Hey back again, took long enough right? Read and have a party...

Note: Serena's thoughts are italicized

She was up before dawn. Too bad she was back in bed five minutes later. And then she was up again. Things would have been a little bit easier if someone could get some decent sleep without the constant beeping of every single electronic machine in the entire sector. Trouble is, a job in the Hunt Force pays about as much as the deli down the street and they're not exactly A material in the health regulation manual.

So if you have to rely on favors for breakfast and the same uniform as your wardrobe, things aren't lookin' too bright for the home situation, which is why she was camped out in the dingiest quarter of the Nebulus. It was humble to say the least. It was also grimy, rat infested, had shady occupants, and was fast becoming the greatest smog collector in the ranks. These would all be those pesky little problems they would omit on the housing registrar, but to be honest she was growing fond of them in a perverse kind of way. They made up home.

Which brings us back to the problem of the beeping and the not sleeping. The electricity shorts erratically, because it is one of the lowest funded areas. As a result, all the inhabitants had lovely nights full of beeping from when the power booster would charge up and spread juice to every single appliance or robotically engineered machinery for about ten seconds and then cut again.

Yep, this made life so hellish that many occupants seeked sanctuary in Jerry's which was independently powered by his very own generator. See nobody knows how he came across this fine and very expensive piece of equipment. No one asks in these parts.

When Serena trudged in through the automatic door that swooshed, there was a booming laughter from behind the bar.

"I knew you wouldn't disappoint me," he said with a wink.

"Err, cut the niceties and hand over your coffee." This is not my day. Bet that nancy lives in Ballios; no dealing with shorts there.

"Have something extraordinary today?" He slid the coffee onto the table and slumped heavily onto the chair beside her.

"Hmmm…?" Serena took a tentative sip of the coffee, faintly smiling as it cleared the fogginess from her eyes.

"Don't bother, drink your coffee, I need to see to that worm over there who started a fight yesterday right on my counter top." He eased up and took off with a formidable look in his eye. She pitied the deviant.

The coffee took hold and things slid into place with a snap in her head. I need the coordinates to that quarter in Streep, re-evaluate that hover bike for the inspection over at Mont, sabotage new partner and clean the toilet. Her eyes crackled with intensity as she strode out the door and up to her apartment.

Her morning routine was still rushed, but she managed without Dolf's huffy reminder and transported to work on just fumes. Things were looking up.

She strode into her office and hefted her bag onto her desk before looking up to see a scruffy head of hair opposite her. It resembled the partner's hair (she refused to acknowledge his name) and she noted with satisfaction his dissemblance. She glanced back down at her gun then jerked it up again.

"What precisely is your intent for being in my office!?" This is a rather diluted translation of the actual correspondence as transcribed by the robotic secretary listening at the door who is programmed with politeness as a key characteristic.

He looked up distractedly and said off-handed, "I was assigned this desk."

Pretty short chapter, but I like ending it here so please review I appreciate it and I'll update sooner than last time which is about as solid as this promise gets, later days