Capítulo 24: Always tie a carrot in a stick
After last nights events with the small massacre and lying to the cops, some bribing as well, everything turned out well and I left with a, somewhat annoyed mother.
Besides that, Gloria agreed to let David keep training, on the condition when she is free. Which mostly meant that I had nothing to do today.
Currently it is five in the afternoon, meaning I was about to meet with Maines crew later in the night.
I was curious on why Maine wanted to meet me, it could be for the reward, or maybe he wants to take revenge on what I did to his card.
"Yeah, that'd make sense." I muttered, sharpening a knife in my hand, while also observing a video on how a net runner operates.
It was somewhat similar to using a computer to hack into security, information vaults, or take control of appliances.
The only problem, I need to visit another ripper doc, and buy and install a processor in order to do those things.
And by no means was I going to have myself get knocked out, so I was going to let my snakes do those, since they already have eaten some netrunners from before.
"Wait, can they even hack?" I wondered out loud, I had one of my snakes appear in front of me and stared at it.
Only for the snake to tilt its head and flick its metallic tongue out. I didn't even know what I was about to do, so I decided to order it.
"Hack the T.V." The snake tilted its head in the other direction, still flicking its tongue at me, while I just stared at it.
"Well, that was a fail." I sighed, rubbing my head in annoyance.
I had many talents ranging from pick-pocketing, voice imitation, cooking, cleaning, sewing, lock-picking, and slide of hands.
Programming was not one of them, and now, I didn't know if my snakes could even hack anything.
"Well, at least turn off the tv." I sarcastically ordered it, only to see its eyes turn yellow and look at the tv.
Where it was playing the news, the screen turned black and disappeared. I just looked at where the screen was, then down at the snake.
"I feel stupid." I sighed, planting my head in my hands. I thought it would have been complicated, but it turns out the snakes can do so when I am giving specific instructions.
With that settled, I began to look for ripper docs that sold these processors. I had to admit, I was somewhat excited to become one.
After exploring a bit more, I had found out that I would have to go to a netrunner store to buy some programs.
I was actually disappointed about it, since I thought I could just learn to hack something.
But in reality, they sold the programs in public and made profit from it. I had to force myself to not dwell on it for long and focus on other things.
The next agenda on the list, is the NCPD. Now that my snake was in the police, I could have more information around the city.
Gamboling dens, human trafficking, fighting rings. Anything that I can 'find on accident' and gain more power and influence.
Sure being a mercenary is fun, but I still need more money and power. Some will think I'm trying to gain influence, others might think I just want to be at the top.
But in reality, that's not the case. There are multiple ways to have control and not be exposed.
One of them, is the most basic, yet simple way. Holding what they hold dear against them.
And the captain, has a special someone in the hospital. Suffering from a shot to the head, rendering her in a vegitable state.
It'd be a shame if she somehow gained an unknown disease, causing her immense pain.
But for now, I had to make a call for a certain captain. I had my snakes quickly cover my face, making sure they had covered every bit.
Once done, I began to call the captain, letting the call ring a few times. Once done, I saw his face that had a stern look, his eyes held caution.
"This is captain Anderson, who am I speaking to?" He asked, I only hummed out loud, before activating the voice filter.
"Good evening captain. It seems you have obtained a, certain companion of mine." I spoke in a calm manner.
Hearing what I said, Anderson went from a cautious attitude, to a furious one, staring into my eyes with pure rage.
"You bastard, you killed my brother with your shitty snakes!" He wanted to rant more about how I hurt his family, but I cut him off.
"Three affair partners, five rape victims, ten drug brands he used." This caused the captain to keep quiet.
"This will not look good in the public's eyes, even for his widowed wife." I began to speak, letting my words wrap around his head like a vice.
"Imagine what the public would think, Jonathan Cook, brother to Anderson Cook, a rapist, a cheater, and a drug abuser, such a shame that a horrible man was allowed in the police force." I drawled out my words, letting the words sink in further.
"What. Do. You. Want?" He asked, forcing each word out.
"Information, and maybe a little bit of control." I could hear the sound of metal lightly scraping against metal, his hands clenching tight.
"Also, let my companion go, and keep your men away from me, simple as that." I finished while crossing my arms.
"No." He denied instantly, I wasn't surprised about this, so I decided to let the silence hold out a bit longer.
Once doing so, I leaned forward. Placing my hands together, and my head on top of them, while my snakes began to slowly slither along my body, showing I have more than one.
"And why not? Please tell me the reason on why, and please…" The snakes slowly began to raise their heads, hissing quietly.
"Don't take your time." With the amount of snakes in me, Anderson could only flinch at the sight, but his fear changed to arrogance.
"Arasaka wants to buy the snake off my hands, wanting to dissect the little fucker from the inside out." His grin widened and began to walk.
Grabbing something off screen, then holding it in front of me. Where it showed the cage and the snake inside, rattling a little.
The snake, was coiled up, resting its head on itself. Not interested in what is happening, only closing its eyes and falling asleep.
"Lilith Cook." Was all I said to make him stop shaking the cage, his arrogance evaporated and his anger return.
"How do you know that name?!" He tossed the cage to the side, I only flinched, barely noticeable, but kept calm.
"Thirty years old, is stuck in a vegetative state, and is kept under watch." This time he began to scream, drowning my voice.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" He shouted, glaring at me with pure hatred.
"Don't you dare touch her! I'll have your head, I swear to god!" I only chuckled at his reaction, knowing I had him in a corner.
"Then, do as I ask, follow my instructions, and release my companion if you want your wife to live." I ordered, I could see a vein slowly appearing, while he grit his teeth in anger.
"Fine." He forced himself to speak, I could tell he wanted to do something else, but with the leverage against him, he had no choice.
"Good, I'll be in touch, captain." I said in a mocking tone, causing him to scream before I ended the call.
I then took off the mask, while the snakes slithered off me. I sighed in annoyance at what I had to do next, but, with the amount of problems this city has, I would just have to suck it up.
With how things are about to go with Maine and his crew, I can expect that some might try to cause a fight.
But if it goes how I think it might go, it will go smoothly, it's a low possibility, but that doesn't mean I'll forget it.
I began to make sure I have everything I needed for tonight's meeting, which meant my two snakes, my suit, some knives, and a pistol.
Once I had gathered all the necessities, I began to make my way to the elevator. Pressing the button to head towards the parking garage.
As I made my way down, I soon received another call. Looking at it, I saw that it was Maine.
I didn't bother to linger on why he was calling me and answered, not before dawning my mask.
"Ah, Maine, I'd be lying if I said that it was a pleasure to see you again." Maine just scoffed at my greeting.
"Yeah, the feelings mutual asshole." He muttered, he then sighed and soon dropped his annoyance and looked at me with a serious look.
"Just callin in to tell you to meet us up in north side, don't be late." After that, he ended the call before I could say anything.
"Man, even when he's serious, he's still an asshole." I muttered, and soon arrived at the parking lot.
"Well, time to see what they want." I muttered while adjusting the cuffs on my suit.
POV MAINE
"Oi, Maine, you sure this luggage guy is gonna show?" Asked Rebecca, who was tweaking her gun, disassembling it and reassembling it.
"Aww, already having a crush?" Mocked her brother, only to feel a metal barrel placed on his head.
"I swear Pilar, if you say another fucking word, I'll zero you faster than the quick shot you are!" Shouted Rebecca, pushing the gun down.
"Hey, hey, hey, I am not a quick shot, I can please a woman good!" He protested, waving his elongated arms.
"Yeah, when your doing a brain dance!" She countered, causing Pilar to stutter, but he couldn't come up with a comeback.
"Man, they're at it again." Hearing the tired voice of Kiwi, I knew we were in for a another shoot out.
But before I could say anything, I looked around us, hearing something being knocked over.
We all soon raised our iron's, Kiwi jumping back and hiding behind a container, and getting ready to zero any gonks that tried to do anything funny.
In the end, it was a drunk maelstrom gang member, walking around with a bottle of booz in his hand.
"Oi, the-the fuck you g-gonks doin' h-here…" His voice slurred and dropped with exhaustion.
We didn't want to deal with these freaky bastards, so we just put our guns away. However, this guy took it as an insult and tried to get closer.
"F-fuuuck yoouuu, y'all think your better than m-…." He was then cut off when something grabbed him by the leg, dragging him around the corner.
Seeing this happen, the guy became sober and began to claw at the ground, begging us to help him.
"I-I'll give you eddies, f-fuck, I don't wanna die!!!" Was all he said before he disappeared around the corner.
The sound of his screaming was loud, followed by the sound of something being crushed.
It was wet, followed by the sound of bones being broken, after what felt like a few hours, the screaming stop.
Blood began to flow from the corner, and the sound of footsteps soon followed. As soon as we saw the blood, we all aimed at the corner
"Apologize, it seems my little companions wanted a little snack." A familiar distorted voice was heard, and out came the man I wanted to meet.
In one hand, was a bloody implant, a pair of eyes, to be more specific. While in the other, was one of those freaky little shits.
It was devouring a cybernetic lung, its jaw was wide and swallowing the damn thing easily, as if it was a joy toy sucking easily.
Behind him, more of those freaks slithered behind, all of them sticking close to him like guards.
"So, shall we discuss the reason on why I was called here?" He asked, feeding an eye to the 'companion', it gulped the eye and began to slither along his arm, hissing loudly.
The rest soon began to circle around him, hissing as well. The snakes then began to form a chair, where he soon sat on and crossed his leg.
One of his arms were placed on the armrest, while the other still held the snake. He leaned his head onto his hand, staring at us woth that damn mask on his face.
"Yeah, the reason your out here, is because we want to hire you."
(A/N) Hey, hey, here's Tuesday's chapter, finally getting back into my groove, the story on the other hand, I'll admit, slowly going bad…
But I'll make improvements soon, so stay tuned. But, since it's nearly the end of the year, I'll ask a question.
Do all of you want me to share my next project, or wait until I have my other books far ahead?
Let me know.
For now, peace.
Status de energia semanal
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