Chapter Thirty-Nine: Home
Luna, watching the news about what happened in Rome: THAT'S MY GIRL!
Magenta, slightly scared: What do you mean 'That's my girl'?
Luna: I adopted her. She doesn't know it yet, but I did. And let me tell you, Mom could not be more proud.
Magenta: I- I don't think our AIs would just forge paperwork like that for other Vanguard without their knowledge or consent
Luna: Oh, there's no paperwork. I just decided I would adopt her.
--Conversation between samurai in an undisclosed location
When entering the PsyCO garage, I somehow expected something more like clapping or cheers, but instead, I just find a lot of chaos. The mercenaries are unloading their weapons. Jason is there as well, trying to organise the area somewhat.
I turn around and look at my little group. “Welcome to PsyCo, the place providing everything a samurai could need.”
“That is a pretty good description of what we do here,” Magenta says as she comes up behind me.
“Thank you. I have been workshopping it all month.” I say with a big smile.
“So, I heard you broke out of confinement, and now you are here with an entirely new group of people. Care to explain what happened?” She asks, giving all of them a long look, pausing on Tucker and frowning. “He has golden eyes.”
“He does,” I confirm with a smile. “Is that a problem?”
“Not at all, just surprising. So, do you want to explain what happened?”
“Yeah, he is… you know, never mind, it's not important. I’ll tell you everything in an hour or so if that's okay. I would like to put them somewhere safe in the hotel first, if you don’t mind.”
“Right, sorry, that makes sense. Want to keep the kid away from the guns and stuff? Do you need anything from me?”
“Yes, actually, I do. You have hard-light projection stuff in your catalogue. Could you set up some projectors in the penthouse? It will make the meeting a lot easier.”
Magenta narrows her eyes. “And why would I pay for that, exactly?”
I lean in closer to her. “How about because you shot me?” I whisper in her ear.
Magenta lets out a deep sigh. “Is there any way I can get your forgiveness for that?”
I smile. “You’re dating my girlfriend. I feel like I am legally obliged to forgive you, but you do realise that you never said sorry, right?”
“Fuck!” she shouts, jumping away from me. “You’re right! I am really sorry. I made a mistake. Could you forgive me?”
“Of course, we all make mistakes,” I say, squeezing her arm softly for comfort.
“Yeah, but most mistakes aren't lethal.” She says.
“My mistake got my entire family killed, so I think I still have you beat on the whole mistake department.”
Magentas eyes go wide. “uhm, I.....”
“Don’t worry about it, we're good. Just ask next time before you try to penetrate me.” I say with a grin.
Magenta's entire face goes red. “Right. Well, I’ll be off installing those projectors.”
“Thank you, and. Magenta, can you make sure Cierra and Claire are both there?”
“Sure,” she squawks out before running off.
I turn back to my friends and family. “Sorry about that. Big incursion today, so things are a bit crazy. Shall I show you the rooms first so you can all relax?”
“Sure, but what's the plan for after our night's rest?” John asks.
“Well, for me, I am going to take a break and hibernate for a week or so. At least, I hope I can get a week in before something goes seriously wrong again. Let's see, first; we assign you a proper job with pay and benefits. Make sure you receive back pay for last month and find a proper job for you to do when you're not out on a mission. Since you have experience leading mercenary groups, you might get a similar job. If you don’t feel like going into the field again, a teaching position would probably also be available, so you would either be doing that, or in charge of training.” I rattle off, feeling a bit winded at the end.
“You don’t sound so sure. " John says with a smile.
“Well, a month ago, we were chronically understaffed, but now,” I wave my hand around. “We seem to be doing a lot better as far as that goes. So, until I figure out where all these people came from and what they are doing, I can’t promise anything concrete besides that, except for Eva and Mio.”
“What makes us different?” Mio asks, looking confused.
“If I learned one thing from corporate life, it's that you always need more hackers and infiltrators. " I say with a shrug.
Our conversation is cut short by the fact that we arrived at the elevator and we all needed to file in to reach the hotel floor. Finding rooms for everyone was kind of more interesting than I imagined it would be. A lot of the rooms are now occupied. Most of my team doesn't mind, finding the rooms here a big upgrade over the cheap motels they stayed at before.
I also managed to find two rooms with a connecting door for Angela and Lamar, so they can have their privacy while also being close to each other.
“So, these are the numbers to call if you need any help. Food is served in the cafeteria down the hall. There is no cleaning staff as far as I know, so clean up your mess.” I explain to Lamar and Angela when I get them in the room. “Oh, and if you need anything quick, I'll be on the top floor, so just get in the elevator and press the button.
Angela hugs me, holding me tight as she trembles. “Thank you, thank you so much.”
“No problem, you're family. We might not have known each other for a long time, but I will do anything to keep you safe.”
“Angie, you should probably let her go. She has that meeting to go to. " Lamar says, as he rubs her back.
“Ah, right, sorry about that. I'm normally better about these kinds of things.” Angela says without letting go.
I smile. “It's fine. It's just I have been missing for a month, and they were pretty concerned, so they would like to know what happened.”
“A month?” Lemar asks, confused, “Did it take that long to find us?”
“No, I was stuck underneath a city, and when I got out, I was made aware of your existence, so instead of going back home first, I went to get you.” Then I look straight into Angela’s eyes. “Also, if you are somehow lost again, I will not go missing to find you. I will call in every favour, so I assume it will be rather loud.”
“Well, sister, I appreciate that, but go see your girl now. I'll make sure the two of them are safe.” Lemar says as he rustles my hair.
I smile as I feel this warmth in my chest. “Okay, and if anything happens, you know what to do?”
“Yes, call you?” Lemar rolls his eyes.
“No, you call everyone. I don’t care if you wake them up.” I give them my best Maniac grin to drive the point home.
Lemar sighs. “You are the worst boss out there. I pity your new recruits.”
“Technically, I am not the boss, just an investor.”
“That only makes it worse.”
“Good night, see you tomorrow morning.” With that, I give Angela one last hug before I head out.
I quickly make my way to the elevator, trying my best not to run into anyone important since I want this day over, and I have had enough excitement for a while.
The elevator ride-up is both fast and slow as I do my best to get all my feelings in a row. As the door opens, I am hit with the realisation that I have never been in this house before. Sure, I have seen the plans for it, but not actually the fully furnished finished product.
The interior is nice, I guess. I really don’t get decorating all that much. But it all looks late 20th century, very white and shiny. I quickly take off my shoes in the foyer and head further into the house. The house itself has a big open kitchen that bleeds over into the living room, where Claire and Magenta are messing around with some electronics, while Cierra is sitting on a couch with Daisy.
“Hey everyone, I'm back,” I state a bit sheepishly.
The impact is not as immediate as I had expected. Everyone just freezing, besides Daisy, who jumps off the couch to come towards me. I kneel down to pet the beast. Once I make sure that she has got all the love and attention she deserves, I look up, only to see Cierra sobbing.
I slowly stand up and walk towards her. “Hey, what's wrong?”
“It’s all my fault that you got hurt, and, and… I thought you were dead. There was a body.” she gasps out before sobbing some more.
I rush in closer, pulling my arms around her and my legs on either side of her, straddling her as I hug her closer, stroking her hair.
“I would estimate that it was only about 18% your fault.” a voice from behind me informs us.
I turn around, only to see a purple drone with golden cracks hovering there. It has a wide mask similar to mine hanging off one of its gun barrels. “Crow, I love you, but your timing is about as good as the German train system.”
“But only 9.7% of all German trains are on time,” Crow rattles off.
“Exactly!”
“Uhm, Evelin, who is that?” Cierra asks, looking at the drone.
“That's Crow,” I say, as I wipe the tears from her cheek. “But that can wait. Did you just say a body?”
“Yeah.” she points at Magenta, “She found a body with golden eyes.”
I raise my eyebrow. “Well, I guess that is kind of a rare condition to have, so I understand the mix-up.”
“Condition?” Claire asks, "What do you mean?”
I turn to look at her, noticing that she is done fiddling around and has set herself down on the couch as well. “I don’t really remember all the facts. It wasn't important at the time, but my grampa used to work at this chemical lab place and there was a spill. Most people died, but my grampa survived because of a rare gene that allowed him to deposit the chemical or something like that. Nothing much happened after that, the settlement wasn't even enough to pay for the hospitalisation. But when my aunt was born, they noticed something strange: she had golden eyes. More tests later, and it turned out to be related to the same strain of DNA. Apparently, every child born from the people who survived has golden eyes. There were like five people, so it's still rare.”
“I never really thought about it much, to be honest.” Claire admits, “But that is kind of cool. Your eyes are really pretty after all, and the fact that your children would have them is great.”
“The eyes were not the only reason that we thought it was you,” Magenta butts in. “It was also the DNA. It was mostly a match for all common tracers, with only small inconsistencies in some parts of the DNA not normally tested.”
“Okay, but that wasn't me.” I say, “The bigger question is, who was she?”
“You don’t have any other close family?” Magenta asks.
I shake my head. “I don’t even think family would have such a close match, but no, not really. My brother has one child, and he is a toddler.”
“Wait, you have a nephew?” Cierra sputters out in confusion.
“Yeah, I found out like yesterday. Why? Is that a problem?” I ask, as I give her a kiss on her forehead.
“Yes, no. I mean, it was never in any records that he had a child, so I am a bit surprised. Was it a secret or something?” Cierra asks as her eyes go out of focus as she stares at something on her AUG. “No mention of potential parentage. That is strange.”
“I uhm, that is bad, right?” Claire asks.
“Yeah, that means someone with power wanted to hide the fact that he existed, which is not normal. Normally they would try to force the debt on the child as well, to make sure to squeeze as many credits out as possible.” I explain.
“What do you gain from hiding it?” Magenta asks.
“Leverage. Most people in New Hope knew I wanted to marry Evelin. If I succeed, the debt of her family would easily disappear, so keeping the child as a worker is useless, but if you keep him as a hostage, you can control Evelin, and through Evelin, you could control me.” Cierra explains, pulling her eyes away from her AUG.
“That explains why that gang had such advanced tech.” I say, snapping my figures.
“Gang? What gang?” Clare asks.
“My sister-in-law nephew and uhm…”
“God-brother” Crow supplies
I nod. “Right, that. They were held by a gang with way too much money.”
Cierra's eyes lock back on me. “Does that mean that they are safe?”
“Yeah, they're in the hotel right now,” I confirm with a smile.
“One thing I still don’t get is how you would convince anybody that the kid was really your nephew?” Magenta asks.
“The videos! That is what those were for. It makes so much sense now,” I say with a smile.
“Video’s?” Claire asks
“Yeah, my brother had a video diary. Indentured servants are allowed to make those for, like, next of kin, if something happens. I never bothered making one, but my brother did. And somehow that diary wasn't delivered to me, and instead, hidden somewhere.” I explain.
“Where was it hidden?” Cierra asks.
“I don’t know. Mio found it, so we need to ask her tomorrow.” I rest my face against her shoulder, not wanting to do much more today.
“Sounds good, so can I now ask who Crow is?” Cierra asks.
“Uhm yeah, of course, it's a bit of a long story.” I say as I crawl off her lap. “So, it is better to show you all. Magenta, I assume the projectors are ready?”
“In this room, yeah, still need to do like half of this massive house,” she confirms.
“Okay, so I am not alone in here.” I say, pointing at my head, “There is Crow.” I gesture at the drone, “And there is Maniac,” and with a poof of silver smoke, Maniac appears, hood down and mask on the side of her face. Her face is the same as mine, and the only way you can tell us apart is that the tips of her blond hair have green highlights.