[IC] Cyberpunk RP (Sanquin / Tomahawk)

[sanquin]

Today Tony had a rather peculiar package to deliver. A human-sized wooden box with something heavy inside. Probably a cyborg body or an android. The weird part was where it needed to be delivered to. One of the poor area's of the junkyard. No one had money to buy things like that over there, did they? Well, he was just a delivery man, so it wasn't really his business. He just did as he was told, considering the payment that was waiting for him afterwards. Wouldn't want to miss out on 5000 credits, six months pay compared to his normal job for just this one package. All he had to do was to not ask questions and to keep quiet about the delivery.

It was still only 5 am, so everyone was still sleeping, apart from some sky city security droids patrolling the skies. The perfect time to do this job unseen. The lock on the door was easy enough to pick, since his 'normal' job was being a burglar. After that he put the box just behind the door and stuck a letter to the side facing the inside of the small apartment. Then without a sound he left again, gone before anyone knew he was there.

---

Jurgen woke up grumbling. It was another day of misery. He had no money, no job, and only two weeks left before he had to get out of the house. His landlord had been kind so far, but he had to agree, two months was a long time to let someone live rent-free, especially considering the market. The cyborg sighed and got himself out of bed. He hoped he could find something valuable today. If he could get some decent scrap, he could pay the rent and keep the place for another month. The last thing he needed was to be homeless. So he got up and got dressed quickly, his haste driven by his desire to not be homeless. Things were bad enough with his father dead, he didn't need to be homeless too. He grabbed his knife, and slipped it into the slot in his robotic arm, where it would remain until he needed it, then he headed to the kitchen.

Today was a sad day for breakfast. He was eating his last bowl of cereal. Likely the last for a long time, unless he got supremely lucky. So he enjoyed it. It wasn't that great, though, which put a damper on things, and he didn't want to let it get soggy, either, so that didn't help. He grumbled, swearing at nothing in particular as he cleaned up after breakfast. Then Jurgen sighed and went to look for his boot. He never reached it though, as a giant box was sitting inside the front door. How it had gotten in, he had no idea, but the fact that it was there was not good. He started to freak out, but the cyborg was still logical enough to spot the note tacked to the box. He pulled out his knife and quickly swept the room, his gaze seeking anything that might be out of place. If someone was still in here, the box could be just a distraction. But all was as it should be, so he approached, wondering who had broken in and left him a human-sized package. He hoped it wasn't a body, that would be gross...

---

"Congratulations, you have been randomly selected to try out my new prototype android! What you do with her is up to you, as she is programmed to adapt to any task. However her main function is combat. I'll be monitoring your progress...good luck!" Was all the note said. Hardly any explanation of what the hell was going on, but it was the best he would get for the moment.

And when Jurgen opened the box, indeed there was an android inside. Though...this one didn't look like any android in the junkyard. It looked almost human, or at least more human than machine, compared to most people living in junkyard city. There was another hint on this android inside. A small device sticking to the base of her neck. Another note was hanging from it with a piece of string. Written on it were the words "Take this off to activate me!"

---

Jurgen munched skeptically on his cereal while reading the note over and over again. Why had he been selected? How had the box gotten in here? Was this a trap? He sighed as he finished his cereal. There was only one thing to do. He rinsed out his bowl and then grabbed a pry-bar he had lying around. Then, he ripped the box open, hoping this wasn't a trap. But when the crate fell away from the contents, everything appeared to be legitimate. There was an android there, waiting. At first he had thought it was a person, it was so life-like, but a cursory examination revealed that it was indeed robotic. Then, his nineteen-year-old mind did the usual thing, considering the shape of the android. But his paranoia was still in control, and he was pretty freaked out, so that didn't get far.

The cyborg was standing around, looking concerned, inspecting the robot in front of him, and wondering what to do, when he noticed the second note. If he removed the thing it was attached to, she would activate. Then he wondered if he wanted to do that. This one looked like an expensive model. It would probably pay his rent for months if stripped and sold for parts. But at the same time, the idea of having a companion was nice, especially considering that he was all alone now. And the note had said his progress would be monitored. If that was the case, then he probably wouldn't be selected for further testing of other products if he stripped the android and sold her off for parts.

"I guess that means we have to turn her on..." he muttered to himself. It occurred to him he might be able to make some money if the automaton could win some fights in a ring or something, but he needed some money to bet if he wanted to win anything. And right now he was more concerned about what could go wrong with this situation. He clenched his teeth, wincing as he reached up and removed the thing that kept the android from activating. He really hoped it wouldn't murder him and run off, that would be kind of terrible...

---

"Power lock removed, starting up systems." An electronic voice spoke. It didn't appear to be the android herself though. This was a separate voice from the internal systems. "25%...50%...75%...Completed. Initiating brain chip." It continued. It took another second or two before suddenly the eyes of the android opened. Now, in her own voice she spoke "Identifying owner..." Her eyes scanned what was in front of her, then focused in on Jurgen for a few seconds. Finally the eyes blinked, and the whole body started to move. One step forward, so she was now standing directly in front of him. She was actually about an inch of two shorter than him.

"Huh...not the kind of person I was expecting..." The android mused, bending forwards a little and inspecting Jurgen more closely. "Ah well! I'm Eve, nice to meet you. And you are?" The android didn't just look very human, she acted like one too. Brain chips could partially mimic human personality, but nothing as advanced as this. A distinctive speech pattern, nuances in tone, everything. "Also...do you have cigarettes by any chance? I have no idea what they are, but I want to 'smoke' one...you do smoke cigarettes right?"

---

Jurgen jumped when the electronic voice started up. He moved around the android, looking for signs of system start-up, but there was nothing to indicate it, save for the voice. He ended up in front of the robot, and just in time too, as it began trying to identify an owner. That was good, this meant it was brand new. Then it took a step forward and the cyborg looked amazed. It was so lifelike. There was no way this thing originated down here. Then it spoke. Jurgen frowned. "What were you expecting, then?" he asked, not sure if he should be insulted or pleased. Then she went right ahead and introduced herself.

"I'm Jurgen." he replied, extending a hand, "Nice to meet you." aaand, now she was bumming a smoke. He wanted to slap her. But then he realized it was probably no use. So he just turned and retrieved a pack from the case that his father had left atop the refrigeration unit. He tossed it to the android as he spoke, "I, personally don't smoke. That shit's bad for ya. Do it outside if you're gunna. You need a light?" there were plenty of flame-generating apparatuses about if she needed one, if not, well, that was fine too, he supposed.

"This is not the way I was expecting thing to go..." he mumbled to himself. Waking up, insulting him off-handedly and then bumming a smoke, was probably the last scenario he had in mind. This was going to be an interesting experience, of that he was sure. Whether it would be a good interesting, or a bad interesting, remained to be seen. Ideally the former scenario would play out, but this was the real world, where things went bad at the drop of a hat...

---

"Well, my programming is originally for battle. And you don't look like a soldier or arena fighter to me...though that cyborg arm of yours looks pretty strong." She mused, looking around once again. "But anything's fine really. As long as I get to stay activated." Was there even a way to deactivate her? She tried checking her systems, but she was unable to find anything about an 'off switch'.

The young man threw her a pack of cigarettes, which put a slight smile on her lips. "Jurgen eh? Good strong name, I like it." She spoke as she took one of the cigarettes out. "A light would be nice yes, and don't worry. I'll pay you back for these. Or heck, if it's what you want I could probably make money with a job or something. Come to think of it, what would you have me do? With some time my brain chip can adapt to a lot of tasks and situations." Eve started to pace around the place a little, inspecting the place she was going to live from now in. It was a poor man's apartment to be sure, but she actually preferred this over some fancy house. It felt nice and homely here.

"So ah...where can I smoke then? Outside is...which way?" Eve was still lacking in her programming. She had been created as an almost fully blank android. Though there were already some side-effects that even the creator hadn't intended. Such as the type of personality she had.

[Sarpdeon]

Jurgen nodded to himself as he considered Eve's explanation for her initial remark. It did make sense, he wasn't much of a fighter, and he certainly wouldn't make it in the arena. Then he chuckled as the android said that just about anything would be all right, so long as she got to stay activated. That seemed to the sentiment around here, of late. Anything was better than being deactivated. He smiled at the compliment as he fished for a lighter that worked. His father had smoked for as long as he could remember, and so there were just as many empty lighters, as there were working ones. He checked several before finding one that lit when he flicked it. The cyborg tossed that one to the robot, deliberately screwing up the throw, just a little, wanting to see what her reflexes were like.

"First one's free." he said, in response to her offer to find employment and pay him back for the cigarettes. "If you want more than that pack, you'll have to start paying." he added, mostly because he only had the one pack left. Then the man started wondering about how he was going to make money off of this automaton. They were going to need enough to feed her smoking habit, and pay rent, and he needed to eat, too. While he showed his new android where outside was, he began wondering how much they could make in an arena. "Outside is just over here." he pointed out, showing Eve to the fire escape door. He keyed it open, revealing a little balcony with a ladder going up at one end, and a ladder going down at the other. "You can smoke out here, just keep the door closed, and lock it behind you when you come back in." he said, laying down the rules. That was how his father had done it, and that was how things would continue to be.

Once Eve was out smoking, Jurgen started rushing around his apartment. He was scrounging for cash, and looking for some papers he was sure he had lying around. The cyborg wanted to make some money, and he was pretty sure he had the means to do so, now. First, though, he needed an initial investment, and those papers...

[sanquin]

"Free huh? Well thanks for that then." Eve replied back, catching the lighter without even paying much attention to it. Her eyesight and reflexes were made for high-end articifial combat, which went at speeds past what humans could keep up with without enhancement chips and such. So this was really nothing. Jurgen laid out some rules for smoking, which were all understandable. If this was a poor neighbourhood then burglars and such would find any unlocked door an easy mark.

Outside Eve lit the cigarette and inhaled the first smoke. But then she thought to herself about smoking in the first place. "Weird...do droids have use for smoking?" She mused, deciding to check her internal systems. There was actually some use. The particles of smoke were light, so the molecules could be used for area's of her body that needed light-weight material. But why was she doing this? It gave some satisfaction, but there was nothing about it in her programming. She quickly decided to leave that thought behind her and to just enjoy the smoke though. It didn't seem like anything important. A harmless glitch maybe.

Once she was done Eve went back inside. She locked the door as requested and headed back into the apartment. Jurgen was walking about the place like crazy, looking for something apparently. She instead decided to plant herself on the couch, figuring she wouldn't be of much help since she had no clue where anything was in his home. "What are you searching for?" She still asked though, curious what he was on about.

[Sarpdeon]

Jurgen was sure he could get something out of Eve. He had seen her reflexes, she hadn't even tried, despite his bad throw. So he scrambled for the things he needed, and was just about done assembling things on the kitchen table when the robot returned. She plopped herself down on the couch nearby, and asked what he was looking for. He didn't answer immediately, since he was a bit caught up in his search. To let her know he was working on a reply, he let out a long "Uh" until he had time to formulate a thought. "This!" he announced, having found the last page of the form he needed. It was an entry form of sorts, that could get them into a local fighting ring. That, combined with the small collection of things on the table, would provide them with the start-up they needed to get going.

"You said you were built for combat? What does that mean? How good are you?" the cyborg asked as he looked over the table. He had the papers laid out neatly, and was now sorting through the other things he had collected. Being poor, he was going to have to sell something to get enough money to make a proper bet on a fight. But he didn't really want to, since anything he owned that was worth anything, was worth ten times that in sentimental value. So he stood there and frowned at it all, and then started on the forms. Eve was going to have to provide most of the information for the second part, since that was all about the fighter, but he could get the first half done and delay making a decision for a while.

All too soon, however, the papers were as filled out as he could get them, and he was faced with the same problem once again. How was he going to get enough money to make money? In the end, he knew he'd wind up choosing the most replaceable of the items, and hopefully he'd be able to get it back before it got ruined or sold to someone he couldn't find. He supposed he would just have to hope that Eve was good enough to beat anyone she might face in a back-alley arena. So he scooped up the papers she needed to fill out, and took them over to where she was sitting. "If you could fill these out, that'd be great." he said, offering the android the forms that needed information from her...

[sanquin]

Some forms...so he already had an idea of what he wanted to 'use her for'. She bet it was for some kind of fighting though, as right now that was still the only thing she was good at. "Built for combat as in war, the arena, bodyguard stuff...that kind of thing." She mused, thinking of how to explain 'combat'. "As for how good I am, I have no idea. Many of my parts are prototypes. Almost all of them even. But if the information in my memory is to be trusted, I was built to be at least as good as a top level tournament fighter..." She shrugged. "Hard to tell when you're a prototype that hasn't fought before."

She followed Jurgen as he filled in his part of the forms. He also had some money scrapped together. 10 credits and 6 chips in total. It didn't sound like a lot...but she was sure she could make 100 out of that by the end of the day. "Hey, how much would you need anyway, to buy food and stuff?" Rent was still an alien concept to her, but her memory showed that humans needed food at least. And what money was. As she went through the files on food that she had, a different batch of information came to the surface as well. "Er...great...apparently I need food too." She grumbled. "Something to do with an auto-repair function and an energy converter. Though anything will do as long as it's biological." Now that she knew this, she wished she didn't need food. Plugging into some kind of power outlet seemed easier. "Part of the 'as human as possible' design I suppose..."

As she spoke a set of forms had also been given to her. It required her to fill in her being either cyborg or android, name if any, weight, choice of weapon if any, and if android, her serial number and owner. She filled everything out, noting down 'adaptive skin' under the weapons area. As she didn't know what she could do with it right now. Just that it could adapt by one way or another, and that it could be used for offense too. "Well...this is the best I can do right now." She spoke once finished, handing the papers back to him again.

[Sarpdeon]

Jurgen liked the idea of Eve being as good as a top-level tournament fighter. That could be a good way to win some money, but only if he could get into a top-level tournament. But her last comment was probably the most important. She had no practice. The cyborg made a note to find her someplace to get some practice in before actually entering her in a fight. And while he was thinking, the android kept asking questions. He supposed that was a good thing, since it meant she was learning. It wasn't so good for his train of thought, though. "Food and stuff? Well, rent is five hundred or so, and then food is another couple hundred, depending on how well I want to eat. And then if you want to eat and smoke, that'll be a couple hundred more..." he sighed, she was going to have to be really good at that fighting stuff.

While Eve did her thing with the papers, Jurgen pocketed a couple of the things he had collected, not wanting to sell them, but figuring he should take them just in case. If Eve could make something out of ten credits and six chips, he might not need to sell anything, but he supposed that would depend on how much people would bet that he couldn't win. For now, he would hope for the best, and prepare for not the best. In this scenario, the worst could not be prepared for at all. So the cyborg took a deep breath and looked over the forms that his robot had filled out. It all looked good to him. "I guess it's time to go see how well you can fight." he decided with a nod. "Are you ready?" he was apprehensive, hopeful and cynical at the same time. He was just waiting for the bottom to fall out of this strange scenario, wondering if he was going to wake up and have everything be normal. But nothing had happened yet, so he supposed they would just have to press on and see how far they could get before things got too weird...

[sanquin]

"So we'll need like...1000 credits by the end of the month, right? Heh...sounds like a challenge." She made a fist with one hand and hit the palm of her other with it. "Now, about this fighting...since it's still pocket change we're talking about." An anticipating smirk appeared on her lips. "How about you show me to the closest bar where people are likely to pick a fight? Can't think of a better place to test my skills, and I'm sure some of them would fight for a bet of 10 credits, right?" All she knew was that this place, the junkyard, was a haven for criminals and thugs, so such a bar shouldn't be hard to find.

The thought of a smoke after a few fights for some reason, so Eve decided to take the lighter and cigarettes with her. And as she stood from the couch, she seemed a bit...different. As if she was a bit too eager to fight someone.

(Meh, short...=/)

[Sarpdeon]

Jurgen liked that Eve appeared to be up for a challenge. He wasn't sure he was. But that didn't seem to matter, she already had her own ideas. And none of them appeared to have occurred to the cyborg. But going down to a bar and starting a few fights for some change sounded good, and then they could get her entered in a proper fight and win big. He liked that idea a lot more than his, so he nodded, and then Jurgen set about putting things away. He didn't need to leave all his valuables lying on the table to be scooped up and made off with. Once that was done he smiled, "I like the way you think, Eve. Let's go make some money." he showed the automaton to the door, and locked it behind them. There was a dive about a block away that was always full of crazies, even at this hour of the morning. It wouldn't take long to find someone interested in making some quick cash beating up a helpless woman. And when they found out that the robot wasn't helpless, or even a real lady, they'd wind up with a good deal less money, and a good deal more respect for the pair of hustlers.

It looked like the both of them were excited now. Jurgen was hopeful that his rent would get paid, and Eve seemed pretty excited to just be fighting someone. That was an interesting bit of programming, but the cyborg wasn't going to complain as long as his rent got paid, and food got put on his table. If Eve turned out to be some kind of raging death machine, he would be okay with that, just as long as he didn't get murdered. Now that he thought about it, having a raging death machine around would be kind of nice, then he wouldn't have to worry about much of anything. He chuckled as he led the way toward the bar, things were starting to look up...

((meh, me too...))

[sanquin]

The two went outside. Though the moment they did a man spoke up. "Hey Jurgen. Finally got a girl eh? Can I have some fun with her too? Hehehe..." It sounded threatening, but in this case it wasn't at all. The man that had spoken was Jurgen's neighbour. A junky that managed to forget how to unlock a door when he was high. Which he was, right now, just laying there against the wall. The man was nice enough. Nice enough in this case being that he didn't bother Jurgen and only kept it to an insult or rude comment 'every now and then'. Eve only glanced at the man, raised, a brow, and kept on walking. With one look it was easy to see the man was harmless, and such comments didn't bother her. So it wasn't even worth a second of her time. Not, at least, when there was a better fight waiting for her.

Outside Eve looked around with a smile. The place was just like she had imagined from what she could see through the apartment's window. A run down hellhole at first glance, but if you looked a little better you could see what this place truly was. Freedom. A place where most rules don't matter, where you can basically do and say what you want. And so can everyone else. Or that was how she saw it at least. After a few moments of taking it all in, she quickly followed after Jurgen again. "It's good to be 'alive', if you can call me that." She commented, more to herself than him.

[Sarpdeon]

Jurgen laughed. It was a hollow, obviously false laugh. Then he gave his neighbor a condescending look as he spoke. "That's funny. You're a funny guy, you know that?" his voice dripped with sarcasm. Then he proceeded to ignore the man as they walked away. They were off to make money, and didn't have time to waste dealing with the cyborg's idiot neighbors or their antics. Eve made a remark about being alive, and Jurgen couldn't help but chuckle. "Not everyone feels that way. Don't let your guard down." he advised. There were some people who got high and then ran around attacking people, just to see if anyone was stronger than them. There were a lot of crazy motherfuckers in this part of the junkyard. If you could survive them, though, it was not a terrible place. There were poorer, and less pleasant parts to live in.

But those places didn't matter. Not to these two, anyway. Jurgen pointed out the dive and held the door for his android companion. He wasn't sure how to approach a bar full of drunks and ask for bets to fight a robot. Thankfully it was dark inside, so Eve would probably look human if she didn't start glowing or anything. But there was still the matter of actually getting people to fight her. So he figured that holding the door would at least give him a few extra seconds to think, if his automaton didn't call out the entire place before hand. And if that did happen, then he wouldn't have to worry about it, and not worrying about things was one of the cyborgs favourite pastimes. He followed the robotic woman into the bar and looked around. It looked the same as usual. Dimly-lit, mostly to hide the fact that it was pretty gross. About half full of the regular crowd who never seemed to leave, but always seemed to be drinking, and staffed by a strange combination of androids and cyborgs. Everyone grumbled quietly, and no one looked up when anyone entered. It would be a nice place to hang out, if it wasn't so dark and grimy. As it was, Jurgen didn't understand how anyone actually sat on any of the furniture...

[sanquin]

Eve grinned even more. She already knew how she wanted to handle this situation. It would be easy enough to fool people like these into thinking she was just an enhanced human. The android scanned the room for a few moments, looking for the table that held the most people that looked like they had enhancements to increase their power. Once found, she confidently stepped towards it and put one of her feet right on the edge of the table. "Alright boys, I have some new enhancements to test. 10 bucks says I can beat anyone of you one on one." The whole group looked up, stared at her blankly for a moment, and started laughing.

"A wimp like you's gonna beat one of us?! And a woman at that!" One of them called out. One of his eyes had been replaced, and a part of his torso and his arms as well. The arms used old tech. A simple hydraulic system for power, and a simple design of artificial muscles for speed. But they were all made of high-grade steel. Not something you could easily break.

Suddenly this man's mood changed to one of anger. "Bitches should know their place...you piss me off! Fine, I'll fight you. I'll beat you to a pulp, little girl!" Eve walked to the more open area in the middle of the room, and the man stood and followed. Though once they were standing across from each other Eve turned to Jurgen for a moment. "Ah, I forgot to ask! How much can I beat this guy up? Any laws I should take into account?"

[Sarpdeon]

Jurgen was glad when Eve seemed to have things well in hand, he didn't want to get caught in the crossfire. She challenged a whole table of cyborgs to a fight, but only one of them had accepted so far. Not wanting to get in the way, Jurgen took a seat at a table near the entrance, figuring he would be mostly safe there. Then he just had to wait, and watch the magic happen. His android companion seemed very confident, and that was good. Her opponent was already mad, so she probably wouldn't have much of a problem. But then the robot turned to him, suddenly needing to know the limits. "Don't kill him." he blurted, wanting her attention on the fight, and not on the rules. And that was really the only rule in this part of town. The authorities couldn't be bothered to sort out a brawl. Unless there was serious gang activity, or murdering, they never came down this way. As long as no one died, no one really seemed to care. Hell, sometimes people did die, and no one cared. In the slightly better off parts of the city, the police presence was almost palpable, but out here, it seemed like they couldn't be bothered.

The cyborg was practically shaking now. Eve was clearly ready to go, and her opponent was chomping at the bit. And then, probably as a joke, someone shouted "Fight!" and the cyborg who had taken offense to the robot's brazen display rushed headlong into the fray, eager to break something or someone. He probably didn't much care for the law, and Jurgen suspected he had enough respect around here that no one would talk if he killed someone and the police did show up. It occurred to him that this was probably the reason the cops were never around. No one would tell them anything, so they didn't bother trying any more. It did make sense, considering the attitudes that abounded in such a place. To many, authority was worse that poverty, which didn't always make sense. Jurgen just wanted to be able to eat and pay rent. He couldn't be bothered to worry about authority when he had more pressing issues, like survival, to fret over. But he was beginning to think he might have time to start worrying about authority when Eve was done thrashing people around here...

[sanquin]

The man was absolutely seething now. In a bar and place like this, you couldn't really insult someone more than what Eve had said. The man charged, and only then did Eve turn her head back to him. Another step and he was in range. "Let's see what this body can do..." She mused, her grin widening once again. The man threw a punch right at her head. But unlike what most had expected, she didn't dodge. Her arm came up, and she blocked it with her forearm. A loud 'klunk' was heard, but the only movement the android had done was to move one foot backwards to brace against the impact. "Huh, well whaddaya know. The skin really is adaptive." She then spoke a little louder, as if she hadn't even been sure that this would work. The man pulled back a little, confused and stunned at the same time. Where Eve's skin had been, there now was a layer of a thick kind of metal.

"What...how..." Was all the man could utter. But Eve wasn't about to let him recover. "My turn~" She spoke, quickly ducking under and to the side of the man and kicking the back of both his knees. The man collapsed onto his legs, and yet again before he could recover Eve made another move. She circled back to the front of him and punched him in the gut. The man arched backwards and fell to the ground, unconscious. Anyone could see that Eve's fighting style was that of a street thug at best. But her speed, strength and defense were just that much higher than this guy. "Now let's see..." She then mused, kneeling beside the man and rummaging through his pockets. She found what she was looking for; 10 credits. She tossed it to Jurgen before looking to see if anyone else decided to suddenly jump in now. Or if there were more challengers of course.

[Sarpdeon]

Jurgen watched the beatdown with interest. It was simple, brutal, and effective. Eve had blocked the man's first strike without even trying, and then she dismantled him completely with a pair of vicious blows. Someone whistled, but mostly the reaction was negative. Jurgen was amazed. She would have no problem in a ring. But practice was never bad. He caught the credits that the android tossed to him, and tucked them away. Then he looked around, and caught the eye of a pair of tough-looking drunkards. "Double down, folks! Twenty credits says you can't best the lady!" he shouted, and the pair stood up. Ten obviously wasn't good enough, but they looked ready to kick ass for twenty. Unfortunately for them, Jurgen only had twenty credits. And there was also the issue of Eve being a talented, and slightly unorthodox fighter. The two drunk cyborgs stood no chance.

They obviously didn't know that, though, since they were so ready for a fight. another forty credits sounded good to Jurgen, and Eve looked like she didn't mind earning them. The pair of drunks squared off opposite the automaton and the same voice from before yelled "Fight!" again. Jurgen wondered if this was such a regular thing that they actually had someone to do that. But then he got distracted by the fight starting ,and forgot. These two hadn't been paying attention, clearly. They rushed Eve just like the first man. Just because there were two of them, didn't mean they could win...

[sanquin]

This time Jurgen spoke up. He caught on to Eve's plan apparently. As long as people were willing to fight her, she was fine with beating them all up. Plus, with this they would already have 60 credits. "Bring it!" She exclaimed as the two drunkards moved opposite of her. Both charged at the same time, which made it all the more easy to beat them for her. This time Eve did dodge. And for one simple reason. The two drunks crashed into each other and both fell to the ground. She smirked again, turning around and grabbed one by the neck. He had some reinforcements there so she wouldn't have to worry about crushing his throat. "Geez...I had hoped for a slightly better fight than this." Then she threw him against the other guy, whom had tried to get up again. Then, to add insult to injury she decided to sit right on top of both of them, and take out a cigarette. Then, as she lit it she told the two to pay up. "40 bucks...give it now or I'll kick your ass some more and take it then." The two men, groaning and winching, handed over the cash. They were drunk, stupid and angry. But they apparently did know when there was just no way they could win.

After a few seconds of silence finally the same person that had yelled 'Fight!' spoke up again. "Are you an arena fighter or something?" Eve shook her head as she puffed out some smoke. "Nope...I was only activated today, actually." "But you said--" Another guy wanted to ask, but Eve interrupted her. "I lied! So what?" Once again there was silence. Several guys wanted to fight her, but also knew that they had no chance. Considering how she had just taken out the strongest guys in the bar. "Anyway, I was planning to enter the arena soon, so how about you all bet on me? I'm sure you can all make some money that way, right?"

This was Eve's plan finally coming to fruition. She didn't want to turn a whole bar against her, since these were the people she was going to shave the neighbourhood with. "Look out for me in the arena, place your bets on me, and I guarantee you'll have enough credits to drink to your heart's content!" Everyone was confused, but also thinking about her 'offer'. Some were discussing the option, even. Saying such things as "She's strong, that's for sure..." and "She can probably take the lower ranked fighters, right?"

[Sarpdeon]

Jurgen smiled. He liked watching Eve thrash the drunks like they were moving in slow motion and she was on Hype. Now they had sixty credits, that was pretty good for ten or so minutes of "work". And then the automaton started talking to the guy who yelled "Fight!". It didn't take long for her to start tooting her own horn, promising all kinds of money to the people that bet on her. But the cyborg had seen enough movies to see where this was going. There was only one direction this really could go in, now. Eve was going to take a fall. He smiled to himself. This would be easy. He could safely make a decent bet, and win all kinds of money on the ridiculous odds that were going to be put out when the bookies found out how many people were betting on her. And then, when people went back to betting against her, he'd bet on her, and make even more money. Then it was just a matter of switching circuits so that no one got suspicious.

But the cyborg wanted to confirm this before he started anything, so he pulled the android aside, grabbing her hand and tugging the robot out the door so they could talk quietly in peace. "So what's the plan, here, why are you hyping yourself up? You're gunna take a fall, right?" Jurgen needed to know. Otherwise he needed her to cut that shit out. They were here to make money, not build a career. And if they were here to build a career, he needed to get another job...

((ugh... sorry...))

[sanquin]

Eve was pulled outside, and right away Jurgen started worriedly asking about her plan. "...Taking a fall? Why would I do such a lame thing? What, you want to bet against me too then?" She replied, finding the concept not even worth considering. "Look, it's not like everyone that will be betting, will be doing so on me right? If I keep those few happy I figured the this block would be less trouble, you know?" Talking was hard...or explaining was at least. She'd rather stick to fighting. Or at least some other fun activity.

"But if you really want I'll throw the match..." She then added with a clear sound of resentment in her voice. "Anyway, what now? Any amateur arena's or something we could go to?" She didn't know if they existed, but surely there were more people like her that didn't have the money for professional fighting. After blowing out the last bit of smoke she threw the bud onto the ground and shrugged. "You're the boss, so..."

[Sarpdeon]

Jurgen sighed. Eve clearly didn't understand. She went on about pleasing the block and crap. He didn't care about that, he needed money. "No. Look, I need money. We need money. We don't need crowds to be happy, we don't need people betting with us. We need money. The more people we have betting against you, the more money we make when you win." he took a deep breath and looked at his chronometer. They had just enough time. "No throwing matches. Just win us money." he said, and then he started to lead the way. "We're going to a different arena for today. I don't need those guys fucking up our odds." the cyborg declared, "We've got sixty credits, and I need you to turn that into as many as you possibly can." And with that, Jurgen set a brisk pace toward the arena on the other side of this particular section of the junkyard.

The place they were headed was a lot less pleasant than most. It was run by a gang, and crewed by vicious bookies who would happily take bets against a newcomer. And when it turned out that Eve was so much better than anyone else in the arena, the gang's bosses would be pleasantly surprised by their take. "Try to look small and weak, when we get in there." Jurgen suggested when they got closer. "The more they'll give us in odds, the less leg-work we'll have to do." He really didn't want to have to go someplace else today. If he could get the money he needed to pay rent and buy food, he'd be more than happy. If he couldn't, well, he and Eve would both wind up "deactivated" quite quickly...

[sanquin]

"Different arena...well okay. As for making as much credits as possible...I wonder what the odds would be if I challenged one of the top fighters there..." The two walked to their destination as Jurgen explained a few more things to her about how betting worked. She knew what it was, but how it worked...well what he told her was the first she heard about it. "Looking weak, no problem. Good that I don't have to throw the fight. This should be interesting." Once again that grin appered that crept on her lips when her lust for battle rose. The note on the box hadn't been lying. Eve was definitely made for this kind of thing.

When the arena came into sight Eve had formulated a plan on how to approach the bookies. "How 'bout this. I'll change my skin a little to look more cybernetic, then you introduce me as a droid you made, and want to test in the arena. You can pick the fighter that you think would do the trick yourself. Since you seem to know a little about this kind of stuff." She held up her arms, and indeed her skin started to change. It took the shape of plates of armor covering her arms. "Should work right?" Her chest area too changed into a kind of metal plating. Her plan was pretty...crude, but then again a lot of the people at fights would probably be fooled by such a trick.

[Sarpdeon]

Jurgen liked Eve's willingness to comply. It made things a lot easier. This was a lot different from trying to get a friend to just co-operate on a scheme. And she even had some good ideas on how to improve the plan. Whoever had sent him this robot was obviously looking out for him. "That sounds good. Good thinking." he said, agreeing with the android's suggestion. She did the transforming thing, and quickly looked like a robot that had been recently put together. "Looks great." the cyborg agreed when asked for an opinion. She really did appear to be a cobbled-together fighting machine, and that was definitely going to sell it for the people in charge.

The pair headed into the arena not long after, and Jurgen lead the way to where the man in charge of scheduling fights was. He signaled for Eve to just wait, and pulled the man aside. "You wanna make some cash?" he asked, and the man raised an eyebrow. Everyone in here wanted to make some quick cash. "I've got a sure thing standing over there. Give me a fight with Big Jim, you won't be disappointed." the cyborg wasn't here to waste time, he needed to know if this guy was in.

"How do I get this past the bookies?" the guy asked, clearly thinking he was smarter than this new guy.

"Tell them it's a new practice bot. They give one-point-five on Big Jim, and a hundred-to-one on the bot. When the bot wins, they pay us, and keep the rest, they won't care." Jurgen insisted. He didn't care what happened to any one of these people, as long as he got some money.

"I'll give it a shot..." the man said, and then he forked over a hundred credits. Obviously this was for Jurgen to bet along with his own cash. It didn't look good when the staff were betting too.

Jurgen headed back over to Eve with a grin on his face. "I think we're in." he told her, "Now we just have to place our bet, and get you into the ring on time." he then began leading the way, hoping to find a bookie who could help them with that...