Neon Cogs: Chapter 6 (Patreon)

Rebecca couldn’t help but fidget in excitement as she held on to Hiro’s hands as she and the crew descended down a flight of stairs. Maine walked ahead as he led the crew and Hiro to the bar up ahead. The dark crummy hallway with steam leaking from overhead pipes, the loud punk music emanating from up ahead, the gruff bouncer guarding the entrance, and the large neon sign above was all she needed to know they were in the right place. They were going to enter the Afterlife.

“Getting cold feet, Bee?” Maine asked teasingly as he walked ahead confidently. He had Pilar and Dorio flanking him while she and Hiro were in the middle with Kiwi trailing behind. They were getting some curious glances, especially Hiro, but they remained just looks and she ignored them in turn. This was neutral ground after all, plus nobody wanted to get banned from the most exclusive bar in the city.

“I’m just excited! It’s not everyday we get to go here, you know.” She replied a bit giddily. She couldn’t help having her emotions color her voice. It was almost overwhelming even but she kept her cool. Best not to act like a spaz or worst, a fangirl.

“It’s been a week since you bugged Maine about this job. Thought you’d already burnt out all that energy of yours after all that time” Kiwi commented as she let out a puff of smoke from her rebreather.

“Aren’t you excited? This is the Afterlife we’re going to!” Rebecca asked as she looked back at the woman. She could gesture at almost any other guys and gals walking in and out of the bar and they’d probably have a story worth telling. After all, you need to be somebody to get in and while Hiro pulled some strings, Maine and crew pulled their own weight.

She pouted a bit, remembering all the begging she had to do as well as the week-long wait she had to do without doing anything. At least she got to spend more time with Hiro but that could only take her so far. She was left restless rather than calmed with all the pent up energy she had now.

“Oh I am, just a bit better at hiding it.” Kiwi replied as her eyes lit with amusement and a bit of smugness with how she held her head up high. She might still sport the best poker face around but her eyes betrayed her emotions and there was that look that had Rebecca grinning and what she was wearing right now made that smile all the wider. Her eyes trailed up the netrunners fancy wide brimmed hat. She had to hand it to the old girl, she could make almost anything work and look stylish while doing so.

“So, a gift from your boyfriend~?” She then asked as she poked the older woman on the side. Kiwi merely rolled her eyes but she made no move to deny it.

“You should have seen what happened when Adam walked in Jinguji.” Hiro whispered into her ears making her giggle out as she covered her mouth and looked away.

“Shut it you.” She fired back without any heat making Rebecca laugh out loud. It looked like she wasn’t the only one that had a complicated love life now. All three of the girls in the team had their inputs. Girls night out would be better than ever with all the juicy topics they can talk about now.

Their little banter had to wait for now as they had a bouncer to deal with. “And here comes another crew of schmucks. Got any names on ya? Maybe some ID’s for the kiddies there?” The bouncer said as he eyed them like they were some cockroaches he accidentally stepped on, making her clench her fist a bit but she took a breath and she merely leveled a glare at him. Hiro’s hands squeezing hers was more than enough to remind her to calm down.

Maine merely smiled as he introduced the crew. “Name’s Maine and this here’s my crew. ” He said as he gestured at them. She could feel the eyes of some people on the back of her neck at the name and it had her smiling once more. She had her reasons to be smug after all.

“Is that supposed to ring any bells?” The bouncer asked unimpressed but he squared up and seemed tense. She could see his hands itching to reach for the gun in his waist but he kept cool about it. She had to give respect to that level of professionalism even if she hated him for being a massive prick.

“We’re here to see a certain special lady. Purely business.” her leader replied casually. They were here to meet a special someone indeed with the job they were going to do today.

The bouncer cracked a smile, amused at their apparent gall, as he turned to the side and reached for his ear. “Hey Boss, some punks here to see ya?” He called out before listening intently to the woman on the other line. He frowned a bit before blinking and looking at them in disbelief. “Seriously? Well, I’ll be damned. Got it, telling them now,” he added as walked to the side to allow them in.

“Boss Lady say’s to give her a second, just finishing some personal matters. Get right in, get yourself some drinks on the house.” The buff man said as he gave them a nod.

Maine nodded back as he walked right in with the rest of the gang. She and Hiro were about to go in when the man placed a hand on Hiro’s shoulder. She looked at him with murder in her eyes and a hand reachign for her gun but the serious look instead of the patronizing one she expected was the one that greeted her which made her stay her hands for now to let him say what he wanted.

“Word of advice kid, you got balls for coming here but you better be packing some heat since this ain’t no playground.” The muscle bound man suggested to which Hiro smile appreciatively.

Hiro simply slung his arms around her shoulder before replying “I’m not too worried about that. After all, I have someone to back me up when things get rough.”. Rebecca didn’t know if she wanted to punch him on the shoulder or kiss him as the man grinned with a nod before letting them through.

“Heh, kids these days I swear. Getting em younger and younger.” She heard him whisper, making her turn and flip the bird at him.

“I’m 24 you asshat!” She shouted as Hiro dragged her away but the disbelieving look that the bouncer made only made her furious. “Let me at em! Fucker needs to die!” She growled out as Hiro slipped his arms underneath her armpit and pulled her away.

Denied the chance to shove her gun where the sun doesn’t shine, she sat there in one of the bar stools as she fumed and brooded while Hiro rubbed her back soothingly. Nothing ticked her off more than being called a little girl. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it, Becca. You know how I feel about this as well.” he said. It was one of the things they shared, their youthful looks both a blessing and curse.

“Fuck that guy. I want a strong drink now.” She grumbled out as she slumped on the bar top. She kicked her legs against the stile of the bar as her legs were too short to use the foot rail below.

Her prayer was, thankfully, answered as the smiling visage of the bartender attended to them. “I might have something that can help you with that. So, what’ll it be?” the woman said as she leaned against the top. Rebecca looked up at her and found only a genuine smile of someone looking to ask them for a drink. “Sorry about Em over there. He can be quite…” she replied as she looked up and quirked her lips while she tried to find a proper word.

“An ass?” She snarked out and the woman let out a chuckle.

“I’d use insufferable but, yeah. Anyways, back to that drink. I’m sure you and your input could use one.“ The woman answered back as she leaned against the bar top. Rebecca hummed in response as her mind wandered on what to order. She could order a Johnny Silver hand but that was too basic plus kinda ironic to buy with who she was with. She wouldn’t have to think for long however as it seems that Hiro had something in mind.

“Hey Becca, mind if we try out a drink my mother used to drink?” Hiro said, making her turn her head to her input. That certainly caught her attention. Never once did she hear him talk about his family aside from Michiko and she had yet to see his mother. For all intent and purposes, Hiro’s mom was a mystery that she had yet to see.

“Oh, a former patron eh? Let's see what you got.” The bartender said as she crossed her arms across her chest and waited for him to reply.

“Add 1 oz lemon vodka, 1 oz cranberry vodka, and 1.5 oz Grenadine. Stir and strain over ice into a highball glass then top it with some Sprite.”  Hiro replied easily. The woman nodded and was about to reach for a pair of coupe glasses behind her before she froze on her spot. She slowly turned and looked at Hiro with this questioning look on her face.

The woman frowned as she stopped reaching for the glassware and leaned closely to inspect Hiro’s face. Hiro blinked in surprise as he looked back at her. There was a flash of recognition in her eyes as she whispered in surprise “Wait, you’re A2’s boy? Oh shit, you are. How could I’ve missed those eyes and hair? Here I thought you were just some punk trying to rock her look and here we are.”

“A2? You know her?” Rebecca asked as she perked up and stood up straight on her seat. She was in the dark here and the fact that Hiro’s mom was famous enough for the bartender of the Afterlife to remember her was something. Just when she thought she had Hiro figured out, here come these curve balls out of nowhere. Just who was Hiro’s mother?

“I didn’t really know her but the previous bartender knew her quite well. Also, Should I or…?” The bartender asked as she looked at Hiro while she reached for a bottle of Grenadine nearby.

“By all means.” Hiro replied, gesturing for the woman to go ahead. The woman nodded as she reached for the other bottles to finish the drink. With the bottles in hand, she started mixing up the drink as she regaled them with the tale of another Solo from the past. Rebecca was practically on the edge of her seat as she leaned in close to hear every detail of this.

Cleaning her throat, the woman started while she started pouring them their drinks. “Ok. A2’s a bit of a legend. She was an infamous netrunner back in the day at the tail end of the Time of the Red. She’s not as famous as Spider Murphy or Bartmoss but she’s up there alright. She can quick hack you just as fast as she can swing her sword and god did she have a bit of a temper on her. You don’t want to be on her wrong side cause she got that sword of hers that just dices people up and she knows how to wield it, let me tell you.” Hiro smiled softly at that  as the woman traced her fingers across a certain part of the bar top. She looked down and noticed the almost invincible cut on the metal table top. Her eye followed the line and found that it went all the way down to the stone floor.

“Anyways, she rode with the Steel Dragons and rumors, or rather facts have it that she’s  Yorunobu Arasaka’s girl. She and Yorunobu were a couple unlike any other. Any job that involved fucking over the corps, call them and you have your crew.” Rebecca couldn’t help but snort at that. Yorunobu Arasaka, a solo who hated corpos? Despite how well known Yorunobu’s past was, she still couldn’t quite see him as the corpo hating legend he once was. The image he had right now couldn’t be further away from his old self with how entrenched he was in Arasaka. He was the face of Arasaka in Night City as the poster pinned to a dart board could attest to.

“Just don’t be caught being affiliated with a corpo else you become another body in the bloody path they left in their wake. They were on top of the world. Then one day, A2 suddenly disappeared and a husk of a man took the reins of Arasaka. We don’t know what happened, there was no body, no nothing. They took one mission against an Arasaka data fortress and that’s the last thing we heard about old A2 and who your dad used to be. He’s still there… but there’s something missing in those eyes of his.” The woman said with sadness tingeing her voice as she stirred both their drinks.

Hiro snorted as he sported a wry smile “Yeah, kinda sounds like dad alright. Stubborn fucking ass. Nothing can get past that thick head of his.” He vented as he let out an annoyed sigh. Rebecca reached out for his hands and he squeezed her hands as he started frowning. Rebecca reminded herself to give Hiro’s father a punch right to the face. Sounded like the guy needed something to remind him about things.

“The only guys in the know last I heard are him, ole Michiko, Rogue, and well you. They keep saying that she’s alive but she hasn’t been seen in decades…” the woman trailed off as she looked down on the pink drink.

“Yeah… she’s alive but I wouldn’t call it living.” Hiro admitted and Rebecca couldn’t help but wince at that. A mysterious disappearance and a data fortress? Yeah, she didn’t have to think that hard to have a fuzzy picture of what happened. It was one of the dangers of being a netrunner and one that made her swore off at that

“My condolences.” the woman apologized.

Hiro waved it off as he replied, “It’s fine. It’s ancient history by now. Still, kinda one of the reasons why I want to go here.“ His voice and smile might tell him he was fine but he still looked hurt. He couldn’t hide it all, she knew the feeling of reminiscing about the past all too well.

“Well, you won’t be disappointed. Your mom’s a bit of a sweet tooth, so be careful with her drink. I’ve seen some people underestimate it kinda like how people underestimated her.” The woman replied, smiling brightly as she pushed the drink towards the two. “Hah, no wonder she loved this.” She chuckled as she gave them a nod before taking her leave to attend to the other customers waiting for their drinks.

“Thank you.” Hiro said as he grabbed the drink. Their little party however would be interrupted as Pilar waved at them from across the bar. He gestured at the room behind him as the others were already parting in. She sighed as she grabbed her drink, just when things were starting but then again this was what they came for.

“One last drink before we hit the road?” He asked with a joking smile as he raised his coupe glass. She giggled as she raised her own drink and toasted with him.

“This is our only drink for the road, silly.” She answered as she downed the drink as fast as she could. She found that it agreed with her as the sweetness of the cocktail overwhelmed the unusually strong drink. It went down fast but she could already feel her cheeks heating up as it settled in her stomach.

“Huh, holy shit she wasn’t kidding when she said this was sweet. Almost couldn’t taste the alcohol here.” She replied, pleasantly surprised at the drink before she glanced at Hiro. She snickered as he grimaced and shook his head after downing the drink. “Heh, going for a strong drink even when you know you're a lightweight?”

“I just wanted a taste.” Hiro pouted in reply as he got off his seat. She got off hers as well as she led them to the meeting place. They were the only one left and best not to keep them waiting.

“Then you should have drunk it all.” Rebecca replied, scolding her input for his fool hardy decision. He might be smart but his wisdom could be lacking at times.

“Don’t like wasting stuff.” Hiro answered back as his cheeks burned from the alcohol and embarrassment. She shook her head at that as she wrapped her arms around his shoulder and ruffled his hair.

Passing by a rough looking bodyguard, both of them would find themselves face to face with the legendary fixer herself, Rogue Amendiares. The silver haired vixen lounged on her seat as she held a glass of whiskey on the rocks. To her right was a dark skinned man who was taking a nap. She looked at them with amusement as she placed down her drink before she commented “You two are giving me quite the sense of deja vu. Last time I saw an Arasaka in the hands of a girl was 20 years ago.”

Shifting on her seat and gesturing to one of the empty seats besides Pilar, she then added, “Well, it took you long enough and here I thought I was the one making you wait.” The others were already seated and were waiting for them. Maine had his arms around Dorio while Kiwi was as far away as possible from Pilar who was chomping on a bag of chips as loud as possible. In front of them was a table full of snacks and some beer bottles which her brother was also helping himself with. She grumbled as she and Hiro sat down with her brother. At least the meeting wasn’t so tense already. It felt more like a casual meeting between friends rather than business; there was booze, food and good music.

“Just had to try something out. It was sweet.“ Hiro replied as he leaned back on his seat while she had his arms around his shoulder. Both of them settled in, getting themselves comfortable for a night of business. Rebecca had to be mindful of her legs to avoid it from tapping. This was their first meeting with the famed fixer. She did not want to give a bad impression on her.

“Heh. Thought your pops would be too busy drinking himself to death to teach you that,” The older woman then said. Hiro grimaced at the mention of his father.

With a shake of his head, he answered back “Not him, learned it from Aunt Michiko.” There was a clear tone of distaste in his voice.

Rogue snorted at that. “Yup, sounds about right,” she replied.

“You know his parents?” Dorio piped up, curious at the casual conversation the two were having. They talked as if Rogue was just a close family friend, a surprising fact given the history between her and the Arasaka’s. Everyone was curious as she and her crew looked at the fixer for answers but she merely grinned at them.

“Oh I know his parents, especially his mom, and rather intimately at that.” She replied as she waggled her eyebrows at Hiro who blanched and turned away, trying to cover his ears from hearing anything further. Her brother gagged on his drink as he started coughing and pounding at his chest. Maine looked the most amused of all as he leaned closer to hear the juicy details while Dorio just pinched the bridge of her nose. “The only regret I have is knowing your dad but your mom, mhmm. Hottest piece of ass I’ve seen.” She added making Kiwi look at the woman in disgust. Well, that is certainly one way to know them.

“I wished I didn’t know that.” Hiro groaned out as he covered his face in mortification. She gave him a pat on the back as the elderly woman laughed her heart out. No one should know the sex life of their relatives, much less their own parents.

Wiping a stray tear from her eyes, she cleared her throat as she gestured for her body to close the door behind them. “Enough small talk then, let’s get down to business. Squama, Nix, if anyone tries snooping around, you know what to do.” She said as the man beside her and the guard nodded. The door closed and immediately the music coming from outside was silenced.

Things got a whole lot more serious as Rogue’s eyes gained this hard glint. They were still sharp and her body nimble despite her age. Pillar took one long swig from his bottle before setting it down while Maine straightened up and squared his shoulder. It was now time for business.

“Before you tell them about the target, mind if I get everyone up to speed? I just need everyone to know the gravity of this situation.” Hiro then said. When he offered this job to Maine, he kept his lips sealed about the details about the things that were stolen from him, just that he needed it retrieved. The mission was simple after all, retrieve what was stolen, don’t get caught and they could get a nice bounty for a job well done.

The fixer shrugged as she replied, “I don’t see a problem in that. Nix, hand out the chips.” The man beside her pulled out a box containing several data chips, enough for the entire crew. She stared down on the memory chip before sighing as she inserted the thing to the slot near the back of her ears. She blinked at the static as the data started to load.

Down on the table was an augmented video of a hijacking of a nondescript delivery truck just as it left the gates of the port area. It wasn’t the usual roving band of Maelstrom, what attacked the heavily armed and armored vehicle was a professional fighting force wearing tactical gear and a whole lot of american flag bandanas.

They hit hard and fast, ramming the truck on the side with a large modified Chevilion Emperor with a large cow catcher strapped in front of its big blocky hood. The truck didn’t stand a chance as it rolled on top of the vehicle before flipping to its back and preventing the turret from popping. Motorcycles came screeching out of the alleys to distract the port authority from responding while the Chevilion disgorged its occupants and leading them was a man wearing a green beret, a bit pretentious in her opinion.

The men were quick to attach an explosive charge on the back of the truck, not even bothering to use a netrunner, to crack the thing wide open. They stormed inside, blasting away before coming out with a large heavy box the size of a man. With their target secured, they loaded it up to the same armored car they used before slipping away. In and out in under a few minutes. They didn’t even take anything else, just that single box.

The video ended just as the port authorities finally came to the rescue as they shot down some opportunistic Scav trying to take some of the cargo that was scattered from the heist. It was clear as day on what this really was. This wasn’t your normal robbery, this was premeditated and planned for. Several more photos popped up on the edge of her vision. One was the news coverage of the event where a one armed Arasaka corpo could be seen being dragged from the van, the other was a render of the stolen box, and finally was the close up of the leader of  the group that raided the truck.

“Two weeks ago, a couple of assholes affiliated with the 6th Streets hit an anonymous convoy containing a shipment of extremely sensitive equipment that I had delivered from Japan to Night City, marking the last time I’ll ever have something shipped by Revere Courier Service; ‘Your package is sacred’ my ass, they allowed some Voodoo boys on their servers.” He grumbled as he played back the video just as everyone from the 6th Street gang was in view. There they could see their gear, a mismatch of Militech and other NUSA branded guns but all of them were high end. Even their gear was, as they weren’t just LARPing as paramilitary this time around.

Pillar stroked his chin as he leaned forward to give the frozen image a better look before he brought something up. “Why didn’t you just have it sent via Hitashi? They’re not as famous but they’re just as good. Currently waiting for them to deliver some chrome I bought online and they pride themselves on secrecy.” He did have a great point, Hitashi has always played second fiddle compared to the multinational company but what they can’t give in in volume and cheapness was the sheer reliability they recently had.

Hiro shook his head at that as he replied, “Aunt Hanako owns that company and let’s just say that we don’t have the best of relationships after I kept siphoning funds from her projects,” She nodded in understanding. From what she heard from Michiko and Hiro, Hanako was focused more on the netrunning activities and projects of the company. With all the stuff Hiro has been pumping out, there was little room in the budget for those projects.

He raised his finger before he lowered it down. “Ohhh… shutting up now.” he said as leaned back on his seat.

Hiro nodded as the image of the crime scene disappeared as a three dimensional miniature of the stolen box replaced it. It was heavy looking with more locks on it than a paranoid tinfoil hatter’s apartment. The box unlocked and there inside was a large selection of pistols labeled “Plasma Pistol X1.” They looked far more advanced than her own Laspistol and Bolter but they seemed rather fragile with all the ceramics in their construction.

It looked bad enough but it got even worse as the bottom panel was revealed and out came a small crystalline object surrounded by a sphere of black colored stone. Kiwi quickly paled as their vision was drowned out by the same green baleful glow of her prized pistol. Rebecca could feel every hair on her body rise up as her throat suddenly felt dry and parched.

“As for what they stole, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. They stole what’s effectively a nuclear bomb and they don’t know it because they’re too busy playing with the guns I shipped with it.“ Hiro then revealed and Rogue reached up for her half forgotten glass and downed it in one go.

“A bomb?!” She half shrieked and half whispered hysterically as Maine’s face tightened. The risks just got a whole lot higher now and a whole lot of people might die if they fucked up. She glared lightly at Hiro as she felt her brow twitch. When he said that this mission would make her not rely too much on guns, she didn’t expect to be saddled with a mission this sensitive. For good measure, she punched his shoulder and he took it.

“I deserved that.” He replied as rubbed his shoulder. She was going to have a good long talk on proper communication later but for now, she had to sit through this meeting. “Also, it’s not exactly a bomb, it’s more a power source. I’ve been meaning to set up a power plant here in Night City but most of my speciality tools are still in Tokyo. I couldn’t set up the most critical component here so I had to have it made back there before shipping it over.” He added. Rebecca reached up and massaged her temple. She sorely wished that Hiro’s dump stat was strength rather than wisdom.

“What do you intend to power with something strong enough to level multiple city blocks…“ Maine asked as he crossed his arms across his massive chest. He was looking for an explanation and so was she now.

“The whole city and then some. I have a project that requires a strong power source and I found that I could also give power to almost everyone else while doing so.” She sucked in a breath before sighing. Now there was the lovable idiot she fell for. He had his heart in the right place but he did not think this through.

Rogue gave Hiro a deadpan look before shaking his head. “How altruistic of you. Too bad it could plunge the city to a second age of the red.” She reminded everyone and Dorio grimaced at that. The age of the blood colored sky was yet to be forgotten when its survivors still lived. Even if she didn’t live through it, she’d heard enough about it.

Hiro nodded as he looked at Rogue. “Well, that’s why I asked for your service. There’s no one more in the know than you, after all. If there’s any person that knows what the target's favorite lunch is then it would be you.” He replied confidently and she nodded in agreement. The network Rogue built up from her long life and her skills as both a former solo and a fixer was damn impressive and only she knew just how far that rabbit hole goes down too.

“Also, don’t worry about it. So long as they don’t use it as some form of target practice, it won’t go boom. Easy peasy.” He added reassuringly with a self assured smile. She scoffed at that, easy peasy her ass. They likely had to infiltrate a 6th Street stronghold and getting past the neighborhood they’re located in would be a huge pain.

“You came to the right person then.” Rogue replied as she reached out and swiped right, pushing the box away as the close up of one of the perpetrators was brought up. The man was turned to face them before it was compared to a group picture of the higher ups of the 6th Street. The unmistakable white brimmed cowboy hat and well trimmed beard with that smug thousand white smile of his was unmistakable but it was the man to his right that was highlighted. Everyone else was cropped out and his image was compared to that of the man in the attack. The cheekbones, ears and nose ship all matched up. All that was missing was a green beret and they had their man.

“This is the man that stole your tech. He’s a high ranking officer in the 6th Street who goes by the name of Pablo Silva. As for why they stole from you? It’s purely business really, nothing more and nothing else.”  Rogue started as the guys file was brought up. Father of three, Gunrunner, Drugpedller, as well as a human trafficked, pretty standard stuff for a gang member of his rank.

“Your little war with the Voodoo’s gave these patriotic hypocrites a lot of customers but words have it they themselves are running out of stock. Your package just so happens to arrive at an unfortunate time with the Voodoo boys sending any information they can gather outside of your data fortress to anyone that’s willing to take a bite.Those Plasma Pistols of yours, well, that piqued the interest of ole Pablo here.” More photos were brought up showing teh 6th Street handing weapons to the Voodoo boys. They must have paid them quite a lot to stop the 6th Street from shooting them and stringing them up.

“Fortunately for you, he did not hide your product in his house. He had it hidden in a warehouse just near the outskirts of the 6th Street Heartlands. It’s where his particular group conduct their operations, from gun running to human trafficking.” The image of the dealings was then replaced by a heavily fortified warehouse. It was brimming with gun emplacements and men guarding its perimeter. Most of the defense was in the form of gun turrets which was actually an advantage.

“Kiwi, think you can hack those?” Maine asked as he turned to their seasoned Netrunner.

Kiwi gave it some thought as she hummed before nodding “Give me an hour and I can give you some extra time,” she replied confidently. Those guns looked bigger and beefier than the ones available for the civilian market so that was a welcomed answer.

“The warehouse boasts quite the number of troopers guarding and you wouldn’t want to mess with them, no offense. You’ll be facing a wall of guns if you decide to go in guns blazing.” Rogue commented to which she and the rest of the crew nodded. They were armed, heavily so, but even that was a ridiculous number of guns facing back at them. They’d be made out of lead if all those guns start firing.

“Normally, you wouldn’t be able to crack this unless you want to risk an all out war on two fronts, She said, directing that comment to Hiro who grumbled at that ”Thankfully for you, you have a crew that could possibly pull this off and you just happen to have a short window of opportunity to take advantage of.”

The image of the warehouse was set aside for now as a picture of Pablo Silva and who she assumed were his loyal friends and coworkers standing there in a baseball pitch behind a line up of kids in old fashioned baseball uniforms. She had to suppress an aww with how adorable they looked in their little get up. “You see, the 6th Street’s annual Little League Baseball tournament is heating up and Pablo’s and his men’s kids are all in the running for the championship.”

“The match is set after sundown so the little kiddies won't get skin cancer. He’ll be taking most of his men with him leaving the warehouse practically unguarded. Miss this date and your job will get a whole lot harder.” The image of the warehouse came back with the men reduced to a more manageable level. It was practically a skeleton crew at this point but they still had a shit ton of gun turrets.

“Get in, knock out anyone that might see us, get the stolen product, then get out.” Maine listed out the steps they’ll take to get the job. Despite the nature of the thing they needed to retrieve, the job was really straightforward and with the details they had, it was just a matter of memorizing where the people patrol and which areas are a death sentence to be caught in.

“Piece of cake.” Pillar said cockily as he grinned widely.

Dorio stroked her chin as she looked down upon the details of the location before asking her own input “It’s harder than I expected but we can do this right Maine?”

Maine smiled back confidently as he nodded. “Yeah. We need to be careful, but we have this in the bag,” he said with a nod

The octogenarian grinned at them as she then said, “Well, seems like you guys are pretty confident with this job so how about this, Interested in doing another job on top of that?” That got everyone turning their heads to her. That was unexpected, though nothing out of the ordinary.

“What do you have in mind?” Maine asked as he leaned forward.

“Normally, I wouldn't do this but a friend of mine asked and your job just so happens to be in the same place where his daughter is being kept. Rescue her and let’s just say that you have someone that can whisper to the ears of the Orto’s.” Rogue replied as another photo popped up in their vision. It was the group photo of Valentino’s gang members with the head honcho himself, Campo Orto himself with his big bushy mustache and scared face. They stood there with their flashy cars and equally gaudy jewelry but amidst all the men was a single smug looking teenage girl with purple highlights. She wasn’t a girl of one of them but a family member considering she also sported the same jewelry and type of guns these guys carried with them.

A second photo was soon shown where the Latina was smiling widely as she and her friends partied under the strobing lights of a rave party. “She and her friends were having a joyride until they made a wrong turn. Wandered off too far from home and she and her friends are quite the lookers. You know how things usually go,” Rebecca snarled a bit at that.

“There is of course the usual fee. My friend’s twisting my arm here but at least he’s paying with an arm and a leg. So, what do you say?” She added, sweetening the pot a bit. She quickly glanced over to the big guy hoping he said yes. Adding more goals for a job was risky as is but she couldn’t let this go. The girl needed help and she'd be damned if she couldn’t help her when they could do it. Hiro looked at her and both of them nodded, agreeing that this was something worth doing.

“She’s held in the same location?” Dorio asked as she looked at the silver haired woman. Kiwi looked a bit unsure about it but she didn’t voice any objections. Pilar looked like he was rearing for a fight. Even if her brother’s reasoning was impure, he still had his heart in the right place.

Dorio paused for a bit, thinking about it long and hard before she finally nodded. “Consider it done.”

The elderly fixer grinned as she continued with the details of the mission.“Excellent. Now, for the route’s you can take…” She went one while Rebecca listened intently. This was a job that just got a whole lot more interesting. She couldn’t fuck this up.