A fine night at the Badger Sett
Normies are friends...not food!
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.”