Chapter 135: The Outside
"We need to do something. Preferably yesterday," Mela grumbled, eyes fixed on the two of us even as she bit down on a truly massive sandwich. The whole thing was kind of intimidating, if only because she was somehow managing not to choke.
"Well… we did put in the right paperwork for going out to the slums in force. We even had 'suppression of hostile elements dangerous to the city' as the reason for our application. That processed two days ago, so…" Amelia trailed off, looking more than a little torn.
Me? I kept my dumb mouth shut. My arms still weren't healed, and they were a potent reminder of my stupidity.
Funnily enough, the walk over to the merc HQ had helped a little. Moving my sorry ass had also moved the epicenter of the Essence drain. My new location contained a little more of the substance for me to pull on.
I wasn't one hundred percent sure if I was imagining it, but as Essence came swirling into my arms, I thought I felt them tingling as they regenerated.
Mela was still arguing around huge bites of sandwich. It was nice to see her back in her element, basically, or close to it. She'd pretty much set up as Queen of the HQ, bossing the drones around.
"Listen, I know shit happened and Adrian was hurt, but he's already better, right? If we don't hit them while they're down, things will only get harder."
"But they're not down, are they?" Amelia groused, crossing her arms.
I reached out to rub her back soothingly, only to stop myself with a wince. Considering the state of my hands, a back rub from me wouldn't exactly be soothing at the moment.
"Well…" Mela actually put her sandwich down, looking sheepish. "They might be off-balance?"
Amelia wasn't buying it. "He killed a few idiots and started a fire, sure. But those guards looked about ready to gut Mort anyway, and I think they'll also improve their defenses now."
"Well… I mean… maybe."
"Mela, as I've been telling this idiot…" She smacked my shoulder. "I get it. I really do. But I'm not letting you drag him into nonsense just because you're upset. We need a plan, and we need to do this right. What would you even want to do if we took our mercs into the slums right now? Our numbers are nothing compared to the Zerx. If they took us seriously, we'd die."
Mela opened and closed her mouth several times, then finally slumped. Still, I could tell by the gleam in her eyes that she wanted to continue arguing. Judging by all the quick glances she kept sending my way, the only thing holding her back was me. My recent injuries, sure. And maybe also that chat we'd had about recklessness after she nearly got killed by a bunch of Zerx.
The chat that now made me feel all kinds of hypocritical.
Sure, I didn't try suicide by gangers, but I had taken more than a few unnecessary risks. I would also admit, under duress, that one of the things that had spurred me on was simple bloodlust. I'd tasted blood, metaphorically of course, and I'd wanted more.
The Stalker package's effects on my psyche may have been a little more pronounced than I originally thought after my massive Essence binge.
Speaking of binges, packages, and stats…
Adrian Flinn Strength: 10 → 12 Reflexes: 20 Acuity: 20 Physique: 10 → 12 Recovery: 10 → 18 Stamina: 14 → 16 Soul: 91 → 106 Adaptability: 41 → 57 Tolerance: 67 → 91 Cognition: 86 → 105 Essence: 198/198 Mind Synchronicity: Ravening Unity Body Synchronicity: Cutting Unity
Shadow Runner Package: Clairvoyance 4 (47/100) → Clairvoyance 4 (67/100) Programming 2 (85/100) → Programming 2 (86/100) Movement 3 (31/100) → Movement 3 (41/100) Quickhacks 2 (21/100) → Quickhacks 2 (24/100) Assault 3 (97/100) → Assault 3 (99/100) Tongue of The Ravening Observer
Unseen Stalker Package: This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.Stealth 3 (11/100) → Stealth 4 (2/100) Tracking 3 (43/100) → Tracking 3 (67/100) Focus 3 (99/100) Grace 3 (41/100) → Grace 3 (54/100) Faultline 2 (69/100) → Faultline 2 (88/100) |
My stats had increased across the board, which I honestly found confusing. I'd worked so hard for so long to improve my physical stats, and yet the numbers only jumped significantly after I almost killed myself.
That made me antsy, annoyed, and more than a little suspicious.
Once more, I focused on what was happening to the Essence sucked down by my cybernetic arms. Watching the bits of processed, corrupted Essence escape the arms and disappear into my body filled me with trepidation.
Already, I had some weird, inhuman core inside of me. The spread of Stalker flesh further down my chest and back was alarming, too. What was next? A complete transformation into a Shadow/Stalker hybrid? My avatar in the netspace was that already. And if that was actually where I was headed, then what could I possibly do to avoid it?
Amelia probably wouldn't be very happy with the idea of marrying a complete monster…
"…Adrian? Adrian!" Another shoulder-slap snapped me out of that particular trail of thought.
"Hmmm? Sorry…" I yawned, rubbing at my eyes. "I'm still feeling a little tired."
"That's fine." Amelia softened immediately, leaning into me with a small smile. "We were just asking for your input on our whole situation. Any ideas?"
"Well… I know I need some more training. And…" I had to force myself to say it. "Maybe some more cybernetics. I couldn't move fast enough to keep up with that lead guard guy. If I'd stayed and tried to fight, I'd be dead right now. Clairvoyance made that pretty clear."
My mind flashed to all the visions my skill had shown me of trying to fight inside that burning room. One death after another, all of them at the gorilla's hands. And in every single vision, I failed to inflict any proper damage on him in return.
Amelia chewed on her bottom lip. "I don't think that's a very good idea. Mela just got her arms, and, um…"
"Yeees, dear?"
"I'm not sure how compatible you are with regular cybernetics anymore," she admitted. "And besides, I don't think you should get any more of them this quickly."
Mela frowned. "And why not? Yer not just saying that, right?"
"Listen, a ripper does more than just cut people up and replace their bits. We need to be able to recognize people who are on the verge of pushing themselves too far and suffering a breakdown. I haven't had to deal with that kind of thing much… or at all… but I did get the training for it. And I'm pretty sure pushing more will send you over the edge, Adrian."
"I have the stats for it. Both my mental stats and Essence should be able to support more cybernetics," I said woodenly, trying not to look at her. It was hard.
"Adrian… I know we learned from Mak that the military relies on fairly low Essence reserves to bolster their soldiers against significant cybernetic modifications, but you're not using regular cybernetics. You're using bits of eldritch creatures converted into cybernetics. It's different. Also, what about your own feelings?"
"What about them?"
"I know how you feel about —"
"And you know that we could get killed or captured or worse, if we don't have the right tools to handle all the nonsense coming our way!"
She was silent for a moment after my little outburst, just watching me.
"That's true," she finally went on, her eyes flashing. "If we're acting like idiots and trying to handle everything individually! What about if you'd had me there? You could have skulked about and snatched up the gangers, and I could have converted them to our side! You don't need to sacrifice more pieces of yourself for us, Adrian."
The way she was looking at me melted right through the excuses I was about to voice. I could admit to myself that I'd been in such a rush about my slum excursion because I didn't want to drag Amelia and Mela into the whole thing. I figured that if I could just get the right data, or maybe even slit the right throat, some of our problems would disappear. The two of them would be a little safer.
And then I got myself into such a mess, they almost had to risk themselves rescuing me anyway.
"Fine. Message received."
I forced the words through my teeth, then relaxed a touch when she hugged me.
"Good. Maybe you can learn. We'll see. As for you…" This time, it was Mela she speared with one of her looks. "We'll do something, I promise. How about this: if we can make a proper plan to snatch some of the Zerx ahead of time so I can convert them to our side, or if we can organize so I can keep doing it in the middle of whatever skirmish we end up in, I'll okay your little crusade."
Mela's whole face lit up as she vacated her seat. The quarter of a sandwich she had left looked in danger of coming apart all over the merc cafeteria as she swung it about happily to salute, a dribble of some sauce almost falling on her hair.
"Yes, ma'am. I'll figure something out! I know a ton about that territory. There's some tunnels we could use, and…"
The redhead's mumbling faded into the distance as she bolted from the room.
I let out a tired sigh. "You realize what you just unleashed, right?"
"Yep. If she actually comes up with something, I'm a-okay with it. Anyway, as your ripper, I'm giving you an order: get up. We're going for a walk."
"A… walk?"
"Yep! Ripper's orders. You need a long walk."
"Where?" I looked around the cafeteria. "Back and forth to the clinic?"
"I was thinking of a longer walk. Outside."
I stared at her. "Are we sure that's safe? After, y'know… all the crap I just pulled?"
She waved a hand airily. "You were using Stealth the whole time, remember? And we're several districts away. We can wear some basic disguises. Besides, it's important for your healing."
"How so?"
"Come on, you're not a dum-dum. Your arms heal faster when you have Essence to draw on. This whole area's been sucked dry. Ergo, we need to go somewhere else for your healing thing. Might as well go on a date while we're at it."
A smile took over my sleepy expression, and Amelia beamed back at me with equal intensity.
With gloves in place to hide my hideously damaged arms, and with hats and sunglasses for both of us as 'basic disguises', we spent the rest of the day together just exploring bits of the inner districts.
I think I fell into some kind of happy daze after a while. Seeing Amelia so relaxed, happy, and eager to explore was a delight. There was a weight missing from her shoulders that I hadn't even noticed before. She approached every shop, meal, and scenic spot with a childlike wonder that tugged at my heart.
To my shame, it took me a minute to understand. When it clicked, though, it only made me more dedicated to our impromptu date.
It was her father, obviously.
Ever since our escape, the two of us had tried to stay inside as much as possible for fear of getting spotted. At least I had gotten to go out a few times when necessity struck. Amelia, on the other hand, had been stuck indoors basically the whole time. She'd only recently started taking short trips to the merc HQ.
I should have noticed how eager she was every time we did that, but my lovely ripper really wasn't the kind of person who whined about the injustice of it all when it came to serious stuff.
Except my visit to my old apartment had proven one thing: her father wasn't looking for us. I could only imagine how giddy and free that made her feel. She wasn't exactly flying off the wall to go exploring every inch of the city, but it was close.
It was hours later that we stumbled into the clinic, giggling as we rushed upstairs to our apartment. Both of us were delightfully relaxed and just the right amount of tired. When I tugged my gloves off, I had to stare for a second at the unblemished cybernetics they'd been hiding.
"Seeeeee? What did your ripper tell you?" Amelia teased with a grin, gripping my fully healed hands and pulling me towards our bedroom.
"Yes, yes, my ripper's the best," I agreed, then snatched her up for a kiss.
She still tasted like the last food we'd eaten: some kind of lemony frozen treat sold in little cups.
I lost myself in the feeling of her, the ability to touch her without worrying about accidentally hurting her with my damaged fingers, and the relief that my cybernetics were whole again.
Neither of us was very interested in talking or thinking about the future for the rest of the evening.