2099: Serenity

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Morning brought with it the pain of sleeping in one of those things, and Alec pushed himself to move. Stretching out would fix that in no time at all, and if he had the card then he knew what his next step needed to be, because the sooner that job was done the better. He needed the money. Raking a hand through his hair, he made his way into the living space, where DeWitt was watching the BHN. There was no way for Alec to get away from it. There was no way for anyone to really get away from it, but that was the way of the world. Sometimes he hated it.

“Bounty Alert. Armand Girbach, rapist.”

Alec shook his head. He hated rapists, and back when he first started he often took on r****t bounties in order to make them pay for what they’d done. “Known to have r***d the daughter of a Goddess Goods manager.” Well, that might not be entirely true, but often with bounties like that they were more certain of who it was that had committed the crime. “He’s worth 3 million to those who take him in dead, but for those who take him in alive, and missing a certain necessary appendage, then he’s worth 6 million.”

Not unheard of, and Alec smiled. Goddess Goods was known to have people who were utterly ruthless, especially when it came to rapists, so it was almost to be expected that they would do something like that. Had he not been busy with his other job he would have gone after Armand Girbach. The money was definitely worth it. 6 million alive and without a p***s. A simple job. He glanced into the kitchen, where DeWitt appeared to be making breakfast, listening to the new bounties like he might actually go out there to do one of the jobs. Only he’d always been the guy who liked to be on the more technical side of things. Unlike Alec, he wasn’t much of a fan of dealing with blood or weapons or anything that he really needed to use in order to be a bounty hunter. Some people were like that.

“Morning, DeWitt.”

“Ah, I was wondering when you might wake up. There’s coffee, and I can make you something to eat if you’re hungry.”

Instead, Alec looked over at a steel table to see a blue and white card on there. “That mine?”

“Yes, it is. It was a challenge to get right, but I don’t see any reason why it won’t work for you if you are determined to do the job.”

“Good.”

DeWitt turned back to his breakfast, and Alec, needing to move, stepped past the table, picking the card up as he went. The vial was dropped down where the card had been before he made his way out the door. Once DeWitt realized he was alone he could deal with the iron bars. People knew who he was, so they were unlikely to do anything stupid. He was, even if he had retired, still someone that multiple hunters went to for help, knowing he was the best. For a moment Alec looked down at the card. As he was the best, DeWitt probably was one of the only people who had the skill to create that card. There was no way to be certain it would work until it was tested out, but Alec had hope that it would all go the way he planned.

In one swift movement Alec checked his pistol magazine and sighed. Of course he was running low. At times it felt like he was always running low, especially in more recent times, but it was what it was. There was nothing he could do to change what had happened. His only option was to keep doing what he was doing. Like always. He made his way from DeWitt’s place to his favorite ammo store… and stopped. Well, that was definitely new. Instead of the normal door being there, the way he expected, there was something that looked much more technologically advanced. That just meant he was going to need to knock a little harder to get anyone to hear him. Stepping forward, wondering what had led to the change, he knocked on the door like he had done so many times before. When there was no response he glanced at the spray painted words on the wall beside him. Someone else might have thought that he was the one being told to piss off, but he knew he was one of Yuki’s best customers, so there was no chance it would be there for him.

Shaking his head, almost amused, Alec knocked twice more, and that was when the door reacted. The firearms came out first. He wasn’t quite sure exactly what they were. Mentally, he went with cannons, but he wasn’t sure that was right. Not that it mattered what they were. He knew that they’d kill him. A camera followed them, sweeping close to him.

“Can’t you read, asshole?”

Raising an eyebrow, Alec smiled. “Yuki, it’s me.”

With those words the camera scanned him. That was something that happened in so many places that he was more than used to it, although the sensation of the laser going over his face was still uncomfortable. Most people said they couldn’t feel. Alec always had been able to, and he wasn’t sure why, but it was just one of the stranger things about him. Along with his humanity. Most of the people he dealt with had at least one augmentation. Some did it because they had to, for whatever reason, and the rest did it to be better, when they weren’t any better than a normal human being. Just being they could see in the dark better, or had a better aim when throwing, or… the camera disappeared back into the door as he thought, before the door, in a grinding of gears, opened for him.

Alec stepped into the shop, and seconds later the door closed behind him. The sound was loud, but nothing he hadn’t dealt with before, so he waited, knowing that Yuki was just being careful. When she threw herself at him, hugging him the way she always did, he smiled. “Okay, so what’s with the door?”

“People are idiots.” Stepping back, Yuki returned his smile. “Not that it matters. Come to replace Spike?”

Every time he visited she asked the same question. Alec shook his head. “Just need some more ammo.”

“How long have you had that firearm?” She laughed. “The newer Hatchwater is definitely worth the money. Better targeting, reliability’s up, it links up to augs… which would be utterly useless for you, but the rest is good. Maybe you should have a play around. Test out some other weapons. See what it is that makes you hard now.”

“Just make it quick, Yuki. I have business to deal with.” He glanced back at the door. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Had you been here a few days ago the answer probably would have been yes. I knew you were busy, though, so I simply went with the door option.” Yuki shrugged. “The Scorpion Gang made the decision they were going to get into hunting, for whatever reason it is they think it would be good for them, and a couple of their members came to me for their new guns. Unfortunately, when you put good guns in the hands of idiots it’s likely to go wrong.”

“I might have had a run in with them last night. They seemed to think they were capable of taking me.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “They weren’t even capable of taking me. First, of course, they came to threaten me. Told me that my guns were the problem.” She made a face. “No, my guns weren’t the problem. The fact they didn’t know what it was they were doing was the problem, because the target they were trying to return alive ended up very dead.”

“Not just a little dead?”

“Considering what I sold them, there was no chance of him being a little dead.” She grinned. “Giving me some warning meant I had a chance to buff up security. Knowing the right people in the right places always helps. The door went in overnight, so when they returned the next day they had a little more trouble getting in than they expected, and not even the C4 they brought with them was going to do them any good. Well, it might have, had my guns not dealt with them before they could do anything more.”

Alec glanced at the blood that he’d been actively ignoring. “All of them?”

“Most of them. One survived, and, well, you know how it is. I can’t seem weak. So I fought fire with fire. Chopped off his d**k, stuffed it in his mouth, let him join his buddies.” She shrugged. “I haven’t had any issues since, so I’m going to count that as a win for me.”

“No, most people wouldn’t try to do anything stupid when you’d made it so very obvious how it was you deal with stupid people.” Alec smiled. “Next time you have an issue with anyone call me. I’m more than happy to help out an old friend.”

Giving him another smile, Yuki bounced over to the counter, pressed a button, and up came all the guns she had for sale. “What do you want to play with first?”

Knowing he wasn’t going to ever switch out Spike, Alec stepped over to the counter, wanting to see what was out there. Learning more about what he could come up against helped him to be ready for anything that might be thrown at him, and he glanced at some of the less technical weapons. “You’re still selling throwing stars?”

“You should know better than that.” She stepped over to them and pulled them out from behind the glass. “These, my friend, are much better than your traditional throwing star, so if you would allow me to demonstrate.”

She pressed another button, and a dummy came up on the other side of the room. Yuki bounced onto the counter, stars in hand, and Alec watched her. It was impossible not to watch her. One at a time she threw the stars in the general direction of the dummy, but none of them were going to hit it. Then, like with so many things, so new tech kicked in; the stars went right where it was they were supposed to hit. Seconds later all six of the stars were poking out of the dummy, which was definitely looking like it might need to be replaced soon.

“Nice.” Alec raised an eyebrow. “The cheating version.” His eyes met with Yuki’s. “Don’t tell me, they also work well with augs.”

“Course they do.” She shook her head. “You are the only person I know who doesn’t have any augs, Alec, so these are for the world we live in now. Maybe you don’t like it, but you don’t have a choice.”

“I know.” He studied the stars. “How do they work?”

“Do you really think the creators of these would give away all their secrets?”

“Yuki, I know you better than that. Given a couple of hours with them, you would have worked out exactly what it was they’d done to make that a possibility.”

Laughing, she bounced back off the counter. “Well, saying that, I did have a little look-see, because I do like to know. I’m selling them, so I like to be able to protect myself, and these babies are very nicely created. I would have liked to have been behind it myself, but I’m better off doing this job.”