auntie wears one pretty often, too."

"Trust me, I'm well aware of that," Lily said with a chuckle. "It's just a pity that you two wear something underneath the lab coat."

Reiko blushed pretty hard as she took that in, not sure how she should respond. She liked the idea of it, certainly! It was kind of… it was really nice. Lily was attractive on her own right, too, and she had to know a lot more about sex than Reiko, even if most of it was focused on guys.

"I could, maybe…" Reiko found this really hard to say even though it sounded like it would lead to something pretty fun. "Wear this and get down to something you'd like to see."

The final few words were very drawn out and also in such a quiet voice that Reiko herself could barely hear them. Lily smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

"I certainly wouldn't mind seeing that, Reiko," Lily said. "And if it makes you feel comfortable, I could strip down as well, to match you."

Reiko glanced at Lily at that. She meant to look at Lily's eyes but her gaze ended up lingering on other parts of the black woman's body. Oh boy. Oh boy, that was… the two of them… Lily's giggle got Reiko to look up at her face.

"Okay," Reiko said, taking a deep breath and grabbing the lab coat, holding it in her arms. "I'm going to, um, go change in… a room."

"Use mine," Lily said, waving a hand at a door. "Been a while since I had sex with a sexy Asian woman. She was older than you, mind."

"Wait," Reiko said, holding up her hand as a horrible thought came to her. "Lab coats, older Asian woman-" she didn't want to say it, she didn't even want to think it but she had to. "Did you have sex with Auntie?"

Lily stared at her for a long moment before bursting into laughter. Reiko couldn't tell what kind of laughter it was, though, and she was still feeling nervous as Lily sat down, still cackling.

"Oh man," Lily said, holding her head in one hand. "Oh wow, I did not expect to get asked that today."

"Well, did you?" Reiko asked, not at all sure what she would do if the answer was yes.

"No," Lily said, still giggling as she shook her head back and forth. "No, you're the first person in your family I'll have had sex with, if that settles your mind." It did, kind of. "I mean, the doc's good looking, no question about it. But the combo of a lab coat and a cute Asian woman, well, you're the first match of that for me."

"Thanks," Reiko said, feeling her cheeks heat for a number of different reasons. "And it wasn't that funny."

"Oh yes it was," Lily said, nodding her head. "Just busting that question right out there… wow, I was not expecting anything like that."

She laughed again and Reiko crossed her arms and tried to look stern instead of pouting. Unable to think of a good response to any of that, she turned around and headed for the bedroom door, not looking back even when she heard the rustle of clothing.

On the other side, she took a deep breath and started to undress. She looked around the dark bedroom and it was… a bedroom, really. A lot of music posters on the walls, of bands that Reiko had never heard of and that had a roughness to them that suggested they hadn't been professionally designed for maximum appeal in an office. A bed that took up most of the floor space and was big enough for Lily but would probably struggle to fit two people on it.

Reiko got rid of her outer layers before deciding to keep her underwear on. She wrapped the white coat around her, feeling it brushing against her naked legs. There was still a whole lot of red on her face as she held it tightly closed before turning around and facing the door. Okay, she could do this. She had had sex before, Lily had fucked before, this wasn't going to be strange and weird or anything. It should be fun, in fact.

Conquering the brief spat of nerves, Reiko opened the door and stepped out into the living room. And realized pretty quickly that Lily had thought that Reiko would be stripping down a lot further than she actually had.

"Um," Reiko said, staring in shock and lust. "Wow."

"Thanks," Lily said, stretching and twisting her body from side to side, letting Reiko get a good look at every part of her. "It's nice to be appreciated, you know?"

Reiko nodded and kept on staring. Lily looked… wow, this was hot. She remembered that she had her own stuff to do and took a deep breath as she held her lab coat open, showing herself off. It would have been nice if she had some sexy underwear to wear, but what she had jumped into this morning would just have to do.

Lily certainly didn't seem to mind. She nodded and smiled as her eyes slowly worked up and down along Reiko's body, taking it all in and so very clearly approving of what she was seeing. She chuckled and came over to Reiko, holding her close to the older woman and smiling.

Reiko leaned up for a kiss, gently pressing her lips against Lily's. Lily was a lot more into it, wrapping her arms around Reiko's shoulders and holding on tightly as she started to make out with her. Reiko moaned into Lily's mouth, feeling more and more turned on and aroused from this as her hands slid up and down along Lily's bare skin, feeling the softness and the warmth there.

The two of them made out like that for a bit before drawing back. Reiko was breathing hard and feeling pretty nice. She could stand to feel a whole lot better, sure, but this was still awfully good and pleasant.

"Damn, you really do look nice like this," Lily said with a nod as she looked Reiko up and down, running her eyes back and forth and taking it all in. "So sexy."

"I'm not going to be working at the clinic just wearing this," Reiko pointed out with a blush as she felt Lily's eyes soaking her up.

"Mm, well, if I ever need a private consultation, maybe we can work something out," Lily said with a chuckle, trailing her hand down along Reiko's arm. "You look just like a sexy doctor, Reiko."

"Is that a stethoscope in your pants or are you happy to see me?" Reiko asked with a giggle and laughed harder at the loud sigh and the roll of the eyes that Lily gave.

"Let's not bust that one again, alright?" Lily asked with a chuckle. "Instead, how about you give me a full examination?"

"Oh, I'd love that," Reiko said softly, nodding her head as she reached over to grab Lily's hips. She slid her hands up and down along them and then across her body, going up and taking Lily's breasts in her hands. "These are great."

"They may not be the biggest rack around but I still approve of them," Lily said with a nod, her own hands crossing Reiko's sides to get to the strap of her bra. "And what do we have here?" She found the clasp and undid it, letting the white bra fall down to the ground. "Something damn fine."

Reiko blushed slightly but was very pleased with the obvious lust and enjoyment in Lily's eyes as she stared at her boobs. And when Lily reached down to cup and squeeze them, that just made things better and coaxed a soft sound out from Reiko.

Then the two of them were kissing again as they felt each other up, their hands moving along each other's bodies as they made out. Reiko could feel the arousal starting to rise upwards inside of her, the pleasure pulsing inside of her body. It felt really nice just on its own and touching Lily's body felt great as well.

Lily slowly walked forward, driving Reiko backwards, back into Lily's room. Lily flicked the light on and closed the door and looked Reiko in the eyes. Then she smiled and kissed Reiko again, their tongues and lips pressing against each other as they embraced and made out.

"Mm, you're just so cute, Reiko," Lily said with a chuckle as she squeezed Reiko's rear through the coat. "You know everything I want to do to you?"

"No but if you want to describe it, I wouldn't mind hearing about it all," Reiko said with a giggle and a flush.

"Well, first I'd tie you to the ceiling and then bring out the chocolate sauce," Lily started before seeing the look on Reiko's face and cracking up. "Nah, really, I'd like to eat you out."

"I'm, I'm fine with that," Reiko said with a nod, thoughts about just how dexterous Lily's cybertongue could be filling her mind. "And I could return the favor!"

"I'm sure you could, but trust me, I'm going to make you feel so good, we're going to have to take turns to make the most of it," Lily said, her hands in Reiko's panties and pulling them down. "Get on the bed and spread your legs."

That was something that Reiko could easily do. She sat down and took a deep breath, feeling a bit embarrassed over being naked in front of Lily but not really minding the exposure, not when she could look at Lily's face and see those beautiful breasts and everything. That was really hot all on its own and the thought that there could be some more waiting for her… yeah, that was even better.

Lily went to her knees in front of Reiko and kissed the inside of her thigh. She worked her way up, staring into Reiko's eyes the entire time. That was doing a lot for Reiko and making her feel better and better as she kept on getting tended to by her friend. She was going to have to give just as much back to Lily when the time came, wasn't she?

Nodding at that, she reached down and slid her hands through Lily's hair. It was almost all pink by now. Did that mean that Lily was feeling turned on and horny? Reiko sure hoped that it did, feeling the strands gliding through her fingers as she touched the other girl's head.

Then Reiko felt Lily's lips pressing against a different set of lips. That was really, really good and Reiko gasped in pleasure at the pulse that ran through her. And then Lily got down to work and it started feeling a whole lot better very, very quickly.

Lily really was good at this. Really, really good. Reiko had no idea how much of this was Lily's practiced skill versus what her metal tongue could provide but did it matter? When it was feeling this good, making Reiko melt as she felt the arousal roar into life like embers with dry wood tossed on top of them. She trembled at the bliss that started to pour through her.

And Lily was still looking up at her. With an outright smile in her eyes at the effect that she was having on Reiko. Reiko didn't mind that at all and smiled back as her hands came up to squeeze her boobs. That felt nice. Really nice. She trembled and twitched as she felt her fingers adding to the pleasure that she felt.

"Oh, this is good," Reiko moaned, closing her eyes. "This is really nice. Please keep going, Lily!"

Lily chuckled, her breath puffing against Reiko's pussy. And then she kept going, which was just amazing. Reiko sighed happily and smiled, nodding in pleasure as she felt the tongue sliding back and forth, working at her folds, making her feel amazing as an orgasm formed inside of her and rose up and up. The pleasure increasing, demanding that she give in to it, that she let this bliss spread out through every single portion of her body and make her feel just as good as a girl could possibly feel.

Reiko kept on playing with her breasts, not resisting the urge that was rising inside of her. She welcomed it, she would love to feel that bliss uncoil and flood her body in an orgasm. And then she would be doing the same to Lily, even though she knew she wouldn't be anywhere near as skilled with her tongue.

She didn't mind, she just wanted this all to continue, the bliss to keep on spreading, rising, filling every single part of her up. And especially since it was with one of her friends, someone she cared like this about. She nodded and then shivered as she felt the tingles of pleasure.

"It's not going to be long now," Reiko whispered softly, blushing at just how good all of this was. How seriously amazing. "Please, any minute now, it's… ah, it's… Oh!"

It was even closer than Reiko had thought that it would be. She whimpered, her voice rising up and up to a loud moan as she felt the sudden shock of bliss that went screaming through her. Oh. Oh, that was amazing, she really loved this, it was amazing and she… it was too hard for Reiko to think right now, so she didn't. She just let this happen and enjoyed it for everything that it was worth. And that was more than enough.

Reiko sagged back downwards onto the bed, panting as she kept on feeling the heat and the bliss pouring through her. What an amazing sensation. What a seriously amazing sensation. She absolutely loved this, it was making her feel so amazing, she was so lucky to get to have this done to her and she was feeling so very grateful towards Lily for making this happen.

It took a moment for Reiko to lift herself up off the bed and look down at Lily. The black woman had drawn backwards, sitting on her heels and looking very smug and pleased with herself as she licked up the arousal that had smeared her lips. Reiko flashed her a big smile, trying to make it clear just how good that orgasm had been. Though the way that her thighs were twitching and shaking still, despite her attempts to calm them down was probably a pretty good indication of just how much pleasure Lily had stirred up inside of her.

"Thank you," Reiko said with a firm nod, trying to pour as much sincerity and gratitude into that as she possibly could. "That was just amazing."

"And quick, too," Lily said with a chuckle. "I can't take all the credit for that, no matter how good I am." She rose up and sat down on the bed next to Reiko. "Been a while since you've gotten some loving?"

"I… yeah," Reiko admitted with a blush. "Now that Auntie's back, it's kind of hard to get enough privacy, you know?"

"Eh, if Grace texts me to ask me to spend the evening at a bar, I've got no problems with that and don't need to ask why," Lily said with a shrug. "But I suppose it's harder when she's the one who raised you."

Reiko nodded and then took a deep breath, rolling over on top of Lily. Lily looked a bit surprised but not at all worried, especially when Reiko hugged her and planted a kiss on her lips. That got the topic off of family and onto… well, words weren't really being exchanged right now.

Which didn't matter, as Reiko brought her head down to lick Lily's nipple, moving her tongue back and forth against the dark mound. It didn't taste like much of anything but it did get Lily to take a deep breath and nod, a smile on her face as she reached down and stroked Reiko's back, sliding her hands up and down along the lab coat.

"That's nice," Lily said softly. "That's really nice. Keep it up, alright?"

That was something that Reiko could easily do. Her other hand was down between Lily's thighs, pressing against the wetness there and doing her best to stroke it and tease it and draw all sorts of interesting sounds from Lily. It felt nice to do this, putting a wellspring of energy inside of Reiko as she worked.

And then she sank down, just like how Lily had done. She didn't think that she was going to be getting Lily off anywhere near as quickly as Lily had for her, but so long as she managed it eventually, that would be good enough, right? Reiko nodded to herself in reassurance and then got to work, moving her tongue back and forth as best as she could, studying Lily's pussy carefully and casting glances upwards to see just what was having the best effects on her friend.

"Mm," Lily said with a nod and a smile. "Don't you stop that, Reiko." She chuckled, her hands clutching the sides of Reiko's head. "That's just feeling too good for you to stop."

That was nice and encouraging and Reiko kept on going, doing what she could to make this be as good as it possibly could be. A lick there, a lick here, she just kept on going and going, tending to Lily's wet pussy and feeling the nice pulse of pleasure that went through her body as she did so. It was kind of getting her worked up again, too. Worked up enough that they might switch again? That sure was a nice thought.

Reiko hoped that the rain would last for a long, long time. Long enough that the two of them could really try out everything that they wanted to do. After all, a doctor needed to know everything about her patient, right? That was just medical sense. So if the two of them spent the rest of the afternoon tangled up in Lily's bed, well, that would only be for the best.

Reiko licked Lily's clit and was rewarded with a wonderful shiver and gasp. Oh yes, this was most certainly going to be for the best and Reiko was looking forward to doing as much as she could with her friend. And she hoped that Lily would want to do just as much with her.

Which just left the question of Grace. With Madison and Lily, that left only the team's solo. So should Reiko try to complete the set or was Grace going to try to complete her set.

Well, either it would happen or it wouldn't. Right now, there was something much better for Reiko to be focusing on in front of her.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

pulling a Silverhand

Click to shrink...

I absolutely love that this is a thing, because MAN was Johnny Fucker such an idiot.

 

[WestOrEast]

I absolutely love that this is a thing, because MAN was Johnny Fucker such an idiot.

Click to shrink...

He'll be making a second-hand appearance later on but right now, that stuff with V is about as much as I plan to bring canon characters into this. Night City is big enough to have room for plenty of stories in it.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

He'll be making a second-hand appearance later on but right now, that stuff with V is about as much as I plan to bring canon characters into this. Night City is big enough to have room for plenty of stories in it.

Click to shrink...

That makes sense, but I mean, separate from his role as a deuteragonist in the game, Silverhand is a historical figure in-setting that people would know about.

 

[WestOrEast]

Nightshift Avengers Chapter Eight

​

​

"How much longer, Madison?" Lily asked, her voice low and almost a growl.



"Almost there," Madison grunted as she kept on tapping at the deck mounted on her chromed arm. "These are new cameras."

"Are they good cameras?" Lily asked in a rather pointed tone. "Or does that old piece of junk just have trouble talking to anything made after any of us were born?"

Madison glared at Lily for a second. Reiko glanced back and forth between the two of them and then slowly sank downwards, even further behind the dumpster that she and Frankenbot were crouched behind. Grace glanced back at the rest of the group and then turned back, keeping the scope of her rifle pressed up against her eye.



"If I get fried because you want fast, it's all on you," Madison said with a grumble as she turned back to look at the rear security cameras of the shop.



"I don't want fast, I just can't use slow," Lily said. "The night isn't going to last forever."

Madison made a rude sound underneath her breath and then let her deck fall away. She stared at the cameras for a second and Reiko was sure that she was doing something impressive, there just weren't any visible signs of it.



"Alright," Madison said in a very short amount of time later, "the cams are down. Let's-!"

She started to rise up and made a squeaking sound as Grace reached behind her and yanked her back down. Reiko tensed up as a security guard slowly walked around the inner side of the fence separating the machine shop from the rest of Night City, his gaze going up and down as he looked around. Then he was on his way, rounding the corner of the building.



"Now we can go," Grace said, rising up from the crate she had been behind and hustling over to the fence.



Everyone followed her and Reiko winced at the sound of Frankenbot's metal feet hitting the concrete. They were going to need to attach some rubber padding to the soles, weren't they?



Lily placed the ladder she carried against the fence and hustled everyone up it. Reiko took a deep breath and climbed it as quickly as she could, only pausing for a second when the time came to swing her legs over the spikey tips and down onto the crate pressed against the inside of the wall. She did it, though, and joined Grace and Madison.



It was a short enough dash across the small yard, stacked with crates and a few forklifts. Nothing that looked valuable, not unless you had a semitruck to load it all up in. Reiko supposed that might be why there were so few security guards. Or it could just be because the company was too cheap to shell out anything more.



The bot was left behind to move the ladder away and bring it back when needed. And also because both Reiko and Madison had doubts about just how good it would be at climbing a ladder and swinging itself over a fence. Reiko glanced back at it and really hoped that it would still be there when they got back. Night City was full of thieves, after all.



Case in point, Madison was already swiping the door to the small factory open with the key card that Jones had provided. It slid open and then the four of them were inside the rear of the shop, in the small warren of store rooms, a break room and whatever else that didn't need a lot of open space to install heavy machinery in.



And there were the stairs. The four of them crept up it, Reiko in the rear half, with only Lily behind her. It was very quiet and dark in here and Reiko was kind of reminded of a horror film. Though it would be one unlucky monster who tried jumping out in front of Grace.



It was easy enough to find the head office, since it was a door made out of actual wood instead of the brushed plastic that everything else had. And it wasn't even locked, either.



Reiko shook her head as she stepped inside. This was a nice office. It beat the hell out of the nook Auntie had crammed a desk into where she handled the clinic's accounts and inventory. A sidebar along the wall that had some sort of fancy metal sculpture on it, walls that didn't have a single trace of peeling paint on them, a desk big enough for Reiko to lay down on it and not have her feet or the top of her head touch the ends.



"Damn, window overlooking the work floor?" Grace asked as they stepped inside to the thickly carpeted office. "Guess he doesn't trust the workers to stay focused without him looking down at them."

"And the workers don't trust the boss," Lily said. "Madison, get the computer. Grace, watch the door, Reiko, watch the window for anyone moving down there on the floor."

Reiko nodded and hurried across the office to press herself up against the wall. She fingered the stun gun, still in its holster as she stared down at the dark, empty floor. Man, those machines gave a lot of cover, didn't they? She swallowed and kept on watching, feeling about as determined as she could that nobody could sneak up on them and ruin this.



It should be a simple job. It should be a really simple job without any room to mess things up in. Get in without anyone seeing them, head right to the regional director's office. Copy over some information and then delete it off the computers. Find some naughtiness that the guy was involved in and copy that, too. Hand both shards over to the underground union, the first to get Redmark to the table so they could get the data they needed to run the company with back in their hands. The second to make sure that the director understood that he had better hold to the terms agreed to. Talk to nobody, interact with nobody, not give anybody any sign that anything was wrong until tomorrow morning came and people started shitting bricks when they saw that what they needed wasn't here.



And all the girls would get a payday out of this, too. That was important. Auntie might be working again and bringing in the money but she had still racked up the bills in the hospital and Trauma Team was not someone you wanted to stiff on repayment. So Reiko would be quite happy to give a good chunk of what she made tonight over to her aunt so that her happy home life could continue without any problems.



"Okay, let's see," Madison said. "Boot it up and… wow, one of you guys could have gotten onto this."

"Really?" Lily asked. "That easy?"

"When he writes the password down and puts it on a sticky note, yeah, real easy," Madison said, a note of contempt entering her voice. "Okay, first shard in and the data is… here. Copying it over."

Well, this seemed like it was going well. The thought came to Reiko but she didn't say it, because Grace had been really, really clear about what happened to people who commented on how easy a mission was before it was over.



And sure enough, after a few minutes passed in silence, Madison made a worried sound. Since there hadn't been a lick of movement on the shop floor, Reiko turned to look at the white woman as she sat behind the large desk.



"What is it?" Lily asked, coming over to rest one arm on the desk.



"I've got the shipping information copied over to this shard for the union," Madison said, pulling it out of the computer. "And wiped off of the company's servers. But I can't find any dirt to use on this guy."

"What, nothing?" Lily asked, sounding concerned behind her mask.



"Nothing," Madison said flatly. "No kinky porn, no evidence of an affair, no embezzlement. I'm seeing nothing here that could work as blackmail."

"Shit," Lily said in a soft but heated voice. "Damn it, the shop boys," she waved a distracted hand at the factory floor, still dark and empty, "won't be able to keep Redmark honest if they don't have something to pressure the regional head with."

"Listen, I can't find what isn't here," Madison said, sitting back in the comfy leather chair. "If Director Cooper is doing something naughty-."

"Of course he is," Grace said from her spot by the door.



"If he is, he isn't leaving it on his work computer," Madison said, speaking over the interruption.



"Okay," Lily said, clutching her mask with one hand as she took a few steps back and forth. "Alright, can you fake something, I suppose?"

"Ehhhhhh," Madison said, wiggling her hand back and forth. "Cooper would know that it's fake, no matter how good of a job I do. Could probably prove that it's fake, too, if he got some corpo techheads in to fiddle with this machine."

"Just call it here?" Reiko asked. "Tell the union that they've got what we can get and that's that?"

"I don't know," Lily said with a grunt. "Our first job for Regina? I want to come out of this looking good. Everything in order, done as neatly as can be. Not offering up some excuse, no matter how true it is."

"You said there was nothing on his work machine," Grace said suddenly. "What about his home computer?"

"Well, it's his home computer," Madison said. "We aren't at home. I have no idea what's on it."

"Yeah, but," Grace said, stepping away from the door and bringing her fist down on her palm, "if we go pay the director a visit, we might be able to find whatever naughty secrets he has on his own personal property. And even if he somehow is actually clean, I can just work him over and promise him the same again if he goes back on whatever deal the union makes with Redmark."

Reiko didn't like the sound of that. She wanted to like Grace and you weren't supposed to like people who proposed torturing other people.



"It's worth a shot," Lily said in a musing tone. "You got his address, Madison?"

"Yeah, right here," Madison said, patting the computer monitor. "No idea what kind of security he has, though."

"Well, we can scope it out and call it off if there's an armored regiment sitting outside," Lily said with a nod. "Otherwise, I'm willing to reach out and try to grab the whole thing."

She looked around and got agreeing nods from everyone else. Even Reiko agreed with it, though her nod was a lot slower coming than the others and quite a bit shallower.



"Okay, make sure that the only copy of that shipping info is on the shard," Lily said, pointing at Madison. "We can at least make sure that one part of the job is taken care of."

"Already done," Madison said with a nod, standing up from the chair. "The union's got their bargaining chip, no worries there."

"Great," Lily said with a sigh through her mask. "Alright, back to the car and let's keep it quiet, people. Let's leave a nice surprise for everyone when they come into work tomorrow."



Reiko could smile at that. They all carefully filed out of the office, down the stairs and then into the back yard of the factory. And Frankenbot even understood what was expected of it and put the ladder back in place for them to climb over.



Just in time, too, as the guard came back around on another round of the endless patrol. Man, Reiko was glad that she didn't have that job. Of course, by this time tomorrow, that guard probably wouldn't have that job, not after it was found that people had snuck in, stole some data and got back out without him ever suspecting anything.



"Good job, Franky," Reiko said, patting the robot on the shoulder.



She looked it over as they all hurried back to Lily's wheels. A can of paint had at least made the limbs match the chassis, though it was still a long way from being the kind of thing you saw in a Militech or Arasaka propo video. Especially with the programming, which was, uh, adequate was the kindest word that Reiko could use.



"Okay, Director Tony Cooper lives in Apartment Three Four One, Building B in the LuxuRise complex," Madison said, her eyes unfocused as she stared straight ahead. "In City Center."

"Ugh, of course he does," Lily groused as she started the car. "Give me an address."

"Think we'll have to deal with cops there?" Grace asked as the car lurched into motion on the second try. "Or just private security?"

"I can tell you one thing, we won't be going in guns blazing," Lily said as she pulled her mask off with one hand while keeping the other on the wheel. "Got that?" She twisted around to stare into the back of the car where Reiko and Madison sat. "A rich place like that, sitting in the middle of downtown? We'd get buried in badges and corpsec in no time flat if we try a drive-by."



"Hey, I can work quietly," Grace said, holding up a hand and clenching it into a fist a few times. "Oh, Mads, question. We going to have to worry about family in there with him?"

Reiko hadn't even thought of that and it put a leaden weight in her stomach.



"His emergency contact is listed as his mother," Madison said with a shrug. "So I really doubt it. Might have a significant other there, though."

"Or maybe he's at his S.O.'s place," Grace said with a chuckle. "Won't that be a waste of time if he is, huh?"

Reiko didn't laugh at that, either. She just sighed and leaned back against the torn seat, calming herself down as the car moved south, over into the fancier part of Night City.



"There we are," Lily said after a bit, pulling into an alley. "Third floor you said, Madison?"

"Yeah," Madison agreed, leaning forward and resting her arm on Lily's seat. "So how are we going to do this?"



"A complex this big must have its own security center," Grace put in. "Can you find it, Mads?"

"Yeah," Madison said after a second, her finger pointing off to the side and through an unrelated building. "Ground floor, apartment building one. Looks like just the one guy inside, watching the camera feeds. A lot more wandering the grounds, though, and some more in the lobbies of each building."

"Gunplay was never the plan anyway," Lily said, getting a firm nod from Reiko. "Okay, the ladder to go over the fence and then Madison, you head to the security center. Can you get in by yourself?"

"Yeah, but I don't want to be by myself," Madison said, shaking her head. "Reiko, can I borrow Frankenbot off of you?"

"Sure," Reiko said, grabbing the laser designator from her belt and passing the small cylinder over to the older woman. "Remember how this works?"

"Man, I was the one who helped you program it, of course I remember what to do," Madison said with a huff. "I'll keep it on point and shoot until we're in the surveillance room, then switch over to unrestricted mode."


Reiko wasn't sure how the corpos with all their fancy tech did things with their security robots, but what she and Madison had ended up programming into the empty shell of the bot were two fire modes. One of them was a restricted mode, where it only shot at things that Reiko painted with the laser pointer. The other was a free-fire mode, where it would shoot at everyone that wasn't already tagged as a friendly (Reiko, the rest of the Avengers, Auntie, that was it). Including people who were just passing by, which was why the first mode had been programmed in.



"Okay, you get in there and keep an eye on the guards and keep any alert from being raised either by them or by our friend the director," Lily said. "Grace, Reiko, you'll be coming with me up to his apartment." She paused and held up a hand. "And since we're going to be leaving witnesses, that means we won't be using our names and we won't be showing our faces. One sec."

She hopped out of the car and went around to the back, popping the trunk. Reiko could hear the sounds of Frankenbot being shifted around and then Lily was back, already sliding into an unmarked black hoodie and pulling it up over her long, multicolored hair.



"Here," she said, passing out cheap copies of the mask that she wore on the job. "They don't have all the fun optics of my flash but it will keep them from seeing your faces."

"And make us look a bit scarier," Grace said, taking hers and sliding it over her face. "So, codenames, huh? What are you thinking?"

"I can be Hornet," Reiko chimed in. "Um, Madison can be Wasp, Grace can be Yellowjacket and Lily can be Bumblebee."

"Should I be looking into a deeper meaning behind those choices?" Lily asked with a chuckle, getting a shake of the head from Reiko. "Yeah, I'm certainly the cute and fuzzy Bumblebee while you're the mean and merciless Hornet."

"It was just the first set of themed names that came to mind," Reiko said, crossing her arms over her chest.



"And they work," Grace said, stepping out of the car. "I'd have gone for colors, but what the hell. You all ready?"

A few moments later, they were once again clambering over a fence and dropping down on the other side. This time, Grace tugged a rope to haul the ladder over onto their side before stashing it. Then the team split up, Reiko tagging along after the sisters as they sprinted across the children's play area to the side door to B Building.



It was locked but they weren't completely reliant on Madison for anything involving electricity. A moment of fumbling and it slid open. As Reiko stepped inside, she saw Madison doing the same to A Building's door.



The corridor inside this building was certainly fancier than the one outside Reiko's apartment, though there was only so much you could do with tile. Lily cracked open the stairwell door and peered up it, before nodding. Then it was another sprint, as quiet as could be, up two stories of stairs. Reiko could feel her heart pounding in her chest at the end of it and was reminded that she either needed to start working out more or get some more chrome inside of her.



"Here we are, rooms three… forty," Lily said, glancing at the plates on each door. "This way."

At least up here, the floors were carpet, so they made a lot less noise as they went down the hallway. And it was past midnight, so there was nobody coming home or leaving for work or anything. Just a short, quiet walk down the hall and then they were stacked up outside Three One Three.



"How do we get inside?" Reiko asked in a whisper. "Without waking up everyone else on the floor?"

"Just leave that to me," Lily said. "Yellowjacket, when the door opens, I want you through it right away. And quietly."

Grace nodded and slipped her assault rifle onto her back, before drawing out a baton from her waist that she flicked out to its full, two-foot length.



Lily rose up and rubbed her throat. Reiko stared at her, not at all sure what she was seeing. Especially when Lily just stood there for a few seconds.



"Director Cooper?" Lily said abruptly, making Reiko flinch. "Sir?" There was a brief pause. "Yes, sir, this is Hanako Edwards, on the overnight security team at the plant?" There was a faint Japanese accent in her voice now. "Sir, there's something really weird going on down here and they want to talk to you."



Reiko was impressed and she glanced at the door, not hearing any signs of life behind it. Grace wasn't looking at her sister and was instead narrowly focused on the door.



"I don't know, this guy in a fancy suit drove up and is waving around papers saying that he owns everything now and that if we have a problem, too bad." Lily shook her head back and forth and perked up as all three of them heard sounds on the other side of the door. "No, sir, I won't. And sir?"

"Surprise," Grace said as the door hissed open.



She stepped through, her baton swinging outwards and taking the man right in the nose. He fell backwards, hands coming up to grab at his nose as he made all kinds of strange sounds. Reiko and Lily filed in behind her, the door closing behind them as they did so.



The first thing that struck Reiko was how nice this apartment was. The main room they were in was almost the size of her and Auntie's entire apartment and a lot more nicely furnished. And there were at least three doors from here that Reiko could see, not to mention a kitchen that actually looked like a kitchen, instead of a fridge, a sink and a microwave.



Then she focused on Director Cooper as Grace reached down and clapped a hand over his mouth as he started to shout. That muffled him nicely, even as blood ran down from his broken nose.



The man himself was about average height for a man, though quite a bit stockier than average. His hair was white with a few streaks of a dull red mixed in and he was wearing a suit jacket over his pajamas. Some signs of cyberware around the eyes and the sides of his skull, but if he had any combat stuff, he obviously wasn't brave enough to use them.



"Okay, where's his computer?" Lily asked as she grabbed a jammer from her belt and put it on the coffee table. "And don't you worry, Tony, we aren't planning to kill you. It would really ruin a lot of things if you died, in fact. So just stay there and be a good boy, alright?"

Cooper tried to say something more through Grace's hand but Reiko couldn't tell what it was. Instead, she started poking her head through doors, really glad that she wasn't finding some half-naked woman or man that would throw a major wrench into a plan that had already gone off the rails.



"In here," Reiko said as she found the bedroom. "Got the computer."

The bedroom wasn't as big as the main room but it was even more finely furnished. Reiko would kill for a bed like that, easily able to fit three and obviously never intended to fold up into a couch. All she let herself do, though, was run her hand over the silk sheets as Grace pulled Cooper in.



"Wasp, how are things looking?" Lily asked quietly as Grace cuffed Cooper to the posts on the bed.



"Just fine," Madison replied. "Got the guard in here tied and gagged and I'm watching all the feeds." There was a brief pause. "You know that these guys are Orion Security?" There was a note to Madison's voice that Reiko had never heard from her before.



"No shit?" Lily asked. "Well, that doesn't change things. Just keep on doing your part and let us know if anything changes."

"What the fuck are you people after?" Cooper moaned, sniffling on his bed and crossing his eyes to try and stare at his nose. "Money? I don't keep much here."

"Nah, we're more interested in your computer," Lily said, turning to look at him as she sat down on the chair in front of the work desk. "You going to be a sport and tell us the password? Or do we have to jog your memory?"

Grace laughed at that and loudly tapped her baton against her palm. Cooper stared back and forth at the two of them and swallowed hard. The moment drew out for a long while and then Lily sighed and nodded at Grace.



The baton came whipping down, right into Cooper's stomach. He gasped loudly and his entire body lurched forward. Reiko couldn't hide her flinch at the casual display of violence but she got herself together before Cooper could possibly pay attention to anything but his own pain.



"Bit lower down and you'll be pissing blood for a while," Lily said idly. "I can tell you from personal experience, that is not fun to do. What's the password?"

"Agh, ugh, guh," Cooper panted, rocking back and forth. "It's… Correct Poster, all one word. With the first and last o's replaced with zeros."


Lily turned to the computer and typed it in. She nodded as the computer accepted it and went to the desktop. She started humming as she looked around the programs on it, searching for whatever she could find. Weren't there only two instances of the letter o in that password? Reiko decided that it didn't really matter. Instead, she looked Cooper over to make sure that he wasn't bleeding too badly. The job needed him alive, for one, and for another, Reiko really didn't want to see Grace beat a man to death in front of her.



"Why are you doing this?" Cooper asked quietly. "Who are you working for?"



"Why do you think we're working for anyone?" Grace said with a chuckle. "Can't we just be freelance bad visitor faeries, appearing out of nowhere to ruin the night of someone?"

"Cut the chatter," Lily said, still hunched over the console as she tapped at it. "You really think you can get this high or Redmark can get this big without making enemies?" She shook her head, still not looking over her shoulder at Cooper. "It's like karma. What goes around comes around and you've got a whole lot coming your way, Director."

"Hey, Redmark does good things for people!" Cooper said indigently. "Just last year, we started an environmental restoration fund, to make things all green and cool again."

"Yeah?" Grace asked, sounding vaguely interested. "And what has that program done, huh?"

"Well, we bought the naming rights for the Seattle Mariners arena," Cooper said, shifting around on the bed. "Changed it to Redmark Climate Pledge Arena."

There was a long pause that Reiko finally broke.



"And that's it?"



"Well, SovOil insisted on turning a profit on the deal," Cooper said as stuffily as he could with blood still dripping from his nose. "That's just the cost of doing business."

"Yeah, I can see how we're clearly in the wrong for picking on a pillar of the community here," Grace said, clearly rolling her eyes underneath her mask. "BB, what have you got?"

"Some pretty strange porn here, for one," Lily said. "Must be difficult for a man your age to find sexy women old enough for you to call mama without laughing, huh?"

"That's my personal property and information and it's no business of anyone but me," Cooper said, sounding worried and angry and scared.



"Hey, it's going to be a lot of people's business if I can't find anything better," Lily said. "Help a girl out, where do you keep the dets on your illegal stuff?"


Cooper actually flinched at that, his eyes sliding off to the side. Reiko smiled a bit at that and then a thought came to her. She tracked where his eyes went and they landed on the night stand. Stepping over to it, she started to go through it. And as she pulled the drawer out from the case, Cooper actually started to squirm around on the bed before Grace's hand slammed him back down against it.



"Well, looks like you might have hit the jackpot, Hornet," Grace said with a chuckle in her voice. "Find anything?"

"Not yet," Reiko said, pretty convinced by now that there was something worth finding here, especially as Cooper started to glare daggers at her.



"Look on the undersides of surfaces," Lily said, turning around in the chair to look at what Reiko was doing.
"People can tape stuff there."

"Ah, got it," Reiko said, her questing fingers finding the datashard taped to the nightstand, way in the back. "Wonder what's on here."

"Oh god damn it," Cooper said, sagging downwards on the bed and looking like he wanted to cry. "God damn it."

"Now there's some sweet music," Lily said, catching the shard as Reiko lobbed it to her. "Let's see what's on here." She turned around to plug it into Cooper's computer and then let out a whistle. "Well, hell, that's one way to get yourself a promotion." She laughed as Reiko stepped over to look over her shoulder. "Why'd you keep this stuff, anyway? Planning to do the same thing to get a posting at the head office, huh?"

"Maybe he just likes looking at it when the porn isn't doing it for him," Grace suggested. "Some people take ears as trophies, some people just keep police reports." She took a half step towards the screen. "Though how the fuck did you talk the triggerman into taking photos of the kill, huh?"

"Well, the important thing is that the media would just love to see this," Lily said, taking the shard back out from its slot. "Now, you be a good boy and say yes to the right things and you won't be seeing this on N54 News, got it?"



"Damn all of you," Cooper said, sagging downwards, looking absolutely ruined.



"Hey, hey, chin up," Lily said, tucking the shards into her belt. "You say yes to the next person you see with these and these won't be going out to everyone."

"They won't be coming back to me, either," Cooper said, looking up with a sullen gleam in his eyes. "They're going to hang over my head forever."

"Nah, just until you retire, I imagine," Grace said, looking around the room. "Right, anyone leave any fingerprints here? Got all your gear?"

Reiko patted herself down and then shook her head. She still had her gloves, still had her mask on, so that was good enough. Grace nodded and then started to tie Cooper's arms and legs together with strips of bedding.



"I figure you'll be able to get out of this stuff after we're well away," Grace said, sliding a gag through Cooper's mouth. "Oh, and just in case that stuff isn't bad enough?" She nodded at Lily. "You don't play along and I'll be back. Got it?"

Cooper made a sound through his gag as he stared up at the three of them. It was hard to tell if he took Grace seriously or not, though Reiko most certainly was.



"We're heading out," Lily said over their comms as the three of them headed for the front door of the apartment. "Wrap things up down there."

"Will do," Madison said in all their ears. "Wait a minute. There's a guard coming your way, down the hall."

"Shit," Lily said, as Grace stepped back into the bedroom, drawing her pistol and pointing it at Cooper. "Just a standard patrol?"

"I think so," Madison said. "Just walking along but there's only cameras at the elevators. About to- yeah, I lost him. Off scope now."

Reiko swallowed hard as she stared at the closed front door. She couldn't hear anything on the other side, even as the minutes stretched out. She glanced at Lily, but if Lily was feeling nervous, there wasn't a sign to be seen underneath her mask.



"Okay, I see him again," Madison said after what felt like an hour. "Still just ambling along. You're good to go."

"Then let's beat feet," Lily said. "Meet us back at the entry point."

It was another quick dash down the stairs and across the play area to the fence. The ladder was still there and it was easy enough to throw it up and hop over, one after the other. As Reiko gingerly let herself down the far side, she could hear Madison and Frankenbot approaching. She looked up and waved, not getting a nod back as Madison focused on getting the uncoordinated robot up the ladder and then down it without making the kind of crashing sound that would draw curious guards.



Madison managed it much more easily, hopping over and into Grace's waiting arms. Grace put her down almost as quickly and looked her over.



"Everything go okay on your end?" Lily asked as they drew down the alley towards her car.



"Yep," Madison said with a nod. "Wiped all the camera footage they had saved and then had Franky here stick its arm into the server it was on. Nobody's getting anything off of that."

"And the guard, you didn't give him anything to go off of?" Lily asked as they stowed the robot in the trunk of the car and then climbed into the front.



"He can tell the devil what he saw, I guess," Madison said coolly as she slipped the mask off of her face.



"Wait, what did you do?" Lily asked, twisting around to look at Madison.



"I shot him," Madison said, rolling her eyes as she leaned back in her seat. "With his own gun, so don't worry about it getting traced."

"That's not- damnit," Lily grabbed her face with one hand. "Why the hell did you do that, huh? What the hell did he ever do to you, anyway?"

"He was Orion," Madison said, crossing her arms. "They deserve it. They all deserve it."

There was an ugly note to her voice that Reiko had never seen there before and she shivered. Lily was still staring daggers at Madison and Grace loudly sighed before shaking her head back and forth.



"Okay, so the tied-up and helpless man is dead," Grace said. "That a reason for us to sit around here? The drop-off point, sis."

"Yeah," Lily said, yanking on the key as she started the engine. "We'll be having a chat in private about this, Madison."

"Looking forward to it," Madison said with a roll of her eyes. "It will be productive, I'm sure." There was a dangerous silence from the front half of the car and Madison turned to Reiko. "So, got some dirt on the guy?"

"Yeah," Reiko said with a nod. "That part turned out really good."

"Good," Madison said, leaning back and spreading her arms as far across the backs of the seats as the car would allow. "Redmark's going to be helping people out for a change and it seems to me that Orion didn't just lose their guard, they're probably going to be losing a contract. Think that Cooper's going to be pleased that his security never even realized he was in trouble?"

Reiko could see the sense in that but it was still going over like a lead balloon with the rest of them. She coughed into her hand and shifted in her seat, trying to think of something to say. Nothing really came to mind and the car drove along in silence as they headed towards the drop-off point.



Well, at least Reiko could assure herself that she had done everything correctly. And she had even been the one to find the shards. So on that note, everything was looking pretty fine and dandy.



Yay.

 

[ptbptb]

"He was Orion," Madison said, crossing her arms. "They deserve it. They all deserve it."

Click to shrink...

Orion Security job interviews.

Corpo One (Jerry): Who do we have next?
Corpo Two (Brad): Some gonk calling himself Raz0r, with a zero.
Jerry: Seriously? Think he'll pass the puppy test?
Brad: We'll see. Here he comes now.
Raz0r: *Arrives. Interview things happen*
Brad: OK, thank you for coming. Just one thing... Jerry? Grab one from the puppy pit. You've got the job - after you shoot the puppy.
Raz0r: You're kidding, right? This is some sort of test to make sure I'm not going cyberpyscho.
Jerry: Haha, yep. Well, off with you. We'll contact you with the details soon.

---

Brad: Another pussy. Actually, do you think we'd get a higher pass rate with kittens?
Jerry: You kidding? Way too expensive. Cats are virtually extinct. Oh! Places, please. Here comes Rokk.
...
Jerry: Well that's about it. We just need you to shoot this puppy to show you know how to ...
Rokk: *blamm* Is that it? What sort of weak-ass company is this?
Brad: Nice! Jerry, grab an orphan from the baby closet. Looks like we've got a potential team leader here!

 

[WestOrEast]

Orion Security job interviews.

Corpo One (Jerry): Who do we have next?
Corpo Two (Brad): Some gonk calling himself Raz0r, with a zero.
Jerry: Seriously? Think he'll pass the puppy test?
Brad: We'll see. Here he comes now.
Raz0r: *Arrives. Interview things happen*
Brad: OK, thank you for coming. Just one thing... Jerry? Grab one from the puppy pit. You've got the job - after you shoot the puppy.
Raz0r: You're kidding, right? This is some sort of test to make sure I'm not going cyberpyscho.
Jerry: Haha, yep. Well, off with you. We'll contact you with the details soon.

---

Brad: Another pussy. Actually, do you think we'd get a higher pass rate with kittens?
Jerry: You kidding? Way too expensive. Cats are virtually extinct. Oh! Places, please. Here comes Rokk.
...
Jerry: Well that's about it. We just need you to shoot this puppy to show you know how to ...
Rokk: *blamm* Is that it? What sort of weak-ass company is this?
Brad: Nice! Jerry, grab an orphan from the baby closet. Looks like we've got a potential team leader here!

Click to shrink...

Madison's biases are coming into play here but yeah, it's not like private security has a great rep in the real world. I can't think of why they'd be any better in Night City.

 

[Kylia Quilor]

Are you talking about this Orion https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Orion_(corporation)

Or some company you made up for this fic?

 

[WestOrEast]

Are you talking about this Orion Orion (corporation)

Or some company you made up for this fic?

Click to shrink...

That's the one, though by 2077, they also provide some more bog-standard physical location security in addition to bodyguarding and kidnapping services.

 

[WestOrEast]

Nightshift Avengers Chapter Nine

​

​

"Here's to us," Grace said, lifting her beer can and vaguely waving it in Reiko's direction.



"Here's to us," Reiko agreed, taking a sip from her own can.



The two of them were back in the Dawson's apartment. They had spent the evening celebrating the score that they had pulled for Regina (and more importantly, the payment that they had gotten for pulling the score) and eventually, Reiko had felt unsteady enough on her legs to call it quits. The idea had been that she would end up back at her apartment with Auntie but as it turned out, she was here, instead.



Lily and Madison had been with them as well, of course. The coldness between those two had lingered for a bit but as the evening went on and all four of them got more and more drunk, that had faded until they had last been sighted having some rather aggressive sex with one another in a booth. That had been the point where Grace had hurried Reiko away and she had been glad enough to leave.



"So," Grace said, slowly nursing her beer and looking at Reiko, "been hearing some things about you."

"Like what?" Reiko asked, tilting her hand from side to side and feeling the beer sloshing around inside the can.



"Well, the main thing is that you've had sex with everyone else on the team but not me," Grace said with a perfectly level face as Reiko spluttered. "Makes me feel all sad and left out."

"I- you- really?" Reiko asked, blinking hard as she stared at Grace, feeling the heat burning on her cheeks. "You heard that? How?"

"It's not like Madison shies away from talking about the fun she's had," Grace pointed out. "You know that."

That was true. It wasn't just sex she talked about, of course, but pretty much everything that she liked doing. Reiko had just never connected that habit to Madison talking about having sex with her, at least not to other people. She blushed and stared down at her lap, feeling the heat on her cheeks.



"And as for Lily, well, sisters tell each other things. Like why she took a shower just before I got back and was still smiling like a loon."

"Oh," Reiko said with another blush. She must have just missed Grace that time, huh? "I, uh, well…"

"Care to finish that thought?" Grace asked with a chuckle as she sipped from her can.



"I'm not even sure how to start that thought," Reiko admitted, staring down at her lap. "It's kind of, you know, embarrassing."

"I don't see why," Grace said with a shrug. "We're all adults here, after all. And it's not like any of us are dating the others. We're just having fun with one another." She fixed Reiko with a look. "And the two of us can have fun together as well, if you want."

Reiko licked her lips at that, staring at Grace. There was certainly something… interesting about Grace and Reiko knew she had been thinking that for a while, well before the booze started making plenty of things seem like a fun idea. The older woman was beautiful and strong and confident, which were all some pretty nice qualities.



And, of course, there was the lingering 'incestual lesbian sex' fantasy that Reiko had enjoyed many times before for the excellent reason of that being a very hot fantasy for her to enjoy. She blushed and swirled her can around, feeling the beer left in shifting from side to side.



"Well, if I've already had fun with everyone else, I should do it with you too, right?" Reiko asked, feeling a burning sensation on her cheeks at that.



"Checking an item off the list, god damn you know how to seduce a woman, Reiko," Grace said, laughing as Reiko blushed hard. "It's alright, it's alright. I know what you meant. And hey, you're the last member of the team I haven't had sex with, either."

Wow, Madison had gotten both of the sisters? At once?

"No," Grace said, rolling her eyes as Reiko realized that she had actually said that last part out loud. "The sex lives for Lily and me don't cross anymore, thank God. Though," she smirked, "it actually was a threesome when I had sex with Madison. Another girl, nobody you'd know." She frowned. "Actually, I think she's dead now."



"That's a fun topic to linger on," Reiko said, standing up and grabbing the back of the couch as she swayed a bit. "Let's talk about something else."

"Sure," Grace said, coming over to Reiko and resting her hands on Reiko's hips. "How do you feel about bondage?"

It took a few tries for Reiko to actually speak. It was certainly true that her private collection had more than a few photos or videos or stories on that subject. And of that selection, more than half of them involved Asian women being tied up. Offhand, she couldn't think of any that had Asian girls getting restrained and bound by black women but Reiko thought that she might be more than willing to make that a reality instead of just consulting stuff other people had done.



"I'm… interested in it," Reiko said, looking up at Grace and feeling her heart beating faster and faster inside of her chest.



"That's good to hear," Grace said, her hand sliding down along Reiko's hip and moving over to her ass, squeezing down through the shorts that Reiko had been wearing. "What's the saying? Sticks and stones may break my bones but whips and chains excite me?"

Grace laughed either at that or at the expression that appeared on Reiko's face as she took that in. Either way, she leaned in for a kiss, making Reiko feel a wonderful tingle spread through her as she made out with the taller woman.



Breaking apart, Reiko took several deep breaths. This promised to be awfully fun but there had to be some limits. That was the sort of thing that Reiko was vaguely aware of from her more responsible selection of fetish materials. And also her own brains that told her there were limits to what kind of fun she could have.



"So, um, about whips?" Reiko shook her head. "No thanks. No hot wax, either."

"Reiko, baby," Grace said, shaking her head back and forth. "My bedroom isn't a sex dungeon, alright? I've got some handcuffs I bought for the job, I've got some ropes I bought for fun and I have a few dildos and vibrators. It would be fun to buy out a sex store but I don't have the kind of cash for that."

"Yeah, yeah, that makes sense," Reiko said, her cheeks heating a bit. "I just… wanted to make things clear."

"Yeah, no problem," Grace said with a nod. She chuckled and then leaned down for another kiss.



That was something that Reiko was happy to return. She moaned into the kiss, reaching up to hug Grace and hold her tightly against her, sliding her hands back and forth against the arms of the other woman. The lust inside of her was starting to rise and rise and it was a fine, fine feeling. Something that made Reiko feel wonderful and tingly as she made out with her friend, their tongues meeting as they pressed their bodies against one another.



Grace's hands went to Reiko's t-shirt, tugging at the brightly colored garment and lifting it up along Reiko's body. The touch of her fingers against Reiko's skin made Reiko ever more excited, even though it wasn't proper groping and it wasn't even on Reiko's most sensitive spots.



Unlike where Reiko was touching Grace. She was grabbing the black woman's ass, squeezing down through the cargo pants and feeling some pretty well-toned muscle down there. And some fat over the muscle giving the ass a nicely rounded shape. At least when Reiko wasn't distorting it with her grabbing hands, that was.



Grace pulled the top off of Reiko and then quickly unhooked her bra, letting it fall to the floor. Reiko blushed a bit, half-naked in front of a woman who was fully clothed. But the hunger and interest in Grace's eyes helped Reiko push past that and just feel pleased over how her body was studied.



"Yeah, this is nice," Grace said with a chuckle. "But it would be better in my bedroom, huh?"

"Sounds good," Reiko said with a nod, taking Grace's hand and following after her.



Grace's bedroom was the same size as Lily's, right next door. The main difference was that there was a weapon rack on the wall instead of band posters. Obviously Grace had bought the rack with the intent to expand, since only half the board was filled up with iron. And there was a work desk right underneath it with a few tool kits and the like for taking care of it.



More importantly, there was a bed against the outer wall that Reiko got lead to. She rolled onto it and leaned against the wall, looking up at grace. Grace sighed happily as she stared down at Reiko and then turned towards the dressers against a different wall.



"It's been a while since I've gotten to bring out this stuff," Grace said. "Last few one-night stands or quickies have all been in other places. But for you, Grace, I can go all out."

"Um, thanks," Reiko said, taking a deep breath and calming herself down. "What am I in for here?"

"As much fun and passion as the two of us can conjure up," Grace said, grabbing an armful of stuff and turning back around. "Are you going to be a good girl and obey orders or do I need to spend some time disciplining you into shape?"

While whips and that sort of thing were a step too far, the thought of Grace using those strong arms on Reiko's body wasn't something that she was going to object to on their own. The only problem was that Reiko didn't want to misbehave and kick up a fuss. She just wanted to have lesbian bondage sex with her friend.



"I'll be good," Reiko said. "Even if you treat me like I'm bad."

That got a laugh from Grace and she dropped to the bed, taking Reiko in for another kiss. This time, it was Reiko's turn to lift up her friend's shirt, stripping Grace and letting Reiko get a nice look at the gunslinger.



Man, she was liking what she was seeing here. Grace was just so beautiful and so strong. And so scarred, which was less interesting to Reiko but still obvious enough to warrant mention. Reiko ran her hand up along Grace's side, to her breasts. She cupped one in her hand and gently rubbed it, feeling the softness of the mound. Though it was still firmer than Reiko's own boobs. The benefit of plenty of exercise, huh?



"You've got a few more minutes to touch me," Grace said with a chuckle. "Then your hands are going to be locked away for a while."

Reiko found that idea pretty hot and she squeezed her thighs together as she and Grace kissed again. It kept on being very, very fun and she moaned happily as she made out with the black woman, their tongues meeting and their hands wandering back and forth.



Eventually, though, Grace grabbed Reiko's wrist and guided it behind her own back. There was a clink and then a firm pressure as the first cuff was attached. Reiko took a deep breath and shivered. Then her other arm was held behind her and it was cuffed too.



Reiko tugged her arms from side to side, feeling the tightness of the handcuffs there, keeping her arms trapped behind her back, making sure that there was just nothing that she could really do anymore with them. Her hands could flex and clench and rub against one another and that was jus about everything that they could do. They certainly couldn't do anything useful.



"Grace," Reiko said as she stared up at her friend, "just, um, don't be too… you know."

"Too awesome?" Grace asked with a chuckle as she slid her hands up and down along Reiko's sides. "Already failed that, I'm afraid."

"No, no, not that," Reiko said, pouting a bit. "If I say stop, you've just got to stop, alright?"

"Trust me, Reiko," Grace said, lifting her head and looking straight into Reiko's eyes. "I've been on the other side of that too many times. You want me to stop, I'll stop."


"Thanks," Reiko said with a smile and another blush. "But, um, certainly don't stop yet!"

That got Grace laughing and she leaned down to kiss Reiko's boob. The way that her tongue moved back and forth against Reiko's nipple was very pleasurable and Reiko moaned as she felt the heat rising inside of her and the wetness starting to drip out of her. She spread her legs and her fingers twitched behind her as she felt this bliss that was starting to move through her, filling her up from head to toe as she got toyed with.



It was really hot and Reiko could feel the heat just shooting up inside of her, spreading through her body like a fire. She loved it a lot and she panted, her chest rising and falling as she looked at Grace.



The downside of having your hands cuffed behind your back, it turned out, was that you couldn't do anything with them. Who would have thought, right? But it was a problem when Reiko wanted to reach over and feel Grace's body underneath her fingertips. All she could do was just stare, running her eyes back and forth over Grace's muscled body, seeing the fine, fine curves that were on display.



"Mm, I like that look in your eyes," Grace said with a chuckle as she pushed Reiko down to the bed, crawling on top of her and pinning her down. Her hands started to wander all over Reiko's body, making her gasp and moan as she got touched. It felt good and the heat rose and rose inside of Reiko. "And I like those sounds you're making, too."

"I, I can make some other sounds as well," Reiko promised, nodding her head as she kept on getting touched.



"I know you can," Grace said with a smile, leaning down to run her tongue along Reiko's neck, making the Asian woman squirm and shiver and moan. "I'm going to be hearing all of them from you."

Reiko nodded and kept on panting, feeling the wetness starting to leak out from her. Something that was accelerated when Grace's fingers started to work at her pussy, pushing inside and pumping back and forth, while more fingers stroked her lower lips and made Reiko tremble and melt in bliss from it all.



"Don't stop," Reiko begged, nodding her head as she was toyed with. "Oh, yes, yes, you're just- oh man!"

"Wow, doesn't take a whole lot to get you going, huh?" Grace asked with a chuckle as she continued to touch Reiko's body. "Just a little of this, a little of that and you're mine to do whatever I want with."

She was quite right about that and Reiko could only moan some more as she kept on getting touched. Grace really knew what she was doing and it was making the heat bubble upwards inside of Reiko, spreading through her entire body and making Reiko just melt. She hoped that when it was her turn to return the favor, she could do even half as good of a job.



"Yeah, you look real cute like that," Grace said with a chuckle as her hand kept on working at Reiko's pussy, making her whimper and gasp, turning this way and that as the pleasure built and built inside of her, spreading all through her body and making this all feel so damn good. "Kind of makes me want to take some photos."

That thought had never occurred to Reiko before but after an instant of considering it, she quickly started to shake her head back and forth. The thought of someone else having naked bondage photos of her was just… maybe in the future she could be up for that but right now, no way, no how.



"That's a pity," Grace chuckled. "I'll just have to make sure to remember every last second of this, then."

Then her mouth returned to Reiko's body and Reiko found many other things for her to be thinking about. Though really, thought might not be the best word to describe what she was going through right now. She could only moan and whimper as she got touched, feeling the bliss pulsing through her. Rising up and up and up as Grace's fingers kept on working at her, making her melt as she got toyed with.



"You're so good at this," Reiko moaned, panting as her hips left the bed, her body rocking back and forth in the air. "So good!"

"Practice makes perfect," Grace said with a chuckle as she toyed with Reiko's body a bit more. "You'd be amazed at just what I can do that will make- oh yeah. Yeah, you're about to cum, huh?"

Reiko could only nod. And blush, faintly, listening to the urgent sounds that were slipping from her mouth. And the wet sounds coming from lower down. She gasped, her hips moving without any input from her brain and her entire body tensing up tight. And Grace's fingers were still inside of her, still moving at her pussy and still making her-



The orgasm was wonderful. Reiko really, really loved it as she felt the sudden burst of heat go flowing through her. She panted, her eyes staring upwards as her entire body twitched and danced like it was hooked up to a power line. She could feel herself clenching down around the fingers inside of her, squeezing them tightly as she felt all of this.



Grace watched the entire thing and helped Reiko through it. Her free hand was on Reiko's body, stroking and touching her and she was saying some soothing words that Reiko could only notice the tone of, not what was actually being said. It was still good enough for her, though. Still more than enough to make her feel really fine and warm inside as the pleasure kept on pouring through her body.



The orgasm ended, leaving a wonderful pink glow behind that filled Reiko up. She sighed happily, feeling so good right now. So nice and happy. And it was all thanks to Grace. She smiled up at the black woman, trying to get her mouth to form the proper words.



"Love you," Reiko finally managed. She still needed to take several more deep breaths as she panted for air, her chest rising and falling as she breathed in and out. "It was so good."

"Yeah, no kidding," Grace said with a chuckle, leaning down and planting a kiss on Reiko's forehead. "You really wear that pleasure on your face, huh?"

Reiko did? She didn't think that she did but it wasn't like she had ever gotten fucked in front of a mirror before or anything. She blushed as she considered just what she must have looked like then and what Grace had seen.



"Um, well," that thought quickly proved too embarrassing for Reiko to really consider, "I'd like to return the favor!"

"Hey, if that's a bribe to stop me asking about this sort of thing, it's working," Grace said with a grin. "You want out from the handcuffs?"

Reiko thought that over for a moment before shaking her head as she blushed again. Grace laughed at that and reached down to pat Reiko's cheek.



The black woman slipped off the bed to kick her way free of her pants and underwear before getting back on. She loomed over Reiko, who took the moment to admire just what she was seeing and how hot it was for her to be in this position. Grace looked really good from this angle and Reiko sighed, feeling the tingle of heat spreading through her as she looked at this. Wow. Wow.



"So, I'm guessing that this clever little tongue is going to be what's put to use?" Grace asked, reaching down to stroke Reiko's chin and run her thumb over her lips.



Reiko nodded, opening her mouth and sticking her tongue out to flick at Grace's thumb. She was ready for this. Really ready. And then after she had given Grace an orgasm, the two of them could do… something else. Reiko had a lot of lesbian bondage porn under her belt and even if Grace didn't have the equipment for all of it, there still had to be plenty that the two of them could try, right?

Grace lifted herself up and brought herself down onto Reiko's face, her thighs squeezing down around the sides of Reiko's head. Reiko moaned, her fingers squeezing each other as she opened her mouth and got to work.



Some of the work had already been done. Grace was awfully wet right now and it was pretty obvious that she had enjoyed what she had done to Reiko. That put a smile on Reiko's face and then she kept on working, moving her tongue back and forth along the plump lips right in front of her face.



"Oh yeah," Grace said, one hand coming down to grab the top of Reiko's head as the other went to squeeze her own breast, kneading the firm mound in her fingers. "Yeah, you know what you're doing, huh?"

Well, maybe not as well as Grace did but it was obvious that Reiko wasn't doing a bad job here. She moaned and kept on licking, moving her tongue back and forth and listening to the sounds that Grace made. It was encouraging to be doing this, pushing Grace further and further along and getting to see the results of all this. She moved her tongue back and forth some more, swirling it along Grace's clit.



That got Grace's thighs to clench down around Reiko's head. Pretty tightly, too! Reiko moaned, though her voice was drowned out by Grace's. And she kept on going. After all, until Grace came, how could Reiko possibly stop what she was doing?



"That's it, that's it," Grace moaned, sounding better and better, more and more aroused and encouraged as Reiko kept on her work. "Making me feel fine, here."

That was very pleasant to hear and just what Reiko needed to keep up the good work. She ran her tongue this way and that and listened to the gasping sounds that came from Grace as she got her pussy licked. Yeah, this was outright fun. On her back, hands cuffed behind her, held down by a strong, beautiful woman and made to make her feel good…



This was the kind of thing that Reiko could see herself spending hours at a time doing. And why not start those hours right now, huh? Grace had mentioned some vibrators and Reiko hadn't seen those yet. And she had plenty of ideas about what could be done with them.



Running her tongue back and forth a bit more, Reiko kept on working, working, working. Grace should get a really good orgasm from all of this. A really nice one, that would make her feel just wonderful. And then it would be Reiko's turn again. Or maybe they could work on managing to share an orgasm with one another. That would be great as well.



In short, there were many, many ways that Reiko could see the pair of them having fun together here.

 

[WestOrEast]

Nightshift Avengers Chapter Ten​

"What's got your nose buried in it, Reiko?"

"Oh, Lily!" Reiko blushed as she looked up. "I didn't even know you were here."


"Better work on your situational awareness," Lily advised as the two Dawson sisters settled down opposite Reiko in the diner. "If you're not behind a locked door, best to keep your head on a swivel."

"Right, I'll keep that in mind," Reiko said with the blush lingering as she pushed the reader away from her on the table. "Oh, and I was reading The Cold Equations. A short story from last century about how corpos cut every corner they can out of greed or corruption or apathy and then when the little people get caught up in the wheels, they blame it all on unchanging laws of the universe that nobody can do anything about."

"Hell, I don't need to read a book to know that," Grace said, looking up from her menu. "I just need to walk down the street." She paused for a moment. "Where did you get that, anyway? Can't see the corps allowing something like that in a public library."

"Got it from someone I know," Reiko said vaguely, waving her hand back and forth. "I know people."

Lily rolled her eyes at the vagueness of the answer but didn't push the questioning any further. Instead, she took the menu from Grace and looked down at it.



"Never been here before," she said, looking it up and down. "Well, a scop-dog loaded with everything can't go too wrong, can it?"

"Words to live by," Grace said with a chuckle. "Who ever heard of street food giving you the runs?"

"There's other stands around that would love to have you insult them," the vendor said grumpily from behind the counter. "You going to order or you going to stand there, huh?"

"Keep your shirt on, keep your shirt on," Grace said with a wave of her hand. "Let's see, I'm thinking a RealMeat dog with so many toppings you can't see the dog."

"Best way to have one of those," Lily muttered underneath her breath. "Regular dog, regular toppings, my good sir."

They got their food and drinks and wandered away a bit, hanging around on the corner while waiting for Madison to make her appearance. The scop-dog was… edible, Reiko would certainly describe it as that without a doubt. The sugary fizz of the drink helped wash it down and drown out the taste.



As she was draining the last few droplets from the can, Madison made her appearance, looking behind her constantly as she came up to join the trio.



"You look hunted," Grace said with a frown. "Something up?"

'Don't know, got a feeling someone's tailing me," Madison said, turning to look down the street again. "Never got a good look at anyone who fit the bill, though."

"Shit," Lily said, looking over Madison's shoulder. "A gangoon? Some pickpocket?"

"I just said I never saw them," Madison said a touch peevishly. "No idea."



"I swear to God, Mads, if this is Orion planning a hit because you shot one of their guards…" Grace didn't finish that thought but it was easy enough to fill in the blanks.



"Come on," Reiko said, checking her minimap. "There's a courtyard a block over there," she pointed. "We could go there and hide while Madison stays at the far end of it."

"Oh good, bait," Madison said, shutting up at the combined grunt and glare that Lily sent her.



The four of them hurried over to the courtyard. Actually, now that Reiko saw it, it was more like a loading zone, with the inset ramps going into the ground for trucks to back up into. What mattered was there was plenty of cover for them to hide in.



Or for Lily and Grace to hide in, near the entrance. When Reiko tried to do the same, Madison grabbed her shoulder and tugged her along after her.



"I didn't think I was going to be the bait as well," Reiko protested as she got hauled out into the middle of the loading area.



"It was your idea in the first place," Madison said with a smirk. "So, let's talk about whatever. Done anything fun recently?"

Reiko managed to get through a few choked responses, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she tried to look over Madison's shoulder and see if there was anyone sneaking up on them. She felt awfully exposed right now and her hand kept on going underneath her windbreaker to grab the handle of her shock pistol before letting go.



Then there was some shouting and a loud thud. That broke Reiko's last reserve and she stepped around Madison. She just had to know what was going on.



Grace and Lily were both standing above the slumped body of a man. He was holding his head and moaning as Grace kept her booted foot on his back, pinning him down to the ground. Lily held a pistol in her hand and was looking back at the entrance.



"So, you want to tell us who you are before we start searching you?" Grace asked, leaning on the man's back. "If I have to dig through your pockets, I'm keeping any cash I find, fair warning."

The man groaned again as Madison and Reiko hurried over to him. He looked up at Madison and scowled.



"You," he groaned, rubbing his forehead. "Don't you recognize me?"

Reiko looked down at the man. She sure didn't recognize him. He was Hispanic, mid-forties, his chrome and clothes not actually the look of a corpo executive but someone who wanted people to think that he was. Madison was obviously drawing a blank as well as she shook her head.



"Really?" The man complained as his fingers picked at the swelling bruise on his head. "Jorge Jones?"

"Wait, that does sound familiar…" Madison said, her eyes narrowing. "Something about Dad, right?"

"Yeah," the man, Jorge said, looking over his shoulder at Grace. "Can I get up now?"

Grace looked at Madison, who shrugged and nodded. She stepped back and allowed the man up to his feet.



"Don't think about Integrated Security Services much these days," Madison said, crossing her arms as Jones brushed himself off.



"Really?" Reiko asked. "Because with what you've said about your dad and stuff, I thought…"

"Oh, I think about Orion all the time," Madison said, a creepy note in her voice as she stared at Jones. "All the time," she repeated in a quieter voice. "But ISS was just where Dad worked."

"Yeah, well, listen," Jones said, straightening his clothes. "I know that Eric didn't have any other family in the city, so when I saw you walking down the street, not showing any gang signs and wearing a deck on your arm, well… you've done all right for yourself, haven't you?"



"Yeah, so?" Madison asked as the rest of the team exchanged glances with one another. "You want to stop and chat about old times or something?"

"No, no, I want to hire you," Jones said, suddenly looking shifty as he glanced around as if there were other people in this empty concrete parking lot. "That's what you are, right? One of those edgerunners?"

"Well… yeah," Madison said, relaxing a bit. Damn, was this how Lily got her jobs? Or how the fixers that gave her her jobs got them? Reiko had pictured something a bit more classy. "What do you want?"

"So, um, I'm in a pretty bad situation," Jones said, tugging at his collar as he looked around again. "I could use some under the table help, if you get what I mean."

"What, some gang is threatening you or something?" Lily asked as she joined Madison, standing by her side as she looked at Jones.



"It's more like… well, after Orion took over ISS, I stayed on there," Jones said. Reiko could see the nasty look that entered Madison's eye at that. "And it's been good for me, I've got a good career there."



"Bully for you," Madison said in an extremely flat voice that Jones either didn't pick up on or thought it would be better for him to ignore. "I'm so glad."

"Thanks, but there's this old guard in Orion that think that only people who joined Orion instead of getting merged in should be promoted upwards. And I'm at the limit of what I can get but I need to get a promotion. I really need it."

"What, took out some loans and need a raise to pay them back?" Lily asked, interest entering her voice.



"It's not exactly like that," Jones said, his eyes moving away from anyone else's. "The important thing is that I need some outside help."

"I don't think a letter of endorsement from us is going to wow your bosses," Grace said with a snort.



"No, no, it's not that, I can get the promotion opportunity all lined up," Jones said with a nod. "I have a friend in Auditing and she has some really nice material that's sure to open up a slot for someone new. I just need that someone to be me and I can't let the other guy, an Orion lifer, get the spot."

"Ah, right, kill an executive, got it," Lily said to general nods from around the group. The light was dawning here.



"Kill him?" Jones asked, his eyes going wide as he shook his head back and forth. "No, no, no, no way, it's bad enough when a goon dies, when it's one of the manager class, people check that out really thoroughly."

Jones was worried enough about himself that he didn't see the glare Lily sent Madison, though Reiko did. She kind of felt like joining in, really.



"So what do you want, then?" Lily asked.



"I just want him out of the way," Jones said. "You can beat him up or something, right? Put him in the hospital for a month or so, enough time that he's right out of the running for any kind of position."



"We can give it a try, certainly," Lily said with a shrug. "Though we don't work for free."

"Right, um, money is a bit, you know, tight right now," Jones said, fingering the gilded implant running along the line of his cheekbone.



"That's not a problem," Madison said, her eyes gleaming. "We can take information instead. Stuff about how Orion works and who their clients are. Passwords, if you can manage that. We'll take payment in that."

"I, um, I'm not sure about that," Jones said, stammering as his eyes got wide. "It could be difficult to get that but maybe…"

"Think it over," Lily said genially. "Hornet here can keep you company as you think about how you want to pay us."

She put a hand on Grace's shoulder and pushed her over to the guy. Grace gave her sister a funny look but did as she was asked. And Lily drew Madison a few steps away for a whispered conversation. Reiko decided to join them.



"What are you thinking, huh?" Lily asked quietly. "I pay my rent in cash, not in information."

"Listen, either we can get some data to plan out some really good strikes on Orion or you can sell it on, alright?" Madison said in just as quiet of a voice. "I bet that Wakako would be happy to add some info to her stockpile, you know?"



"It could be some easy money," Reiko said musingly. "Or, well, not money but a quick job, at least. They won't get worked up over assault and battery, right? Not like they would murder."

"I'll do it," Jones called out, preempting any further discussion. "I can get you a bunch of info on how other departments do their thing and you can use that however you want." He brightened up a bit at that. "Hey, it should make Logistics look good if our convoys don't get hit while everyone else gets interfered with."

"The thought of you having a good quarterly review warms my heart," Grace said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Who's the guy and where does he live? What kind of car does he drive?"



Jones went over the details of Adam Lasser and where he lived and everything else that they might need to know. Reiko listened to all of it, wondering just how good of a thing they were really doing right now.



She wasn't going to bring that up in front of their client, though. That just wouldn't look good at all, would it?



Finally, they settled the details of payment and where the stick with the data on it would be dropped off once the guy was in the hospital and a contact number. The four of them saw a nervous, worried-looking Jones off.



"Boy, what a wonderful world corporate life must be," Grace said as they walked away. "Really makes me want to rethink my life and become a high-powered executive."


Reiko giggled at that and nodded. Then she sobered up and glanced at Lily.



"So, we're really going to beat up some guy so some other guy can get a promotion?"

"Yeah, seems that way," Lily said, glancing down at Reiko. "Second thoughts about it?"



"I… suppose not," Reiko said slowly. "I mean, has there ever been a good corpo executive?"

"Yeah, in fairy tales," Madison said with a snort as they started ambling back towards Lily's car. "We going to do this as soon as possible, right?" Lily shrugged and nodded. "Good, then let's try to do it tonight. Friday night, so our target should be going to a bar or something to have a good time, right?"

"Makes sense," Lily said with a frown. "Okay, so Orion offices are… here," she pulled a creased map of Night City out from her back pocket and unfolded it. "We could make it there way before their twelve-hour work day ends. Tail the guy and find where he spends his leisure time. Grab him when he comes out from wherever it is. Any problems with it?"

"Just hope that there isn't anything too unexpected about it," Grace said, tracing a line along on the map. "Think an exec in a security company would have a bodyguard?"

"Didn't seem to me like either he or Jones are that high up in the ladder," Reiko said with a frown. "Kind of sad if a guy is that old and only on the first few rungs."

"He made his choice to stay with Orion," Madison said coolly. "His career isn't our problem."

Reiko sure didn't have a counter to that so she just nodded and watched as Lily folded the map back up. The black woman clapped her hands together and looked around at the rest of the team.



"Okay, hope none of you had any other plans for the day, because opportunity has come knocking."

"Sounds good to me," Grace said to nods all around. "Let's go and do this thing."


***


The sun had set a while ago when the red car finally pulled out of the parking garage Orion shared with a few other corporations that filled the block. Reiko groaned in relief. At least in movie stakeouts, the characters were in a van, not crammed in the back seat of a car. And she hadn't brought anything to do at all to pass the time in.



"There's the guy," Lily said, starting the car as it slid out from its parking spot on the side of the street. "Let's do this."

"Yeah," Madison said, leaning forward and grabbing the dashboard in front of her. "Let's."

"Putting him in the hospital is fine, we don't want him dead," Grace said with a frown at the back of Madison's head.



"We've got Reiko here, she can do a fine job of making sure that we do just the right amount of damage," Madison said airily, waving her hand back and forth.



Reiko swallowed at that. Her medical knowledge was obtained in the hope of helping people, not making sure that she could oversee torture to the point where someone was miserable and consumed in pain but not going to die. She fidgeted in the seat as Lily glided through traffic, following the red car.



The mark ended up in Little Kabuki, parking near the canal. Lily had to drive another block to find a parking space and then they all had to hustle to catch up to the guy before he vanished into one of the many small shops that littered the streets and alleys around here.



"There," Grace said, pointing at the guy as he crossed the red bridge, towards the tube-like building that stood out in this part of town as a landmark. "That's him."

"Looks like," Reiko grunted, staring at the man as he passed above them.

He was a good decade younger than Jones was, at least. White, blonde hair, a kind of smug look about him as he slipped through the crowds. At least his white suit should make it easy enough to pick out if they lost sight of him.



Following him, the four of them saw him stepping inside of some braindance shop. One that has a Tyger Claw standing around outside, looking awfully bored but still awfully strong.



"So do we bust in and rough him up in there?" Grace asked as they leaned against a bridge railing, glancing at the door to the shop every now and then.



"Might cause some commotion," Lily said with a frown. "More than a little. Late enough that I bet the Claws are all waking up from their hangovers and wandering around. Really want to start a fight in a place they own? When we don't need to?"

"Lots of little alleys around the place," Reiko said, part of her not quite believing that she was contributing to all of this. "Pretty easy to grab him and haul him off into one."

"Heck, we could just toss him over the bridge," Madison suggested. "That should only break a few of his bones, you know?"


"So he can be in intense pain while he drowns?" Lily asked, shaking her head. "Nah."

Boy, that kind of talk was really… something. Reiko swallowed as she listened to it and tried to picture her part in it. She pushed herself away from the rail and started walking towards the store.



"I'm going to check that he's still in there," Reiko said to the team.



"Shit, we're sunk if he slipped out the back," Lily said before laughing. "Good luck."

The guy at the door barely glanced at Reiko as she stepped inside. There was another Asian woman standing behind the front desk and behind her, a few arcade machines and a lot of chairs for customers to sit down and watch their favored BD.



And Lasser was one of them. He was sitting near the back, a big smile on his face and a braindance wreath draped over his eyes, slightly shuddering and twitching as he went through whatever it was that he was watching. A porno? Action movie? Who knew. The important thing was that he was there. And there was a camera behind the front desk, taking in everyone who stepped in. Yeah, breaking in here would be kind of risky even without the guard.



"Hey," Reiko said, turning to the attendant and smiling. "I was wondering what titles you have for sale."

"Ah, looking to own?" The woman said, getting a nod from Reiko. "You've come to the best store in Night City for that. We've got everything a girl should want, from Immortal Warrior 2:BD to the entire Silk Sheets franchise. And we guarantee that every single one is clean. No need to worry about plugging something nasty in your braincase."

"You say there's nothing nasty and you're still selling Immortal Warrior?" Reiko asked with a smile.



"Hey, you might wake up the next morning feeling like shit but that's just how vodka is supposed to make you feel," the clerk said with a laugh. "Nobody added anything to it. Same here. So, what will it be?"

Reiko made a show of examining the titles on offer. And more than just titles, a good selection of equipment to enhance the experience as well. She lingered over Silk Sheets and Leather Ropes for a while before realizing that the clerk was staring and smirking. She quickly put her attention to something else as a blush spread across her face and ended up buying some horror title that she had never heard of but had some decent reviews left as comments in the margins.

"Thanks for your business," the woman said with a smile as she grabbed the chip and pressed it into Reiko's hand. "Come back again if you're ever in the mood for the finest that Night City has to offer."



Reiko smiled and exchanged a few more words before slipping back out. She took a deep breath and glanced around. It was awfully busy here, the sidewalks packed with people. Man, it would suck if she got pickpocketed here.

She made her way back to the bridge where the rest of the crew was waiting. And eating. Reiko pouted at that as she realized that it was past time for dinner. Lily saw the look on her face and laughed.



"Don't worry, we got something for you too," Lily said with a smile, pushing a box over to Reiko. "Some hotfoot ramen."

"Thanks," Reiko said, taking the box and popping it open. Just the smell of it made her eyes water. "Damn, that is hot," she said in a strangled voice, looking around for a drink machine. "What did you guys get?"

"A sense of curiosity at just how wild your expressions are going to be when you bite down into those noodles," Madison said with a smirk. "As a white girl, obviously, I can't handle anything that spicy so I just got some yakisoba."

"Mongolian beef," Grace said. "What he called beef, at least. Think I taste rat underneath the sauce."

"That's a boost to my appetite- oh my god," Reiko finished in a much wheezier voice than she had started with. "That's really hot!"

Grace and Lily just laughed at her, the jerks. Though Lily made up for it by pressing a bottle into Reiko's hand. She swigged most of it down and then contemplated how to make the remaining third last for the rest of the ramen.



"So, he in there?" Lily asked, smiling as Reiko kept on taking small bites and large drinks.



"Yeah," Reiko said with a wheeze. "Having, oh boy, a good time, looks like."

"Everyone should have something good in his life," Grace said with a smile as she tossed the box and tis chopsticks over the side of the bridge. "It balances out everything else."

She cracked her knuckles and rolled her head from side to side, making it clear just who was going to be bringing the bad. Reiko smiled weakly and then focused on choking down what seemed to be mostly ghost peppers with the occasional noodle.



Even an hour later, she could still feel the burn in her mouth despite having sampled every different drink the nearest vending machine offered. That was some far too spicy food for her. Reiko made a face and shifted from side to side.



"So, buy anything when you were in there?" Grace asked as she idly kicked the railing of the bridge with one foot as she leaned against it.

"Yeah, some BD called, uh, Shadows in the Night," Reiko said, glancing down at the chip and the case it was wrapped in. "Horror."

"I bet," Grace chuckled. "You know, I was in a BD myself, once."

"No shit?" Reiko asked skeptically. "What was it?"

"Lesbian Prison Bondage Orgy 3," Grace said, laughing at the look on Reiko's face. "I bet you can guess what genre it was."

"Saying you were part of that is like saying I'm part of Night City's government because I pay the occasional tax," Lily said with a roll of her eyes. "Tell her what you really did."

"Alright, so I wasn't a headliner in it," Grace said, waving her hand in dismissal. "But I was still in it."

"I'll have to check it out some time," Madison said with a smile. "That something the Moxes would have?"

"Yeah, that Alverz lady was going around asking for people who needed a quick buck," Grace said. "I'm in the opening shot, back row, third from the left, when the new meat's brought into the jail."

"And then you vanish completely from the film because she just needed some padding of the runtime instead of actual talent," Lily said with a smirk.



"Which I also have," Grace said, patting her chest. Or maybe her breast. Reiko wasn't sure if that was supposed to be some kind of euphemism or not. "Anyway, Reiko, you can say that you're friends with a BD actor now."

Reiko couldn't think of a polite way to say what she was feeling so she just settled for laughing in Grace's face. Grace didn't seem at all offended and just grinned widely, sketching a bow. Lily snorted and shook her head, hiding a smile from her sister but not from Reiko.



Maybe she would have to check that out along with Madison. Make it a viewing party? That thought put a blush on Reiko's face and she giggled into her fist as she thought about just where that might lead. Somewhere pretty fun, she hoped.



At least the sight of the target stepping out of the braindance parlor with a smile on his face and a spring in his step refocused her. Reiko took a deep breath and glanced around at everyone else. They were all drawing themselves up and focusing on Lasser.



He didn't seem to notice any of that and just walked right past them. The four of them fell in behind him, outright stalking him as he made his way back to his car. And there was an alley just right there, no lights on at all.



As he drew near to it, Grace dashed forward, slamming into him and grabbing at him. Even as he protested, he got hauled into the alley. Some people stopped to look but then they just kept on walking, helped along by Lily standing in the mouth of the alley and scowling as she crossed her arms over her chest.



Reiko and Madison ducked into where Grace had the man with his face pressed against the alley wall. He was struggling and cursed as Grace beat him to his waist, tugging a gun out and tossing it down along the alley.



"None of that now," Grace said, lowering her voice to an even deeper pitch than she normally sported. "Where's the wallet, fucker?"

"Do you know who I am?" The man protested, before gasping as Grace drove a fist into his kidneys.



"Someone we can hold for ransom?" Grace asked, giving him another punch. "Cut off a few fingers to send back as proof? That who you are?"

Lasser dropped the subject after that. Or maybe he was just in too much pain to talk. Reiko winced and swallowed around a lump in her throat as Grace slammed his head against the wall. That had to be his nose breaking.



"Here's the wallet," Madison said, fishing it out of his pocket and playing along with the script that they had drawn up as they waited. "But look at this."

"Come on, you bastard," Grace growled, letting the exec drop to the dirty alley floor and kicking him a few more times. "All you rich corpo types are loaded with money. So where is it, huh?"

The man just moaned a few more times as he tried to curl into a ball to shield his stomach and groin from any more hits. He shook his head back and forth and then gasped some more as Grace stomped down on his ankle with one of her heavy, steel-capped boots.



So far, Reiko hadn't seen anything too bad. Medically speaking, at least. She didn't think that he was going to die from this. Morally speaking, she was feeling way less sure and confident about what was going on here and she swallowed hard as she stared at the scene. At least it was dark enough in here that he wasn't getting a good look at their faces.



"Where do you keep the real money, huh?" Grace asked with a devilish growl as she stomped down hard on Lasser's outstretched hand. She ground her foot back and forth and Reiko realized that she was starting to feel kind of sick. "Where is it, you little shit?"

"I don't, I don't have it on me," he moaned through a mouthful of blood. "I, I spend it on Trauma Team."

"Fuck!" Madison said. That hadn't been in the plan. In fact, Jones had said that there was no way that an Orion exec would keep the services of a competitor in the personal safety field. "Think he's bluffing?"

"He's not about the cash," Grace said, grabbing the fistful of eddies from it. Reiko could actually see some pretty high-value denominations in there, in fact. "We've got what we can get, let's scram."



She said that, but she paused to kick him in the ribs a few more times. Reiko knew she was hearing bones breaking and she shuddered as she stared down at the pathetic form curled up on the alley.



"Come on, let's go, go right now," Lily said, bursting into the alley. "There's- oh shit!"

A few rounds of gunfire rang out and spat against the alley floor. Reiko jerked back and then looked up. There was an AV hovering above the alley mouth, trying to find a good spot to land or a good angle to shoot from. The light was too bad to make out who it was but Reiko didn't really need to guess.



"Oh shit, he really does have TT coverage!" Madison shouted. "Let's go!"

Reiko was fully onboard with that plan and started running down the alley. She glanced behind her to see the armored figures of Trauma Team rappelling down, guns lifting as they sighted down the alley.



Luckily, it was a short alley and they could burst out into the street on the other side, scattering to the sides and away from any gunfire. Trauma Team didn't pursue and Reiko shivered in relief as she heard the AV's jets start to roar as it began to lift itself upwards and away.



"Son of a bitch," Lily said, grabbing her knees as she bent forward. "That fucking woke me up."

"No kidding," Grace said with a weak chuckle. "Hey, Reiko, how good of a job do you think I did on him?"

"Too good," Reiko said with a frown as she pictured, once again, her friend hurting a man like that. "You broke several bones at least."

"Hope that puts him in the hospital for long enough," Madison said in a musing tone as they brushed themselves off and started circling around the block to Lily's car.



"If not, Jones can mention that he was using someone besides an Orion team to keep himself safe," Reiko said, pushing her thoughts to something else. "If they're supposed to be big on that kind of loyalty, that wouldn't look good, right?"


"Yeah, and even if it doesn't, we still did our part," Lily said. "I'll call it in and we can pick up the info."



Reiko nodded and kept on walking. She fell in line next to Grace and looked at the older woman. She was cleaning her knuckles and looking her outfit up and down. Reiko could see some splatters of blood on it and shivered, which was enough to catch Grace's eye.



"What's up, Reiko?" Grace asked as she massaged her knuckles. "Something on your mind?"

"You really hurt that man pretty badly," Reiko said awkwardly, not at all sure how she was supposed to have this conversation. "Just because someone else asked you to."

"Yeah, I'd say that's a fair take on what happened," Grace said, looking Reiko in the eyes as they walked along. "And you don't like it?"

"I mean… it was really nasty, you know?" Reiko said, flushing. "We were talking and laughing with one another and a minute later, you were kicking a stranger in the balls and robbing him."

"I guess I can kind of see your point," Grace said as they rounded the corner to where Lily had parked her car. "But the way I see it, well, is it really worse than storming Clouds and shooting those guys in there?" She shook her head. "I don't think so. He's still alive, after all. He's out, what, a hundred and fifty eddies and some time off work? Getting some good use out of his TT coverage? Big whoop. He's still alive."

"It's just, well, those guys in Clouds might not have been expecting us but they were still armed and expecting some kind of trouble in general," Reiko said, not able to think of a great counterargument to that, though she was sure that they were out there. "While that guy was just some deskbound pencil pusher, even if he did carry a piece."

"Yeah, everyone in Night City is armed one way or another," Grace said. "But it's not like he was the director of a food bank, you know? An exec in Orion? He's got blood on his hands, even if it's just from ordering someone else to spill it instead of holding the knife himself." She smiled and patted Reiko's shoulder as they got into Lily's car. "Don't worry about it."

Reiko had gotten kind of sidetracked in her original argument. It was less about the guy and more about how easily Grace had just started hurting someone because the job required it. Was that just part of who Grace was? Hadn't Lily said she had stabbed a gang boss in the back to get the two of them free from him? Or was this just what the job turned you into? The job that Reiko was in?

She swallowed nervously as Lily kicked the car into gear. She didn't think that she was ever going to end up like that, doing that sort of thing. But was that something that she could actually count on happening or would she end up like this sooner or later anyway?



"Hey, you're looking a bit too tense," Lily said, glancing in the mirror before focusing on merging into traffic on the highway. "We did an easy job and got a payout." She looked at Madison. "One that hopefully we can turn into money."

"Hey, listen, you weren't planning to do anything today that would turn a profit," Madison said soothingly. "So if there's any chance for you to get some money from this intel dump, that's still all good, right?"

Lily grunted skeptically. Reiko just couldn't focus on that sort of thing right now and sat back, rubbing her forehead as she tried to decide just what she was feeling about Grace. And, well, about Lily and Madison, too. They had gone along with it. And so had Reiko. She wasn't even protesting it now, she was just wondering how things had ended up like this.



Man, Reiko was glad to have her friends and everything but she was kind of wondering, well, just how good of a job this really was for her. And for all of them as well. But did Night City offer a chance for anything else for them?

She wasn't so sure that it did.

 

[ptbptb]

"Oh, and I was reading The Cold Equations. A short story from last century about how corpos cut every corner they can out of greed or corruption or apathy and then when the little people get caught up in the wheels, they blame it all on unchanging laws of the universe that nobody can do anything about."

Click to shrink...

I remember reading that when I was a young kid (N.B. Not when it first came out, I'm not that old). I wasn't much impressed with it at the time.

I also remember reading a short story by a different author with a very similar premise, only in that one the pilot abandoned the ship to save the stowaway (who happened to be his young wife).

Both stories came out at roughly the same time, and they both had the inherent belief that young uninformed/unscientific women would end up causing trouble for brave/scientific men. This was the 1950's and, despite the shove to the status quo given by all the women who had been doing "men's work" while the men were busy getting killed in WW I, it was all still very sexist. (I believe there was something of a "Well, thanks for doing dangerous and difficult factory work, now get back to the kitchen" attitude at the time).

The second story was the superior in that it was at least interesting sci-fi (it was a time-ship, not a space-ship and stuff happened) and a bit more plausible in the premise.

"Where did you get that, anyway? Can't see the corps allowing something like that in a public library."

Click to shrink...

The Corps would have loved it, because the author was playing it straight that it was all the woman's fault and that of 'uncaring space' and not being sarcastic.