People say that prostitution is the oldest profession. That's bullshit. Killing has been, and always will be our go to money maker. In fact, its so lucrative, that there are several corporations dedicated to just being middle men between clients and serial killers. Last I checked, Mortal Motivations INC was doing numbers on the S&P 500. You should buy in before someone offs the CEO like last time.

-- Excerpt of a new documentary: The Deadliness of the New Age, made by The Purple Truth

“Hey Sam, can I ask you a question?” I ask as I am lying on the couch of our fancy fake office, waiting for Gerard and Nina to arrive.

“Yes, you have to pretend to be a man for this. That is the alias we set up for you.” Sam says in an exhausted voice.

“Not what I was about to ask, but that's good to know as well.” I say as I observe my face in a mirror, young, slimy and with a too-bright smile. Yep, I look like a real asswipe now.

“Okay, what do you want to ask then?” Sam continues on.

“So, I want to take Cierra on a date,” I start. “Any advice?”

Sam hums for a bit. “What about giving her a gun and letting her shoot some aliens?”

I snap up from the couch. “That is what I suggested.”

“And what did she say?” Sam asks.

“She told me to keep thinking.” I answer

“Okay, so she wants to do that, but also wants to do something romantic afterwards; maybe take her to get a massage and go to a fancy restaurant.” Sam suggests.

I nod as I send the suggestion to Cierra. “Thank you, I'll ask if she is interested in something like that.”

“Good, because the target has arrived, you'd better get into position.” Sam say,s in way too serious of a tone.

I smile. "What are we, spies now?”

Sam lets out another deep breath. “No, but what else should I call them, lambs to the slaughter?”

“It would be more accurate.” I point out.

Sam actually giggles. “Whatever, go greet your guests.”

I chuckle as I stand up and walk to the front door. It is kind of impressive how much Mio and Sam could get done in one day, from bringing in all the office supplies, to setting up projectors that make it look like people are actually working here. There are even some coffee stains on the carpet… wait, no, that's dried blood, I think.

As I open the door to the office, I find Gerard and Nina standing there together with a security squad of about five people.

“Good morning. Did you get here okay?” I ask with what I hope translates to a pleasant smile.

“It was alright.” Gerard says, as he just brushes past me to step inside.

I follow him inside together with the rest of their entourage; I spot Nina putting her nose up at the inside and start whispering into Gerard's ear.

I clap my hands together, going into salesman mode. "So what do you want first, a tour, an explanation of our products, or are we going straight into negotiation?”

Gerald looks around. "Let's just get to the negotiations. This isn't your factory, so I doubt anything of interest happens here. "

“You're right. What we do here is mostly trying to decode Samurai technologies, make sure we understand them completely so that we can copy them.” I explain as I lead them to the big office in the back

As we reach the office, Gerard turns to his men. “Antonio, come with us. The rest of you stay outside, make sure nobody can interrupt.”

The guards nod and post up around the door while I hold the door open for Gerard and Nina to come inside. When they are inside, I release some of the sword projector nanites outside before I close the door.

‘Crow, please deal with them quietly.’ I say into our mental space.

“You want me to get rid of the bodies too?” Crow asks.

‘Don’t care, just make sure no blood will spill through underneath the door.’ I answer ‘Ooh, and make sure this door doesn't open anymore.’

“Nice place you got here,” Gerard says as he gestures around.

“It's alright. It keeps the cost low so we can make the products cheaper, sell to more customers and all that.” I say as I walk further into the room and sit down in a big office chair.

“And you have not gotten in trouble with any of the Samurai?” Nina asks as she carefully sits down in a chair.

“Not at all,” I say with a wide smile. “I think it helps that we are not selling any weapons, just, you know, things that make life easier.”

Gerards nods as he sits down across from me. "So you chose not to make any weapons?”

I nod. “Yeah, we could, but there's too much risk in that. Even if we can make some good weapons, once some gang or samurai finds out, they will be all up in our business in no time.”

Gerard starts to grin "Good to know, here is the paperwork,” he says as he pulls out some documents and gives them to me. “You can sign right now, and our deal will be done.”

I look over the documents for a bit and notice a few inconsistencies compared to what was agreed upon before. I slowly start to grin. So they want to rip me off? I can have some fun with that.

“This isn't the same contract.” I point out

Gerard frowns. “Yeah, we don’t believe your company is worth as much money as you're asking for, so we changed it to more reasonable prices.”

“So you just what? You change the contract without even asking. And what? Expect me not to notice. What is this? Kindergarten?” I ask, looking at Gerard in disgust.

“So what do you think it is worth?” Nina asks, seemingly wanting to defuse the situation.

I scoff, “What I think, is that the previous price was good, but New Hope can’t afford it with how much money it has been bleeding.”

Gerard stands up, looking red in the face. “What did you just say?”

“Oh, come on, it’s not like your business is private; everyone knows your sister was the one making money, and now that she has left, your doll house is falling apart.” I say with a satisfied smile.

“Don’t you dare talk about her; she will be back with her tail between her legs soon enough!” Gerard shouts at me.

“Oh, is that so? But I heard she’s working for the weird Samurai now, you know, the streamer one?” I say with a smile.

Gerard just stops and looks at me in confusion. “Wait, really?”

I start to laugh. “Wow, you guys really know nothing.”

“Fuck you,” Gerard shouts. "You think this is funny.”

“Uhm, kind of, yes.” I answer

“Well, let's make it even more fun then.” He takes out a pen and drops it in my lap. "Sign this, or else.”

I carefully pick up the pen, oh, a Caran D’Ache, I don’t have one of those in my collection. I put it into my pocket for safekeeping, then stand up and give Gerard my biggest smile. "No.”

Gerard turns to his bodyguard. “Please break his left arm; he won’t be needing it to sign.”

The bodyguard nods and starts walking towards me in this slow, measured pace that I assume is supposed to make me fear him.

“You really don’t want to do this; it’s not going to be good for your health.” I warn the guard, one part amused, one part curious if he can actually break my metal bones.

Not that we will ever find out. As soon as he steps into my range, I step forward and lash out, ramming my cybernetically enhanced arm straight into his chest cavity. I slowly pull out his heart and drop it to the floor.

“I did say it wasn’t good for your health,” I say to the corpse.

Nina jumps up and runs to the door, trying her best to open it, but the door won’t budge.

“I told you we could make Samurai weapons, right?” I say as I grab a napkin to wipe off my hand. “Well, the fact that we don’t sell them doesn’t mean we didn’t make any.”

Gerard raises his hands in defence. “Okay, this is all a huge misunderstanding. We can all talk this out. I'll even pay you double.”

“Sure, sit,” I say with a smile as I gesture at the empty couch.

Gerard sits down, looking shaken. “We can make this up to you, I promise.”

“And how exactly are you going to make up for trying to kill me?” I say with my best customer service smile.

“We didn't try to kill you, not at all,” Gerard says.

“Oh, really?” I turn off my disguise. “Because I remember you trying to blow me up,” I turn to Nina, “And you dropping the building I was in into the undercity.”

“Evelin?” Gerard says in confusion.

I summon my new baseball bat. To be honest, a complete waste of points, but this will be fun. I smash it down, breaking Gerard’s leg. As he screams in pain, I turn back to Nina.

“I told you I would become a problem for you.” I say with a smile.

Nina is backing away from me as far as she can. “You actually told me you would drown me.”

I pause. “You know what? You're right, Lyssa, make this room airtight.”

Certainly.

A small box appears; several spider bots crawl out and start doing stuff to the wall and flooring at rapid speed.

“Wait, what was that?” Nina asks with big eyes.

I shrug. “Honestly, I have no clue.”

Room is sealed. Do you want anything else?

“Yeah, enough water to fill up this room completely.”

Understood

Next thing I know, I am floating in water. I quickly start up my teleport drive and teleport out of the room. “Lyssa, do me a favour and add the water back in that my leaving took out.”

“Welp, that was faster and a lot easier to watch than I thought it would be,” Sam points out.

“What, did you want me to torture them to death?” I ask, while I try to pat myself dry.

“Want, no. Expected, yes.” Sam says in an unsure tone.

“Well, they're gone, problem solved, and Anika asked if I could babysit Rose and Tyler, and I'd much rather be doing that right now. So,” I shrug, “guess we should go?”

“Why do they not ask Cierra or Claire to babysit?” Sam asks, confused.

“Because she is going somewhere with Cierra.” I say, “Come on, the kids are cute; we can watch some movies and eat junk food.”

“Wait, you're roping me into babysitting, too?.” Sam asks.

“Unless you have something better to do?”

Sam sighs, “Evelyn, I am tired. I worked most of the evening to get this done.”

“So I will be babysitting three people then.” I say with a smile.

“Evelin, I am not a kid,” Sam grumbles.

“I’ll give you samurai food,” I say with a smile.

“Fuck you.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”