Chapter 151

A couple of days in Postmortem went by like a couple of hours. We were always busy, and I didn't just mean fending off attacks, but now we had a quiet moment and we were in Bestia's booth.

"So?"

"I agree..."

She sighed and shook her head.

"...I didn't realize that the relatively quiet life of a fxer had spoiled me so much... before, a couple days at this pace, even a couple weeks, wouldn't have made me so tired."

"I agree..."

Regina nodded her head.

"...when I was a correspondent, when I traveled to hot spots, I could stay in such an environment for months and only feel some excitement. But now."

She sighed.

"So when do we go to your relatively safe place?"

I thoughtfully estimated the time.

"Tomorrow, I think. Just as Judy gets back with her folks, and then we'll go."

"Okay..."

"By the way, Bestia, where's your boyfriend?"

A disgruntled look was thrown at me.

"Fuck knows... that asshole's out partying somewhere in the city, probably preparing another explosion at Arasaki Tower to avenge his ex-girlfriend.

I shook my head.

"What the fuck do you want with a guy like that for?"

"Love the cretin..."

She sighed.

"I loved him. When he came back, I realized I felt guilty because I didn't save him, even though I knew Arasaka had taken him. But at that moment."

Bestia shook her head.

"Tell it like it is, you've been offered too favorable terms for non-interference.

Regina said it with a slight sneer.

"Yeah..."

Bestia nodded.

"and I took them out of spite. That asshole didn't even pay attention to me after the death of that whore who was always spreading her legs for the corporations. He kept thinking about her. Romance for some, but for the fool in love I was, it was a knife in the heart."

"Honestly, I don't know why I even went with him to lay a charge in the tower back then..."

Bestia sighed.

"Hope, my friend. It's a feeling called hope."

Triss nodded understandingly as she said this.

"I was in love with a jerk, he was running around, his job was such that he was always traveling and instead of calling me, he was running around to others. Huh, when he lost his memory, I thought it was my time. It was my time, I told him how well we lived, that we almost got married, that he was the most faithful... I thought he'd settle down with me and--

"And he's not a jackass..."

Bestia grinned understandingly.

"Not a jackass..."

Triss nodded a couple times confirming Bestia's conclusions.

"Well, at least you're happy now."

Regina shrugged and ignored Triss's story, shifting her gaze from her to me and back again.

"Yeah. but she still chose a man with a doggy attitude."

"Huh..."

Regina laughed merrily at the kind of characterization I was given.

"...it was clear from the first moment he called me. He was already trying to be gallant and get all my attention. And it was clearly unintentional, but I still got the impression that the young dandy wanted to get into my panties."

"Uh. did it really look like that?"

I looked at Regina with great surprise and disbelief.

"Well..."

She shrugged.

"...think about it, if I get calls from small fixers from the neighborhood, they are always fawning, mercenaries try not to open their mouths unnecessarily, and here such a green guy calls and starts complimenting me and also specifies how to do the job better? He asks my wishes..."

"So you've been hitting on Regina, too?"

Becca looked at me with shock.

I scratched my cheek in embarrassment.

"I didn't realize it could be twisted like that..."

"А... forget it."

Regina waved her hand.

"...I realized pretty quickly that it wasn't a nitpicking, but rather the communication style you chose. It was even a little offensive..."

She grinned.

Conversations continued, we just relaxed, taking advantage of the lull. Still, the lull was really pleasant. And now it was not just for us, but all over the world. The cities where the invasion had begun had come into some sort of balance. They were relatively safe zones, free of elves and their handmaidens.

Such zones were formed in places where strong representatives gathered, and these were usually fixer bases, or bars where solos gathered.

"So..."

Bestia frowned, she had just gotten some sort of message and she clearly didn't like what she had written.

"...I need to go over and deal with a couple issues."

"Do you want some company?"

A thoughtful look was thrown at me and after a few moments Bestia nodded.

"Come on..."

I stood up and walked with the beast towards the exit of the bar, now not only the bar was under the beast, but also a couple of houses nearby and all of them were guarded by mercenaries who had erected very impressive barricades and all of this in a couple of days.

We didn't get far from the bar, however, and froze as soon as we climbed the stairs.

"What's going on here?"

Bestia looked around at the crowd that had gathered in the street with obvious irritation. And the crowd was clearly not very happy, but it had not yet moved to any active actions.

"We demand to be treated with dignity!"

"Decent? And what's wrong with you now?"

"What right do you have to make us clean blood off our armor?!"

It was shouted out by some girl in the crowd...

"David, would you be so kind as to get this screamer out of here... because she's a screamer, and she's probably the one who's inciting the crowd, but she doesn't have the guts to talk face to face."

"I'd love to."

I grinned and walked calmly into the crowd, which tried to rally, but as soon as I punched a couple of idiots in the stomach, causing them to lay on the pavement drooling and gastric juices, holding their bellies and unable to breathe, and with eyes watering from pain, the crowd immediately parted.

"Well, hello, screamer..."

I smiled softly at the not the prettiest woman, who, for some reason, turned pale from my smile, and on her tight pants formed a wet spot in the front, which quickly grew.

"...did something happen?"

I tilted my head to the side and tried to give my tone a caring tone that made her knees shake.

"Why don't you come out yourself?"

She shook her head desperately.

"Then I guess I should get some help, then, huh?"

More desperate head shaking from side to side.

"So you did it all by yourself?"

I turned back to Bestia and nodded, her legs trembling as she walked forward.

"Am I really that scary?"

That was the question I whispered to Triss standing next to me.

"Just creepy...when we have sex I imagine you have a bag on your head..."

She answered quietly, but her tone made it clear that she wasn't serious. So I just looked at her with a look that promised heavenly punishment.

"Pfft!"

She showed me with her snort that she understood the promises, but didn't take them seriously.

"So, what's your problem?"

"M..me... M., we are not slaves..."

I wonder why such fear, or did she think that no one would raise a hand on them, and here, some guy, easily put on the asphalt men, and quite large?

"...p...why are our wishes and... not considered."

"Sweetie."

Bestia interrupted her with a soft smile.

"...I am not a charity center. My men and the various solos who now work for me realizing that I have enough information to provide us with food and weapons, and therefore a safe base, risk their lives every day. Do you hear me?"

She waved her hand as if alluding to the space around us.

"This whole thing. I only created it because I hated the fact that the civilians that had gathered here were going to die like flies, and that's why we organized this safe zone in a couple of days. Five groups of solos died completely, twenty-seven more solos died, those were singles and those who were part of a group. But we did it in the shortest time possible. Believe me, we would have all been safe in the Afterlife...

Bestia looked at the girl, who seemed to calm down a bit.

"But, uh. we all need something. And my solos need a relatively comfortable environment, and it's the civvies that can provide it. So when they tell you to spread your legs, you spread your legs, when they tell you to clean the armor from blood and dirt, you clean the armor from blood and dirt, and if they tell you to jump out of the window, you just have to specify from the window on which floor to jump. Because the people who tell you to do that every day risk their own skins."

"N...but..."

"You're not satisfied with that?"

"Of course it doesn't!"

The screamer mustered up the courage to shout it out.

"Well, nobody's keeping you here."

Bestia shrugged calmly.

"Get the hell off my property and take everyone else who's out there with you... Maybe you'll get lucky and make it to Wakako territory or maybe the Padre will take you in. Or maybe it'll be Militech or Biotech. Except I wouldn't count on being treated any better there..."

"But we're not slaves..."

"You are not slaves..."

Bestia nodded in agreement.

"...you're worse. You're useless plankton who can't follow simple orders. Slaves were useful, and thrifty masters provided them with good food and shelter. In fact, slaves were of great value, unless, of course, the master was an idiot. And slaves who performed their duties well were worth their weight in gold. Now you are shaking the air trying to get benefits without doing anything in return."

"But..."

"I've said all I have to say."

Bestia shook her head.

"You want to live a safe life? Work... Clean armor, cook, spread your legs, tell stories to children, I don't care what you do or how you do it, but you have to be useful. You don't want to be useful."

Bestia pointed her hand toward the exit of the safe zone.

"The exit is over there."

Bestia froze for a couple of seconds and I realized that she had received another message, after which the tone of the conversation changed completely.

"You know, though."

There was a sneer in her voice.

"...I was sent a scan here and was surprised to learn that there..."

She waved her hand as if to suggest that she was talking about all those who had gathered on the small asphalt patch in front of the Postmortem.

"...you're just a bunch of slackers. You can't cook, you can't fix things, you can't clean. although you may be capable, but you don't want to do it. For some reason, there is no one here among you who maintains machines or armor, weapons, cooks or has any other job. There aren't even any prostitutes or hookers here."

There was contempt in the fixer's voice for those gathered.

"So why don't we just kick you out and be done with it?"

"No!"

The girl fell to her knees.

"We're gonna get killed!"

"Okay..."

Bestia smiled and took two steps forward and squatted down in front of the girl, mussing her hair, causing her to stare in disbelief at the one who had just wanted to kick her out.

"I'm gonna give you and everyone here a chance. But be warned, it will be your first and last. There will be no more favors, and if you do anything--

Bestia moved her hand to the girl's neck and squeezing it slowly began to stand up, forcing the screamer to rise from the asphalt after her, and then to rise on her tiptoes, because her hand was raised even higher. So in order not to jerk her legs in the air, the screamer had to stand on her toes like a ballerina.

"...I will personally snap your heads off. Do you understand?"

When she was sure that everyone had heard her, and when she smelled the faint odor of shit that mixed with the smell of piss that was already coming from the screamer, the beast pushed her away slightly and with a nod turned around and went back to the bar. We followed her.

It seems she's found herself again, and she's definitely not coming with us... but on the other hand, it's probably for the best.