Detachment

Upon learning that Cat had been sold to some Tyger Claw ganger, Ori contacted Rogue and updated her on the situation, allowing her to narrow down the search parameters. He also let Susie and Judy know about it, making them aware that he'd likely be antagonising the rival gang to the point of retaliation.

While Susie had some inhibitions, at this point conflict with the Tyger Claws was inevitable, their raid on the Tyger Claw building had opened the gates, so it wasn't difficult to convince them to help him.

Not only that, they'd fund his action against them so long as it directly or indirectly benefitted the Mox. Which he was thankful for, as he'd not be able to wage war without resources to support it.

Days after that discovery, Ori met back up with his crew with a plan Judy had thrown together. He sits on the towstep of a hired mini-van and waits for them to arrive, eventually spotting Rebecca approaching with her typical swagger.

He'd not seen her since her surgery, and he'd been pissed off enough about her attitude that he'd not messaged her either, which seem to suit them fine since she hadn't texted him either. He folds his arms and leans against the back doors of the vehicle and neutrally greets her, "Rebecca."

Despite his expectations, she gives him awkward smile, "Hey lampost..." pauses, seemingly trying to find her words, "I don't normally do this but, sorry, for being a bitch last time."

...

"-And to show that I mean it, here," she tosses something at him. He catches it and takes a look, only to grimace at the preserved fingers floating in the plastic container.

"Are these...?"

She shrugs, "You seemed attached to me, so I thought, fuck it, you can keep 'em."

Ori glances at her right hand, spotting the new silver fingers. "I was attached to them because they were attached to you... Why the fuck would I want to store this?" he shakes the container at her, causing the digits to dance in the liquid.

She chuckles, "Toss 'em away then, not like it matters to me." she tucks her hands behind her back and leans forwards, "But could you bear the thought of some rats eating part me, Lampost?"

He stares at her for a couple seconds, as if they were playing a game of chicken. He then, casually, tosses the container to the side. It lands atop a trash heap and he inwardly grins as Rebecca breaks eye contact to follow it.

"Really? I thought you'd be more sentimental than that."

"They're not my fingers... Your new ones do anything cool?" he asks, changing the subject.

"Yeah they do." she holds up her hand and begins rapidly flicking her index finger at speeds only a machine could produce.

"Rebecca..." he drawls, dumbfounded that she'd actually gone through with that idiotic idea she'd had.

She just grins at him in response, "You know what this is for then?"

"Masturbating, I'm assuming..."

Her grin gets wider, "Ew, gross! You shouldn't talk like that to a lady! No, this is my trigger finger! With this sucker I could probably fire a semi-auto faster than a full-auto! I've got some other add-ons too but, you'll see 'em later... Anyway, you gonna tell me why what we're doing?" questions.

"You heard about my sis, right?"

She nods, "Yeah, sorry, that shit's messed up..."

"It is," he grits his teeth, "We're gonna find her, if she's too outta reach we're gonna build a boat from the bones of those fucks, and sail it across a river of their blood."

She snorts, "That much huh? You need to take poetry classes if you're gonna keep that up."

Ori shakes his head, "Just been on my mind a lot, need to put my aggression into something or I'd charge into Japantown guns blazing." he might've even done that if he wasn't operating at fifty percent emotional capacity...

"As for what we're doing, Judy found out some Tyger Claws were gonna be driving through Kabuki and Little China to check out what's left of their building." he slaps the back of the mini-van, "We're gonna ambush them on the road in this, shoot the driver, the tires, whatever, just get their car stopped. One of them should be a higher-up, me and Susie wanna talk to him."

"How'd she even found out about this? She got someone on the inside or something?" Rebecca inquires, sitting on the towstep next to Ori.

"From the NCPD from what I heard, they gotta pull some strings to gain access to the crime scene, Judy must've heard it from there... You up for this? You were pretty beat up last I saw you, severed fingers aside."

Rebecca just nods, "Ribs are a bit sore but everything else is good... You got pretty fucked up too, you alright?" she questions.

"Yeah, I've got some special Cyberware that heals me pretty quick." he ambiguously states.

"Six planning on coming anytime soon?"

"Dunno, he's usually pretty serious about arriving on time..." Ori mutters, waiting a couple more seconds before shooting him a text.

[Yo, we at the meetup, where u at?] - Ori

...

[Not gonna make it, got caught up in something, go without me.] - Six

"Huh, looks like It's just us then..." he mutters, feeling slightly less certain now that Six had backed out. Like Max, he'd always thought of the merc as a sort of safety net. His experience carried Ori through many jobs, and it was nice to know someone so reliable had your back.

Not that Rebecca was any less dangerous but... She was only sixteen, making him feel like their parent had sent them out for groceries alone or something.

"You nervous? 'Cuz you shouldn't be, it's just some Tygers, shoot 'em dead and make a delivery to the Mox."

"One problem with that... Who's gonna drive the truck car?"

...

She tilts her head, "Eeeh, it has auto-pilot right?"

"Yeah, that follows road laws to the T and wouldn't cut someone off even if they were shooting at us."

"Then you take the wheel, I'll fuck up their car and we'll deal with then."

...

"Don't you trust me?" she questions with a cutesy voice, drawing a groan from him.