“I got something,” Luna called out the next day, making me look up from the robotic fox. While she was working on fixing code issues, I went back to adding stuff to the robot. Once it was active, it’d have quite a bit of utility for Luna.
“Chek?” I shifted over to the worktable I’d temporarily cleaned off for her to work on. Code still scrawled past on a back page, but she had a different page pulled up. “Got what?”
”Our guy, Mickey. His assets were just sold by the city council.” She pointed at her screen. “That’s this place’s address, isn’t it?
”Looks like it.” I eyed the entry. “No price?”
”Uh… I-I don’t think so. Smith and Sons bought all of his assets before they even got put on the market.” Luna squinted and pulled up a different page with the construction company's information. “I’m not a hundred percent sure, but it looks like they’re a Shen Kang subsidiary.”
”Shit.” Smith&Sons… they must’ve had some kind of background deal with the council to buy out all of his assets so quickly. I expected a couple weeks or something before we could start moving again. “What can we do?”
”I—I don’t know.” Luna sighed and leaned back in her chair. “If Shen Kang wants that land, then we won’t be able to rip it away from them.”
I knew that, ‘course. They had entire armies of lawyers backing them, not to mention the more black op methods that the megacorp was known for. Although they didn’t have much presence in Aythryn City, they were one of the Big 7 for a reason. The world didn’t revolve around this city.
They didn’t have much of a presence, though? That didn’t seem all that true anymore. If they were buying up land here, then they must have some kind of plan to move into the area. That, or they were preparing for the future. I hoped it was the latter. If they weren’t actively moving on a plan, then there was a chance to cut some kind of deal.
How did I want to do this though? Approaching as CEO Tsukuyomi would probably be the easiest, but then it’d link back to me. I wanted to keep Shiro Tsukuyomi and the land purchase entirely separate. I planned to make this place a merc dive, at least, so it wouldn’t be good if it linked back to me. Everyone knew the relationship between corps and mercs, but that didn’t mean it was okay to just flaunt it. Even the Big 7 took care in how they operated in the light.
Stealing it wouldn’t be possible. Not for something of this scale. I might be be able to swipe the deed, but even then that wouldn’t do much. They might not notice one building disappearing, or they might send down the wrath of a megacorp on my head.
“What do you think?” I asked Luna and flopped back into one of my chairs.
”I-I have no clue.” The Netrunner sighed and shook her head. “I don’t want to pressure you either, but Smith and Sons is a construction company.”
I got her point. They might demolish the building and find my speakeasy. I spent so much effort getting it to something I could be proud of. Watching it all get wiped out in front of me would be heartbreaking. Not to mention my entire setup and all my creations would be potentially endangered.
Okay, so approaching them as Shiro was out… maybe I could get a fixer to approach and see if they could cut some kind of deal before it went to Shen Kang? A company like Smith&Sons—I wouldn’t be able to pull the same shit I was trying to do with Mickey Mays. I might be able to get some kind of exchange set up. They probably wouldn’t miss one building.
Ishimaru? No, that wasn’t a great idea. I needed someone relatively unlinked to anyone. Someone who could approach Smith&Sons and claim a client wants the property. Someone… Athena could work. Carone might too, but I was a bit iffy on trusting that guy. I’d been avoiding him since he shortchanged me so much during my gigs for him.
I didn’t have the assets to move Athena, unless I wanted to fork over a bunch of free fully-kitted Roughriders. The purchase of the building alone would be at least 10 mil, and she’d want a sizable fee on top of that. If I went to her though, she’d get it done professionally…
Didn’t Feras say he was going to get into the fixer field? He owed me several, anyway. I fell out of contact with him, but this was a good chance to rekindle that connection. Even if he couldn’t do it, I’d remind him he owed me. Might be able to get some benefits out of him before going to Athena.
”I might have a plan.” I sighed and dug through my backpack for my phone.
“You need any help?” The screen of her deck lit up Luna’s face in shifting light.
“Yes, actually. Any chance you can set up a fake identity for me? Something to use to transfer the deed.” That’d be step one of keeping this place separate from Shiro Tsukuyomi and Cold Moon Solutions.
“Um, maybe? Getting the First International Boswan Bank to accept a false identity is tricky.” Her nose scrunched up cutely, and she shook her head. “I might know a guy that can help.”
”Can he be discreet?” Bringing in an outsider was uncomfortable.
”Shoemakers are always discreet.” She shrugged. “Otherwise they’d be out of a job.”
”Fair.” I watched her for a moment before slowly nodding my head. “Let’s do that. You need anything?”
”I’ll be fine. Good luck.” She waved toward me and went back to work on her deck. Hopefully, the SAI subroutine would be taken care of soon too, and that’d be one more thing off my back.
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”Thanks.” I gathered up by gear and headed back up to the surface.
— — —
Is this the place? I looked around the area carefully with a small frown on my face. Feras answered my call almost right away and agreed for a meetup. I expected some dingy backwater in Portside, but this was much nicer than that.
I was in Oldtown to the south of the city, in a section that was a bit cleaner than the rest—the Aquatic Row. A bit far from any ports, but it was like the Ryu Container Yard. This place had once been right on the ocean. Trash still lurked in some corners, but it looked mostly cleaned up. Whoever was in charge of this area was doing a much better job than most.
The streets were zoned off into pedestrian passages, and there were almost no cars scattered around the place. I circled around on my Roughrider for a moment before picking a tall enough building to park on. It was a bit of ways away from the meetup spot, but not too far.
My Roughrider touched down. The autopilot program Luna made took over just before I could manually land and smoothly dropped me down to the roof. A Spectral Flock crow formed in my hand, and I tossed it onto my Roughrider to get back up. Then I jumped down into an alleyway leading out toward the main passage. My Drop Chutes flared to life below me.
“Yo, watch were ya intrudin’, little lady.” A voice called from behind me. A small group of gangers stood around the dark stretch while they smoked something rancid. The leader had a shark-like teeth and a fancy bowler hat topping his head.
“Just passing through.” I dropped my hand to my side and flared Fear the Reaper. These kinds of back alley hold ups were no longer an issue for me. “Unless that’s a problem with you lot?”
”No problem, no problem.” The man immediately backed down and raised a hand in surrender. “Not from us anyway. Just watch yo’self. The Orca don’t take kind to badges snooping around and playing in the shadows.”
”Badge?” I looked down at myself. I was back in my normal attire, without a hint of Blue Crusade about me. Was it the jumping off a building bit?
“I can smell the stench of the Crusade off you from blocks away, lady.” He idly picked at his nose. It was some kind of chrome—since when had olfactory chrome gotten so good? I hadn’t been around the Crusade in a while.
“Off the clock. Here for business." I crossed my arms and eyed the group. I hadn’t been all that interested before, but they were changing that.
All six of the goons scattered around the alley had a weird mash of chrome. Or, at least, not the usual kind I was used to seeing. Five of them had gills, and one even had splotchy tentacles coming out of his back. They looked like some kind of mutation, though, and not a piece of biotech.
“Then there won’t be an issue.” The lead man tipped his hat toward me. “Enjoy your visit.”
So not how I saw this conversation going. I expected to be held up for my valuables. Not this. Not that I was complaining, though. “Thanks.”
“Just trying to keep things peaceful.” He waved a hand and went back to smoking with his buddies. Judging people by their appearance truly wasn’t a good way to go about life.
I shrugged and continued down the alley back onto the Main Street running through the Aquatic Row. The buildings around here were ancient stone work like most of Oldtown, with newer patches built up on top of it over the decades. Lightning flashed across the old stones, and I pulled my poncho slightly tighter around myself to block out the icy rain falling from above.
I merged into the crowd roving up and down the streets. Bars and restaurants filled either side of the place, and people milled about absolutely everywhere. It was almost like a Bukicho, but more directed at the everyday citizenry instead of those with money.
The light of a bright green pharmacy sign flashed and sputtered out across the street from my destination. Feras had insisted we meet up here, at Venizo’s. A brilliant neon sign of a meatball on a fork flickered as rain pounded against it.
I shook off the loose drops of rain and slipped into the door. Casual chatter and the scrapes of forks on plates filled the air. A waiter immediately perked up when I entered. “How many?”
”I’m here for someone, actually.” I looked past the man and eyed those eating. “Um… He’s a younger guy. Black hair. Oh, and a fox magus.“
”Ah, you mean Feras, yes?” That last bit seemed to get the point across. The waiter’s eyes sparked with interest and he looked at me from head to foot. “He’s in the private booth just up the stairs. I’ll be up shortly to get your order.”
”Thanks.” I wasn’t planning on eating, but something from the kitchen smelled good enough to make my stomach rumble. I wouldn’t mind sticking around for a bit. ‘Sides, this was Feras’s place, so I’d make him pay.
I headed up the stairs, and entered a second dining floor. The mood up here was a lot different than down below, and several reserved signs sat scattered around table tops. I didn’t realize Venizo’s was somewhere quite so classy. I felt a little out of place in my drab poncho and even drabber clothes.
A familiar face sat up in a booth set up higher than the surrounding tables. Feras himself sat there while typing away on a deck with a materialized fox sprite sprawled across the table. Did he have the fox materialized as some kind of threat? The sprite immediately perked up when I entered, and his two tails flapped around wildly behind him.
“You look different.” Feras shut his deck and waved a hand toward the booth in a silent invitation.
“In a good or bad way?” I slid into the booth opposite him. Honestly, it’d been a long time since I saw him last. He’d definitely matured quite a bit since then. At the very least, he didn’t look so twig like.
“Good.” He brushed his hair to the side. It was long enough to dangle low over his eyes like he was some kind of boyband reject. “How’ve you been, Zuku? should I still call you that?”
“What else would you call me?” I slid into the booth opposite him and lightly rubbed the fox’s head. It let out a soft hum and leaned into my palm. It wasn’t much of a surprise he saw through Zuku. I hadn’t been the best liar back then, and there were definitely times I slipped up around him.
”Fox tamer, apparently.” He sighed and leaned forward across the table to grab a breadstick. “Shrey usually bites anyone that tries to pet him.”
As if to prove his point, Feras stretched a hand out to grab the sprite’s tail. Shrey immediately shifted and snapped at him with his sharp teeth and flexed his adorable paws threateningly. A low growl ripped out of the fox’s throat.
”Is Shrey your name?” My voice dripped with honey as I gently picked the fox up and held him out in front of me. The fox’s ears flopped around with the motion.
”Yip!” Shrey the fox sprite flopped over into my lap to give me easier access as his paws stuck up. His cute little pads looked like small, squishy beans.
I patted the fox for a moment and then shrugged. I was already outing myself across the board, so why not here as well? Well, there were plenty of reasons. I dunno, though. It felt like I was accepting who I was more each time I claimed my name? It was probably stupid and weird, huh? “Shiro. Just that, though.”
“Nice to re-meet you.” Feras passed me a menu and opened one up of his own. He didn’t seem to care too much about what name I went by. “Want to order before getting to business?"
”Chek.” I cracked open the menu and looked through the mouth-watering array of entrees. Places like this made me regret my all liquid diet.
