Waking up in a mansion floating high above the planet was not something Rebecca expected to happen and she was not liking it one bit. Finding herself in an unfamiliar place and far away from help with no apparent way for her to escape, along with a full blown argument just across the hall, was not a good situation to be in. Maybe it was just her paranoia talking and maybe the man she slept with didn't want to just leave her in the stall, but she could never be too sure.
Creeping silently through the carpeted hallway, she made her way to the source of the loud yelling. As she got closer she started making out words through the shouting. Approaching the door to what smelt like the kitchen, with the scent of meat and spices wafting through the air, she got as close as she could possible do and strained her ears, wondering what it was all about.
"What the hell were you thinking when you brought her here, Katsumoto!?" Shouted a young feminine voice, her displeasure all to clear for her to hear. This had Rebecca grimacing as she kept quiet, just letting the argument run its course. It was starting to feel like this was going to be one of those days where she had to deal with a crazy wife. Things never went smoothly when emotions ran high.
Taking her chance to take a peek, she leaned in close before peering through the open door. There, she'd find the beefcake she met at the bar talking with a strangely familiar blonde. Her eyes trailed towards the man's ass as he faced away from her while he cooked.
"I told you already, Tanya, I'm not just gonna leave her in some random bathroom. I fucked her up so the least I could do is give her a room to sleep in and cook her breakfast," The man replied calmly as he kept his focus on the dish he's cooking. She could already feel her stomach growling at the scent of beef and soy sauce filling the air.
Tearing her gaze away from him, she then focused on the tiny girl. Her striking blue eyes, thick lashes, and unruly mop of blonde hair made her quite the eye catcher; even if she did look a bit young. Someone's age, however, was not always so apparent as she herself looked younger than she looked. If the two were married, then it was no wonder why he got interested in her.
The woman took a deep breath before sighing, pinching the bridge of her nose before looking up and saying, "Look, honey, I'm fine with you sleeping around, that's what we agreed on when we first met, but what I'm not fine is that you're not taking this seriously," Rebecca sighed out in relief at that revelation, but it looked like she wasn't done yet talking, "As fun as things are, you have to remember that the job comes first. Remember, at its very core, the company's main product is people. We hunt them down and then sell them while keeping those we like."
The relief she felt quickly turned to dread as ice filled her veins. They were selling people? Shaking her head, she tried to rationalize what she just heard. No, that couldn't be right, a human trafficker wouldn't have given her back her gun of all things. Maybe she just misheard things, but it was clear as day what they'd just said. She pulled her gaze away from them before lightly banging her head against the wall. What the hell did she just stumble into?
"You don't have to make it sound like that…" The man whispered back before she heard the gas stove getting turned off.
"Honey, I don't sugar coat things. That's just how things are," The woman reminded him before she started scolding him, "You could have asked her friends where her place is and brought her there yourself if you insisted on making things right. You could have done a dozen other things instead of just bringing her straight here before you even marked her? You're going to do a lot of explaining once she wakes up."
She then heard the man sigh before he replied dejectedly, admitting his fault, "Damn it, you're right. I really shouldn't have listened to my dick here."
She really shouldn't have listened to her pussy as well. What the hell was she going to do now? And what did she mean by "marking her"? Even after Tanya said that she wasn't marked, she still gazed down on her body, trying to find any irregularities or new tattoo's on her skin, but she couldn't find anything. She even did a quick check on her chrome to see if they inserted any malicious program, but that was a bust as she wasn't a net runner. She bit back a curse as a thousand little things started going through her head.
She did not like this one bit. Gripping her pistol tightly, she tried to figure out what she was going to do now. How was she going to get out of this situation? She needed a way out and, being so far up in the sky, she'd need a ride. Those two got her here so they definitely had a way out for her as well. She needed to act fast and she needed to act now while they were still unaware. Taking a deep breath, she took a peek once more as she steeled her nerves, readying herself for their confrontation.
She watched as the man's shoulder slump, looking all glum and sad while the blonde gave him a quick hug and patted him on the head, "There's a reason why we both chose each other," She whispered, holding him like a mother scolding a child before she pulled away. "Thankfully, she's not that huge of a threat, otherwise the place would get trashed if negotiations broke down. I'd rather not sleep in Night City if I can help it-!" The girl paused as her eyes met Rebecca's and now Rebecca's cover was blown.
Not knowing if they had any surprise for her or not, she quickly got out of cover and aimed her gun at them, "Let's see how much of a threat I am when I put a bullet in both your heads! What the hell did you do to me!? You think you can brand me on the ass and get away with it?!" She threatened, but the blonde just sighed as she pressed her face against her palm.
"God damn it, see what I mean?" The shortie told her surprised partner before she threw her hands up as she got off the stool she was standing on before making it to the kitchen counter where she picked up a stick of butter and some toast, "This is your mess, you deal with this."
"Hands where I can see them! If you don't want me painting your walls with your brains, you better start coughing up some keys," Rebecca warned the girl, yet she kept ignoring her as she ate her toast. She quickly aimed her gun back at the big man as she hissed out, "You're lucky that I'm in a good mood right now, so just let me go and we're even, got it?"
The man raised his hands in panic as he replied, "Rebecca, this is not what it looks like!"
"You sick fuck, you were going to sell me! I knew I shouldn't have trusted a cute face like you," She shouted back, refusing to listen to his pleas. She felt so stupid right now going after him. Why did she have such luck when trying to find someone? She thought she had herself a good catch in the cute oblivious corpo beefcake but here she was, trying to get herself out of this sticky situation, "Fucking damn it, why is it always the cute ones!"
"No! Well. Technically yes if you consider the cloning and actual selling but... Huh... Come to think of it... Yeah, we really are human traffickers aren't we?" The man replied absentmindedly, making the blonde facepalm this time around.
"Not helping!" The girl groaned out as she dragged her palm against her face.
As she got a good look at them, she realized that she had already seen her before. "And you, I remember you at the bar! You two set me up!"
The blonde snorted, grinning at her as she took a bite out of her toast. Pointing her butter knife at her, she then said, "Oh please, that's all on your sugar bun. You fell for my man, not the other way around. You're the one that fooled around not knowing what you got into." She then started chuckling as she noted, "You know, I see now why you like her so much. You're both so much alike."
"Can we please not antagonize the gun wielding loli," The man reasoned but his choice of words had her growling.
"I'm not a loli, I'm 21 you bastard!" She screamed at him, her fingers just itching to pull the trigger now. She was trying to be reasonable, hell, she should have shot them already, but she hadn't because they were her ride out of there.
The blonde snorted in amusement as she turned towards her. Finishing her snack, she then said, "Look, Rebecca, that's not going to work My man might be a bit of a himbo-"
"Hey!" The man cried out in protest.
"But he's not that dumb to come to this world without serious protection. He's going to dodge that shot while I would simply come back if you somehow clipped me, that is if you're fast enough to actually do it," She finished without missing a bit, her eyes betraying no fear as she got up and slowly walked towards her.
"S-stay back! I'm warning you!" Rebecca shouted, her eyes darting around, unsure if they had any defense turrets in place but, seeing that she wasn't peppered yet, they might not have any after all.
Ignoring her command and, with butter knife in hand, taking step after step as it started to glow. Rebecca's eyes widened, her mouth hanging as the girl started to float, her feet lifted off the ground as a golden halo formed around her head. She gulped as she unconsciously took a step back, her hands shaking as the girl explained her situation, "Now, let's say that you somehow killed us both, what then? You're a dimension away from your reality and our employer's going to start sniffing around. You already lost the moment you walked right into his palm."
An angelic smile soon started stretching across the girl's face as she spread her arms wide while she stared at her with those terrible golden eyes, "The fact of the matter is, the moment you rode his cock, you're already doomed. You can feel it, can't you? Your body just begging for another round? Just a little taste perhaps?"
Rebecca blinked as she felt her legs shaking, her checks flushing as the memories of yesterday came to her unbidden. Shaking her head to try and push the memories away, she shouted, "S-shut up! This is just the mark you talked about isn't it! I want you to get it off, now!"
What the hell did she get herself into. She was losing it, maybe this was all just a program but as she kept staring at them, she could feel it deep in her bones that she was in real deep shit. "What? No, we did-!" The man protested only for him to shut up as the blonde gave her a stern look.
Turning back to her, she then said, "Oh? Thanks for reminding me about that. That little mark we gave you? That's a slave brand designed to make a woman submit and tell them that they are now property. It's already been 24 hours since you've been marked and you only have 24 hours more before you become a compliant little whore."
Rebecca felt her heart beating faster, her hands shaking as the girl let out a bubbly yet fake laugh, "Don't worry though, there's still some time to talk this out. Who knows, maybe you can join me and husband in our business.~"
"Y-your bluffing. Ain't no way that you have some chrome or program that powerful!" She shouted back. There simply was no way, but the girl before her was floating just like how someone from Shadowrun would. Could this be magic?
"Are we really? Do you really want to test it out? Cause I'll be more than happy to test all the new toys my husband gave me.~" She could feel blood rushing in her ears as she watched the girl's angelic smile contort into a cruel demonic smirk before she raised her knife against her, its edge taking on a eerie glow, "Come on, make my day bitch," She taunted her as she tilted her head to the side, daring her to make the first move.
Rebecca felt her heart hammer against her chest as she stared back at the woman in front of her. Her fingers pressed slowly against the trigger as she aimed at the blonde's head, weighing her options. She could call their bluff, she could nail the bitch in front of her, yet the confident smirk on the girl's face had her on edge. Did she really have no way out of this now? She jolted in surprise as she felt the cold wall behind her; there was no more room for her to run.
"Tanya, I know you're angry but please reconsider this," The man interjected as he approached them slowly, "Rebecca, she's lying. Please, believe me, the stamp doesn't go off if we don't apply it willingly," He then said, but at this point she couldn't trust any of their words.
What the girl said soon afterwards sealed her decision, "If I were you, I would just give up. After all, you're nothing more than just a second rate Edgerunner," The girl mocked her, inflaming the hate which burned in her heart.
"Die!" She shouted as she squeezed the trigger. The muzzle of her gun flashed before she felt the gun buck against her hold, spraying the blonde with 10mm rounds, yet the woman did not move. Her confusion quickly turned to horror as her shots bounced off with blue flashes of light.
"My turn," Was all Rebecca could hear before she folded over, coughing blood as Tanya appeared in front of her. She gasped, coughing as she was forced to her knees, her vision swimming from the pain. "Just how fast was she?" she asked herself as she laid down on the ground, writhing in pain.
Her gun was quickly knocked out of her hands as the girl pinned her down, sitting atop her stomach. She grinned at her, with knife at hand as she whispered mockingly, "It's a shame to cut up that pretty little face of yours but we can heal that-!"
The tiny girl would, however, be yanked away from her as Rebecca found herself protected by the very man she thought was going to hurt her. "Tanya, enough! She's had enough," The man shouted firmly as he kept them apart.
"I-I don't need your pity!" She hissed out, grimacing as she tried to push herself up.
"Look, I know emotions are running high but can we not kill each other for just a second?" He asked them, pausing to check on her before he continued, "Why don't we all take a step back, take a deep breath and actually talk things through?"
"So you can stall time? Go choke a dick and die!" She shouted as she reached for the gun only to rear her hand back as a butterknife embedded itself on the floor.
"I told you already, she's not going to listen," the girl snarked out as she sneered at her.
"God damn it. Just let me try ok? You said it was my fault so I'm fixing it," The man hissed out in frustration. The girl glared at him before she rolled her eyes and looked away. With a sigh of relief, he then turned to her as he said, "I know things sound horrible but it's not what it appears. There's a whole lot more than one caveat to this situation, but it's going to be hard to explain when everyone's angry and starving."
As if to emphasize her point, her stomach decided it was now time to make itself known, growling loudly in protest. "You can keep the gun and everything, hell, I'll give you an even bigger gun, but can you hold on to your decision for just an hour? Just hear us out for a bit, ok? Please?"
Rebecca clenched her fist in rage, shaking as indignation burned brightly in her chest but the reality of the situation was that she was screwed, "Fine…it's not like I have a choice…"
One meal later, Rebecca would find herself watching the credits of the show called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. She'd quickly sobered up as she stared down at her empty plate while she sat on the coach. Did she just watch her future? "So, how was the movie?" The man asked as he turned on the lights.
"It's… fucking surreal watching myself there. Holy shit, am I that thirsty?" She whispered as she tried processing it all. It could just be an elaborate plot to get her to lower her guard, but the large shotgun she had on hand as well as the hole she'd made in the window told otherwise.
Tanya snorted as she leaned up against her husband's chest before she sarcastically asked, "Did the fact that you were willing to sleep with a stranger you just met at the bar not tip you off?"
Rebecca's eyes twitched as she flipped the bird at the girl. "Fuck you!"
"Girls, knock it off," Katsumoto sighed before he explained, "Also, It's not really you but more of a version of you. The multiverse is weird, but I didn't really think much of it when I made this jump here."
That makes sense, in a way, but that meant there were hundreds of her just out there. "So that's your job then, you just jump into worlds and capture girls before selling them or their copies?" She then asked. It was quite insidious come to think of it. Who would take offense if a single universe got tampered with in an endless sea?
Tanya nodded as she further elaborated, "In essence, yes. To sum it all up, the Company is a multidimensional enterprise whose main goal is the harvest of people of note from all corners of the multiverse to serve as companions or wives and husbands for its contractors as well as to anyone willing to deal with the company. We also deal with entertainment by having select contracts show off their works and lives through the eyes of the masses for a few select talents."
"Fucking hell, and you want to drag me into that shit?" She asked them. If fiction could be reality, then why the hell did they pick her?
"Would you like more Beef Stir Fry and Shrimp Fried Rice?" He then offered.
"Hell yeah I do! Keep it coming big guy, you owe me big time," She shouted excitedly, moaning out as she dug into her refilled plate. She needed this just to process… Well, everything.
"So, are we even now?" he then asked
Rebecca growled as she chewed her food, "If you think this meal would help you then you're totally fucking right!" She couldn't help herself as she dug in eagerly, just stuffing her face as much as she could. As she finished her meal, she then said, "You know, you could have just asked me straight in the face if I want to join you or something. Like, wow. Is this what corpo's eat everyday?"
"If my research about your world is correct then only a select few would get a taste of this every single day," Tanya replied nonchalantly as she nestled a large mug of coffee, taking small sips from time to time.
"I could get used to this everyday…" She whispered before she set her plate aside before leaning against the backrest. Turning her head towards them, she then said, "Just to be clear, I still don't trust you, but I'm really tempted to take the offer of yours. The food, the sex… hell, even immortality is on the table. You said you have magic right?" There simply was no way to explain why his cooking was this good.
Tanya's calm facade broke as she let out a full bellied laughter. "For a girl faced with such options, you're surprisingly calm about it," She noted.
Rebecca snorted, smiling back wryly as she replied, "It's not really that much different from a Corporate Headhunt but with more magical bullshit. At least you seem to provide more benefits despite having the same slavish contract."
"Fair enough," Tanya answered before she shifted, getting herself more comfortable as she said, "Like I said earlier, the Company Provides. We're not merely slaves to our husbands, we are their companions and close confidants. We provide not only our love for them but also our talents, whatever they might be."
Wrapping herself in her husband's big strong arm, she then continued, "In return, our husbands empower us, protect us and keep us everlasting. The power dynamic does lean to them, and the relationships can be quite twisted especially for some of the immature contractors, but we waifus are not so powerless. There's so many cautionary tales of contractors abusing their waifus only for them to die by their hands."
"I thought you said this was a work contract, why is it sounding more like a marriage contract?" She jested, finding it funny how similar it truly was. An exchange of vows between two lovers, an all too romantic gesture if not for the binding involved. Then again, marriage is a ritualistic binding right?
"It effectively is," Tanya replied before she turned to her husband and leaned in for a kiss. Rebecca had to look away as she squashed that burst of jealousy she felt.
"Well, that's one way to get married I suppose." Rebecca replied glumly before she pulled her shotgun closely, holding on to it for comfort as she mulled over her words. The benefits were truly amazing and were out of this world in the most literal sense possible. The fact she could learn magic was tempting enough all on its own, but there were still some little details that still bothered her and she made it known, "The mind altering still doesn't sit with me. How would you even fight it off? How can I even know that I'm not currently being mind controlled already?"
"Would we really be having this conversation if you were? Besides, my husband has distaste for such crude mental manipulation. He made sure that I was my own person when we became partners," She answered back. That was… yeah, she could not deny that. Why would they bother talking to her if they'd already gotten her, "As for fighting back against such mental manipulation… Hard? Most definitely. Impossible? No, to call mind control absolute would be hubris. As all things are, there are imperfections," She then said.
"One slip up, just one mistake of trusting their 'beloved' and believing their sweet whispers and they might find their throat slit. If deception is not possible… well, there is a thing as too much love," The grin that stretched across the girl's face sent shivers up Rebecca's spine; what a terrifying girl she was.
"That's certainly one way to go. I take it that you're quite the lucky bitch to have him, huh?" She then asked as she observed them. The stark contrast between the two couldn't be more pronounced. While one was hard and uncompromising, the other was soft and forgiving.
"At first I had my apprehensions, but I grew to like it once I realized how things truly were. In the end, the company, as eldritch as its goals are, is still a company at heart. You can have good managers and bad managers, one just has to find a good one and I finally found mine," Tanya replied before she held up her now empty mug.
"More coffee honey?" Katsumoto offered.
At which Tanya smiled as she replied, "That would be lovely, dear."
Watching the two getting all lovey dovey had her stomach tying itself into knots. She couldn't deny that she was just a tiny bit jealous, but she kept it to herself. The two were adorable, yes, but they were still in the middle of a negotiation.
"Hmm… a bit off topic, but since I'm a waifu… how popular am I?" She then asked them.
Katsumoto chuckled as he shook her head. "I really should have expected that question," He said before he answered, "Your death made my world's internet hate Adam Smasher so much that, for a few weeks, torturing the Borg with increasingly ridiculous ways was the norm. There was even one guy that killed him with a dildo."
Rebeca giggled, picturing the humiliating death of the monster who killed her, or at least one of her selves. It was weird to see the infamous woman as a man, however. "It was a good thing. I died guns blazing protecting the people I loved," She sighed fondly. It was just the type of death most edgerunners would wish for themselves, a far better way to go than going cyberpsycho.
"You definitely did. It's one of the reasons why I like you so much," The man then said, catching Rebecca's attention. She felt her cheeks up as he continued, "Even when things were getting tough and you know that things weren't going to end well, you still stuck with them to the end,"
"You definitely know just how to butter up a girl, huh?" She muttered, looking away from that innocent gaze of his before she threw up her hand in, "Fuck it, I'm taking this offer, but you have to promise me three things," She then demanded. The offer was good, yes, but that didn't mean they'd get her for free.
"You're asking quite a lot," Tanya answered, glaring lightly at her.
"And I'm going to give it my all," She fired back, meeting the girl's gaze. They held their stare down for sometime before Tanya looked away. With a victorious smirk, she made her first demand, "The first thing is from now on, I want you to offer girls a choice in joining you; none of this forced bullshit."
"My husband's career would be negatively impacted by such a deal," Tanya remarked disapprovingly.
Narrowing her eyes at the girl, she then fired back, "Tell me if you had a choice when you got stamped." She had a sinking feeling that she was taken against her will before all this and the way the girl growled at her just proved her point.
"There are instances where I'm going to use those stamps. There are just some monsters that deserved to be instantly sold," Katsumoto then interjected before smiling widely, "Besides, we're not really the strip mining kind of contractor. We're more of the mission type, providing a good story for anyone willing to watch."
"It would take us longer to rise up the company through such methods," Tanya deadpanned as she glared at her husband.
"But we can show that we're not just grunts sent out to collect copies whenever the cloning facilities run out of originals," He then reasoned. The girl's eyes narrowed before she let out of a huff, looking away and pouting. The man chuckled as he leaned against her, hugging her tightly.
"You make it sound like this is just a lewder version of being an edgerunner, but instead of killing some fuckers you seduce people and get inside their pants," She noted as she remembered a certain someone that would kill for a job like this.
"It's definitely part of the job," Katsumoto replied before he gestured for her to continue, "Your next demand?"
"I want the same deal as her. No mind control, just partners with benefits," Rebecca then said. Being forced to love someone was just a step too far.
The two looked at each other before nodding as both of them answered, not even bothering to negotiate on it, "Done."
"And the final demand?" Tanya then asked.
"I want you to help me make sure that my brother's not going to starve once I'm gone. That gonk wouldn't know how to feed himself without me, I swear," She then said. She could have asked for anything, more power, more privileges yet… she still needed to take care of her brother. She was going to look out for him till the bitter end and she was not going to let him die like a fucking dog.
Katsumoto blinked before he replied, "That can be arranged. We can try and get him into the company if you want, but he'd probably have an easier time as a husbando…"
Rebecca gagged, feeling bile rise up her stomach at the mental image the man made her see. "Fucking hell, he'd actually sell himself given the chance. You know what… yeah, I'll ask him about it. He's probably worth some of your points, I swear," she grumbled, shaking her head. She didn't even want to know what type of girl would love to have Pilar of all people as their husband.
"So, what do you say? Willing to become part of my crew?" Katsumoto then asked him, holding onto a little stamp that she had so feared earlier.
Staring back, she still felt a bit of apprehension. How could she not with how big of a commitment this was. Could she really take it? Could she risk it all for the chance of a lifetime? Faced with such a decision she grinned as she felt determination burn inside her. What kind of Edgerunner was she if she was going to shy from a little bit of danger?
Turning around, she pointed just above her ass and shouted, "Fuck it, stamp me big man!"
All she had was their word but… she was willing to take the risk. Despite the earlier mishaps, she knew that the man was earnest with his words, unlike his wife. Plus, they had proof that they could actually live up to their end of the bargain, hell, she was in an entirely separate existence. She could have all of this and all she needed to do was shack up with a handsome hunk.
She felt a thrill of pleasure run up her spine as she felt the touch of the stamp against her skin but it was all over in a second. With a quick stamp, the deal was done. She was now in this for the long run. "Welcome to the harem," Tanya said lazily. Was this really the right choice? She wasn't sure but she was looking forward to where this would go.