Errg, how did blood splatter that far?
I was once more cleaning up after a day in the clinic. I had a few large ops, a full leg replacement and a cybereye upgrade. Both went well, but I was knackered. Long ops always smacked me, especially since I didn’t take anything to help for it.
But fuck drugs.
They were a silent death. One I had seen it far too often to take myself or let any of the girls take.
I wouldn’t be in the clinic for the rest of the week; we had 2 days before the Los No Muertos might hit the port, and we wanted to be ready. The prep work was already done, the girls had watched the guard patrols and had a pretty good map for them now and I had moved the containers' storage locations.
I got them right next to the north edge. So it should be a quick in and out… hopefully. And then with the new place, it might be time to finally put my plan into action. I had it all set up to make it look like Pete did a runner.
My agent buzzed, distracting me as I was placing the last of the tools away. 'Aden! Aden! It's gone to shit.' Jess said. 'We're'll okay. But Billy is dead. Niel has fucking borged out.'
A cold tingle washed through me. 'What the fuck? It should have been an easy gig. How did Billy fuck it— no, that doesn’t matter now.'
'We are all okay.' Nat said, having been connected to the call, in her cool, calm, on-the-job voice. 'We are ditching the last of our stuff in the gang and heading home.'
'And none of you are hurt?'
'No we were with Calum. Half the gang is dead. We didn’t hang around and deltaed out.' Kate said.
'Okay… Okay. I will meet you at home.' I said, dumping the last of the tools onto the side and heading for the door.
What to do? This was earlier than we wanted. Our new home wasn’t yet set up. But we could live there short term. We also had the stakeout for a few days, so it could work out.
I was turning more ideas over in my head when I caught movement out of my periphery. Acting purely on instinct, I jerked back. As I did, I felt a swish of air as the heavy blade of the machete slashed where I was standing moments before.
"At fucking last." Pete snarled. His face twisted into an ugly snarl. "Your protection is dead you little cunt stain."
Fuck. Not now. I leapt back, gaining as much room as possible.
Pete bellowed, charging after me, swinging again for my face. I twisted, hand raised to cover my face.
A burning erupted from my arm. But I didn’t have time for that. Fucker must have nicked me.
"You think you can fuck with me! You're fucking dead."
I scrambled back, rolling to my feet and diving over the ripper chair. I went to catch myself to bounce to my feet but my arm gave out. My entire right arm lit up in pain. I groaned through clenched teeth.
Blood spirted, coating the floor and me. My arm… shit, shit shit shit. It was only now that I saw my right arm, just above the elbow, was gone. My fucking arm was gone… I could still feel it. It still felt like it was clenched. I stared at it before Pete's lumbering stomps snapped me back.
Later… I would panic—deal with it later.
Rolling, I awkwardly ripped my pistol from its holster. Landing on my back, arm cradled protectively to my chest, I emptied the clip into Pete. I would definitely need to practice more with my left hand; it was shocking aim.
He bull rushed me, completely ignoring the small-calibre peppering him.
If I had my right arm I could have hit him in his ugly face. The gun clicked dry.
Shit, I knew he was chipped in, but hadn't appreciated how much. Stupid mistake, I should have learned what he had.
I looked around for another weapon. Then I remembered the turrets. My agent pinged the turret above the door. The ones I had overridden all those years ago and promptly forgotten about.
His long stride carried him around the chair and I threw the empty pistol at him, clipping his shoulder, scrambled back for space, until my back hit the wall.
Pete's mouth split open into a wide, blood thirsty smile to reveal his rotting black teeth. "I'm going to enjoy chopping you up. Maybe I will take a go with your little inputs."
Cold rage flashed through me. He would not touch them. Not a fucking chance.
The hum of the hydraulics as the turret was lowered was all the warning Pete had. He glanced back, surprised, but it was too late. His torso was shredded, blood and gore coating everything. The heavy weapon was deafening in the small room. It seemed to fire for hours but eventually quietened.
I lay slumped against the wall, panting, stump still clutched to my chest. I could now feel the blood dripping down my chest, soaking into my clothes. I sat there staring at it. I knew I was in shock but couldn’t seem to move.
'Aden. Aden!'
That was Lysa. Why was she so far away? My eyes were tired. A nap might be nice.
'ADEN!' I started, Jess’s scream cutting through the fog. And with it pain. So much pain.
'Fuck. Pete went psyko on me.'
'We are on our way.' Nat said in a clipped voice. 30 minutes out.
I could feel myself fading, a blackness at the edge of my vision. But I forced myself to stay awake.
Sleep meant death.
I dragged myself to one of the countless cabinets lining the wall.
That was a lot of blood. I had been sitting in a pool of it. No wonder I was woozy.
My hand grabbed for the tub of medi-gel, knocking it off the shelf. Not what I was going for, but that worked. Not caring about waste, I slathered it on my stump, gritting my teeth as I did.
'What was that? Aden are you hurt?’ Kate asked.
'Just a flesh wound.'
I slumped as the last of the wound was covered. The blood had already stopped flowing before I started with the medi-gel, but it would create a seal around the wound.
I swayed but stayed upright and staggered over to another cabinet and grabbed an auto injector. Grabbing a different vial of med-gel, a similar drug and similar name, only this one was meant to be injected rather than coating the wound.
I stabbed it into my thigh, which still fucking hurt. But I could feel the soothing coolness rush through my body as the biological nanites went to work. It was like a shot of caffeine into the blood. Which was better than oral.
I hated the taste of coffee. Blagh.
With the pain fading, the anaesthetics in the medi-gel going to work, I thought to check the cameras. I was glad it was the end of the day and there was no one around to hear the gunfire. Or at least those not paid to investigate anyway. With my agent I locked the doors and slumped to the floor, my strength leaving me.
I was just lucky Pete had some of the gel. Med-gel was rare, rarer even than medi-gel. It was only thanks to his skivvy nature, the fact he did operations far above what he should do with a setup like his, that he had any at all.
So I suppose his nature saved my life.
I struggled to keep my eyes open, the room swimming before me. As it did I caught sight of my arm. If I was quick I could reattach it. Lifting my very heavy head, I peered over at it.
"What the fuck?"
'What?' Nat said sharply.
'Nothing, nothing.' I mumbled.
'Good, hang on, we are only a few minutes out.'
'Kay.' I said, still staring at what was left of my hand. The elbow was intact, with the clear cut where it was severed, but everything below that was mush. The vindictive bastard had stamped on it.
I could see bloody boot prints leading away from it to what was left of Pete oozing onto the floor. Most of his torso and head were gone.
What the fuck was that turret packing? I didn’t know, but I wanted to find out. Me likey.
The blood was drying, sticking my t-shirt to my chest, peeling away each time I moved. I glanced down at my arm. I expected to feel sick losing it, yet I just felt distant. Like it wasn’t mine or wasn’t happening to me. That was until I jerked up.
My jacket!
My favourite jacket was cut too.
The wasteman! I wish he was alive so I could kill him again. I loved that jacket.
I pressed my head against the cool wall.
That was nice.
---
Kate Bianchi fought back tears, and her rising panic as Jess shouted into her agent. She would have been banging on the door to the clinic if Nat hadn't stopped her.
'Aden!'
'Hmmm? Yeah.' Aden said faintly.
'Open the door.' Nat said, flatly. It sounded like she didn’t care over agent, but Kate could see her clenched hands.
'Oh right… It's open.'
The dead bolt thudded and they burst in. They found him upstairs, slumped against the wall. He looked a mess.
Kate's heart tightened. She had never seen him like this.
Jess was ahead, sliding to her knees next to him, almost frantic. Although she had enough time to kick Pete's dead body on the way past. She noted the blood smears and scattered casings and tools, already painting a picture of what happened.
The scattered chaos made her want to organise it, but she pushed the intrusive thoughts away. Now wasn’t the time. She dropped to her knees, mindful of the pool of blood below him.
"Jess, enough." Nat commanded. "Stand watch by the door. Kate help me."
Jess looked torn but dragged herself from his side and scurried out the room.
"Aden what can we do?" She asked. If she had a list, she would be able to help.
"I need blood. Help me to the chair." Aden mumbled.
"Where's the blood?" Kate asked, already riffling through the cabinets.
Aden groaned loudly. Kate snapped around, but relaxed when she saw Nat helping him to his feet with his arm around her. She shook off the shudder that ran through her at the sight of the blood now coating Nat.
"There." Aden said, pointing behind him.
She yanked open the fridge door and found the right bag with his blood type. Daniel had drilled them to learn everyone's blood types, claiming it could save a life. She might owe him an apology.
By the time she found it, Aden was slumped into the chair, his skin pale as a sheet. Sweat glistened on his brow.
"What next? What next!"
Kate jumped as a crack echoed through the room. Nat had slapped him, but it worked. He was aware once more.
"What next?"
Slot and secure my arm. Hang the blood there and connect the tubes. Then… then put the IVF into me from there."
They set to work following his instructions. It was a mass of cables and connections but Kate recognised the symbol for blood, having looked over his shoulder while he learned sometimes. It took several attempts; her hands were shaking so badly, but she took a deep breath and forced them to still.
"Done!"
"All connected Nat."
"Thanks Kate." She replied, still as steady as ever.
It was times like this she was thankful for her. Well she always was; she was her rock. She loved Jess, but if she had a difficulty she went to Nat. They all did. But it was thanks to her they weren't panicking… mostly. She felt her heart stop when she heard Aden scream in pain through the agent.
The blood freezing in her veins. She might still be frozen there if Jess and Nat hadn't sprung to action.
She hovered next to Nat, adjusting her pistol in its holster, as Nat inserted the needle into his arm, her hands steady.
"Okay Aden it’s in. What now?"
"Hit go on the screen." He mumbled, his head hanging loose.
Nat clicked through but couldn’t see what they needed and started to get frustrated. Kate nudged her to the side. "I've got this."
Nat squeezed her hand. She tried not to flinch at the sticky blood now coating it.
She found the menu and activated the pumps, the blood rapidly draining from the bag. She had asked Aden to show her how it was done when she was considering becoming a nurse to stay useful. She no longer needed to worry about that, although it was always there, at her worst moments, shouting at her she wasn’t good enough and they would leave her.
The modem beeped. It needed more blood.
It took 4 more bags before it didn’t call for another. Which was good, they were running out. With each bag, Aden became stronger, more alert, his eyes able to focus again. Enough to offer them a weak smile.
"Thanks girls. Where Jess?"
"She's watching the door."
He nodded understandingly. Kate slotted her hand into his, relaxing slightly when he gave it a squeeze. Everything would be al'right. All was right with the world.
She almost went weak at the knees realising it.
Aden must have noticed. "It's okay, I'll pull through. It just looks like I am going to get cyberware before Jess. She is going to be so jealous." He said with a crooked grin. "Besides, babes dig scares, don’t they?
"Gonk." She said with a watery laugh.
It was just them in the room. Nat had gone to check on Jess and make sure she knew Aden was okay.
With Aden okay, she needed to do something, so she accessed her agent and flicking through her contacts until she found a local low-level fixer. They would need to a ripperdoc to check Aden over.
Nat rejoined them, Jess in tow. "So we need to get to a doc."
"Already working on it."
"Thanks." Nat said relieved.
Jess bounded up and started to fuss over Aden, poking and prodding at him.
"I'm okay. I'm okay. Let up." He said as he broke out laughing, unable to fight her off.
"Pete's lucky you killed him. I wanted a crack at him." Jess said darkly.
"I know, but things didn’t quite go to plan."
"You can say that again, you gonk. Don’t ever scare us like that again."
"Yes boss." He said smirking
"Do you need anything else before we leave?" Nat asked.
"Yeah, Kate, can you go into the next room and grab the AP cyberarm. It should be on the left side rack."
She reluctantly let go of his hand and came back a few minutes later with it in hand.
Hah in hand.
She recognised the brand, bottom of the barrel, but reliable and easy to install.
Her agent beeped as a message came in. "I have a location of a ripperdoc that we can go to, it's on the way home. They have a slot in 35 mins."
Before they left they cleaned themselves up as much as possible and then locked the building behind them.
As Aden limped along, an arm around Nat's neck, they got some looks but that was it. Bleeding people was an all too common and most pretended they weren't there.
Easier that way.
If you paid attention, you might get involved.
"We need to move all the stuff ASAP." Aden said.
"Can we leave it?"
"No I want it all."
"I will find a Transit Rats." she said, already pulling up her agent once more.
She had a few numbers for that sort of thing. They hadn't needed them, but she made sure she knew a few of everything just in case. Working through in order of best rated, she sent out messages. Pretty soon she found an offer.
She double checked to make sure they were on the level. They had a good rep and didn’t blab.
Looking around she realised they were almost there. I found an outfit. They can be there in 4 hours?"
"Ace." Nat said. "We will get done with the ripper and then strip the clinic and take it home."
---
The Transit Rat's white van pulled out, leaving a pile of Pete clinic supplies piled up in the centre of their grass outside their home. With it stacked up it looked far more than it did in the clinic. Like a lot more.
I got up to start sorting it through when Nat shouted, "What are you doing?"
"Sorting through the loot?"
"Not with your arm you're not!"
"But the loot…"
"It can wait."
God I loved them, but I was getting bored with being babied. "Thanks, I'll go slow but it can't wait. Some of this will perish if it is left unrefrigerated.
Nat looked reluctant but nodded. "Fine. But I'm watching you, so no moving heavy stuff. The doc said to rest easy for a few days."
"Yes ma'am." I said, sticking my tongue out at her. But I did listen. I didn’t want to make things worse, especially with the big gig coming up. It was not something I was willing to miss. If I were worse off, sure, but I could hack and that was all that was required.
I still tried several times to help move the larger stuff but each time one of the girls flapped me away. By the time we were done we had 3 piles of goods. The first was the kit which had been moved into the med room; this included the fridges and other machinery. We had needed Daryl's help moving them.
The second pile was shit we would sell, mostly the perishable chemicals and cyberware. With the final pile we put to one side for a maybe. We weren't sure if we wanted to keep them, but it seemed silly to throw them away and then need them.
So they were also stored in the med room. Which looked much smaller now that everything was in it. I would need to organise the chaos; it irked me having a messy workshop. Also I could never show Helena to it with it looking like that.
The arm felt weird and I didn’t like the change. It was always there in the background, like a constant nagging feeling. Like something didn’t belong. I would look into it later, but at least the arm was functioning... somewhat.
I had shit fine motor control; several glass jars and glasses could attest to that. It also felt weaker than my old hand, unable to hold things like I used to. It wasn’t all that bad but it wasn’t what I imagined them to be. Like being able to crush stones in my hands. It just made me more of a klutz, with less awareness of my hand.
I accidentally scorched it on a fucking fire for fuck sake.
It was late, or rather early, when we crashed on a new mattress in one of the storage rooms. It was so new it had a plastic wrapping still, but it was too dusty and dirty to unwrap it. So every movement disturbed everyone. It was safe to say not many of us got a good night's sleep.
Well except Nat. I swear that girl could sleep through mortar fire.
I even had proof. Jess and I had tested it with firecrackers. I mean she woke up, but not to the first one. So we were vindicated.
I might have been able to sleep but my arm twinged throughout the night, constantly keeping me awake. I would just find a comfortable position only for my arm to grumble and suddenly it wasn’t.
It was annoying. So it was a grumpy Aden that got up the next morning.
After having breakfast and breaking up the normal morning argument between Jess and Nat. But they were siblings, so it was a sort of requirement.
Anyway, after breakfast we gathered and prepped.
"Are you still sure you want to do this Aden?" Kate asked.
"Fuck yes. We can't dip on this. Who knows when we will get another chance like this?"
"Yay heist." Jess called from the far side of the room where she was changing.
"I agree," Nat said. "As long as you are up for it, I don't think we will see another opportunity as good as this."
"So we head out tomorrow, right? Then we will sell what we can today. Anything else we need to do?" Jess asked, joining us, but still messing with her collar. Somehow she got it twisted.
"I already have some people lined up. We won't get good deals but it will be off our hands, which is more important."
"Anything is good." Nat said, smiling at Kate. "What about the gang guarding Pete?"
I smirked. "We already thought of that. Have you sent the message yet Kate?"
"Not yet. Will do so after this."
"Message?"
"Yeah, proof Pete was a skiv. That should destroy most of the gang's reputation. So I doubt we will have a problem with them, but I will keep an eye on them." I said.
"Ohhh, we can flatline them. All ninja like."
"As much as I hate to agree to that, it might make sense."
"Nim-nim." Jess said, sticking her tongue out at Nat, who returned it. Before they could start fighting, I carried on.
"While you are out, I will get some water and food and shit. Both for now and in case we need to lay low for a bit."
"Good plan. When will we get water in?" Nat asked.
"I will check but he said anywhere up to 2 to 3 days. Same with the power, although Daryl is confident that it should be done in 2. At least for the basements." I said.
"Yeah 2 to 3 days for water and power." Kate said, looking up from where she'd been staring off into the distance, the glow fading from her eyes. "The basement should be fully done by the time we are back. Including cleaning. The upstairs will take longer. He thinks another week at least before it becomes habitual, but realistically, we would need to wait for a month or so before we could move into it."
"But the builders will still be there tho, right?" Jess asked.
"Yeah. They won't be done for 2 months overall. Then the scaffolding and sheeting will come down and Dylan will officially be done."
"Preem."
"And you will rest." Nat said severely.
"Yes. Of course" I said, convincingly, even if I saw their doubts.
They headed off and I moved out of the way with my laptop and spent the day typing.
Stupid hand.
It was a day of frustration. I gave up trying to type 2 handed. I fat-fingered the keyboard so many times and just did everything with my left one. Which slowed me down by a factor of 10, Blerg.
Anyway the girls were back early, most of the cyberware was still here, but they offloaded a lot of the chemicals and stuff. Unfortunately as expected, it was at a massively reduced cost. But meh, eddies were eddies.
One thing I did was check a message I had somewhat dreaded.
'Calum: Sup Aden. How's it going? Just wanted to make sure you made it out okay.'
'Aden: All good here. How about you. Did you make it out okay. What happened?'
Calum: Yeah me and Adrian got out. He took a good half the gang that were left with him and we have set up shop the other side of the Armstrong's turf.'
Good. That was something at least. I spent a bit more messaging him before slumping back.