บท 187: Adopted?
*Knock, Knock, Knock*
...
*Click!*
"Oh, it's you..." Fujino impassionately states, eyes trailing from Ori to the wheelchair-bound girl he was pushing.
"I'd say the same but you already know how I feel about you." he lowers his voice so that Charlie would be hard-pressed to hear, "So grab my sister or I'll visit another time, but not for my sister..." growls.
Fujino sighs and walks inside, gesturing him to follow. New arm and Cyberware or not, he was well aware he stood no chance if he tried to fight Ori.
Ori wheels Charlie inside as they enter the main room of the apartment, spotting Bats slouched on the sofa watching TV. "Sup, Bats."
"Ori!" the man blurts, quickly standing and then pausing as finally spots the new additions to Ori's body. "You updated your chrome without telling me!?"
He shrugs, "It was deemed 'necessary'." he states with a meaningful look, which Bats just nods at, getting the gist of it. "Oh, this is Charlie by the way," he rests a hand on the curious girl's shoulder, "Say hi to Uncle Bats."
"Hi Uncle..." she quietly says, embarrassed at being the centre of attention.
"Oh, you're cute aren't you." Bats can't help but smile at her, causing the girl to shrink further into her wheelchair. "Don't you worry, we're all family here."
"Fujino, go grab Cat." Ori all but orders and the reluctant man enters his and her shared bedroom, soon coming out with a very pregnant Cat who immediately locks eyes with her brother.
"You!" she angrily waddles down and begins smacking him over the head, "You haven't visited in months! And don't think I buy that crab about wanting to keep us safe! That's just an excuse!"
"A good excuse! Stop being violent in front of my niece!" he says, catching her arms and nodding down at Charlie, who was just looking between them in confusion.
"Oh!-, hello there!" Cat stutters out despite being out of breath from trying to beat her brother. "What's your name muffin?"
"Not muffin... Charlie..." she grumbles out.
"Charlie... Has your uncle been behaving himself?" Cat sends a glance at Ori.
She nods, "He got ice cream in his truck..."
Ori blinks, "Couldn't you have worded better, now I send like a kidnapper or something..." he shakes his head, "Bats, could you take Charlie for a minute, I need to talk with Cat."
He shrugs and leans next to the wheelchair, "I don't know, you wanna see my 'super-cool' lab, kiddo?"
"Name's Charlie..." she stubbornly retorts.
"Ah, sorry, I'm old and my brain can't keep up." he grins, "Still, wanna see it?"
At that, she nods, and Bats wheels her into his bedroom/lab to show her his equipment. This leaves Ori with Cat and Fujino, and the former just drops into the sofa with a long sigh. "Grab me a beer," he shoos Fujino away.
"Ori..."
"I'm not actually trying to be an ass, I'm just tired and thirsty, get me a drink and I'll update you..."
"Fine..."
-----------------------
"So, you abandon us then come back to drop a kid in our laps..." Cat bluntly sums up.
"If you wanna put it that way then yeah, I am. She's lost all her memories and I can't exactly stay around to look after her. I figured you'd want to, consider a demo in motherhood."
Cat rests a hand on her large belly, "And your plan if I refused?"
Ori chews his lip, "Well, I guess I'd hand her to Susie or Judy? I did kinda make you her guardian though..." he sheepishly admits.
"What?"
"When I signed her out of the hospital, I don't really exist currently so I used your name. Best to keep up appearances, no?"
...
Sighing, she leans against the couch with a hand to her face, "I have some conditions..."
"And they'd be?"
"First, I need a monthly stipend to pay for Charlie's essentials. Fujino's started work again but we're not gonna drop all our plans for you, not for this at least."
Ori shrugs, "I can work with that, as long as Fujino doesn't see a cent. How much you want?"
"Five hundred a month should cover everything, plus some trips to a shrink to see if she can remember anything... Second, I want you to visit more-"
"No. Cat, I wasn't lying about keeping you safe, the other day Arasaka dropped a fucking cruise missile at me in the Combat Zone." he firmly argues.
She shakes her head, "I don't care, even if we have to meet in secret in the sewers, I'm not letting you abandon me! We're family! Say no and I'll find you myself!"
...
"I'll think about it." he relents, maybe he could just use optical camo the entire way and sneak into the apartment? He himself wasn't too happy about the distance he'd had to put between them, even if that was partly to stop himself from hurting Fujino. "Next?"
"I-, haven't thought of it yet, but I'll tell you when I have..." she blushes lightly and shakes her head, "Since you're already here, tea?"
"Sure... Say, what's this about 'plans'? You've got me curious now."
"Well, since the Market got destroyed by Tyger Claws, I was thinking about getting a loan to open a restaurant..." she admits.
"While you're pregnant? You know that won't work, right?"
"Well it's now or never, all the vacancies will be taken if I don't go for it..." she retorts.
"Can Fujino even cook?"
"No... But he can act as a waiter or man the till."
...
"How much is it? For the downpayment at least." he inquires after some moments of thought. He was sitting on quite a lot of Eddies right now, and didn't have anything to spend it on, aside from funding Rebecca's new creations. It wasn't like he needed to buy Cyberware anymore either.
"Twelve thousand at least, but I'm not asking you for-"
[-12000§]
"Don't worry about it. If you want just consider it a loan, pay me back when you make it big. I'll be expecting to see the Quadrano name next to NiCola on the listings."
"O-Ori!" Cat bursts into tears and wraps him in a hug, he reciprocates of course, still cautious of her large belly.
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บท 188: Options
Rebecca drops onto the sofa next to Ori in their apartment, Sasha sitting nearby in front of her laptop, "So, since you dealt with the kid, what's next? 'Cuz I got a lotta gigs stacked up since you left."
Ori glances from the TV and at her, "I mean, I kinda wanted to relax a bit, but if you really want to... Fixed my guns yet?
She nods, "Yup, they're sitting next to the bed."
"Fine, since you're so quick... Hit me." he mutters, wondering when Rogue would find anything on 'Pangolin' or the other Animals.
"Some bitch put a hit on her husband, Keran Ottar, some Corpo lawyer or something. Thirty thousand Eds."
"Too much effort for too little, next."
"A Colt weapon designer wants you to go down and help design some guns, wants to put the 'Zombie' name on them and everything as an advertisement or whatever. Price is negotiable." she says, a gleam of interest in her eye.
"Colt?" Ori questions, not all that knowledgeable on them.
"An old-school weapons manufacturer. They've fallen behind a bit but their shit is still good, probably the most durable and trustworthy guns you can get."
"Tha your opinion or fact?" Ori drawls.
"Both." she smugly retorts.
He shrugs, "Put on the list, I'll look into it later."
She nods, "Great! I've been wanting to get my hands on some high-spec shit to play with." she grins before moving on, "Maine recommended us to their Fixer, Faraday or whatever. Guy says he wants us on retainer but doesn't have anything for us right now. Want me to tell him to piss off?"
Ori shakes his head, "Let's not piss off Maine's Fixer after he tried getting us a gig. Just don't reply, let the dude stew. Next."
"Uh, buncha high-end doll house protection gig, already refused 'em.-"
"Mind if I add one of my own?" Sasha interjects, drawing the duo's attention. They nod, and she spins her laptop around, showing a news article.
"Missing reports up by sixty percent, all located around Watson and Santo Domingo? Guessing you know something they don't?" Ori remarks.
She nods, switching to the next tab, "Biotechnica unveils tried and tested replacement for Securicine, Pserperone. According to their representative, this new painkiller is ten percent more effective at relieving pain while having almost none of the side effects..." Ori reads out with his brows furrowing, "Lemme guess, they're at it again?"
"I've spoken to Rogue and she's already done her due diligence. The drug is almost an exact copy of Securicine with some small changes, enough that they can give it a new name and get under the ban." Sasha scowls, "If their testing was the same as last time then it'll be as dangerous or more as last time."
"That sucks an all, but what's that have to do with kidnappings?" Rebecca questions.
Sasha clicks to the next tab, showing an expired driving licence of a guy called Ian Newman, short black hair and big bags under his green eyes. "'Former Head of a security company Koch used to use for her own protection, he goes under 'Zeta' now. I worked with Rogue and found all the vehicles they used to use, and guess what, the same type of car had been around the place the kidnappings were happening."
"So it's either him or one of his goons." Ori surmises.
She nods, "The lab that tested 'Pserperone' also has ties with Zeta's security company, and I even found evidence of transactions between them and Biotechnica. It's all connected!"
...
"So... What do you want us to do about it...? Not to be an ass but, we're not gonna get paid for this..." Ori asks.
"I know, that's why I found someone who will fund us. Night Corp, they've offered fifty thousand Eddies if we can find and secure evidence implicating Biotechnica."
"Why...?" Ori can't help but ask, "I doubt Biotechnica has anything they can blackmail outta them."
Sasha shakes her head, "They want what Biotechnica has, the protein farms, land, if they can't get that then they'll reveal the evidence to the media and finally kick Biotechnica out of Night City."
...
"Let's do it." Rebecca presses, focusing on Ori who still looked unsure.
"You guys realise this bitch sent assassins last time, right?"
"Which is why she deserves to get put down anyway. You think the Corpos'll be happy if she runs the company into the ground?" Rebecca states.
...
"Sasha, how much of this is personal vendetta, and how much of this is actually worth doing?" he firmly asks.
"... Half and half. The Eddies are worth it, and getting back at Biotechnica for trying to kill us is also worth it." she affirms.
...
He sighs, "Alright, you've got a plan then?"
-----------------------
"Hey, Katsuo, where'd you say we were headed again?" a short blonde-haired boy in an Arasaka academy uniform asks from the back of Katsuo Tanaka's private car.
"Mutsu's hired a whole club out for us, most of the class was invited and I'm planning to make some moves on Kohaku." the blue-haired teen grins, showing the couple metal teeth he'd had put in after they'd been knocked out... In front of everyone no less.
"You sure that'll work? People're still talking about what happened..."
"Ishii, shut the fuck up. You start on this shit again you can get out and walk." Katsuo growls and glances at the two other boys sitting beside them, "What happened was a fluke, unless you guys think you could've handled it instead?"
"You gotta admit though, he had some serious chrome to pull that speed off..."
Katsuo sighs and looks out the window, ignoring the rest of the conversation. Ever since he'd been beat by that loser freak things hadn't been the same. He'd just hope this party would chill everyone out about it, his father certainly hadn't been happy about the rumours either...
He pauses as he watches the car drive past the street the party was being held at, "Hey, driver, you miss the turn."
...
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