I like this car; I really do. The only problem is the speed… which, I understand, it's a car made for durability and comfort, not to win races. Which is why I prefer my vigilante. It took me almost 15 minutes to get to the aldecaldo camp, whereas in my vigilante it would've taken me just 5. But in any case, I'm here. Much to Johnny's chagrin. He really hasn't liked Panam ever since he heard about LF.
Parking my car at the edge of the camp, I got out and stretched my muscles a bit. Cracking my knuckles, I looked around and saw Panam leaning against a car. Throwing on my coat, I rolled up its burnt sleeve to hide the burn marks on it and started walking towards her.
Spotting me walking towards her, she immediately started waving excitedly. "V! It's really good to see you!"
Reaching her, I shocked both her and me by giving her a quick hug. Releasing her, I cleared my throat and gave a quick look around before saying, "Hey. had no idea you were back with aldecaldos."
Flushing a bit, she shook her head a bit before giving a frustrated sigh, "They continue to grind my gears… but…"
"They are family. I know." I said quietly, finishing her thought.
Looking at me with understanding, she nodded. "You have a family?"
"I have a mother hen of a ripper, who constantly nags me for the amount of chrome I have in me. A best friend, who runs an esoterica and reads tarot cards. And my dead choom's mother, who treats me and my best friend as her surrogate daughters. So, a messed-up family, yes, but a family nonetheless."
Laughing quietly, she shook her head in amusement before saying, "That's good."
Sighing happily, I quickly sobered up and looked at her seriously and asked. "In any case, what's the problem?"
Mirroring me, her expression crumbled into one of frustration and fear. "The wraiths took Saul."
"Are you sure they took him?" I mean, I already knew they took him, but I can't very well act like I know that now, can I?
"We've been looking over their camp for a few days, and it looks like they are holding some high-level targets. We need to free Saul." Taking a deep breath, she looked at me imploringly before quietly saying. "I don't know why, but I felt like I could trust you."
Giving her a gentle smile, I firmly grabbed her by the shoulder before saying, "Always, lass. You n' me are chooms. I thought that was clear."
"Careful there, or I might start believing it. You won't be able to get rid of me."
"I'll survive, I'm sure."
Smiling at my words, she looked at me with happiness before her expression turned into one of awkwardness. Clearing her throat, she hesitatingly said, "Now… I know you're a merc, and your time is important… So about your paymen–" Cutting her off, I exclaimed, "Panam, please!"
In these past few weeks, I've already done so many different kinds of jobs and NCPD side scanner hustles that I don't need to do jobs for money anymore. The only reason I do anything anymore is to increase my reputation. Which is pretty good too now.
Pulling her into a side hug, I started walking us to the rest of the people, who were all gathered around the car in the middle of the camp. "Don't insult our friendship like that." I said softly. "I'm here as your friend, not a merc."
"I—... thanks, V."
Reaching the rest of the people, I let Panam go and jumped and sat on the roof of the car. Mostly because this time, my place was occupied by Scorpion, who was still alive.
Smiling at my antics, Panam leaned on the car and asked, "Where's Mitch? He was supposed to meet us here."
"He'll be here soon." Carol said slowly. Agitatedly walking back and forth, she gave me a side eye. "You never mentioned seeking outside help." Sighing in frustration, Panam shook her head before saying, "We need all the help that we can get."
Ignoring them both, I turned towards the only person I didn't get to meet last time. "Scorpion." I nodded in greeting.
Nodding back in return, he turned towards me fully. "It's good to see you again. V. Thanks for helping out, Panam. You had her back when we didn't."
"Oh, don't worry, it was mutually beneficial; she got her ride back, and I got a new friend." I replied back with a small smile. Ignoring the rest of the entourage around the car, I just talked to Scorpion, and I have to say, I'm mildly impressed. He's a strong, silent type and a person who'd really ask his choom to send him in a blaze of glory. Or just a blaze if it came down to it.
If anything, I'll say he's exactly what I'd imagine Jackie would be if he also went through war, riddled with PTSD and trauma. An older brother who looked out for his family, silently watching over them.
Taking a deep sigh, I pulled myself out before I could drag myself deeper in this pit of depression. [Get it!? Pit of depression? Pitofdepression?!... I'm so funny] Turning towards Panam, I lightly smacked her on the shoulder and asked, "So… how do you want to play this?"
"Quietly. An open assault will be suicide," she said, rubbing her shoulder. "Mitch is already setting up the recon."
"Well… if you want to do this quietly, then two is all we'll need. Although it'll be a bit boring." I replied with a small pout. People around us were giving me incredulous looks, but Panam, who had already seen me in action, just shook her head in amusement.
Clearing their throat, one of the guys standing on the other side of the car looked around a bit nervously before saying, "It's not that I don't want to go to serve Raffins up some justice! It's just…"
Suddenly Carol cut him off and angrily exclaimed, "Look around! The last attack left barely half of us standing! Our supplies are stuck outside goddamn Reno! And don't even get me started on our gear!" For some reason her outburst and everyone's reaction just made wanna laugh out loud.
Controlling my snickers, I condescendingly said, "Okay, angry bird, calm down; no need to get worked up here. We'll get Saul back." Of course my tone didn't calm her down in the slightest. Instead, it made her more angry. But thankfully, before she could explode, Mitch rounded the corner and came into view. "Hey Mitch! How's it going?"
Giving me a simple nod, he just quietly said, "I'm good. Floated a drone over the wraith camp. Have a look." Taking the shard from him, I started looking through the footage. I already knew the place and remembered a way better path to reach Saul.
"Well… this'll be a walk in the park." I said, taking out the shard, I quickly handed it back to Mitch before turning to Panam. "Shall we?"
Before Panam could even say anything, Scorpion looked at me with an incredulous expression and asked, "What, just like that? No plans? No prep? You're just going to walk in and bring him back?"
Pretending to think about it for a few seconds, I looked at him with a bright smile and said, "That, and wipe every wraith in there if Panam will let me." Everyone around me was looking at me as if I were either crazy or had way too much ego. Except for Panam, of course. Because, like I said, she has a pretty good idea about what I'm capable of.
Before I could even say anything in my defense, Carol quietly muttered, "This is crazy…" before turning towards me with a sharp sigh, "You're crazy! If you think this'll be just a—as you call it, "a walk in the park." Okay… first of all, that was a very bad imitation of me, second… Why was I even thinking of defending myself to these people? I'll let my actions speak here.
"Sure." I said slowly with a small smile and, in a condescending voice, added, "Whatever you say." Before I could antagonize them any further, Panam grabbed my wrist and started pulling me back towards her van. "Let's go, V!"
Laughing, I let her drag me towards her van, but instead of that, I decided to go with my SUV. I mean, if there was going to be a chase like last time, then we're going to need speed. Taking off my coat, I threw it in the back seat and quickly got in.
"A Thorton?" Panam asked, opening the door, "What happened to that red car of yours?"
"It turns out that there's a contract on my head. And the merc they hired blew it in front of me." Tightening my grip in anger, I took in a big sigh before growling out, "And then the bitch decided to have a chat right there in front of the smoldering remains of my car… I mean, the nerve of the fucker!"
Leaning away from me, Panam looked at me a bit wearily before asking, "Shit… what did you do?"
"I was just torturing him for info when you called."
Blinking at my casual tone, she leaned forward with interest, looked at me intensely, and asked, "Did you get anything from him?"
Shaking my head, I lightly said, "Nope. killed him before he could reveal anything."
"What? Why?" Panam asked with a slight frown, to which I just shrugged my shoulders and said, "I already knew who the employer was, so by asking him, I was just trying to give him false hope that he might live to see another day."
Looking at me with a bit of a weary gaze, she asked, "Has anyone ever told you that you're a very sadistic person?"
"You won't believe how many," I said with a slight laugh before focusing back on the road. After a few seconds of that, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Panam was stealing glances at my new tattoos.
Last week I got a few new tattoos, just because I was bored. And to be honest, they were not even that big. Just a few tattoos that covered my right arm, running all the way up to my neck.
"You like what you see?" I asked with a slight smirk. Without taking the bait, Panam just nodded her head and said.
"I do; the dragon and phoenix look really good. But what I really wanted to know is, why do you have that army unit tag on your bicep?"
"Caught that, huh?" I asked quietly while flexing a bit. "An old friend of mine was in the army; this was his unit's tag. I got it as a way to honor him."
Nodding, she quietly leaned back in her seat, and both of us just enjoyed the silence for a while. It wasn't long before we were almost at the wraith's camp. "All jokes aside, V, what's the actual plan?" Panam finally asked, turning towards me.
Smiling, I nodded and started explaining. "There's a sewer grate just at the edge of the facility that'll lead me straight to Saul… at least I think so." I said with a small grimace, "I mean, I know that it'll lead me there, but I can't very well tell her that I'm certain of it." "After getting him out, I'll probably blow everything up, and in the chaos we'll slip through."
"How do you know that there's a sewer grate? And how do you know that it'll actually lead to Saul?"
Oh yes, all the hard questions, and completely ignore the main part! Sighing, I ran my fingers through my hair and slowly said, "I saw the grate through the drone. And, it is the only place that makes sense, really. I mean, that's where I would keep him."
I could tell that she was not convinced, because she was looking at me how Judy looks at me whenever I know too much, but instead of saying anything, she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "...okay," before turning away to look out of the window.
Narrowing my eyes in confusion, I looked at her discreetly for a few seconds before turning to her and asking, "What? That's it? Nothing about blowing the place to kingdom come?"
Shrugging her shoulders like we're talking about the weather, she just calmly said, "Not really. I mean, this is wraiths we're talking about here."
Groaning in mock disappointment, I smacked the steering wheel and said, "It's such a travesty that you're straight panam. With an attitude like that, I'd have jumped your bones without even thinking about it."
"...sure" was all she said, with a pretty disturbed expression. I'm pretty sure she knows I'm joking; otherwise, she would've jumped out of the fucking car by now…. Yeah, she knows I'm joking… probably…
"We'd have made a hot couple in love… But that's beside the point. We're here." saying that I turned off the car and slowly let it coast a bit towards a slightly raised hill. Putting the car in park, I grabbed my coat from the back seat and jumped out of the car. Getting out of the car, I stretched my muscles a bit and popped my joints back in place.
"So I'll stay here and provide cover fire should things go sideways?" Panam called out from behind me, turning towards her. I saw her take out a sniper rifle from God knows where. Looking around for a bit, I had to say that this really will be the best place for her; I won't have to look after her or be worried about her.
"Sure… that'll be for the best actually." Saying that, I grabbed a belt full of grenades and stuffed them in my coat and said, "Alright. I'm going in."
Whistling a merry tune, I started walking towards the metal gate of the compound.
"Haezy?"
Yes, ma'am?
"Tag all the bastards and bitches, please."
Right away, ma'am.
A quick and small glitch, and suddenly all the people in the compound were tagged in my HUD. Nodding happily, I quietly whispered, "Brilliant work, Hazy."
To be honest, having Haezy with me is amazing. I mean, she's been a major help in my many day-to-day activities, but lately I've noticed that Haezy and Johnny have been running some sort of a side project of their own, something that I don't know about. I usually have 54 max RAM available to me at any given time, but nowadays I can see how a majority of the times that number drops by 5 or 6. Now, this much RAM isn't a lot for me, but it is definitely something that I need to discuss with both of these ghosts in my head.
Thinking about this, I slowly reached my target and ripped off the metal gate from its hinges. Throwing it behind me, I crouched down and quickly walked up to the sewer grate, but before I could open the grate, a henchman rounded the corner and saw me; he immediately pointed his gun at me. Before anything could happen, I quickly hit him with a weapon jam and a sonic shock, and before he could recover, I slammed my foot on the corner of the grate as hard as I could, causing it to fly upwards, grabbing it midair. I rotated my entire body, and with that momentum swung the metal grate at the henchman, but I made a slight miscalculation. I threw it a little too fast and a little too high, and instead of just knocking him down, the metal grate passed through his neck, like a hot knife through styrofoam, essentially decapitating the fucker. For a few seconds I was just looking at the scene with wide eyes; I was just planning on knocking him down, not turning his status from living to dead.
I was just staring at the body, thinking how I even did that, when Johnny glitched in my vision, standing right above the dead body, and just stared down at it. 'You just keep on finding more and more creative ways of killing people, don't you?'
Sighing, I shook my head and said, "Believe it or not, but that was not my intention…" Giving an indifferent shrug, Johnny flicked his cigarette at the body before he glitched out again.
Sighing, I quickly hid the body before anybody could see it. Once done with that, I picked up the bloodied metal grate and jumped into the sewer and placed the grate back in its place, making sure nothing was out of place.
Once in the sewer, I crawled over to the opening and stepped into the basement, exactly where Saul was kept.
Looking around, I happily walked over to the tied-up prisoner and lightly flicked him on the head. "Oi, Saul."
Stirring up a bit, he tried to raise his head but instead just croaked out, "D– do you—do you have my cigar?"
Laughing, I called Panam, who picked up instantly and said, "Yeah, I found him. Choom is asking for a cigar, if you can believe it." saying that I also sent her a picture of Saul tied down.
Sighing in relief, Panam quickly and quietly whispered, "Yeah, that's Saul alright. Bring him out."
Reaching into my back pocket, I took out the injection that Panam gave me and injected Saul with it right in the middle of his chest. Just a second later he screamed and jumped upright, "Aaghhh! That hits the spot!" Looking around with wild eyes, he immediately spotted me and squared up, and in a gruff voice asked, "Who are you?"
Snickering at his attempt at looking threatening, I just pushed him back and slowly said, "A friend of Panam's, here to get you out."
Saul blinked owlishly and instantly snapped out of his funk. "Panam?" he whispered in confusion.
Before Saul could go deeper in this hole, I took out the widowmaker that I took from Nash and loudly cocked it. "Now, I have a very serious question." I said loudly, gaining his attention, "Do you want to get out of here quietly? From a sewer. Or do you want to take one of my guns and shoot your way out of here with me?" I asked with a big smile on my face while weaving Widowmaker and Dying Light around.
Looking at me with furrowed brows and a confused expression, Saul just took in a deep breath before quietly nodding and asking, "... what guns do you have?"
Within a second my face lit up with a bright and hungry expression; rubbing my hands together excitedly, I started taking out my personal arsenal out of my coat. "I have five: a pistol, an assault rifle—this one actually belonged to Nash, the Rafen Panam I killed. A shotgun… actually disregard this one; you won't be able to use it." I said quickly, stashing 'guts' back.
"Seriously?" he asked, giving me an incredulous look. To be fair, Saul did have the physique to handle the shotgun, but unfortunately, guns like Guts, or the Mox's upgraded one, require practice, lots of practice.
"The recoil on this thing will shatter your collarbone." I said, looking at him seriously, before taking out Fenrir. "I have this SMG, taken from some Maelstrom bitches. And I have this… O'five." I whispered with a dramatic flair while softly running my fingers on the barrel of the rifle.
"O'five?" Saul asked, with an intrigued expression.
"This sniper rifle is a glorified long-range grenade launcher, but it is a little too heavy and a little too slow, but this thing will dismember and sometimes disintegrate your target." I said excitedly, while waving the weapon around. I'm pretty sure I almost looked and sounded like that chromed-out gun vendor from Dogtown Stadium. "So! What will it be?" I asked with a proud smile while gesturing to three guns lying out in front of me.
After looking at the assortment of weapons in front of us for a few seconds, he quietly said, "I'll take the pistol and the SMG, please."
"Here you go." I said, handing him the weapons. Seeing that I was still unarmed, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "What about you? Which ones are you picking?"
"Oh, none of these," I said, stashing the weapons back in my coat. Instead, I took out a scalpel. "I'll use a katana and explosives," I said with a mean smile.
After choosing and picking up our weapons, I looked at him with excitement and asked him, "Now, are you ready?"
"To kill some wraiths? I was born ready!" exclaiming that, he cocked the guns and stalked out of the boiler room looking for his targets.
Smiling at his enthusiasm, I also followed him. 'Alright, Hazey, Johnny? I need you both to stop whatever you're doing. I need all the RAM that I have available to me.' Hesitating for a few seconds, Johnny and Hazey replied together, 'Alright.'
As you wish, ma'am.
I looked at my RAM counter and saw it refilling once again. Smirking, I also got ready and activated my cyberdeck.
The moment we stepped out of the basement, Saul immediately alerted everyone in the entire compound by opening fire on the goons who were guarding the entrance to the boiler room.
Sighing I shook my head in amusement and took out my katana, deflecting any bullets that were fired my way, and half of them were deflected right back to another goon. Making our way up the stairs, I looked through a camera and saw that there were even more wraiths with their guns trained on the door. Narrowing my eyes, I focused on a guy standing in the middle of the group. Scanning him, I uploaded a contagion on him and watched as the poison and hack started spreading to everyone around him. Once everyone was coughing and hacking their lungs out, Saul and I burst out of the door. Looking at the people in front of me, I raised my katana to defend myself and started uploading overheating hacks and laughed while watching them explode. While I was doing my small light show, Saul beside me was firing everywhere like a drunk guy who somehow got unlimited ammo.
I might have written a book on dumb ideas, but Saul sure wasn't afraid to quote from it. At least his bullet spreading was keeping wraiths from gaining their footing.
I knew that we needed to get out of here as far as possible, because neither the bullets nor the booster would last long. Flinging a grenade behind me, I took a deep breath and focused on all the wraiths who were lining up in front of me, practically serving themselves on a silver platter. Holding my katana beside my head, I readied myself and activated my jailbroken cyberware and watched as time and everyone around me came to a crawling speed. Dashing forward through the wraiths, I started cleaving and dismembering everyone in my path. And before anyone could even understand what was happening, they were falling to the ground in bits and pieces, still hanging together by slivers of skin and wires.
Turning off the accelerators, I rolled forward and picked up an SMG that was dropped by one of my recent kills and started spraying behind me. I was genuinely enjoying myself here and was almost about to jump onto a guy and almost slash his head off when I got a call from a very angry girl.
"V! What the hell is going on in there?!" Panam screamed the moment I picked up her phone. Grimacing, I gave her a nervous laugh and said, "Helping Saul exact his revenge against his captives…" While I was saying this, Saul was running towards a scrawny wraith who was quivering with a gun in his hand while looking at Saul like he's the devil incarnate. And to be fair, he really does look like it, because the maniac is covered in blood, and he has picked up a fucking machete from somewhere. "I didn't have the heart to stop him; I mean, he's having so much fun! It would've been like trying to stop a child from opening his gifts on a Christmas morning!" I told Panam while watching Saul decapitate a guy's head while cutting another guy's stomach off with the same swing.
"...just get him here safely; I've already taken care of people out here in the open."
"Understood." Ending the call, I avoided a blast from a grenade thrown towards me by simply smacking it away from me.
"Haezy, arm the explosives, and get ready to overload all the machinery in here." Turning, I looked at Saul, who was gutting a wraith with a sadistic grin. Nodding my head in approval, I threw a flashbang behind and screamed, "Let's wrap up this party, Saul! Your daughter is getting worried about you!"
Looking towards me, he threw the lifeless body of the wraith he just unalived and muttered, "Sure."
Just as I started moving towards him, a warning shot echoed and a bullet struck the ground right between us. Looking at Saul's face, I could tell that the person behind me was not a cannon-fodder but a so-called named NPC.
Before I could even do anything, the person started screaming at the top of his lungs.
"You think I'm just going to let you both walk out of here so easily? Especially after what you've done here today?!"
Sighing softly, I sheathed my katana and threw away the gun I picked up before slowly turning around and looking at the person with a bored expression. Scanning him, I quickly find out that his name was Eric Lynd, a known and prominent Wraith leader, and there's a six thousand Eddie bounty on him.
Putting my hands in my pocket, I stood in front of him in a relaxed stance and looked at him with an incredulous expression. "Let us? Do you really think you're capable enough to stop us?" I asked while gesturing to the dead bodies littered all around us.
Snarling, he took out a big knife and pointed at it and exclaimed, "Oh, I'm more than capable of stopping you both! I mean, who do you think you are? A washed-up Nomad and a lowlife gun for hire?!"
Glancing at Saul for a quick second, I gave Eric an amused look and said, "Your bounty will fetch me quite a good coat. Maybe I'll get a custom-made one this time. I do think that it's time I started properly, you know, using or wearing something that'll give me a unique identity."
Walking over to me, Eric loomed over me, trying to threaten or maybe scare me, I guess, and with a growl he pointed his knife at Saul and, looking me in the eyes, asked, "And pray tell, who are you?"
Looking at him, I sighed, and my expression turned from amusement to tiredness again. I shrugged my shoulders slightly before saying, "It isn't going to do you any good, because, you know… you'll be dead, but whatever. My name is V. Now do me a favor, and kill yourself."
Hearing me, his angry, snarling expression twitched into one of confusion for a quick second. Before he could even ask what I mean, his hand started shivering and slowly pulled the knife from Saul to his own throat.
"Wha-? What the fuck is happening?! The fuck did you do to me?!" Eric exclaimed, now looking at both of us with confusion and fear.
Both Saul and I looked on as the knife slowly started piercing the skin, flesh, and wires in his throat as he slowly but relentlessly dug his own throat.
Watching Eric slowly killing himself with detachment, I turned towards Saul, who was looking at the same scene with mild disgust and fascination.
And just like that, Eric's lifeless body fell back, and his severed head rolled beside him.
Without a single word, I tapped Saul on the shoulder as a gesture and slowly started walking out of the factory. I saw that the ground was littered with dead wraiths, taken out cleanly with a single shot to either their head ortheir heart.
"Here! "One aldecaldo leader in the flesh!" was the first thing I exclaimed loudly the moment I saw Panam, who was anxiously pacing in front of my car. Hearing my voice, Panam turned her head towards us so fast that it almost looked like her neck would snap.
Leaving both of them to talk and reunite, I turned back towards the factory. "And now for the finishing touch…" and with a simple command, all the explosives and heavy machinery in the factory overloaded, and the entire factory turned into a mini sun.
"God, I'm good!" I exclaimed as I happily skipped up to the driver's side of the car.
"And so humble." Panam grumbled half-heartedly before getting in the passenger side, saying, "Now can we go, please?"
The moment Saul got in the back seat, I gunned it as fast as I could, back towards the Aldecaldo camp. After driving quietly for a few seconds, I looked around to see if we were being followed by anyone, but thankfully we were safe. Putting the car in cruise mode, I took a deep sigh and simply relaxed back in my seat.
"...thanks… for getting me out of there," came Saul's voice from behind us; clearly it was directed to both Panam and me. With a small chuckle I just shrugged my shoulders and said, "It's fine. Just give me back my weapons." I raised my hand towards him, and he passed me the widowmaker, holstering it in my coat, I raised my hand again, but this time all I got in return was Saul's nervous chuckle, and I felt him pass a blood-stained machete into my hand.
With furrowed brows, I turned back to him. "What the fuck is this? Where's my gun?"
Grimacing a bit, he gave me a strained smile and said, "Yeah… about that… I kind of dropped it and picked up that machete instead…"
"You dropped my custom-made gun and instead picked up a fucking rusted kitchen knife?!" I exclaimed, looking back at him in anger and disbelief. And I wasn't the only one who was surprised at that.
"Why would you drop a gun for this?" Panam asked, pointing to the machete in my hand.
Clearing his throat, he shrugged his shoulders in embarrassment and quietly said, "I just saw the machete, and in the heat of battle, I picked it up…"
"You left me gun back there for a fucking rusty machete!! You fucking recessive chromosome!! Ugghhh!" Turning around, I smacked the steering wheel in frustration and quietly sat there, stewing in my seat.
"Wow…" "So in just one day, you lost a customized car of yours and a personalized gun of yours. What's next?" Panam said quietly, barely holding her laughter in.
"Laugh it up. Why don't you? Maybe I'll lose a good friend too today!" I exclaimed sullenly. "See if I ever give anyone another gun of mine." Hearing my words, Panam actually started laughing. Sighing, I just slowly pulled right at the edge of the camp and turned off the car. "Alright people, here's your stop."
"Getting out of the car, Saul leaned on the driver's side of the window. "Hey, V, right? Wait for a couple of minutes, please."
Turning to Panam, I just gave her a blank stare. "The fucker didn't even remember my name? What a grade-A asshole."
Shaking her head in amusement, Panam quietly said, "The booster must be wearing off. So are you going to leave now?"
"Yeah, I have to. I have quite a lot of work to do." I said with a tired sigh. "I have to do something, and I don't have a lot of time. I just have these next two days."
"Hmm." She hummed quietly before clearing her throat and asking, "Hey, are you going to the Dashi Parade this week?"
"Oh yeah." I said with a small feral smile. I have a score to settle with Oda. "I will be going there. Why? Why do you ask?"
"Want to go with me? I've never been to a Dashi Parade before!" Panam asked excitedly. And to be honest, I would've said yes in a heartbeat, but that is the only time that Hanako would be so in the open.
"I'm sorry, Panam, but I have a job that day." I said with a sad, apologetic tone. "I'm afraid I'm going to miss at least half of it."
"Oh. Is it merc work?"
"Not really… It's a personal thing, but you can say it's a merc work." I said in a confused tone, I mean, it is a job, but I can't very well say that I'm doing a job for the Grim Reaper.
"But if you want, then we can go there together. It's only the second half of the parade that I'll miss. We can have fun before then?"
Hearing this, her face immediately lit up, and she excitedly nodded her head and said, "Sure, that would be great!"
I was just about to reply to her when someone knocked on the glass of my door. It was Saul and Cassidy.
Getting out of the car, I nodded to Cassidy in greeting, who happily greeted me back too. "Well, I have to say, kid, I was a bit skeptical, but you proved me wrong. Hell, you proved a lot of people wrong here. Carol is still trying to decide whether she should be happy that Saul is back or if she should be embarrassed for screaming and doubting you this morning."
Laughing, I just shook my head. "I'll settle for her being happy. Just don't let him get out of sight again, yeah." I said jokingly, pointing to Saul.
"Don't worry, he won't be going anywhere for a good while." "I've also heard that our esteemed leader dropped a gun of yours?" Cassidy asked with an amused tone. Nodding my head in mock sadness, I dramatically said, "It was my pride and joy, Cassidy!"
Laughing, he shook his head in amusement and asked, "Now I've heard that you're a Sandevistan user?"
Oh yeah, Saul probably saw me speed-running a slicing game while we were dealing with wraiths today. "Uh… yeah… sure, let's go with that." Nodding his head, Cassidy reached into his back holster. "Well, then I believe this would be a good addition to your arsenal." Saying that, he handed me a revolver. "I call it Amnesty."
"Well, call me Canada now, because I'm going to commit some political crimes!" I said jokingly, while examining the gun closely. It looked like a customized overture, with some engraving on the side; all in all, the iron actually looked and felt quite solid. "You're just giving me this fine piece of iron? Just like that?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Cassidy simply said, "You brought my brother home, V; this doesn't even compare to how much gratitude I feel for you right now."
Cutting him off, Saul just lightly scoffed and said, "He's just happy that he won't have to move from here anytime soon now. He's getting old now, you know."
"I'm not the one who got caught, Saul." Cassidy said with a small smirk before turning to be again. "In any case, it was very good to meet you, V. Don't be a stranger now." And with that, he turned around and dragged Saul back with him towards the center of the camp.
"Well then, I'll be on my way then too." I said, turning to Panam, who was leaning on the hood of my car. "Come to my apartment in Glen around 3 pm on the day of the Dashi Parade, and we'll go from there, okay?" I asked, getting back in my car.
"Yeah sure, I'll see you then. Until then, V."