---

The ride back to her house was relatively uneventful. The streets were significantly more lively with the temporary shutdown of the Geonet system and the MCPD out in full force trying to keep order. But that doesn't matter for Xiang Min right now, the MCPD has their job to do, and Xiang Min has done hers for the day, and she wants to return to her home and relax. Her house is her fortress, and her villa, a place where she can unwind even more, reveal her true colours, and do damn near anything she wants. Especially when Mingfan isn't around to mess up her vibe.

The car entered into her Apartment Complex's garage. A seemingly ordinary one within the confines of the Spire. Luxurious, spacious, and a bit tacky all things considered. But she entered a closed garage, the two cameras on top of the moving gate scanning the car and the faces of the passengers before a green light burst into life, and the garage doors opened. Revealing a mechanical structure that seems to fit her cars' dimensions into it. "Don't open the doors Julia. We're not in my house yet." Xiang Min said. Driving the car into the confines of the unusual garage, with the garage doors closing afterward. Both women then felt a sudden feeling of being pushed downwards. As the mechanism turned out to be a car elevator. Seemingly bringing Xiang Min's car straight to the roof of the building. Where they are greeted with a small driveway into what seems like a wall. The blonde haired CEO drove the car into the garage, which opened seemingly in recognition of her presence, and she parked the car amid the myriad vehicles of various shapes and sizes inside it. "Welcome to the Purnama estate!" She turned to face Julia. Turning her car off and then exited the vehicle. Ushering Julia to follow her. "My ancestors bought this estate all those years ago when we were evacuating from the country formerly known as Indonesia, VIP tickets and all. Been our family's home ever since."

The woman then walked into the door. The system scanned her irises and then the palm of her hand. "Xiang Min Purnama." She said to the speaker, "With 1 guest too. Register her as a permanent guest for the house as well, let's not shoot this lovely lady here to bits okay?" The computer that operated the system seemingly understood the nuances Xiang Min told it and opened the door. Revealing an immaculate garden with various robots tending to it. "This is the Western Garden section of the house. It may not look like it, but I've added a bunch of turrets in hidden locations for extra security. It's also a great way to unwind as you walk back into the house. Neat ain't it?"

Passing through what appears to be a wall ripped off from some old European castle. The scenery changed into a much smaller, Japanese-style garden, with the house where she lives in front of it. "And there it is." She said. Looking at the modern-styled house. "Home sweet home!" She walked towards the house, minding not to step on the patterned small stones and looking at the large stones that serve as a walkway. "In case you're wondering Julia, I've thought about damn near everything in this house. Emergency services have a nice wide ramp where they can access the house in case of emergencies, and most of the time they fly in with helicopters or hoverjets if they need to meet me at my own home anyway. Some with firefighters really if things are really bad. The AI in the house is trained to recognize law enforcement, EMT and Medical, as well as firefighters, and will give them full access to the house the moment they recognize the uniform they're wearing, or cross-reference the Geonet database if they're wearing plain clothes. The turrets and other defensive systems which I won't tell you will pretty much tear apart anyone short of an entire division's worth of mercenaries into smithereens, and the house has a full HVAC system with localized modification. So that myself and my sister don't have to fight over what temperature the house should be in the winter/ summer. She always prefers it to be much colder than what it should be, ugh."

"Oh, and I only have 1 rule in this house." She said, before proceeding to take off her shoes and put them into the shoe rack nearby. "Do take off your shoes before you enter my home. I hate it when someone wears shoes, along with whatever random stuff they picked up from the Megacity in their soles walking around my house. It's disgusting and I don't like it."

"Your guestroom is there by the way." She pointed toward a room beside the kitchen. "You'll find it filled with all the clothes you can wear, as well as a full-on bathroom with whatever a woman needs to clean herself. I'm off to bed now Julia. G'night! And don't kill me while I'm asleep or this house will turn into a deathtrap for you!" She jokingly said. Leaving Julia to her own devices as she retired into her room.

The Badger Sett is like an Ant Hill at the moment.

While the city panics and worries. People search for news of family who are out during the downtime. Infrastructure shuts down in the face of their command systems vanishing. Groups of people and communities going missing in the moment that the GeoNet goes down. Services shutting down. A social calamity perhaps. People would surely die without the GeoNet in action.

But the Badger Sett?

They have other things to worry about. Like trying to get a signal back so they can communicate to the rest of the Pack! Even Crow Blanc had been talked into coming up out of the Garage to help try and get things working after the GeoNet went down. He and Badger are both in the inner workings of their data tower on top of the Sett. Crow is head and shoulders down into a crawl space, looking at a readout console, while Badger is kneeling at the base of the tower, trying to bypass connections that keep screaming in binary that they can't work. But in all their years, Blanc and Badger have learned there is always a way to work around problems. All it takes is a little ingenuity and perseverance. So this is where Blanc let's out a grumble, "Digital connection is down. Too dependent. The Gnet is out so the digital way is out of the question." The white feathered crow masked man pulls out of the service recess and looks around for an answer. Badger mutters, "Well if we can't do it digitally then...wait...remember 09?" Blanc blinks, "Of the Wars course I...the EMP strikes what did we do then?" Badger jumps up and heads over to the redundant satellite broadcaster, "Bounced the comms signals off old spy and communications satellites until the ground stuff was fixed. Let's see if..." Blanc ran over and started to crank the kinetic battery powering the old assembly up. And Badger quickly started to look for something suitable.

Back during the Wars there had been hundreds of thousands of comms, spy and assault satellites with signal dishes on them. It had been easy then to fins one they could just bounce stuff off. Now there are millions and many of them are masked or work with only specific signals. But after some careful work Badger and Blanc woop. And a call from inside gives them renewed vigor. A collie masked young woman shouts, "I've got the Owlery! The bypass worked! Granny is saying other Pack strongholds are starting to use the satellite trick too. It's going to be some juggling but until GeoNet is back we can atleast communicate!"

The cheers that go up from.inaide the Sett shakes the walls in the Backstreets for a time. Badger and Blanc, the old friends taking a moment to rest the foreheads of their masks against each others. A silent expression of relief and familial care.

Blanc takes his leave shortly there after, returning to the service garage to help with repairs and clean up.

Leaving Badger to.climb down to the balcony of his office. Where he's joined by Kodiak. The big bear masked man carrying a massive assault cannon over a shoulder. Looking down into the Backstreets where looting has long since begun. But the Wolves and Bears stand in defense of the Setts territories. Kodiak rumbles, "It's going to be a riotous night boss." Badger nods, "Just keep the MCPD from making moves and keep the looters out. Try not to kill anyone tonight Kodiak. The Normals out there are all panicking. Let's not add blood and death fueled animosity to the mix." Kodiak grunts and nods and heads back outside.

And it's only then that Badger looks skyward and notices an approaching figure. Zip lining from building to building and approaching at speed. And when he does so does a Wolf stationed as a Marksman. A red laser line flares u0, the barrel of a long rifle tracing the approaching figure ready to shoot. Badger hums, "Grey Wolf, check that, let them through, likely just a Sk@ter trying ro get back home in the carnage. Let's try not to shed needless blood tonight."

The rifle is lowered the danger to the approaching figure reduced. Badger hums, "Now who could you be?" He wondered curiously.

@Fading Memory

Julia was silent in thought for most of the car ride to Xiang's house. Julia hadn't spent long enough in her new apartment for it to feel like home. Nay, this whole world didn't yet feel like where she belonged, and likely never will. Still, two things she missed that were still currently in her apartment were her handgun, and her arm-stand. She could feasably do without an arm-stand, but she felt incresingly irratable and naked without a weapon. Today has been a day where she was reminded that there is a lot of unpredictability and danger that comes with freedom.

When the car stopped, her hand had reached out and had almost grasped the door handle before Xiang told her they still weren't at their destination. The car then ascened. She only needed to feel the motion of the car to know they were descending upwards. She knew the feeling well enough from the elevator up and down into the E-Street lair. Once they were parked, she followed Xiang. This house belonged to her family since the migrations? Was the Spire really that old? Or had they paid to move the entire estate into the middle of the Spire? How much would such an undertaking even cost?!! Certainly more than E-Street had ever managed to save up in her time. Perhaps that's why they'd always been so reliant on Benefactors.

Julia looked visibly uneasy at the mention of turrets. How could she be expected to 'unwind' with all of these security robots surrounding her? Perhaps Xiang felt secure because she'd always assuciated these things with her own protection. Julia was instead reminded of prison, where the turrets and security measures were all in place to protect others from you. As she watched Xiang take care of which stones she stepped on, her only though was 'even the ground here could kill me if I put a foot wrong'. She made sure to only step where Xiang had, as they finally made it inside. The house really was beautiful. She din't know much about the old world but she'd seen houses like this in books and pictures. It was undoubledly the house of an Heir, but had personality and character until the lavish yet sterile and soulless usual aesthetic of Spire houses. The more Xiang explained about the house, the more Julia was left wondering why she even needed a bodyguard. She took off her single full boot, and the half-boot strapped to her mechanical foot, and place them both in the shoe rack. She'd only been wearing the half-boot to complete the outfit tonight in particular. She didn't usually wear any footwear on her prosthetic.

"Alright, Xiang. Goodnight," Julia greeted yawning herself as the stress and fatigue of the day was catching up to her. She entered her room, took off her leather jacket, pants, removed her arm and her leg dumpted everything on top of the dresser in a pile. he collapsed on the bed in the clothes she was wearing, and was asleep almost immediately.

@Kumbaris

Something was amiss down below. Baba couldn't place her finger on it, but an irking discomfort overtook her as she began to sip on her cup of ramen. A trembling sensation shook her from underfoot; was she just imagining it? Were her nerves causing her to convulse?

No. The trembling escalated into a tremor, carrying up to the top of the Halcyon Building, rattling what was still left of The Lost’s encampment, throwing the remaining tents to the floor. The quake nearly brought Baba to her knees as she fought to keep her balance (and hold onto her noodles). When the tremors subsided, she turned to her Cell. “Is everyone OK?” A dull roar of confirmation answered her question.

“What happened?” Iommi poked her head out from under a fallen canopy.

“No idea. But I’m sure we’ll get plenty of answers soon.” Baba checked the Skynet. From the looks of it, Hotshot was on the move again, and was en route to her position. She turned back toward the roof’s ledge, watching and waiting. As no surprise, within a short span of minutes, the familiar waves of red hair appeared.

The sight of The Lost camp was a welcome relief for Hotshot as he began to slow down. While he held no ill will towards “The Orphans” as they were called, many in Afterburn resented them since Firebird’s death. On the day of the raid, a group of The Lost had been slated to act as backup, but they never appeared. Older Burners claimed - if The Lost had turned up - Firebird might have been saved.

A moment later, Hotshot was standing in front of Baba, presenting a “peace offering.” Baba looked sharply at the cup of ramen Hotshot held in hand. Jigen’s? Really? She turned her own cup of ramen so that the Shimazu’s logo was clearly visible. “I’m good, she said, taking another sip from the cup. “I’ve got some of my own. Let’s cut to the chase, dude: What’s the deal out there? You scrambled your crew all over the city.”

“Guess the news hasn’t reached this far. We had a death on our hands last night. One of our younger guys. Shot dead in The Spire.” Hotshot crouched on the edge of the building as he began to unbox his own meal. “Last we heard, he’d taken up a courier job, and I’m trying to see if any other cells got approached by someone shady recently. I have a feeling this may have something to do with what’s going on down there.” Gesturing to the street, both Sk8ters could hear the echo of Captain Ryker’s message still playing on loop.

Shoving a lump of noodles into his mouth, Hotshot moaned softly at his first real bite of the day. After a moment, he returned his attention to Baba. “I need you to think. Did anyone in The Lost get contacted by someone who wanted an item run into The Spire? Not one of your usual clients. Possibly packing some strong mods as well. I couldn’t even find them on the security footage.” Noting her shocked expression, Hotshot continued, “Yeah. Whatever’s going on, there’s no trace of our mystery client. Now we’ve got this crap to deal with too…”

The fifteenth Skynet alert about the chaos down below earned a chortle from Hotshot before he finally shut the mod off. “Whatever’s going on, it seems like the streets are gonna be getting more dangerous here on out. Keep your cell on the rooftops for sure.”

Wednesday Afternoon - Raining

Rain beat steadily on the roof, occasionally rising to a heavy roar or slowing long enough to hear the flow of water through the gutters and the sound of traffic outside. The stereo volume stayed constant, though there was no modern synth or pop-punk coming from the speakers this time, just tired bluesy rock that Norris favored as he worked. Alese didn’t care for it at all, but knew the words from having grown up on several of his favorites. It didn’t help the melancholy that followed Friday, but neither had the weather and neither had staying home again. She seemed to feel herself falling into a very uncharacteristic funk and it had felt like going to Vivian’s would have fixed that, but instead had wound up making it worse, by a lot. She didn’t talk about any of it, nor did she care that much about what happened to the rest of the city. Luckily, Chandi had somehow managed to recover her bag, jacket and hand terminal, probably through Milo, and it buzzed again with another message that she ignored.

Fan blades turned slowly overhead as her hands worked. She was on her last caliper and her eyes looked lazily through the wrench and bleeder screw in her fingers, having done this enough times she was sure she could do it blindfolded. When the oily drip of brake fluid was steady she glanced up at a mirror on a tripod angled to view a small vacuum tool mounted atop the master-cylinder for the rear brakes tucked into the nose of the chassis. Another one-off design made for nothing other than the car in front of her. There wasn’t much on wheels in MegaCity that still used hydraulic brakes, but it was a simple system that didn’t rely on any other tech to work correctly. Sitting cross legged on a mechanic’s creeper she shifted her position once more, getting tired of sitting on the well worn cushion. She glanced up, ready to be done. The spare wing was already mounted and one had to be cognizant of its near razor sharp edge. She tightened the screw down and the steady drip from the line stopped. It wouldn’t be much longer before everything was ready.

“Push.” She commanded, though nothing happened.

“Push!” She said again with an edge of frustration, craning her neck and trying to figure out what her drone was doing idle in the cockpit. Giving it a name would really help its command recognition. Plenty of people had told her as much, but she couldn’t settle on anything. What was apparent though, was she had definitely fed way too many old world service manuals into its algorithmic memory bank to help it understand work on the car. Many of which were written in ancient Germanic. Her lips twisted and she drew an irritated breath, “Drücken!” She said finally and obediently the brake pedal was depressed. Quickly, she worked the wrench as the pungent liquid fell into the pan in front of her, grumbling and wiping a bead of sweat away as she heard her father chuckle.

“Your accent is getting better.” He said with some amusement, his hands busy with snaking a tube of composite ducting towards the right front hub. He seemed in well enough spirits and it was the most time they’d spent together in several days, though she never could tell if he really blamed her for what happened before and it dragged on her further to think that he might have been disappointed in her for something that was a freak accident. She wasn’t sure, he didn’t mention it and she was too afraid to ask. After it happened he’d just been hard to read. He did one more short run and then decided it was time for an overhaul even though she knew it was far ahead of schedule. Maybe he didn’t want her to feel the urge to get back in or he just didn’t want her driving for a while- maybe both, but at any rate, the events of Friday night had changed things and now they were diligently getting set up for heavy work.

She eased up off the creeper, not acknowledging his little quip and ran her fingernail along the sideboard of the kitchen-table sized wing. It was her own little quip back, but he seemed unphased, not even looking up. Her drone casually floated aside as she slid into the cockpit to test the pedal for herself. Sitting up on its airjacks she had to step up over the wide body panels that encased ground-effect ducting and slide in under the steering wheel. Save for the on and off ramps, the car wouldn’t be taking a lot of sharp corners at speed, so the bias didn’t need to be very aggressive, but the pedal had to be right. Alese had the gentle touch of a dancer under the pad of her toes and preferred the resistance to be pretty stiff while her father’s stronger leg wanted a bit less tension to avoid a lockup that would scald the tires. She pushed hard and relaxed a couple times, not really thinking about the motion, just looking ahead, knowing exactly where it needed to be adjusted for him to drive. She avoided putting her hands on the wheel, but looked at him through the teardrop shaped windscreen and hoped he might notice her staring for his attention, but he continued undisturbed.

The rain pelted again harder. She sighed and climbed out.

---

The events of Friday still haven't left her mind. Busy as she was driving her bike through the busy streets of the Megacity. The Spire Geonet AI malfunctioning? Just what happened during that fateful night? Was there some sort of covert infiltration by some terrorist group that got covered up? Wouldn't be the first time she heard of it, but unless they are fanatical Luddites or something of that nature, it wouldn't make sense for them to attack the Spire so brazenly. Was it some technical inspection gone wrong? Something else? Perhaps the actual story held some water? Questions and questions raced through her mind as her red bike weaved through traffic. The woman wearing a red jacket and black miniskirt, along with a very long backpack carrying some unknown object.

It wasn't the first time for the co-CEO of Stalwart Defense and Security, Mingfan Purnama, to drive outside the Spire, and it wouldn't be the last. The black-haired woman, comparatively unknown in the business world especially compared to her public-facing older sister, relishes in her relative anonymity. It allows her a certain degree of flexibility that her sister doesn't have, while Xiang Min does make a lot of money doing interviews and making public comments that garner interest in the Megacorp. She was responsible for the day-to-day administration, ensuring operations were smooth, requests were fulfilled, and fees were paid on time. Although occasionally she does delegate some responsibility to her sister. Both women are equally capable in administration within Megacorp. They have formed quite a power couple, the sisters leveraging each other's strengths to make sure Stalwart is profitable and continuing their family's legacy.

But enough of her own specialties. It was that degree of flexibility that allowed her to drive out of the Spire and into Metro Street. And into a certain garage that she frequented often. How she discovered this garage is honestly quite hilarious. She was driving home one night when her bike blew a tire during the journey, and she entered the garage asking for someone to do some repairs to the tire. Not only did they manage to repair the tire, but the equipment she saw within the garage really impressed her, the bike fanatic that she was. And honestly, the more she frequented the shop, the more impressed she was with the quality of work they did for her bike. It's like the owner of the shop is some sort of mechanical magician, able to see the problems or any potential problems she had with her bike and service it promptly.

And all of that for a good price as well, very reasonable prices that would make her ancestors proud. And soon enough, the highly modified red bike she was driving arrived at The Iron Technica. The garage where all her dreams would be realized, at least on the automotive aspect that is. The woman removed her helmet and made sure to pull a hoodie up her face, she made sure that the owner of The Iron Technica didn't truly know who she was, and she used an alias on top of that to make her as anonymous as possible. "Alright, let's get this show going. I have a small project planned for her, let's see if she can take care of what I have for this bike." She said, knocking on the garage door. "Hey Alese! It's me, Minny! Can you service my bike right now? I need to get my usual quarterly check and I also have some modifications in mind!"

Alese resigned herself to putting up her tools for the day. Granted, there was more that could be done, but she pretty much knew the pattern her father liked to work. They had been going steadily since Sunday and most of the more complex items were completed. There would be some fine tuning after a test fire, then remount and secure the front air dam and engine cover, shoot the wheels back on, then final check. After that, it was pretty much forecasting: The weather would have to be fairly good. A day like present would be a total scrap though the cooler the better, then pull a traffic study from the Net to finalize the route and fuel load, which might be interesting if there had been any damage to the elevated sections of the expressways or tunnels. She didn’t know where he’d be going, likely south along the spine of the city where the Corpos controlled most of the fast sections. Earthquake or not, late deliveries meant lost profit and a stopped shipment was about as rare as an earthquake, probably more rare. She glanced back over her shoulder, growing more depressed with all of it. The car hadn’t been cleaned yet and the formed carbon fiber still had a dingy veneer of scorched asphalt and rubber making it look like a spacecraft that had just burned through reentry. Norris would never drive it dirty if he could help it and everything would be polished smooth as a dinner plate before it left the shop.

Alese rather liked that part. A few times she had read tales and seen pictures of what were farmers and ranchers in the old world preening and combing the hair of their horses for work or show and something about it felt familiar when they took that final step in the process. Of course, her father, ever the calculating engineer, insisted the cleaned surface reduced drag and added speed- and he was probably right. Norris only looked at the car as an amalgamation of parts. A system working in harmony to produce a desired outcome. Math in motion. Privately though, Alese liked to think if there ever was such a thing as machine spirits, that it pleased the car to feel such love and attention from its keepers. She would never say it, not to anyone, but she swore she could feel that it wasn’t mad at her for what had happened and wanted her to drive again just to make it right. They were like a pair of adventurers from those old stories. Her dad might have been its designer and creator and its owner, but she was its partner. Chosen.

A sharp wrap on the sectional steel of the rollup door broke her from her trance-like musing and she realized she was still holding a ratchet in one hand. Who in the hell could that be in this weather? She thought, returning the tool to its drawer. Norris was already glancing up from his work at the impressive array of security feeds above the toolboxes. His glance narrowed a bit, angling his eyes just above the frame of his glasses. “Is that Minnie?” He said with a chuckle before looking back down and busying his hands again. “She sure is dedicated.”

Alese tilted her head quizzically, glancing at Minnie standing there in the rain on the camera feed before shaking her head and pulling off a pair of spent rubber gloves. Minnie was her customer, though why she would ride all the way down here in the rain was a little perplexing. The bike wouldn’t fall apart after one more day. She shrugged and stopped putting her things away. She didn’t exactly feel like working on a wet bike, but Minnie was good people as far as she could tell and always paid, which made things much more pleasant. The drone followed behind as she pulled the big welding curtain back to obscure the view where Norris continued. There was only one other car on the floor and she carefully stepped around it. Overall the shop was noticeably less crowded than usual as Norris was being fairly discerning about what he would accept to ensure the prepwork was not hindered. Next to this, the only other vehicle was Alese’s bike, sitting on its stand. She still hadn’t rode it and today looked like yet another tally in that column. A heavy freight horn sounded down the street as she threw the door up along with the sudden sound of dense traffic down Metro.

”Willkommen!” announced the drone cheerfully to Mingfan. Alese rolled her eyes at the drone’s impertinence, but kept a warm smile to greet her friend. “Don’t ask.” She said flatly and then winced a bit at the greasy spray blowing in from the street. Her hair already felt gross and heavy having its vibrant arrays tied back in a simple ponytail most of the day inside the din of the shop and wearing baggy pants and a long sleeve t-shirt, she was certainly not the fashion image Chandi would approve of however, she gave Mingfan a slightly unwary glance in her decision to sport a mini-skirt on a bike, in the rain and carry a large pack. A bold choice indeed. She shrugged and helped push the bike inside.

“Did you just feel like riding in the rain for some reason?” Alese asked with some humor. She slid another stand across across the floor with her foot and the small frame jumped and unfolded itself to accept Minnie’s bike. “Not exactly the best day for this.”

@Kumbaris

Five days had gone by very fast. Julia had spent the Saturday leisurely inside Xiang's mansion, having a bath and exploring the facilities before they gagued the environment to now be stable enough for Julia to be driven home. There were some missed calls. As E-Street's contact inside the Spire, Elle and Blaydon wanted to know anything she could tell them about the quake and the GeoNet incident. Julia had not been much help, but the three of them agreed, using euphenisms and codewords, that it wasn't natural.

Julia wasn't used to so much activity, after thirty whole years of every day being inside a jail cell, and had remained in a semi-vegetetive state from sunday until tuesday. She'd always ignored them before but she had started using her bathtub and wall-monitor much more often. She could genuinely get used to living like this. But she had made an appointment for today and she was going to stick to it. She was finally getting back to work. As she was no longer 'officially' E-street, she'd only hear from her benefactor when something absolutely crucial needed her assistance. After all, this apartment in the Spire was essentially her retirement package. That meant she could take on other, actually legal jobs. Something she had never done before.

She didn't need to attach her arm before leaving, as she'd started wearing it all day, to truly get used to having an arm again. She locked her apartment door behind her and made her way through the main spire throughfare. It was bizarre. Both complex and jail hallways were dark and narrow. This hallway brightly lit, and was so wide that cars and bikes could, and did, drive through it as if it was a road. Julia made her way to the levator and descended to floor B6. The Spire was tall as it reached for the heavens, but that was only the half designed for windows that let in natural light. Much of the industry and administration of the Heirs took place either beside the Spire, or underneath it. Contrasted to the bright, sleek white walls adorned with the occasional potted plant or painting you could find above, the Spire basement levels were light grey, and sterile feeling. The lights were harsher and yet somehow dimmer than ahe lights above.

Julia eventually found the heavily armoured monolith that was the SDS Headquarters entrance, at the dead end of a particularly long corridor. She approached the gate, pressed her hand to the palmprint pad and stared into the retina scanner. After almost a minute of waiting the gates swung open by themselves and she walked into the reception area. She approached the desk attendant, who spoke before Julia could open her mouth.

"Ms. Purnama is expecting you, Ms. Kray. Please take the elevator to the tenth floor," The attendant greeted, glancing up from her magazine to look at Julia for barely a second before looking back down at her magazine. "And place leave your gun in the designated tray."

Julia clicked her tongue and unholstered her gun into the basket beside the front desk, before taking the elevator up to Xiang's office. She enters the door, a little stiffer than she was last night. Likely on account of the environment and atmosphere. Looks like her 'work mode' was significaly different from her casual attitude, even if she was still clearly not an Heiress or a businesswoman.

"So, you wanted to see me, Xiang," Julia stated.

@Kumbaris

---

The first thing Julia would see upon entering her personal office was a dark-haired, seemingly emotionless woman who was just handing over a document to Xiang Min. The blonde-haired woman meanwhile, sitting in a comfortable leather chair reviewed it. "Yes, Eno. I know the situation, just recruit whatever you need from the open pool, get this job done, and... oh. On second thought, hold on for a moment, can you just stand there while I talk to her? Thanks." She said, with the black-haired woman only nodding in response. One could notice that she might be suffering from some program stasis, but it is unknown if it's just mild program stasis or just her natural personality. Her aura certainly exudes a certain coldness to anyone who looks at her.

She turned her attention back towards Julia, a knowing smile coming from Xiang Min. "Hey, Julia! It's nice to see you again! Welcome to the office! I know that the elevator ride downstairs is a bit... unusual, but honestly, this is the cheapest piece of land in the Spire where I can have free reign to design our new headquarters, I hope you don't find it too intimidating." Continuing on. Xiang Min stood upwards. The woman beside her, dressed in full tactical gear, simply stared at either her boss or at Julia, seemingly making sure that nobody made any move to threaten one another. "I was just... wondering Julia. About my offer. I offered you a small position in my company on Saturday after a fun day hanging out with each other, just some employee, pretty much damn near full flexibility in what jobs you want to take as long as you can do it, and you can keep your contacts in E-Street active. As long as you don't go against SDS, I'm more than willing to take you in"

"Think about it. This is an opportunity, Julia, I did not lie when I said I want to make the Megacity a better place. I can place you in protecting some really vulnerable individuals who only mean well. Not like the other... less than scrupulous individuals that most of my other employees protect. You can go on various adventures too! Along with me as well! You can be my bodyguard, you can hang out with me, and the next day you can take a job where some honest soul needs some assistance getting their charity van out of a Demonio ambush. I'll make sure you stay clear if E-Street or Black Maria is involved. But otherwise, yeah, damn near full flexibility."

She then walked over to a cabinet, grabbed a piece of canned grape juice, and then drank it. "Sorry. My throat's a bit parched after talking with a ton of people today. Do you want some?"

She then waited for Julia to reply. Not expecting anything for a moment. The truth of the matter is she saw someone who needed a fresh start in life, not unlike the woman wearing the tactical vest standing beside her table right now. She is E-Street, she is perfectly capable of winning a gunfight, and she seems to be someone who wants to remake herself to be better, Xiang Min thinks that this offer she's making is very, very generous. Especially compared to what some other security companies are doing right now. Ultimately though, she knows that this is Julia's choice, and she doesn't want to force her hand if she still needs some time to think.

---

---

"Selamat Siang!" Mingfan responded to the drone. One of the few traditions her family still maintains is that their ancestor's language should be taught to all future successors of the Purnama family, alongside a choice suite of other languages. Mingfan also decided to take some ancient German as a hobby, and instantly recognized the drone saying hello to her. "Didn't know your drone could speak ancient German Alese." She said. Walking towards the garage. "Is your drone broken or something? I'm not some crazy programmer that can hack Geonet or anything, but I can certainly reconfigure the setup of the drone to modern English if you want."

Looking at the garage. Mingfan proceeded to wave her hand at Alese's father, his face also a familiar figure to the Co-CEO, and was busy looking at the various cars when Alese made her comment. "I know it's rainy, but I've been thinking about this setup for months. Alese, and I think you might appreciate the challenge." She said before pulling out her phone from her skirt pocket and showing a short video. "I found this while browsing the archives of ancient literature, It's a scene from some Superhero movie lost to time. Can you see the bike the dark superhero's riding have their wheels turn like that? Yeah. I want those spinning wheel things on my bike."

"You will have an unlimited budget for this Alese, and I trust that you won't rip me off for this job. Just give me the equipment quote for anything you need, and I'll approve it. Otherwise..." Mingfan paused. A slight grin formed on her face. "What do you think? I think this might be useful if I need to make a sudden exit or if I'm stuck in a chase or something. Goodness knows how many occasions I've been into that needed that."

“Oh no, he’s working as intended,” Alese answered, giving the drone a sternly arched eyebrow. “He just has his moments.” She added with a scrutinizing glare, but the basketball-sized sphere only bobbed happily and displayed a jovial smile in heavy bitfont on its view screen. She didn’t mention why it was currently deep in the old language and Norris simply gave a casual wave back from the other side of the heavily tinted green curtain. Mingfan had this odd way of talking, which felt strangely familiar now for some reason, like she wasn’t necessarily trying to sound condescending and wasn’t aware of it if she was. In that same vein her chosen mode of transportation for the day was a similar reflection.

Cars, bikes, scooters, hoverboards and all other forms of personal transport were as variable as people in MegaCity 01; some modded to the point that they didn’t even look like “cars”, or at least not in the functional sense and handling such personal items, an object they sat in or rode every day, gave a lot of insight into the person. Sometimes they were aware of it, sometimes not. Like her speech, Mingfan’s style seemed to be unintentionally flamboyant. Gyro stabilizers, autopilot and many of the ultra high-end options she preferred were nice to have, but ultimately killed the feel of road in the handlebars, almost like a form of Program Stasis for vehicles. The more that was added, the less “real” it felt, making the rider or driver more like a voting member in a system rather than in complete control. The modification she was proposing was no different and Alese crossed her arms as she watched the grainy video looking at it as a matter of engineering and function rather than entertainment. “Are you sure you wanna do this? Those big tires are gonna kill all your top speed just to get this one thing.” Even though aesthetics weren’t that important to everyone, Alese felt a tinge of guilt that made it feel wrong not to at least try and dissuade her friend. The whole setup would completely kill the look of the bike.

The drone pushed out a small cart of tools from behind the curtain as the stand elevated to a more workable level. Alese spun the wheels freely looking at the treadwear to get an idea how hard Mingfan had been riding as the drone returned again with a shopvac for the dripping rainwater and a stool on rollers. She sat down and examined the chain tension on the rear for a moment and set about removing some of the body panels thinking in the back of her mind of a nice way to talk Mingfan out of this, but at the same time, almost like a shameless Pack member, she was scoping what parts she could use herself if her customer decided not to relent. “Y’know, I could teach you to do similar moves with what you already have here…" She said finally, a hint of tempting challenge in her voice as her hands worked. Ironically, she understood she was potentially talking herself out of a large stack of credits, but to make someone a more competent rider was the honest thing to do rather than just taking the girl’s money after she’d apparently consumed too much media. A multicolored lock of blonde fell in her face and she blew it away with a huff. “You might have to be willing to turn off some of your aids, but I promise it would be fun.” She looked back with a smirk at the other girl standing over her. They were about the same height, it would be easy to teach and setup for her and besides, shorties had to stick together.

“It’s whatever you wanna do though,” She said, turning her eyes back to the work, leaving the question hanging like a true salesperson; taking a step back after two forwards. It was obvious money was no object to Mingfan, something for which Alese had made her own assumptions and the girl mentioning that she would need to escape potential pursuers for whatever reason just reinforced those thoughts. She shrugged as the splash guard for the oil reservoir came away and she daintily scooted over to the toolbox while the drone dropped a pan with a catch funnel under the stand and ran out the drain plug.

@Kumbaris

"Sure, I'll take some," Julia replied as she mulled over the offer. Her eyes occasionaly flicked to the stoic figure just to keep a mutual eye on her. Julia had no qualms about protecting scumbags. She herself had been one of the biggest scumbags of her era, so it would be hypocritical of her to judge any potential clients or targets. She felt like that wasn't supoosed to be a reassurance for Julia's sake, as much as Xiang making an active effort to rehabilitate Julia and make her honest. Julia had to internally laugh at the naivety, but she still respected the thought. Julia would always be a gangster no matter the job she had. There is only one way to truly stop being E-street and that is death. The condition that there would be no conflict of interest from the SDS side was welcome, however.

"I have one condition," Julia replied after several seconds of thought. "My Benefactor likes to think of the new life they have set up for me as not just a reward for my prison time, but my retirement. However, if they were ever to request my services again, that takes absolute priority. That is my only condition. It will probably never happen. If that is okay with you, I look forward to working with you."

@Kumbaris

A rifle is lowered, a fateful circumstance narrowly avoided. The girl twists in the air, lacking the expected mastery that one would imagine a Sk8er to wield in her travels- but possessed by a natural agility that seemed uncanny in her bodily manipulations. She was all talent, and virtually zero experience or true training. Unbeknownst to Sister, her life had been spared in more ways than one on this night.

One arm outstretched, cable taut, engine purring, wind zipping through her tied-back hair. She careened, then suddenly altered course as if yanked by some invisible thread; she had been about to pass by the Badger’s balcony when a deft twist landed a trembling cable dart onto the balcony- and in the span of a breath the white-haired girl was trembling, hanging onto the balcony as she tried to pull herself over it and into his presence.

“Oh, heavens, he’s a big one-” She grunts as she sits up onto the balcony properly, her hands trembling. Perhaps the exertion. “-Sorry for dropping in unannounced, but I’m in a spot of bother and could really use a helping hand. Neighborly behavior and all that, right? I’m Sister. This is the Badger Sett, yes?” She introduced herself at last, holding a shaking hand to her chest as she caught her breath. She seemed unfazed and unthreatened by the mass of Kodiak, and instead, through clear pain in her eyes, curiosity shone through like a lethal beacon of intellect.

Oh yes to say that both Kodiak and Badger are surprised when who they thought was a Sk@ter on their way home in the chaos suddenly changes paths, twists, turns and flutters. And Kodiak is already lowering the massive 20mm assault cannon from his shoulder, loaded with big flak shells this thing, making it a truly immense shotgun. Kodiak stares at the young woman that just so naturally arrives on the edge of the balcony. The big man nods, his bear mask wobbling abit, “Yes indeed.” He rumbles. Then steps aside, as Badger steps up.

For a moment he just stares at the young woman, “You have indeed arrived at the Badger Sett young lady. Sister you said?” His eyes light up then he balks and grabs the side of his head, “Ahhh…GeoNet uplink failed. Unable to access cloud.” He says in a slightly robotic tone before his more natural clipped tone resumes, “Your pardon please, usually one will access the GeoNet to learn something of friends and new acquaintances, but with the Net down…foolish of me.” He sighs then straightens, “I am Honey Badger, you may call me Badger. How may the Badger Sett help you on this most…” He looks up as there’s a flash somewhere down the back alley street. Perhaps a power junction going ballistic, either way something exploded, “...most interesting of nights? You sound just a little distressed.

Kodiak reached forward then and offered Sister a big paw of a hand to help her up onto the balcony, “Come on, let it never be said we are not hospitable in times of strife.”

“That’s why I’m here.” She takes Kodiak’s hand and daintily alights upon the boots she wore, rising off the balcony. Her hand trembled in the large man’s grasp, clearly beyond simple tiredness. “Whatever knocked GEONet offline also surged across the city. The shockwave hit me, and knocked my…Er…”
She sighs. She stares up at Kodiak’s impressive stature for a moment, delaying her revelation for a few precious moments. Her eyes finally swept over to Honey Badger himself and studied him directly. Her eyes seemed to take him in in his entirety, as if scanning him from head to foot in an instant. She wets her lips.
“I need a piece of cyberware rebooted. Pretty much immediately. But my usual doctor was too far, too dangerous, to try and reach. I can walk you through the steps if you need it, but I didn’t have the tools or…Well, I don’t think I could cut myself open to get at it. Can you reboot a Nanohive Circuit? I need to know you have the capabilities here, otherwise I need to cross the city and my time is ticking, sir.”

Kodiak looked at the young lady. Then looked at Badger. Badger’s eyes flared, and he shouted into the building, “Get the Medical suite up and running! We have a medical emergency.” He looked up at Kodiak, “Get her inside and on the auto-doc bed.” Kodiak narrowed his silver eyes behind his mask, “Should I get D. Llama sir? He’s down in the garage, people were hurt and needed tending too.” Badger shakes his head. Kodiak nods and gently guides Sister inside.

Badger following along, other Pack running ahead and opening up, a room, firing up the ancient auto-doc medical bed inside, brilliant lights bursting on and making near every shadow in the room disappear. Kodiak helping Sister into the bed carefully, Badger coming in moments later, “As much as I would love D. Llama to be here to do this. I remember enough of the medical program I took years ago to be able to do this. And the Auto-Doc does most of the work anyway. But rebooting a Nanohive? My goodness this will be a treat. Haven’t handled one of these since the Wars. And that was an installation.” He takes a moment then shrugs, “It’ll be fine!”

Sister’s eyes widened at the immediate affirmation and leap into action. She allows herself to be urged along, moving with heavy steps as she lowers her hands and grips her skirts to try and still the trembling. A smile spread across her features as she walked along, the mystery and newness of this place overshadowing her fears and aches minorly. She could even ignore the occasional gunshots ringing from the exterior of the building. At least, until she was in the medical suite.
When Kodiak and Badger guide her into the blinding room she shields her eyes beneath the baseball cap, and goes quiet at the sight of the auto-doc. She wets her lips again. They felt so dry.
“Ah, that’s positively retro.” She murmurs. “Which was it, Grimwald and Sons? No, no, that one’s the Antabio. Cool. Model III unless I’m mistaken?”
Her words were a distraction to herself moreso than a desire for true conversation. Kodiak has to hoist her into the medical bed, her body lacking in all deliberate locomotive capabilities with no clear indication of why. Her eyes do not leave the auto-doc until she’s fully laid into the bed. A sudden outburst at the door drags her wide eyes away from it at last, and she only vaguely seemed to hear Badger’s words as her eyes refocused on the world behind him. Clanking, talon-bearing, steps heralded a figure entering the room.
“Jackdaw– oh, Jackdaw!” She said with clear excitement.
“You’re in good hands, kid.” Jackdaw responded. He was a short figure, waifish and skinny with a beaked mask reminiscent of the crow but with a devilish mirth emanating from its features. The all-black clad figure approached the table hastily, but remained an arm’s length from Sister and simply gazed at her. He lifted a leg and idly curled the mechanical talons he had in place of feet before returning to a rest position.
“I know this one, Badger.” Jackdaw continued after a moment. “Good kid. Smart. Favorable trades. Afterburn. Wiz with scrap.” It was a rapid fire assessment, opinion, affirmation, and relay of the important information. “I mostly met with her brother, though. When things clear up I’ll get word to him. Wouldn’t want an incident.”
“No,” Sister laughed softly. “No we would not. Thank you.” Her last words were directed at Badger. “If you’ve installed them, that’s more than my own expertise. All I know is what’s in the user manual. I’m in the right place, it seems. The Hive is located under my heart.”

Badger stepped up to the auto-doc, “Awww don’t be mean to it! It’s a veteran.” He chuckles softly. The operations screen coming up, and the auto-doc bed starts to scan the young woman, “This is actually a Caduceus Model III, So you got that. Theta refurbishment, the last one right before the end of the Wars.” He looks up as the sentries at the door call out and there is a brief scuffle. And then in comes young Jackdaw “Jackdaw my boy! Hello.” And then Sister and Jackdaw are speaking. And Badger nods, “Ahhh I see I see, yes probably a good idea to let a sibling know everything is okay. Wouldn’t want anyone getting shot, or hurt. Now then…let’s take a look at this.”

Turning back to the screen he watches as the Auto-doc finishes it’s scan. He stares in amazement, “Yes…this is…huh…” His eyes narrow and he works the controls. He hums and mutters under his breath, “Fascinating…fascinating…” He turns dials and hits buttons, pulls little levers. The bed hums and rumbles, vibrating and growling. Then Badger leans to the side, “Did you know your Nanohive is in disrepair? Did you want to keep it and have me reboot it? Or…do you want a new one?” His eyes flare, as if the prospect of another nanohive install brings him great amounts of potential joy. “I admit we have Three in storage. I can’t tell what generation yours is. But we came across a very very old medical storage cache recently and found a Gen Alpha VII, top of the line, only 4 years old. The Gen Alpha VIII only just came out. So it won’t be that old. It’s up to you though young lady.”

Badger works the controls abit, “It is entirely up to you young lady. I can activate the reboot sequence, and we can get your hive working right now. But if you want a new fully functioning Nanohive, the installation will take about two hours. But the Auto-doc can do it with minimal mess.” He leans to the side again to smile at Sister, “Completely up to you.”

The girl’s eyes widen as Badger lists his inventory to her. Such advanced technology being offered makes her head spin- more than it already was, at least. The auto-doc’s readings indicated severe physiological deterioration, similar to that of those in extremely advanced age, or perhaps those suffering from intense cancerous symptoms. Each wave of the scan showed more detailed readings of her muscle damage, of the severed nerve endings, of the struggling organs.
The auto-doc presents readout after readout of hard data that ultimately leads to one simple conclusion; it’s a miracle this girl is alive right now. The ‘doc scans her, and shows a never ending war within her body. The last wave of nanomachines within her body are dying out without the ability to recharge. Even as parts of her body are actively decaying in visible time, the dwindling nanomachines carve and weld and fabricate biological matter and fuse it to her naturally failing systems, forcing her body into working order. Her entire life was agony. And yet, she hesitated.
“...I cannot possibly repay such kindness.” She said with a tremble. “And I would not dare to drag Saturnine into this. Whatever I owe you, Badger, I will repay- but I can’t fathom ever being able to repay you for a generation Alpha-VII circuit.”

Badger once again leans to the side around the control console of the auto-doc, “The concept of currency is often lost on me. As well as the concept of debts and repayment. I’m probably just merely old, and too kind for this world.” He hums, then nods, “How about we call it a gift then? And thus, no debt will be created and no repayment would be needed.”

Returning to looking at the console, wincing at all the critical level alerts are going off. Every pulse showing something else to worry about.

But with a flick of a switch the medical bed, which at it’s time was a medical marvel starts to work for her. Giving Badger the time to call out the door, “Someone find me that Gen-VII Nanohive! Get it up here! We’re doing an install! Someone tell Drama Llama that he’s missing out!”

There’s a chuckle from outside the room as someone goes running off to find what’s needed. Badger chuckles, “I hope you’re enjoying this as much as I am. See new experiences like this, for old fellows like me, these are golden moments. Life gets old sometimes.” With a nod, “Respect for all of this dear girl. Much respect. It can’t be easy living through this.”

---

Upon hearing Alese's opinions and thoughts. Mingfan went into a sort of trance, bouncing ideas off of her head to see what she should do, her opinions, while certainly interesting, did not please her, and admittedly she can kinda understand why. Those big tires will not only kill the look of the bike but also make it unwieldy, although she kind of expected Alese to make do with the thinner tires and engineer her way through to some form of solution. What is interesting however is the offer Alese made to teach her how to ride her bike, it's true that she barely got her license to ride, and her bike primarily serves as a means of taking her from A to B, not really needing some delicate input from herself. But honestly? With how things are going right now, perhaps making sure she really knows her bike is something that Mingfan ought to consider.

"Hmmm..." She mulled over her options. "I still want the spinny wheel thing Alese, but first of all, I'll take up on your offer to ride the bike. What place do you have in mind that we can do this?" She asked. Preparing to bring her bike back. Much to her relief as the rain started dying down outside the garage. "I've always wanted to know this bad boy a lil bit more personally, never got too much time for that sadly, with work and life and all that."

---

---

Perhaps Julia didn't expect it. But the moment Xiang Min heard Julia accept the offer, even on the condition that her benefactors' priority takes first place. She smiled as wide as the rising sun on a clear day, the energy visibly changed, with Xiang Min being one massive ray of sunshine in an otherwise sterile corporate office. "That's fantastic! Love to see you work here Julia! Hmmm. Min-Ha, maybe you can accompany us for a short while, is the job you're doing right now super urgent?" She proceeded to ask the operator besides her, which only resulted in a shaking head from the black-haired woman's part. "Perfect! Why don't you accompany us for a day hmm? You can do your recruitment tomorrow or the day after." She ordered the woman. "Oh, and Julia. This is Min-Ha Park, codename Eno. One of our most capable Security Officers, and actually is the Chief of Security for the entire company. One of the best fighters I've ever had the pleasure of working with, and knows her ways with damn near any gun you can think of, an amazing woman to work with. And she'll be accompanying us for today while we search for what jobs today are available for you to take!"

Xiang Min ushered both of them downstairs, taking a turbo elevator to a floor below, near the entrance of the massive SDS headquarters. The trio was then greeted by an army of screens, lounge chairs, and various SDS Personnel walking about. "Welcome to the common area Julia!" She introduced the area. "This is a common area where SDS personnel can hang out and chill out while in between assignments, we have restaurants over there, recreational areas over there, but... here's the nice part." She said. Walking towards a screen where a bunch of information is being filtered. "This. Is the pending jobs list. A sort of dumping ground for any SDS personnel that has a job coming up, but would like this job to be assigned to someone else, obviously, if the job is not taken beyond a certain deadline. It will be automatically assigned to anyone who hasn't had any jobs at the moment. But do take a look, Julia. There are a ton of jobs available here that you might get interested in."

"Also, side note, sometimes I take some jobs myself if I feel especially adventurous, not the highest risk ones of course, but ones that will give me a good look at different facets of the city always gets me going." She said while looking at Julia staring at the screen.

"Hmmm." Xiang Min thought, looking closer to the screen. "So it appears that there is a job where you can escort a charity van to the outer edges of the city, a job where you can escort some rich heir into an underground club, and a job delivering a parcel to another SDS facility, obviously the parcel must not be opened during the delivery. Hmm, what do you think Julia? They all seem to be pretty promising leads."

A few Nights later

"So...do you think..."

"Yes, often, you ought to try it sometime."

"Oh fuck you."

"You're not my type."

"Wait you have a type?"

This is a conversation between Crow Blanc, Badger and D. Llama. Who says what we leave up to you. Though it ends with Badger grinning broadly, like a loon one might say. Crow grumbling and ol' Drama Llama face palming and muttering about how his elders are so goofy. Badger chuckles and lifts the small shot glass of something golden amber and sips it, "So everything aside we didn't lose anyone during the Blackout. Everything looks like it's coming back but Yellow can't seem to get an idea of what caused it." Drama hums, looking over medical reports, "Outside of Granny Owl's Life Cradle having to be booted in emergency mode for awhile there was no major casulties. Though one of our G-Net Dwellers over at Heavy Rhino's forge, is still in a coma. As he was deep diving when it happened, and his mind was seperated from his body. We're still trying to coax him back." Blanc rubs at his beak, "We're lucky none of our own was killed."

Badger huffs softly, staring at the table top, "We were very lucky indeed. Others weren't so. I hear a G-Net managed fuel line to the Slums went up in a ball of fire, immolated an entire block." The other wince and nod in understanding.

Badger sighs, "We've survived this, just like we survived the Wars and the creation of the Mega-Cities. We'll survive what comes after too. The Pack is a family." Blanc and Drama both nod and raise their shot glasses before all three drink.

There's a companionable silence before Crow speaks again, "So...hypothetically...who could possibly create something to take out the Geo-Net and cause an energy quake powerful enough to breach the Spire and cause that much damage?" Drama looks at his glass after refilling it, "No one I know. The Medical community has got nothing. Nothing biological or bio-mechanical. Just nothing." Crow nods, "And physical mechanics says it would have to be something huge and overt. So what does that leave?" Badger says it, "Something digital." The other two look at him expectantly, and again Badger speaks, "Don't look at me. Look I dabble. And if I had made something like that, I'd have showed everyone in the Sett, then locked it away in my data vault. Only other people I know are Yellow, and he wouldn't do that. No self respecting Pack active right now would do something like that, something that would damage their relations with clients and customers. Or for that matter harm the Pack...harm their family!" The last sentence is said with heated vehemence and almost rage. And it's soothing sounds and gestures that calm him. Badger sighs, "Sorry, I just can't think of anyone in the Pack that would be crazy enough to compile something like that." He shakes his head, and lifts his shotglass to his lips again, under his mask, "It's an enigma, within a riddle, within a puzzle, within a maze. And it's going to drive someone crazy. And it's not going to be me. Again."

Drama groans, "Do I need to do another mental check on you?"

"Now why would you think I'm crazy?"

"Should I assume you are or aren't?"

"Assume he is and get it over with."

"I thought you were my friend?"

"Who said anything about this being about friendship?"

Alese smirked a bit without looking up, relieved that Mingfan had decided to at least consider a different perspective. For the cost versus what the girl wanted, it would have been easier to just buy another bike, but such was the case with many customers. She often wondered how the augmentors and chrome doctors felt when the modjocks and stasisbrains came calling with similar demands, but then the thought of their gruesome work gave her a chill and she shook the thought away with a shiver.

“When we’re through you won’t even want that stuff any more.” She said confidently and snaked a cable up into an unseen port behind the bike’s impressive hybrid battery system, feeling with her fingertips as she reached through for area that would have normally taken an additional twenty to thirty minutes just to uncover. Having small arms and hands was a big advantage sometimes, particularly when those appendages helped pay the bills. “...the ‘spinny things’.” She repeated teasingly with a flare of her eyebrows at Mingfan. She drew her arm back out having collected some accumulated grime and grease on her sleeve. It wasn’t bad though, Mingfan clearly wasn’t a daily rider and Alese brushed it away to look at a small handheld displaying several of the machine’s vitals: Mileage, Net tracker, gyro health and the latest oil sample data- all pretty standard. Just out of curiosity, she looked at the log for G-Forces encountered and the readouts were equally as pedestrian, like a rocket ship that had just been pushed around the launchpad. Simple transportation, A to B. We’ll fix that. She thought with a sly grin and glanced over at her bike, waiting patiently like a loyal pet. She felt her urge to ride building again, pushing away the thoughts of Friday night.

“The lot out by the old Crashball stadium is the best place…” Alese answered with a shrug and wiped her hands as the drone finished up with the oil. She watched it closely, but it was performing exactly as intended, floating and moving on her afterthoughts. It was real progress, though she was still hesitant to arm it with anything that could be lethal. “It can be kind of a rough crowd sometimes, but if you can ride, they’ll generally leave you alone. Lot of Demonio leadheads and sleepers, but they got better things to do than shake us down.” She said, using the common slang referring to the cheap and heavy mods common among the numerous gang members and their drug-addled junkie class. “It’ll be fun and we can ride down to Jigen’s afterwards.” She gave Mingfan an appraising glance of her outfit though. “Just make sure you wear some pants… and preferably some sleeves too, get some sliders if you don’t have any.”

@Kumbaris

---

Mingfan was a bit skeptical at Alese's aside, saying she won't need to drive the bike with assists anymore? That is quite the brave statement coming from the blonde woman. Aside from that one incident involving some gangers that nearly killed her, she never really felt the need to seriously drive without assists and be some badass she knows she isn't. She's not like her older sister, who can probably kill an entire army of trained MCPD Officers and potentially get away with nary a scar on her. She's Mingfan Purnama, the person that barely knows one end of her house to another! Not some amazing talented driver that can drive all the way from the edge of the Megacity straight into the spire in just a day!

On top of that. Alese is asking her to drove by a Demonio infested Stadium?!? What happens if she gets robbed or worse! True she got her rifle on her back, but that's a more long range weapon! Not something she can whip out immediately like her older sister's gauntlet guns! Both of them would be practically defenceless should some Demonio goon took some interest in two young girls practicing on their bikes. Ohhhh, what would Xiang Min even do if she heard of the situation? The scolding she would get from her big sister about being reckless is going to be legendary, she knows her big sister cares for her. She's the only family she's got now that her parents are gone. But damn does her scoldings feel... a little bit strong for her tastes.

And it is in that context that Mingfan made her response. "Sure. I'll take a look for sometime when I'm free." She replied to Alese's offer. "I think I have sometime later today, but I'm not really sure about that. Is it okay if I call you to see what's up?" She further said. "Oh... and thanks for the service. Payment's... already wired to your account Alese. Is that everything you need?"

"We should forget this whole business!"

"Forget that! We NEED to start cracking heads open. No one screws with Afterburn!"

"We lost one Sk8ter! Why are you all so worked up about this?"

Hotshot sat and rubbed his temples as the chaos unfolded around him. In the days since Rotor's death, the cell had turned up barely any leads. On top of all that, the supposed Geonet hack had left many of the older members of the cell on edge. A fear had begun to creep through Afterburn that something was wrong down on the streets. That usually meant things were going to get much worse on the rooftops. The growing divide between those who wanted to cut the cell's losses and those who wanted answers was growing by the day.

A total of seven senior Burners sat in a circle around Hotshot: Hawk, Burnout, Ember, Kelvin, Fyrus, Ikaros, and Phoenix. Hotshot had called the group up to the roof of the Metro Transit Hub in the hopes of reaching an agreement on how to proceed, but he could tell nothing would be resolved. As his right habd, Phoenix was already on Hotshot's side; along with Burnout, Ember, and Kelvin. The remaining three however, were all advocating for Afterburn to forget about Rotor and move on with business.

"Dammit, Hotshot!" Hawk's face had begun turning red from shouting. "I don't care if Firebird handpicked you to run the cell. You need to put your little trauma episode behind and lead! Rotor was a whiny little shit from the streets! Who cares if he's dead?" Hawk was met by an ice cold stare from Phoenix. The blonde looked about ready to strangle Hawk with her cybernetic arm.

"You forget, Hawk..." Her voice practically dripped with venom as she stared the older man down. "Our cell boss just so happened to come from those streets as well. More than half the cell is former street dwellers. If I recall, it was Firebird himself who declared that 'If you mess with one burner, you mess with us all'. Afterburn isn't just a cell. We're a family."

"Oh cut the showy crap, Phoenix," said Ikaros from the wall. The heavily tattooed Sk8ter pushed himself to his feet and got right in the blonde's face. "Your daddy is dead, and his codes died with him. Honestly, if your boyfriend wasn't so hung up on Firebird's death we would actually still be a cell that could back up that threat! Face it. Our turf has shrunk over the last year, and Hotshot over there isn't doing much to claim it back. He even lets those orphan kids run through us like a playground! Fuck that." Phoenix stiffened for a moment before Hotshot raised a hand to wave her off.

"If you're going to fight my choices at every turn, Ikaros, then I really have no choice but to leave you to it." Hotshot's gaze swept across the skyline. "You're right that I'm traumatized. I've lost a lot in my life. My parents, my old life, and I lost the man who gave me a new home. That's why I'm not tolerating more members of MY family dying. If you and your cronies..." Disapproving looks flew from the Hawk and Fyrus. "... are adamant in refusing to take up the fight, then by all means resign yourselves and everyone else who wishes to remain out of it. Meanwhile, I'm going to show this city that Afterburn is still the best for a reason. Someone killed Rotor and that someone is going to pay. Now if you don't mind, I've got a killer to hunt down and put a bullet in their head."

Without waiting for a reply, Hotshot stood and began waling towards the edge of the transit hub. He prepared to leap off as Ikaros shouted that he was just setting himself up to get killed. Right before launching his grapple, Hotshot turned and flashed a smirk. "Just so we’re clear. If this little escaped does kill me… Then Rotor's killer can rest easy knowing I'll be out of this fight."

Julia did not even crack a smile as Xiang's mood lifted. Julia had been a relitavely chilled, approachable, pretty fun person to be around at the bar and subsequantly the house. But Julia's experiences in both E-street and prison and hardwired into her breain that casual relationships with friends never got mixed with business, and that when you were standing on ceremony, not even a hair was out of place. In this state, smiling and laughter were tools that should be used only when required. She turned to Eno and gave her a nod of respect. Profrssionals were another league. E-Street were all just punk kids with money. You got better by doing, by practice. It's only luck that lets you stay alive long enough to learn how to be a criminal well. Nobody was ever trained in combat to a professional level. E-street were dangerous not because they were highly skilled, professional combatants, but because they had the manpower and numbers, access to big and expensive guns, were willing to kill, and did not fear death.

When they arrivedat the SDS lounge, Julia was taken aback. She had literally never been in a room this large or well-lit. It probably would be calming if you were used to it but the white walls were making everything so bright it was almost hurting her eyes. She follows Xiang and looked at the jobs list. One immediate caught Julia'sattention. Escorting the charity van. She knew that charity. She remembered that name from her childhood. They helped out at the orphanage she'd grown up in. Of course, she remembered them ending the contract when she was thirteen, due to them discovering the orphanage was an E-street feeder, but she was still grateful to all they'd done when she was a little girl.

"I'll take the escort job," She replied, looking back up from the screen, to Xiang and Eno.

@Kumbaris

---

The job did indeed take a while. Meeting the individual and escorting him through the outskirts of the city is indeed a full workday, there were thankfully no distractions or any ambushes someone carrying as many valuables as the charity truck is usually struck with, but they are in enemy territory, and it is important to take note of that fact, Eno, Xiang Min, and Julia were pretty tense throughout the mission, the stories of ambushes that Xiang Min has heard were... quite gruesome in its details. Although both Xiang Min and Julia softened as the happy faces of children taking new clothes, eating good food, and listening to Xiang Min tell stories of the various 'adventures' she has had throughout her relatively short life more than made up for the general misery they saw while the truck drove through the city itself.

It was an overall great time, and Xiang Min was more than happy to assist anyone who has a charitable cause that can lessen the burden of citizens living in this hellhole. Hopefully, Julia felt fulfilled doing this task as well, at least she seemed happy when Xiang Min looked at her. "Ah, I love my job, Julia. Can't you tell?" She told her, both of them currently walking through the spire, just settling down after a job well done. Eno already left for the night, so it's just the two of them for now. "I wonder where my sister is, I know that she wants to have her bike serviced today, but I'm kinda worried about her y'know? Maybe I can have you shadow her for tomorrow's job hmm? Whaddaya think?" She teased her a little.

Just as the mood was about to lift to higher spirits, however. Xiang Min's eyes caught something at the edge of her vision. "Wait... Julia." She outstretched her hand, preventing the mercenary from walking. "Look... at, that."

Out of the corner of her eye. Both figures could see it, she noticed it from experience, it's a body bag, not something you would typically put in an alley somewhere. "What?" She muttered, slowly going towards the body bag. "I've seen this bag way too many times in my life, but bodybags are usually not left in an alley like this unless there is someone that wants to do something with the corpse..." Pulling off the zipper. The blonde woman was shocked by the dead body of the Sk8ter that died that night. "Hey, Julia... you see this? This is the same Sk8ter that died and was on the news a while back. I thought an EMT took care of it... Why is it here?"

"I mean... this is my theorizing, but I think the EMT crew that put the body and carted it off to a hospital might be working for someone else. Pretty easy once the paperwork's all done to put in a fake bodybag and put this stuff on an undisclosed location somewhere for someone else to pick it up." But that begs another question, just who is this person specifically? And why was he killed in the first place? Shouldn't the killer loot the equipment as well to reverse engineer them? Considering the wealth of cybernetics present throughout the person's body. Seemingly unmolested after his death. "Hey uhh, Julia. I might want to call in an SDS EMT team right here. Cross-reference it with our citizen database and probably drop his body at his parent's door or something. It's the least we could do." She didn't mention it, but the intel gathered from the equipment lying around would probably also mean that they could decrypt Sk8ter chatter. A potentially massive bargaining chip for any future use. "Can you guard the entrance while I make some calls right now? Thanks."