Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Four - Just a Becky Thing

I ended up Reloading, mostly because Becky had eaten about two hundred dollars worth of food. Or... she'd ordered that much. Really, it was insane how much she'd ordered, and she seemed willing to take at least one bite out of everything before setting it aside.

I don't know if this was the physical manifestation of the kind of typical flightiness that was the signature of Lightning mages or if this was just a Becky thing.

In anycase, I found myself back in the office, this time with something of a plan.

Standing, I left the office and headed outside to place a call. My phone rang six, seven times before someone answered. "Becky," I said.

"If you're a scammer, then you should know that I know a spell that can zap you through your phone," Becky said.

I blinked. "Do you actually?" I asked. "How would that even begin to work?" I'd maybe be willing to believe that a B-ranker could do something like that, but Becky wasn't anywhere near that.

"Ah... maybe? Wait, I recognize your voice! You're Deadline!'

"Hello, Becky," I said. "I was wondering if you were free this evening?"

"Uh, maybe? What for, though? You know, I'm a busy woman."

She wasn't. She'd told me about her daily routine. Mostly she went around doing grunt work for the River Rats, but as one of the gang's few rankers, she was mostly just muscle and she seemed to spend at least half her day playing games on her phone.

She'd learned a spell to recharge the battery with her magic. It was probably the spell she used the most. Basically, she wasn't busy.

"I have a mission I'm carrying out. It's one that you might be helpful on. I was wondering if you'd be free for a bit of mercenary work?"

"Ohh, what sort?" Becky asked. "If it involves blowing up orphanages, I'm not down for that. I'm chaotic good."

"Nothing like that," I replied. "It's an information gathering operation."

"Okay," Becky said. "Where and who are we spying on? Do I need to dress up for it?"

I considered bringing her to Jane, but... no, not yet.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind bringing Becky closer. I had Fran that I could rely on to hit a portal if the need arose, but Fran wouldn't always be available, and while Becky was... Becky. She was also a strong mage. Her magic probably put her on the higher end of the scale for a D-ranker, and she was pretty experienced.

Better yet, she wasn't super expensive. I mean, yeah, big meals and paying for her gacha pulls was a lot, but if that was all that was needed to entice her, then that still made her a lot cheaper than the average mercenary. Any corp would bend over backwards to hire her, at least until they saw what her work ethic was like.

Also, she was cute.

She was all brash and loud and carefree, like an actual punk, but at the same time I think she'd fold if anyone tried to actually flirt with her.

If I got her and Jane in the same room, Jane would have poor Becky wrapped around her pinky in the space of an hour.

"Let's meet at the Amber Green park at five thirty or so. Wear something that'll help you blend in."

"I can do that," Becky said. "Hey, how much are you paying me for this?"

"Call it a hundred dollars?" I asked.

"Hey! That's nothing!"

"You'll get to spend the evening with a hot bitch too," I said.

"... Well, okay, fine. But if this is a trap, I'm gonna have to zap you, you know?"

"I can live with that," I replied.

"By the way, how'd you get my number?" Becky asked.

I smiled. "I have my ways."

Becky sniffed, and I hung up. Mostly because I knew that she could easily start yapping and then getting her to stop might be a massive pain in the ass.

I returned to my office and finished the day rather normally, which meant filling out the paperwork that needed filling, poking around some things, and generally spending more time scrolling than working.

I did find out that Luna Corp had a small stipend for cyberware spending covered by the shitty insurance that the company gave to all of its rankers. As a D-ranker, I could have up to 60% of the cost of new ware reimbursed.

Taken from NovelBin, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

That 'up to' was shouldering a lot of work. 1% was up to 60% too.

It might not be worth it, but I had used that same program when I got some sub-dermals in the last timeline, and it had saved me a few grand. As a higher-tier ranker, they might be willing to shell out some more if I got something that was in-line with the job.

I'd see what the Orchid Lux deal with Fran turned out.

Once work was done, I headed out, hopped on my bike, then rode out across town to the Amber Green park. It was one of those 'green spaces' that all the psychologist types kept going on about. Something about how humans needed some open, not-grey spaces to live in sometimes.

In reality, it was more of a fancy set of walking paths around a shitty children's play area that was home to more druggies than kids. It was in the outer west end of the city, just a couple of blocks over from the ports. There were homes here, but they were the kind of stacked apartment buildings like where I lived. Nothing fancy or comfortable.

Becky arrived ten minutes late, hopping off a bus, then jogging over. She was dressed in a black t-shirt and mom jeans. There was a little chain on her jeans, but otherwise it was just... plain.

She had even stuffed all of her hair under a baseball cap with a mushroom logo on it and small text that just read 'Kill Rich People.'

It was such a plain look that it actually stood out a little for being so plain. "Hey," I said.

"Hi!" she replied, a smile lighting up her face. "So, what's all this about? And is that your spy look? Oh, you're cute without the mask. I thought you might be wearing it because your face was all fucked up."

"My face isn't," I assured her. "And yes, this is my plain clothes." I was in office-appropriate slacks, a nice off-white blouse and my leather biker jacket. It wasn't an outfit that'd stand out very much. If anything, I looked like an off-hours secretary.

"Cool, cool. So, uh, are we actually spying on someone? Because there's a bet going on."

"A bet?" I asked.

"Uh-huh, with the crew," she said with a vague gesture in an easterly direction. More or less where the River Rats were located, I supposed.

"What are the bets?" I asked.

She ticked the options off on her fingers. "Least common is that you're legit asking for help to spy on someone, but that's low odds. Much higher is that this is a trap to fuck with the River Rats in some way. There's also the shippers."

"The... to be clear, I'm not here to double-cross you, and this isn't a date," I said. "If it was, I'd have brought... well, I suppose flowers would be wasted."

"I'd be cool with chocolates," Becky said.

"Noted," I replied. "This actually is a bit of spywork. Mostly I want to get a feel for a local gang, and you're one of the only people I know who might have first-hand knowledge on them.

"Aww, okay," Becky said. She sounded a little disappointed. Did she want me to doublecross her? Or was she hoping that this was a date? It would have been sad if she wasn't so cute. "So, which group are you looking into?"

"Weiss crew," I said. "I know that they have a C-ranked Wind mage, and that's about it. Well, that and that they're based out of this part of the city, more or less."

"Mhm!" Becky said.

"If you want, we could pretend that this is a date. Come on, there's got to be somewhere to eat around here, and we can take a walk after. I want to see what we can learn."

"Sure!" Becky cheered right up. "Weiss crew run a buncha pizza places. I bet we can eat at one of them."

That was as good an idea as any. It would maybe let me see the kind of money the gang operated with. A pizza place could hardly bring in a fortune, right? But it might be a front to launder cash, or a front to sell drugs out of.

It was worth investigating, though I was starting to get the sense that this whole thing was a bit of a waste of time.

Oh well. It'd make Fran happy to know more, and I could deepen my understanding of Becky. Maybe I could invite her to a portal like I did with Fran? She'd look good in black.

***