Peaches moved through the dingy bar's parting gloom, a pair of beers in one hand and an unlit cigarette in the other. He slipped into the booth across from Blitz, sliding one of the beer mugs over too him. "Here's yer beer," he said gruffly. "First one's on me."
Blitz nodded his thanks and took a sip of the drink. A sudden look of distaste flashed across his face, "God, this stuff tastes like cat piss."
"Watered down cat piss," Peaches corrected, "but I paid 'tree fifty for it, so you're gonna drink it. If you're lucky, maybe you'll start to get a buzz after the fourt' or fift' one. 'Den it won't matter what it tastes like."
Blitz grimaced but dutifully took another sip of the brew. "So," he said, searching for a conversation topic. "Um, how'd you get into this business anyway?"
Peaches was midway through lighting a cigarette. "It's a long story."
The younger man shrugged, "I've got time. Anyway, we have something to talk about besides how bad the beer sucks."
The ork took a long drag on the cancer stick, and glanced over at Blitz in annoyance, "You want my whole freakin' life story too?"
Blitz grinned, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."
"Not a chance," Peaches growled.
"Oh come on. We're in this together. We ought to at least know a little bit about one another. How long have we known each other?"
"A mont' "
Blitz frowned, "A month? It's only been that long? It seemed like longer."
"Yeah, well time has a tendency to slow down when you're getting shot at."
The adept laughed, "Yeah, I guess that's true . . . but c'mon man. We're going to be working together. Why not get to know each other a little better?"
Peaches sighed and took a long swig of his beer. "Fine."
"Huh?"
"I said fine."
"So then you'll tell me about it?"
"Yeah, if it'll get you to quit yapping like a 2 week old puppy, I'll tell you. Just let me get anuddeer beer and I'll lay it all out for you."
Peaches finished off his beer and headed off to the bar to claim another one. He returned soon enough and slid into the seat.
Blitz looked at him expectantly.
"Alright, well you want it from the beginning, or just the important stuff?"
"The beginning."
"Alright, suit yourself. Anyway, here goes."
"I was born in Touristville, you know, da only district of Redmond where the Star will go wid'out a full riot squad? Yeah, well dat's where I grew up. My dad ran a grocery store or some'ting, and made an honest living, if not a decent one. My mom . . . hell, I dunno what happened to my mom. Probably ran out on my dad when she found out her baby was a trog." He shrugged, "I can't remember her, and Pops never said drek about her her, so I guess it doesn't really matter. She was probably a bitch anyway."
"We were poor, but we weren't squattin' or nuttin'. I guess I'm 'tankful for dat at least. When I got old enough, I went to one of dose shitty public schools—you know da kind, just a way to keep da little bastards off da streets for a few hours. It really only served as a recruitment pool for da local gangs."
"I got scooped up by one of 'em durin' dat time, da Iron Fangs—Pops didn't like 'em, said dey was bad company, dat I should leave 'em alone. He may have been right, but on da street, 'tings don't translate into black an' white so easily. Yeah, gangs are for shit, but if you're da poor bastard caught out at night an' you don't have any chummers to back you up, you might as well just hand over every'ting you own, 'cos dey're gonna take it wid or wid'out your say-so. Only difference is if you'll live to tell about it or not."
Blitz nodded sagely and took another sip of beer.
"When I was 'tirteen, I got fed up wid' Pops and decided to head off on my own, crash at da gang's flop house and all. I swiped Pops' piece he used to keep under da counter for protection on da way out, took some food and drek, and 'den never saw him again." He takes a drag off the cigarette, a forlorn look briefly passing over his face. "Sometimes I wonder how he's doin', but I doubt it'd be wort' it to find out."
He shook his head and abruptly continued, "Da 'Fangs treated me good. I enjoyed my timed wid' 'em. Dey didn't treat me like a kid, but more like a chummer. We were a family, in nearly every sense of da word—a family dat beat da shit out of udder families and jacked up anyone we didn't like, but we were still a family. Durin' dat time, I found out sumpin' about myself: I could brawl. What's more, I found dat I liked it. It came in handy durin' all 'dem street fight, but soon enough I had to graduate from grade school and hit da big leagues."
"Y'see, we started gettin' outside funding, started bringing in some heavier ordinance for our little gang wars. I was even able to purchase some of da 'ware I got in me now—second hand stuff all of it, but it still worked well enough. Someone from da outside managed to convince our leadership dat tryin' to take out da Crimson Crush would be a great plan, get us a lot of new turf." He laughs humorlessly. "But I bet you can guess how dat turned out. Da Crush is still around. Da Fangs ain't."
"Anyway, dat put an end to our stint in da big leagues real quick After dat major frag-up, what was left of our gang disbanded. I managed to hook up wid some guys in da mob, so I stayed afloat for da most part. Dey put me to work runnin' errands and doin' minor shakedowns for a while, no'ting major. Dey also introduced me to da casinos . . . and in an indirect way, I suppose dat's what got me into 'running.
Blitz frowned in confusion, "How did gambling get you into this line of work?"
Peaches smiled. "My chummer Holy Ghost used to tell me dat da pleasures of da flesh would always lead you down da pat' to ruin. But dat's not it. It's greed."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. And I found out sumpin' while I was wid da mob too—actually two 'tings. One, I have an addictive personality. And two, I suck at gambling."
Blitz winced, "I can see where this is leading."
"Yeah. I got in deep wid' 'em. Real deep, like, fifty grand deep."
Blitz gave a low whistle.
"Tony gave me two mont's to come up wid da cash, or else I he was gonna set me up on a date wid' da finger breakers."
"What did you do?"
"What else could I do? I called up some contacts, asked about getting into da biz. I was pretty desperate, so I got some shitty jobs in da process."
"Such as?"
Peaches grimaced, "Well, maybe da runs weren't dat bad, but I was. I didn't know a damn 'ting about da biz. I had some guns and some 'ware, but I didn't have da experience to put 'em to good use. My first run, I made two big mistakes."
"Oh?"
Peaches held up his right hand, the dull metallic surface glinting slightly in the dim light, "I got my meat hand blown to kingdom-come."
"And the second?"
"I got introduced to a bitch named Kali."
Blitz laughed, "Bad love affair?"
"Hell no!" Peaches almost yelled. "Dat ice queen? You gotta be outta your mind to even touch dat bitch. She's probably like one of 'dem black widows—eat ya after she's done wid' ya. To tell ya da trut' I doubt she even have da right gear for da job, if ya know what I mean. She was this far away from a full-out cyber zombie." He shudders.
"So what happened?"
"By some miracle I managed to pay off my debts. I still dunno how I raised dat much cash so fast."
"No, I mean with Kali."
"Oh . . . well, she got royally pissed at me for fragging up the first run. Later on, we had some Shadow firm on our asses and her name came up. I gave her a call to see what was going on and she gave me a load of drek about how she wouldn't leave loose ends and she's smarter dan dat, blah blah blah. So I told her not to frag around, y'know? Dat dis was some serious stuff and if her name came up, I wanted to know why. She gave me da same line of bullshit, so I told her to slot off."
"And then what?"
Peaches indicated a scar on his forehead along the hairline, "You see 'dis?"
"Yeah."
"Well dat's where she fraggin' shot me."
"Damn, she really was a bitch."
Peaches nodded, "Yeah, she just about killed me too. You know what the kicker is? When I was lyin' dere near-comatose in a hospital bed, she sent me a video message tellin' me dat we were 'even' now."
Blitz laughed, "Women have a weird sense of balance"
"But I don't."
"Huh?"
Peaches grinned. "Now it's time for you to spill yer guts, but before you do, go up dere and get me anudder beer. It's your turn to buy."