章 205: Accosted

"Excuse me, c-can we talk in private?"

Ori, who'd had his foot under running water in the sink, turns and crooks a brow at the woman. Rough black hair, brown eyes, and dull almost boring features. "Unless you're hiding a cock under that skirt, this is the gents." he states and continues his task.

"No... Ori, I think we need to talk." she affirms, catching him off-guard by her use of his name...

"Did one of my friends call me that? You need to learn that they're liars when they're drunk." he retorts, more on edge.

She sighs, "Of course you don't recognise me... It's me... Christy."

...

"Okay, even if it was, why would I care?" he quietly asks.

"Because you're the reason I'm here, doing side-gigs in shitholes like this with a new face! The whole fucking city is on my ass 'cuz they think I killed my bandmates!" she angrily exclaims.

He drops his other foot under the tap, "I actually like this bar, so..."

"They locked down my accounts! Millions of Eddies, 'Poof!' Gone! I had to sell my guitar!"

"And that's my problem, how? Lemme guess, to get paid to blow me?" he sneers.

"I want you to help sort out the mess you made! I paid you to see it done, and look where I am now!" she angrily rants.

Finally finished cleaning his shoes, he washes his hands and turns to her, "You paid to kill your bandmates, we did that. I don't know how people found out about it, maybe you let something slip, who knows. All that matters is that we did what we were asked to do." he shakes his head, "I don't recall seeing a trial, so I bet you didn't even try defending yourself, the fact your face isn't plastered all over the news means they don't want it publicised either... Sounds to me like this mess is your fault." he says and tries to push past her, she steps in his way and braces a hand against his chest however...

"No. You have to fix this! I can't live like this anymore! Do you know what it's like going from five-star hotels and food to sex motels and rotten street food!?"

"Yeah, the difference is, I pulled myself out of it. You dropped in it yourself. I'd recommend you get back to singing, don't wanna lose this gig." he states and walks past, leaving the seething woman in the male bathroom.

"Something up? You look like someone threw up on your shoes again." Rebecca asks as he gets back to the table.

"Nothing, shit was harder to get rid of than I thought."

---------------------

"Gooo-oood, dammmmnn..." Ori curses as he wakes up, still somehow finding himself in the bar...? He'd apparently slept on a booth seat with Rebecca passed out on his chest, but it wasn't just him present.

Many other people were still sleeping around the place. Everyone else was there too, all but Kiwi Sasha who'd presumably gone home, the latter after dropping that chick at a doc. David and Lucy had woken up, the Netrunner holding her boyfriend's hair as he vomits in a nearby trashcan.

"What the fuck happened last night." he utters, sitting up and gripping his head.

"Don't move..." Rebecca groans, burying her face into his shirt.

He glances over and spots Pilar stepping out of the toilets and zipping up his pants with a grin on his face, "Do you know what happened? 'Cuz I don't remember shit..."

"Heh, some Corpo asshat decided to celebrate something, had his guys bring in a shit load of stims and started slinging 'em. Ha! You should've seen it, never seen such amateurs before in my life!"

Ori furrows his brow, "We didn't, right? Not all of us would be stupid enough to do some strangers drugs?"

Pilar shrugs, "We were all pretty fucked up by the time that happened... I don't think those two slept either." he points at Lucy and David. "Last I saw they'd been plugged in for hours. Shit must've finally hit 'em."

"Bro, go away, your voice is annoying..." Rebecca tiredly waves him off.

Ori tunes out the sibling's bickering and glances at his Interface, where a bunch of missed calls and texts were...

[??? Missed Call]

[Zombie! It is imperative that you move to a safe location immediately! You are in danger! Arasaka are enacting military protocols! I repeat! MOVE NOW!] - ???

Three hours ago...

He blinks the sleep out of his eyes as he stares at the message, taking a few seconds to realise what it was. He wanted to believe someone was pranking him but, he was pretty sure they weren't lying.

"Shit!" he shoves Rebecca off of him and stands, making sure his revolvers were still there as he makes his way to the door. If he was gonna be hunted, he needed to get away from everyone before they became targets too.

"Hey! Where the fuck're you going!?" Pilar exclaims at his sudden departure.

"No time, I just need to go!" he says, marching out the door. Once he steps onto the sidewalk however he quickly realises a problem... The bar had already been surrounded. Not obviously, but he could see the snipers on nearby rooftops, all of them shifting to face him. They were all unmarked, presumably to give Arasaka an out should they be discovered, but something told him they weren't going easy anymore...

"Moku-get sighted," he could barely hear from the building opposite the bar, his software translating the Japanese, "One of the three capture targets, employ nonlethal rounds."

"One of the three?" he mutters, confused. Who else but him would Arasaka want to capture? David maybe? For his Sandevistan and ridiculous tolerance for implants? Maybe Maine?

His thoughts are cut short as he moves to the left to avoid a bullet, only for it to explode in a shockwave of energy, an EMP round. His body seizes, his flesh unaffected by the nanites in his blood, brain, and almost every other organ certainly were. Even with their preventative measures the damage would cripple them if allowed to continue.