Chapter 67: Part 59
Write me a private message and I'll send you the full text:
patreon.com/FanFictionPremium.
---
- Are you ready?
- I've been ready for a while...
I nodded to Vic who was now sitting next to me, I was now lying on his riper chair. It had been a week since I'd lost my leg and arm, and he'd had all my components delivered to him, so he'd decided to install everything at once.
What else has passed in that week?
Well, DeShawn and Faraday continued to try to recruit girls, the former even came down to earth and met us in his limousine and was very persistent in offering the girls a ride with him. Naturally they turned him down. And although they refrained from sending him a profanity-laced message, the refusal was still accepted by this individual with such a face that it was clear... he would not forgive.
Faraday was a bit more squeamish in this respect and sent his sixes to us. The response from my girls, however, was still the same. They simply refused. And if DeShawn was quite restrained, perhaps fearing me, or maybe by nature, Faraday's sixes even tried to threaten. We calmed them down a bit by sending them to the hospital....
We also took Vic out for a kebab. And this meeting was more than wonderful. Good food, good drinks, good fellowship.
- Well, then, when you wake up, you'll be as good as new.....
I grinned.
- That's good to know...
- All right, go on, go back to sleep...
And he injected me with a medicine that made my eyes close immediately.
- That's it, come on...
I got a tap on the shoulder and opened my eyes. There was no sleep in either eye. I then slowly raised both my hands and examined them. I clenched and unclenched them and then slowly rose to a sitting position.
- Vic...
I got up from the riper's chair and made a couple of trial movements.
- ...you're a wizard.
- Hmm, I bet you are! You know...
There was sadness in his voice and a certain amount of embarrassment.
- ...when you've got good chromium and good medicine, it's not so hard to be a wizard. It is much more difficult with those who try to save every penny, trying to use cheap medicines, either with expired expiry date or produced by unreliable companies, or chromium from rubbish collectors, but only from rubbish collectors, so even chromium not of the first freshness....
- It's really getting to you, isn't it?
- You have no idea how--
- Well.
I scratched my cheek thoughtfully.
- ...I can't help it...except.....
- Unless...
Vic looked at me with interest.
- Unless you want to become a nomad and take a position as a reaper in the Aldecaldo clan.
Vic wrinkled his nose.
- The conditions there...
- It was... now the clan has enough equipment, though it still needs to be prepared, but in general one Behemoth will be completely remodelled as an office for a Reaper. So everything will be at a fairly high level.
Vic looked thoughtfully at the exit from the clinic. I realised that he was looking towards Misty's shop. So naturally he shook his head, refusing my offer.
- No.
- Well, suit yourself... but it seems silly to me... to suffer as you are suffering, you either have to act....
I also nodded towards Misty's shop.
- ...or drop everything and make a drastic change in your life.
- You gonna tell me how to live my life?
Vic looked at me sadly, but at the same time I could see that he wasn't uncomfortable with the subject. On the contrary, he's glad he has someone to talk to about it. And even if that someone is a jerk that is three or four times younger than himself, but even so....
- Well, unlike you, I've got two girls and three more on the way.
- Three? I didn't think Kiwi was too keen on you, she's kind of got a thing for Pilar.
- Well...
I shrugged.
- Let's be honest, who'd give up a girl like that? Especially now she's pining for him, but when it comes to the case, what will happen?
- And what?
- Well... first of all, there will be a question about where to live... she has been living with us for a few weeks now, and I am the one who takes care of the food in our company, as the girls themselves are only able to make tea. And they all love a good meal.
- Are you saying that the delicious food is your master plan?
- I wouldn't say it's a plan, it's more of a subconscious effort to attract attention. I didn't really think about it until about a week ago. Before that, it was just good food and happy faces.
- I know what you mean.
- Speaking of happy faces.
- А?
Vic looked at me in surprise.
- How is it going with our mutual acquaintance, who aspires to the big leagues?
- Well, Vee herself, some upgrade has made... I can't say that the chrome she chose is right for the big leagues, but... In general she prepares herself... Recently she went to Malstrom, there were some problems there....
I made a note of it. So they've already taken BOTH of them. Which means they've either already found a master brainiac who's processed all of Parker's data for them, or this will be their next step. And considering DeShawn's still boring us...
- What about Jackie?
- What about him?
- Well, did the big guy come by your place? Did he install Chrome?
- No.
- Well, then don't worry, you'll soon have a chance to just comfort Misty and then show her that she'll be better off with you around.
- А?
- Vic, a major league assignment is no big deal, the Wakako they were working with never gave them a major league assignment. Medium level... But you should realise that you can't do much with a chrome that serves in the medium league... I was only able to get by on the basis of skills and the number of runners, but three runners is a lot, and I have an experimental Sandi, which, let's be honest, is much cooler than those that even many corporations from the big league can afford....
- Well, that's a yes...
Vic frowned.
- ...Oh no...
I shook my head.
- What?
- Vic, don't do that...don't be so generous....
- David, you pay for your own girls and paying for Panam and Judy is understandable, they're your girls, but Lucy, Becca and Kiwi... yes you're targeting them, but still... Paying THAT much for them....
I sighed.
- Shit, Vic, what are you, a fucking saint?
- No, but Jackie's my friend... and I don't want to stand on his ofrenda and tell the story of my life with him....
I sighed again.
- Fuck...fucking saint....
Those words I repeated when I saw his eyes light up. Apparently he had personally decided to call Jackie and offer him a new chrome on credit. And looking at him now, I wondered if I could do the same. And I have to admit, I probably couldn't. I couldn't.
- Right, OK.
I got a tap on the shoulder as Vic's eyes faded and he turned his gaze back to me.
- ...Come on, get up and get dressed. You're all right now, but it's best not to go on combat missions for the next month. Get used to the new capabilities, because the muscles, although the same in capabilities, but still much more powerful than the previous ones, I have selected them so that they in combination with the new skeleton can give you all their hundred per cent. Of course, it would be possible to put more powerful ones, but you wanted a skeleton that would weigh about the same as a normal human skeleton, so you have to determine what kind of capabilities you have now.
- Mm-hmm... what about skin and subcutaneous armour?
- Well, your subcutaneous armour is powerful now, but you should know that if you get hit by a hail of bullets, it can withstand it, but the skin....
Vic shook his head.
- ...the skin will have to be replaced. And if you move too fast, don't forget that rubbing your skin against the air will give you a lot of discomfort.
I sighed.
- Don't worry, I've already got my costume ready.
- Hmm?
- It's based on a ranger's suit, and I've added some armour so that it doesn't interfere with movement, and a helmet to protect my face. So I hope that the body will be protected from the friction forces, and also from the shots... Still, the armour should protect from them. Although it's not worth getting under heavy fire, that's true....
Saying that, I got to my clothes and slowly put them on. No, I could have acted faster, but I still had little sense of the limits of my body, except that I realised that it was much stronger than before....
- Okay, I'm going...
- Go, go, go.
I left Victor's clinic, and then quietly walked towards Misty's shop, where my girls were waiting for me, who decided to go with me. Yes, we all realised that going in such a crowd was pointless, but the girls really wanted to talk to Misty, and they were worried about me.
- And here I am.
I entered the shop and to my surprise I saw not only my girls and Misty there, but also Vee, who was standing there with a slightly disgruntled look on her face.
- David...
She nodded her head at me.
My girls were much less restrained, Panam came over to me and examined me carefully, unbuttoned my jacket and made me take it off, pulled up the sleeve of my T-shirt and only when she was sure that there was no sign of loss of limb she gave me a gentle kiss on the lips.
While I was getting dressed again, Judy was next to me; she didn't undress me, just looked me in the eye and nodded and kissed me. Lucy and Becca were next to me and kissed me on the cheeks. Kiwi was the last to approach me and with a mocking glance at Judy and Panam she kissed me on the lips.
To say that I was shocked is to say nothing.....
She's got the hots for Pilar... or is she not anymore?
Yes, the kiss was light, weightless, childish, but all in all, it's already a signal....
- I see you're back in one piece.
- Yeah, and I see DeShawn's still holding out hope of bringing me in? And if not me, at least my girls? That's why you came here, isn't it?
- Yeah.
She frowned even more.
- ...What's he so hung up on you for?
- Probably not used to getting rejected, but honestly my answer still doesn't change. No, we're not going to work for DeShawn.
She sighed.
- I suspected you'd say that... and the client's having a tantrum about how only your Judy can handle the data she's got....
I shrugged.
- It's none of our business... V, I don't want anything to do with DeShawn....
- Yeah you already said that... but as a solo I had to come and talk.
She sighed and turned around and walked towards the exit.
- Are you sure you don't want to?
She said as she stopped at the door of Misty's shop.
- Right, we have a lot of other things to do right now...
And it's true, because in the last two weeks I was made the head of the clan and we have already started to master the equipment from the police warehouses. Of course, there were no new ones, but... parts were there too, so we were repairing them on the spot. I didn't forget to work on Regina's and Bestia's orders, technical orders of course, and even just fulfilling them we got decent sums, as the girls helped me when it came to the technical part, and I helped them when it came to ice installation.
Vee left the shop and I answered the phone, which rang at the same second. That's right they say that anything that can happen will happen in an instant, let it all be as inconvenient as possible.
- Go ahead, Regina.
- David, you were just placing an order for me.
- Hmm?
I made a stand, as I'd only left one order for Regina lately. For training chips...
- Did you get them?
- Yes, although I have to admit it wasn't easy or cheap....
- How much?
She gave me a price and I almost groaned in pain. Almost all my savings. I wouldn't have an airbag after paying for this. But it's worth it, right?
- Okay... I'll transfer the payment to you.....
- I got the payment, how do you want the wood chips?
- We'll pick them up ourselves... there's no desire to pass such things through third hands.
- Huh, I know what you mean... and I hope you'll be back to combat duty soon....
- No sooner than two weeks... although Reaper was talking about a month, but I'm still hoping that by following his advice I'll be ready for combat operations sooner.
- Okay... so just technical orders for now?
- Yeah.
- Okay...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone