Save Scumming

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty-Two - Lovely Louise

Before getting into Louise's car, I moved away from the scene and stuffed my revolver away. I... really wanted to Save. This was the best result so far, and things had gone well, but on the other hand, I didn't trust that I hadn't messed up somewhere along the way.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember everything I'd done so far, each step and permutation on the original attempt.

I'd have to do all of this over again, even if this was my ideal run.

The Seraph team was backing up. They'd grabbed their C-ranker and he was being looked over by their medic. Guns were lowered, and it looked like the situation was diffused, but there was still a whole lot of tension going around.

"Come," Louise said.

"Give me one minute?" I asked. "I've got to fetch a thing or two. They busted down my door, you know?" I didn't have much that I wanted to retrieve, but some things might be a little suspicious. My laptop had some weird searches on it, and I had a couple of items that were worth enough that I didn't want to just leave them in my room, unsecured.

She frowned, then nodded and turned to Eldur. "Can you spare a man?" she asked.

"Uh, yes ma'am," he said. "I can call the corp. We can have an E-ranker wait around until morning."

"Make that noon?" I tried. "I haven't exactly had the most restful night."

It was still late enough that the sun wasn't even a hint on the horizon, not that I'd be able to tell from ground level. Whatever. I waved to the others, then was annoyed when two of Luna Corp's guys jogged after me. I mean, I got it, they'd come this far to help, and now they probably felt the need to continue to protect me a little, or keep an eye on me, at least, but still.

Hadn't I just kicked the ass of a competitor's C-ranker? I was a big girl and I could handle myself.

I reopened the breakers for the elevator, then used it to get back up to my apartment. No one had snuck in, from what I could tell. I think the big bloodstain on the floor was keeping people away, and the splinters of my door scattered across the hall. A few neighbours were out, but I didn't really say anything to them. At best I vaguely recognized them from having walked by a few times in the last year, but that was all.

Good neighbours were neighbours that you didn't have to see. At least, that was the logic that I'd heard a few times.

I slipped into my room and picked up a few things. I didn't have luggage, but I had a backpack that I emptied and stuffed full of clothes in a hurry, then I packed up my laptop and hesitated a moment before grabbing my guitar too.

I didn't know how long this stay at Louise's place would last.

Actually, I wasn't sure if it was a good idea at all. Louise was... a lot. I had history with her, too. Not that she remembered it, but... yeah, it was a big, important thing to me, once. I was over it now, probably. That didn't mean that I really trusted her. She had always been--actually, I couldn't say.

My interactions with her before had amounted to a one night stand and passing her by in the corridors of the corporation a few times.

That, and I knew how she died.

Well, maybe not anymore. The breach was a ways off, and I had dropped a few rocks and made a few ripples. Maybe things would be different? I could hope. Louise probably didn't deserve to die, even if she was a bit of a bitch.

I had one of the guys escorting me to help with my stuff. It was just too much to carry all at once. We went down several floors, and then exited the elevator to enter a small closet from which a constant, angry meowing was coming from.

"Shush, Mister Couchtop, it's okay, mommy's here," I said as I picked up the kitty carrier. He didn't like that, and ended up shifting awkwardly within until I shifted the carrier to under one arm. "Alright, that's everything," I said.

And it really was. Strange, how I could carry most of the important things in my life around without too much trouble. I supposed that it wasn't all bad, however.

We left the apartment out the front to find the Seraph team slowly pulling away. The cops had wandered closer, and even as I approached, Eldur waved me over. Louise was standing not too far away, in a space that looked cold even from afar. She didn't look happy about having to wait.

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As it turned out, the cops had questions.

The FEPD didn't fuck with inter-corporate messes, but they did sometimes do their job. There had been a shooting. Two people were injured, and blood was spilled. There was also a break-in, but from the short interrogation I received, they weren't as interested in that.

Eldur standing a step behind with his arms crossed made things surprisingly expedient. It wasn't long before the sweating cop finished asking me some pointed questions which I mostly answered in as vague a way as I could. I 'disabled' one of the Seraph people after they broke into my apartment with clear and obvious ill intents. And then I was confronted by another member who started an altercation which I ended without anyone dying.

Really, in the eyes of the law, I was a living saint.

At least, that's what I hoped any lawyers that looked into this case would think. Seraph's legal team could probably find evidence to the contrary, but that was a battle for another time.

The cops had enough after a few minutes, and I was finally let go. I grabbed my stuff and jogged over to Louise's little car. "Sorry that took so long," I said.

"C'est rein," she replied with a dismissive little wave. "Get in the car. Is that a cat?"

"This is Mister Couchtop," I said. Was this going to be a problem?

She sniffed, then squinted. "A British shorthair?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"As long as he doesn't shed all over the upholstery," she grumbled before walking around to the driver's side.

I tossed my crap in the back, and elected to keep Mister Couchtop with me at the front. It wasn't quite like having him on my lap, what with the cat carrier in the way, but at least I was close, and that would stop him from meowing too much.

The car wasn't all that comfortable. It was European, small, and definitely not sized to fit someone as tall as I was, so I had to have my knees bunched up a little. Plus, to fit my guitar in the back, I had to push the seat forward, which didn't help.

Louise climbed in, buckled herself, then took off at an alarming speed, kicking up gravel before she pulled a tight turn in the middle of the street and shot off past the cops without even glancing at them.

"That was interesting," she said. "Though I would rather have not been awakened."

"Sorry. Next time a corp breaks into my home I'll try to schedule it for mid-afternoon. Or is that when you take your nap?"

Louise looked away from the road to stare at me, then she sniffed. "Impudante," she muttered.

"Je sais ça veut dire quoi," I replied. I know what that meant. At least, I hoped I had translated it correctly.

"Your French is like... flossing with barbed wire, it is painful."

"Personally, I blame the language," I said.

She didn't reply to that, but the car didn't grow any colder, and I think I detected a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her lip.

I grabbed onto the seat as we blew through a red light. The only reason I wasn't freaking out was that her car seemed to have topped off at its max speed, and that wasn't very high at all. Still, the way Louise drove was bordering on the suicidal.

With that kind of driving, it wasn't long before we were in the centre of the city and pulling into a secured parking garage. I was hit with a strange sense of deja-vu as she pulled into a private spot, then got out.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked as I stood.

"I want you to tell me what happened. Not the bullshit you told the police. Or what you'll tell Luna Corp. But we can be... civilized about it. I have some wine."

"Cool, okay," I said. "I guess, uh."

She stared at me. "Where is all that confidence I saw? Hm? You were standing above a man with a gun to his head just an hour ago. Hesitation doesn't fit."

"Right," I replied. "Well, if there's wine involved, maybe it won't be so bad."

She snorted. "Maybe there is a little French in you after all."

***