Here is chapter 12 of A Beautiful Thing! The continued support has been amazing and I am glad that this story is being enjoyed by so many. A quick update, my classes start tomorrow so I hope that I can get chapter 13 out this week before having ease of the gas and go down to 1 a week. For anyone else starting classes here soon, I wish you the best of luck! Thank you all again for your support and continued reading of this story of mine. Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other!
END AUTHORS NOTE
ARIZONA, REDTRAILS, NIGHT
Sarah watched through a camera over the side door into the main factory. She had taken over the network completely, the camera's streamed to her and she had set an auto program to filter Jason out. The terminal lit up her face inside the driver seat of the truck. She toyed with a toothpick she had between her teeth, a nervous tick as she worked.
A Bakker nomad leaned against the railing near the side door, a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Sarah watched closely as a shadow on the edge of the camera's vision moved. The man made no noise as she watched Jason take him down. This is like watching some ninja BD live Sarah thought to herself. Jason dragged the body off screen before returning back into her sight.
"Clear to enter?" Jason whispered over their shared comms. Sarah switched feed to an internal camera with a view of the side door. The interior of the factory had been cleared of the actual machines, they were in a scrap pile the nomads were picking through earlier outside. The shipping containers had been made into bedrooms of a sort while a hasty ramshackle kitchen and leisure space made up the center area. She saw a pile of crates near the side door and no one nearby.
"Yeah, it's pretty open inside" Sarah informed Jason as she scanned around the camera looking at all the nomads. Most of them were around a fire in the middle of the floor. Beer was flowing, someone had a guitar and a few were playing old board games like checker or chess. She saw Jason slip into the main floor and quickly move out of view as he circled around the loading dock that had a few containers waiting for a transport that would never arrive. Sarah swapped to a different angle to see if she could see him. Where's Waldo? She chuckled at her own internal joke as she scanned for him. A few flickering shadows between crates or along walls made her think she had seen him but she was not sure.
"Sarah, I am at the entrance to the service level" Jason's hushed voice made her jump as she swapped around the camera feed until she saw him standing in the service level entrance way. She shook her head wondering how she had missed him. She jumped through the few camera's on the service level. Not much was down there, storage closets, electrical rooms and the servers. A few side rooms that were empty except the one Panam was being held in.
"Next hall on your left, no cover in it" Sarah's tense voice came over the comms "one gonk by the door at the end, she is in there"
"Got any demons you can hit him with?" Jason asked off view from any of Sarah's cameras now.
"Do I have any demons?" Sarah chuckled as she cracked her knuckles. She keyed up a malicious code to reset the nomads optics and sent it on its way. She watched the upload count down holding her breath that there would be no interference. The distance from her in the truck to the drone and then through the factories network made the upload slow. She sighed with relief as the man grabbed his head and stumbled as his eyes shut down temporarily.
"He's blind, you got ten" Sarah informed Jason with baited breath watching through the security camera at the end of the hallway. She watched as Jason came around the corner in a low stalking stance. It was like watching a panther on a nature documentary. The nomad was holding his eyes waiting for the optics view to return. Jason did not even slow as he slipped behind the man and grabbed him around the throat, pistol pressed to his head. He dragged him back around out of the camera's view. She heard a faint cough like noise over the comms and Jason stepped back into view.
"Situation in the room?" Jason asked, his tone cold and professional. He sounded completely unfazed about executing someone mere seconds ago. Sarah switched over to the camera in the maintenance room with a hissing breath.
"Panam is tied up, looks barely conscious. Two standing over her" Sarah whispered the tension of the situation heightened her adrenaline. Jason waited by the door for a second before he keyed it open.
Panam shifted in her chair uncomfortably, the metal grating against her back. Her wrists throbbed from the tight zip ties they had used to secure her to the chair. She could feel that her face was bruised and one of her eyes was firmly swollen shut. Her body ached from the taser dart that had done her in. She needed a way out but the two standing over here were given the explicit order. If she tried anything they were to shoot her in the knees. She knew she would need those in working order to even escape. Her attention was suddenly diverted as the door to the room opened.
She looked up as a dark figure rushed into the room. The first guy ragdolled as the back of his skull popped with a cough from a suppressed pistol. The second guy went to scream but a crunching impact silenced him. He gasped as he fell to his knees holding his throat. Panam knew his trachea was crushed from the blow. He stopped gasping as the suppressed pistol whispered again.
"Panam Palmer?" Came a distorted, electronic voice that made her skin crawl.
"Yeah, who's asking?" She retorted putting on her best tough girl face but with a busted cheek and black eye it apparently fell flat. Panam got a good look at the man, which he clearly was from the build and size of the figure. He wore a dark green uniform with military gear and a full helmet. An Ajax rifle was slung on his back and she could see all his gear was Militech.
"Is this about the fucking basilisk" she groaned doing her best to relax in the chair. The man checked both of the Bakkers making sure they were dead before he walked over to her.
"No" came a curt reply as he took out a knife making Panam about to scream but instead of cutting her she felt the zip ties fall off. She rubbed her wrists as the man grabbed a rifle from one of the dead Bakkers.
"My name is Jason, I am here to get you out" came the demonic sounding reply.
"Did the clan send you? That quickly?" Panam asked, bewildered about how she was being evidently rescued. She took the offered rifle and checked the magazine, it was full. Jason shook his head before he cocked his head as though listening to something.
"We need to move, another Bakker group is a few minutes away" he looked at her. Panam was unable to see his eyes behind the unsettling mask made of lens. It reminded her unsettlingly of Maxtac making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Every one of her instincts told her this man was dangerous. She had no other choice at the moment, and so nodded to her rescuer to lead the way.
The exited the room moving quickly and quietly. Jason had stowed his pistol and now had the Ajax at the ready. Panam kept up behind him her own weapon set in her shoulder. Rounding a corner she saw another sprawled out Bakker. His head was also a ruined melon of gore. It was not long before they were at the entrance to the main area.
Panam took a deep breath as she followed Jason out doing her best to be as quiet as she could. Her aching muscles strained from the slow moving pace. The smell of a fire got her attention and she spared a glance towards the Bakkers circle in the middle of the area as they slipped around another crate.
Jason held up a hand for her to wait. There was a large gap between them and the next place of safety. He waved for her to go. It took all her effort to not sprint but move along steadily and quietly. Once on the other side she looked to Jason who started crossing only for all the lights in the factory to turn on.
"Looks like they got the main power back on finally!" One of the Bakker's exclaimed. His eyes settled on a dark figure standing in between two shipping crates "who the fuck?" were the last words he said before the lights went out for him.
Jason squeezed the trigger on the Ajax pulling it into his shoulder as his other hand grabbed a grenade from his belt tossing it into the center of the circle. Bakkers scattered scrambling for cover and weapons. Jason emptied the magazine as he dove behind the shipping container.
"Move!" he shouted to Panam as he ran by. She was hot on his heels as he reloaded at a dead sprint. Gunfire started pinging into the walls and metal near them. Jason skidded to a halt and started firing down a gap between two containers. His shots found their targets. Screams of dying and wounded people echoed in the factory space. He saw Panam out of his peripheral vision cross the gap. He followed as they made their way towards the side door. Jason grabbed another grenade and slung it into the Bakkers firing at them from the center. He felt a round crack the plate in his vest leaving a deep bruise but the armor saved his guts.
Panam was spraying fire at a group of Bakkers that were advancing on them from the center. Jason sprinted into them as Panam's weapon clicked empty. The first fell as his chest geysered blood. The second one near the side door collapsed screaming for a second as a round collapsed his legs. The bullet had shattered his pelvis and before another demolished his skull.
Jason threw the door open. The ground and wall were pulverized by heavy machine gun fire, bits of concrete peppered him as he ducked back in. He snapped his eyes to the Bakkers in the center of the room, most of them were dead or wounded.
"Sarah!" Jason shouted over the comms.
"I am coming but you got a fuck load of gonks outside" Sarah shouted as Jason could hear the truck begging for mercy "drone is over head"
"Got it" Jason grumbled as he tossed another weapon to Panam. She caught it and started firing into the Bakkers in the center. The few wounded able to fight were soon moaning wrecks or fresh corpses. Jason paid the cries no mind as he scanned the drones feed. There were at least 8 vehicles outside the factory surrounding the front and the only doors. At least thirty Bakkers were all aiming weapons and the large truck in the middle had the heavy machine gun.
"We have you trapped, so let's just make this easy!" came a booming voice over a speaker. Jason looked to Panam who shook her head.
"I am not getting captured again" she hissed.
"Sarah how far out are you?" Jason asked as he reached up to the back of his helmet. He popped the cover out of the helmet pocketing it. Panam looked at him curiously before he removed a plate from the back of his head and she could see vents.
"What are you doing?" Panam asked him confused as to what sort of implants he had.
"Two minutes!" she shouted "we got a storm coming from the south"
"When I say, you open the main door" Jason said, looking at Panam. He checked his rifle and pistol ensuring that the weapons were full. He readied a grenade in his left hand supporting the rifle on his forearm as he got ready to sprint. His eyes darted over the drones feed plotting his route.
The cylinder on the back of his vest whirred to life as the juice was pumped into his system. He felt the cold sensation at the back of head as the potent cocktail dripped into his veins. Pupils dilated, muscles tensed. Heat built at the back of his head as his core temp jumped with the burning rate of his metabolism. A thundering in his chest shook his ribs and as the drug hit his brain time itself seemed to slow.
"Now" he commanded Panam who pressed the door controls. The main door rattled to life and she felt wind on her back as Jason sprinted past her.
Jason rocketed out from the opening door. The grenade fastballed into the driver window of one of the nomad cars. His rifle barked three times as the first man he saw died. Jason slid over the hood of the car as the ground was torn up behind him. Everyone else seemed to move in slow motion except him. The next man was only starting to turn as Jason obliterated his skull with a single shot.
Rounding the first car the grenade finally went off. The boom shook the windows of Redtrails as the car detonated. Jason wasted no time. His weapon sang out its death song, the audio to him distorted. More Bakkers fell as he closed in on the truck with the heavy machine gun. His course arched to force the weapon to turn. The thudding shots inches from his back as he kicked a motorcycle in his way. The bike flew across the yard crushing another man into a bleeding wreck.
Jason was on the truck now and grabbed the heavy weapon yanking it from his housing as he leapt from the truck. Bakkers scrambled in disarray as the demon in their midst carved its bloody path through them. One lucky Bakker scored a hit only for the fifty caliber rounds to saw him in two. The pulverizing fire of the heavy machine gun tore through Bakkers and their cars alike as many of them were now fleeing.
Jason's face was a twisted mess of rage and joy as he threw the empty machine gun like a spear into the windshield of a Bakker car attempting to run him over. The vehicle carened, smashing into a nearby building. Every kill made the juice spike his endorphins, slaughter was a drug now. The chemical from hell did its work, man was now a monster. Jason pressed the attack as Bakkers fled.
His rifle was empty so the knife and pistol came out. More terrified screams added to the growing chorus. To the Bakkers it was a nightmare, to Jason in this moment, a symphony and he was the conductor. He ripped the knife free of a dying man. His body trembled as the high dose of juice started to wear down.
The Bakkers were in disarray as they fled from the factory. Of the thirty that had surrounded the building only seven of them had gotten away. Broken bodies littered the courtyard illuminated by the burning wrecks of nomad vehicles. Jason holstered his pistol and sheathed his knife as Sarah carened the truck into the slaughter field. Jason looked to Panam who was running over wide eyed at the destruction he had wrought in two minutes.
"Get in, we got to go before they regroup!" Sarah shouted to them as she threw the passenger door open. Panam leapt into the truck as Jason scrambled into the back seat. Once safely inside he ripped the helmet off as the come down started.
Muscles burned and his chest ached. He could feel a few minor wounds as well as broken ribs. His head throbbed and he wretched onto the floor. Blood was mixed with the vomit which made him grimace. His nerves burned under his skin like hot wires. His muscles spasmed as the neurons flared. He could feel the pain of torn and strained tendons add their song to a chorus of pain.
"What the fuck was that!?" Panam shouted looking back at him. Panam stopped when she got a good look at him. He looked like hell, his eyes were wide as his pupils rapidly dilated and contracted. Bloody vomit was dribbled on his chin. His skin tone was pale and he was sweating like someone with a fever over one hundred and ten. The thing that struck her most though were his eyes, she had seen eyes like those before.
"Storm, hide us" Jason growled as he curled up his body shaking.
"Is he going to die?" Panam barked at the girl in the driver seat.
"I sure fucking hope not!" she shrieked as she drove the truck into the coming storm "you know any place out here we can get cover?"
"A cave, near by" Panam sighed exhausterbate as she flicked the coordinates to the driver.
"Who are you guys?" she asked, still confused as she looked to the shivering man who looked like he was going through heroin withdrawal in the back seat.
"I am Sarah, that gonk is Jason" Sarah said as she checked her map "we can talk when he isn't fucked up and we are not in a sandstorm"
ARIZONA, WESTFIELD, EARLY MORNING
V and Judy stood next to each other in the living area of their house, a fresh cup of coffee in each of their hands. V's left arm was still hanging in a sling while Judy shifted uncomfortably from the bandages that were wrapped around the various cuts that crossed her limbs. A few of the other Aldecaldos were there as well, most of them were in a similar state to V and Judy. Carol was notably absent from the early morning meeting.
"How ya holding up V?" Cassidy asked while sipping on his own cup of coffee.
"I feel like shit" V mumbled not meeting his eye. Judy sighed as she put a comforting hand on V's good shoulder. She glanced at Judy with a small smile at the soft touch. Judy was not as beat up as V was, bruising around her shoulders and thighs stood out on her tanned skin. Bags hung under her eyes, sleep had been fleeting in the few hours since they returned from the disastrous raid.
"You're a tough SOB, y'ill be fine" Cassidy gave her a small toast with his cup. V smiled appreciatively returning the gesture before taking a drink and setting the empty cup down. Judy's hand quickly found her own, the comfort of the simple act of intimacy made her smile slightly.
"Mitch should be here soon" Anna said looking out the window "scouted the initial area in the Basilisk, not subtle but we can not afford to fuck around right now"
"True" V grumbled as she rested on the wall.
"Did we manage to save any of the BD's?" Judy asked as an idea came to her.
"Mostly, why?" Cassidy inquired.
"During the firefight, we couldn't focus on clues" Judy began as she stepped over to the table "Between me and V we can tear apart a virtue, get all the detes"
"How does that help us find their camp, get Panam back?" Cassidy prodded, still confused.
"No she's right, I used to be a detective" Anna spoke up "we had to extrapolate from small data points all the time. Dirt in the tires, likely routes, stuff like that"
"Exactly" V beamed with pride as she watched Judy take charge of the situation.
"If we can get where they hit us from, see which way they left" Judy tapped the map on the table "we may be able to start narrowing down likely places they tucked tail and ran to"
"I see, guess you are the brains of the pair" Cassidy chuckled "V's all brawn"
"Bite me Cassidy" V jested with a smile. Cassidy chuckled as he looked at the map scratching his chin.
"We can eliminate anywhere south of us, we would have seen signs of them down there. Most of our scoutin and scavin is done that way" Cassidy mused as he mozied around the map "Still leaves 3 of the cardinal directions, think you can clean up them BD's get us a winner?"
"Made my living tuning scrolls, be a cakewalk" Judy beamed as she looked to V who gave her a supportive grin "I'll need someone else to walk through them, V's brain is gonked. Not worth the risk, Anna ever dive into a raw BD?"
"Once or twice, had to use them on a few cases with my old partner River" Anna shrugged "guy would play lose with evidence at times if it meant catching the perp"
"Might be one of the reasons he got the boot" V chuckled as she thought back to River and their adventure in rescuing his nephew.
"Among a few yeah, good cops don't last in NC" Anna sighed "hence why I am here"
"Benefits us now, a detective's eye in the virtue will be preem" Judy stood up crossing her arms "best idea I think is to build a large multi feed scroll, get you every angle"
"You can do that?" Anna was surprised at the idea.
"She sure can, my girl's the Michelangelo of virtue tuning" V praised making Judy blush.
"Damn, seems we got a start at least" Anna smiled as they heard the door open. Mitch came walking in with Vinny and a scowl on his face. He looked at the assembled and exhausted nomads with a grave look on his face.
"Alright, the situation is bad" Mitch began as he grabbed the coffee pot on the table and a cup.
"Storm rolled in last night from the south west, big one and sweeped over the ambush sight. Clues will be hard to get from there, tracks will be gone to" He said as he poured himself a fresh cup of the energizing beverage.
"Judy has a workaround, the BD's" V chimed in.
"Good, how soon can you get that going?" Mitch asked, looking at Judy.
"Depends on how bad the scrolls are from when the van got hit, end of the day may be tomorrow morning" Judy shrugged with a yawn.
"Make it tomorrow, get rest" Mitch nodded to her "as for the rest of us, we will begin scouting the area once that storm clears out and the wheels are in prime working order"
"Sounds like a plan boss man" Cassidy tilted his head at Mitch "I'll see we got weapons ready to roll, HMG's on everything if I can mange"
"Good, V that arm going to slow you down?" Mitch asked looking her way.
"Give it a few hours and I can move it" she informed Mitch as Judy settled on the wall next to her.
"Good, I want you to get the Basilisk ready to roll" Mitch gave out his orders to the rest of the nomads. Anna was to assist in piecing together what they could from the clan. Cassidy was in charge of equipping the functional vehicles to take the HMG's giving them more firepower for the scouting teams. V needed to let the restoratives finish their work before she could start on Basilisk maintenance and Judy needed more sleep before she subjected herself to mentally exhausting work. With their marching orders the nomads filled out the house leaving V and Judy alone.
"Come on Michelangelo, you need more sleep" V cooed as she took Judy's hand leading her to the stairs.
"I don't think I will be able to, dreams are all fucked" Judy sighed as she followed V upstairs. The house was quiet in the early morning, surprisingly peaceful given recent events. V sat on the bed and pulled herself up to the head board patting the space in front of her. Judy smiled softly as she flopped onto the bed resting against V. The warm embrace of V's good arm elicited a small hum of contentment from Judy as she rested her head against V's chest.
"I got you Judy, try to get some sleep, okay?" V cooed softly kissing the top of Judy's head. Judy nodded softly as she shut her eyes hugging onto V.
"Tell me about the boat" Judy whispered as she relaxed the best she could in her lover's warm embrace.
"It will be a big one" V smiled as she spoke softly "your beautiful art decorating the nose of the boat. The soft ocean breeze blowing into our cabin, the smell of the salty air" V pictured it as she spoke feeling Judy nest deeper into her one armed hug "A beautiful sunrise over the horizon, the light caressing your cute face" Judy smiled as she pictured it in her mind focusing on the idea "I am already up, getting done with a swim and starting breakfast"
"You burn it?" Judy softly asked with a giggle.
"Always but you never complain about it, pancakes and eggs" V continued as the smells and sounds reached her from the back of her mind "naturally, I am wearing only an apron" V chuckled running her hand through Judy's hair.
"Mhmm, desert with breakfast?" Judy pondered her tone drifting as sleep pulled her into the vision V had formed with her soft words.
"Naturally, a lazy day of drifting up the coast" V shut her eyes letting the image come into focus "a perfect day for diving or simply enjoying the quiet"
Judy did not respond as her mind slipped into the embrace of rest. She dreamed but not of the horrors of NC or the recent hell they had walked through but of the boat, a calm future with V on the sea.
ARIZONA, CAVE BETWEEN WESTFIELD AND REDTRAILS, EARLY MORNING
Panam sat at the small fire they had got going in the cave, the glow illuminating her face and casting dancing shadows on the rocky walls. Sarah sat there as well, rummaging through a bag of pre-packed food. Panam glanced over her shoulder to the truck where Jason shivered in the back seat as whatever combat drug he had taken flushed from his system. A bag of simple food was tossed into her lap bringing her back to the fire.
"Is he going to make it?" Panam asked as she tore the package open.
"Yeah, he's a tough gonk" Sarah sighed as she poked at her food with a fork. Panam took her own fork from the pack and the two started eating silently as the storm's winds outside raged on.
"You know him long?" Panam pressed trying to make conversation and discover more of her rescuers. Sarah shrugged her mouth full of food.
"A few weeks now" She said looking over at the man in question "Saved me some from Raffen and shiv types near NC"
"You guys came all the way from NC? What for?" Panam asked as she shoved some room temperature food in her mouth. She was hungry enough, the food not even being warm did not bother her at all, at the moment it hit the spot just right.
"Find you believe it or not, well the Aldecaldos rather" Sarah chuckled, shoveling more of the food down like a starving animal. Panam looked at her bewildered as her hand drifted towards the pistol that sat next to her.
"We aren't after the bounty" came a ragged voice from behind her "so you won't need that"
Panam looked over her shoulder to see Jason standing there, his gear off and chest bare. He held out a roll of bandages and a skin stapler to Sarah. He had a lot of scars, some very fresh, others much older. The redness around the cyberarm where it meets his left shoulder gave away it was a recent surgery. Sarah scooped the last of her meal into her mouth as she pointed at the ground. Jason groaned as he sat down and Sarah got to work stapling the deeper wounds back together.
"So why are you looking for us?" Panam pressed her hand still resting on the gun "You are clearly Militech"
"Former, just got called some favors for the gear" He hissed as the 'ka-chunk' of the stapler echoed in the cave "we are looking for Judy and V"
Panam raised an eyebrow at Sarah who stapled another wound shut making Jason grimace.
"I got some BD's I need Judy's help with, and Jason well…" Sarah trailed off as she grabbed the bandages.
"Judy is my sister," Jason said as he grabbed a water bottle and started to drain it. Panam studied him for a moment. He had a deeper skin tone than Judy even after all her time in the desert with the Aldecaldos, but when she saw his eyes it clicked. Same shade of dark brown and shape as Judy's.
"You are not joking around" she replied in shock "she never mentioned you"
"Doesn't know me" Jason tossed the empty bottle away as he leaned back on the rock Sarah was sitting on "a long story, another time. Right now we have more pressing concerns"
"The Bakkers?" Panam inquired as she looked at the two.
"Arasaka" Sarah growled "that bounty on you is for more than show, they gave those fuckers all new gear"
"Why go through the hassle, this about the relic chip in V's head?" Panam puzzled aloud as she stood up and paced.
"Maybe" Jason shrugged "I will have to ask her, Sarah has BD's in her data stacks that need the best BD tech to help her break down. From what I have heard, that's Judy"
"True enough, she's as smart as V is stubborn" Panam chuckled looking out the cave at the storm "BD's of what?"
"I was in Arasaka's network when you guys went all Silverhand on them, what I can only guess as an AI shoved all the data from that day into my head" Sarah shivered at the memory "my guess, something in there will tell us a lot more"
"Hold on, you were in the network when Alt breached their systems?"
"Alt? As in Alt Cunningham?" Sarah gasped in shock "She's dead, been so for decades"
"I'll let V explain that one" Panam shrugged as she paced "so why hunt us, spend that much on taking us down? Pay back?"
"Corps value profit, Arasaka is no different" Jason said taking another bottle of water "V is somehow connected to it and Arasaka leaves no loose ends"
"Fuck!" Panam roared as she kicked a rock deeper into the cave "I thought we would be safe down here!"
"Safer than NC" Sarah offered as she grabbed more food for herself "they can't do much directly down here without stepping on a lot of toes and risking war"
"Where can we go?" Panam threw her hands up "Arasaka most likely has agents in every fucking state"
"More or less, going to have to go to ground" Jason confirmed as he grabbed some food himself "we can figure that out once we get to your camp"
"Hold on, what makes you think you are getting to my camp?" Panam angrily rounded on the two.
"Uh, we have the functioning truck and comms?" Sarah suggested with a grin. Panam blinked before she sat down again with a huff.
"We do not mean you any harm, if we did we would not be having this polite of a talk" Jason grumbled as he looked at the food "we came to help"
"Well if you can go all whatever the fuck that was we should just point you at the Bakkers" Panam laughed mirthlessly as she looked at the entrance of the cave to see if it had calmed down yet.
"Yeah, what exactly was that Jason?" Sarah pressed looking at the battered soldier.
"Militech proprietary combat stim, has some long name I can not pronounce. We just called it Juice" Jason groaned as he stood up stretching his stiffening legs.
"Got enough for more people?" Panam asked looking up at him.
"No, besides it will kill anyone else except SA operatives" Jason informed her as he stretched out his arms "takes implants to use, process the toxic by products and other chemicals. Reinforced skeletal frame, tendons, ligaments and muscles. Ventilation for the CNS to expel heat from the brain as synapsis burn like a CPU in overclock"
"Like some super soldier shit?" Sarah laughed "Militech has super soldiers?"
"No, the juice can give us a boost for a time" Jason countered as he sat on a large rock "designed to get us out of tight spots, accomplish a high priority mission or just take out as many gangoons with use before we get dropped. As you saw, the come down is hell"
"Why not give it to all their troops? Arasaka would be toast" Panam puzzled.
"Cost, and if you over play an ace up your sleeve then everyone knows you have it. Stops being an ace in the sleeve" Jason sighed "besides, takes a lot of time and training to make someone able to use it effectively"
"How long did it take you?" Sarah asked curiously as she added more fuel to the fire.
"Got picked up when I was 12, started training at 15" Jason tossed out without a care "did my 20 and got out, here I am now"
"Fucking corps" Sarah growled "child soilders"
"Arasaka does it too, one of V's….friends told her about it. Goro Taka something" Panam waved as she took a bottle of water Jason offered.
"Takamura?" Jason asked curiously "As in Sabouro Arasaka's former bodyguard?"
"Yep, that's the guy" Panam confirmed with a swig of the water bottle.
"She definitely knows something" Jason said looking to Sarah "and something dangerous to Arasaka"
"Oh I am sure that gonk does" Panam chuckled "the camp is in Westfield, another hour south of here or so"
"We leave once this clears up then" Jason ordered as he stood up and went to the truck with a jug of water "going to clean the truck out, don't need it smelling like death for a ride in the desert heat"