Chapter 242 – A Strange Woman

"Yo, David. Morning."

Karl raised his drink and greeted the blond-haired young man walking slowly over, casually wiping blood off his hands onto his clothes.

"Did you take care of them?"

"Went smoothly."

David—now in his new appearance—nodded. "They thought I didn't notice them tailing me. Figured I was still just some clueless student. Made it easy to lead them out and finish the job."

"You didn't leave any traces?"

"Lucy's taking care of the cleanup."

"Lucy, huh…"

Karl thought for a moment. "Then it's probably fine."

He'd sparred with Lucy once. Her netrunning skills were solid—maybe not quite on T-BUG's level, but definitely dependable.

"Haven't seen you in a month, and you've changed a lot."

Karl gave David a closer look. "Ballistic vest over subdermal armor, yeah? And that gun on your back—that's an Ajax, right? You're starting to look like a real merc."

There was no way anyone would associate this fully geared David with the straight-laced academy student from before. The change in both appearance and aura was striking.

He radiated confidence now—just a glance and you'd think he could throw down with anyone.

"Starting to look like a real merc, huh…"

But David didn't hold the look for long. Embarrassed by the praise, he scratched the back of his head.

"I still think I've got a long way to go before I catch up to you guys."

"Gotta have some confidence, man."

Karl tilted his head. "Isn't it Tuesday today? You're out this early—shouldn't you be back already? Even if Lucy's covering the mess and there's no surveillance, disappearing during school hours is gonna raise some flags."

"I took the day off."

David had clearly prepared for this. He wasn't the green rookie he used to be.

"I wasn't supposed to be at the academy today anyway. I sent a message from the number I knew they were monitoring—said I had a deal with you. That baited them right into my setup."

"So that's why you insisted on using a different number to contact me... and even set up an alternate line. The original one's under surveillance, huh? Maine thought it was just for keeping your identities separate."

"That was the original plan," David admitted. "But then Lucy suggested I could use it as bait. So I let them find that 'extra' number and made sure it got monitored. Gave me a chance to set everything up."

"Smart move."

No wonder David could make it to the top of an academy where money ruled all—his brains were sharp.

"So it's all settled now?"

Karl had come out thinking he'd need to be bait or backup. But in the end, all he did was sip synthetic milk while David handled everything.

So... what now?

Was this a wasted trip?

David nodded again. But knowing Karl was currently free—word of his squad's break wasn't exactly secret—he extended an invite.

"Wanna hit Afterlife? Maine and the crew are there."

"Grab a drink, huh."

Karl glanced around. Everyone else on the team was off doing their own thing. And he did still owe Maine and the Brown Squad a meal for that Arasaka ninja job. They'd originally planned to hit up Wild Dog Bar, but Afterlife worked just as well.

Might as well treat them today.

With that in mind, Karl and David walked side by side, chatting as they strolled. A few passersby gave curious looks—mostly at the fully armed David—but they ignored it and arrived at Afterlife soon enough.

At the entrance stood Emmerich, the familiar bouncer. He stepped aside the moment he saw Karl coming, and even the guards hidden in the shadows relaxed their grips on their weapons.

"Morning, KK. Got a rare day off?"

"Yeah, finally."

Karl gestured for David to head in first, then turned to chat with Emmerich.

"It's Rogue, man. Always calling me out like a damn sparrow. We were supposed to be off days ago. Then right after we finished our last job, she dropped another one on us—urgent, of course. We just wrapped it up yesterday."

Emmerich's face twisted slightly, like he was trying not to laugh.

"She's in today."

"No big deal. At least I'm not one of those mercs who call her a bitch behind her back."

Karl waved a hand and grinned.

"Anyway, I'm heading in. When you're on break later, I'll buy you a drink."

"Count on it."

Karl nodded and stepped inside. Almost immediately, he spotted a familiar face.

"Yo, Old Captain. Meeting up with mercs for some job drops?"

The fixer known as "Old Captain" turned and sighed when he saw Karl.

"What do you think? You guys go on vacation and I get buried in gigs. You have any idea how many jobs were queued up for your squad? Or the messes popping off just 'cause you weren't around? I've been running since morning, handing out eddies like candy."

"What, you think we were born to work for you? We rotate all year. Can't even take a few days off?"

Karl rolled his eyes.

"Do enough jobs for you and suddenly we're family? Come on. If you want something done so bad, grab a gun and do it yourself."

"Piss off. You'd piss yourself if I did. Go bug someone else, you little bastard."

"Yeah, yeah."

Most of the fixers Karl worked with were professional, by-the-book types. But Old Captain? He called Karl "bro," sometimes even "dad." Out of all the fixers, Karl's crew had taken the most jobs from him—and honestly had the best rapport too.

Definitely better than that snake Faraday, who operated in the same Santo Domingo district.

Whether because of Oliver or not, Karl had started treating Faraday as the baseline for a trash-tier fixer.

He stepped deeper into the bar and spotted Maine's crew drinking at the counter. They were about to wave him over when—

A loud voice echoed through the entire bar.

"So after all that bullshit, you hooked me up with a Tyger Claw?! If I hadn't run into a nomad on my last job and learned who he really was, he might've stabbed me in the back and I'd never even know! This is how you do biz?!"

The angry voice came from one of the booths.

Karl turned and saw a woman yelling at Rogue—a mixed Native American and white woman with tan skin and her black hair tied in a high bun.

Someone yelling at Rogue?

What the hell was going on?

.

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