II
After Hours
"Hey, Little Beth!" Finn called, raising his beer to her. "Why don't you join us?"
Beth tipped a wave at the celebrating group in the corner of the warehouse Lopez ran the Reds out of after hours. "I'm twelve, you idiot," she called back. "It's illegal!" Everyone laughed at that. "Besides, I got to help old Lukas here repair your getaway car and get to bed early, so I can wake up in the morning and get you all paid to get drunk tomorrow too."
Everyone laughed again. Kitty called a toast in the corner to Beth, and the group forgot about it and went back to drinking and talking shit. Except Lukas Greer, fifty-nine, the oldest of the Reds, their main hacker and tech before Beth, standing beside her next to the skycar. He watched her from wrinkled brown eyes, grinned, and shook his head.
"I've forgotten more tech than you'll ever know, Shepard."
"I know," Beth murmured. "But they don't. Not yet. I pulled one big, shiny trick to start and they think it's who I am. Took me weeks to work it out. But you can teach me more. Why do you think I stay late every day? It's not 'cause I love the smell of beer and piss."
"You've got some potential," Lukas admitted. "Got the feel for it, and you're quick, and those are things you can't teach. But you can do other stuff, too, Shepard. You bring in a lot of game on the weekends."
"Cops don't look for a kid when they're looking for leads on the gambling rings," Beth shrugged. "And the ones that aren't sure if they're interested think I'm cute and decide they are. It won't last. So I have to learn other stuff."
"Not just tech. Fighting and shooting too. You think I don't see you making up to 'em all, getting them to show you stuff during the downtime?" Lukas laughed a cracked, creaky laugh that was somehow still pleasant, as he showed her how he was rewiring the engine to give it more speed. Beth studied the process, committing it to memory, then fiddled with the computer so the speedometer history would report that the car had been going ten kilometers per hour less than it actually had been going when the cops checked the driver's story. Lukas grinned at her. "Good girl," he said.
"I like to learn," she said.
"But not to play." His eyes went over to the corner.
Beth shifted. Lukas watched her shrewdly. "It's alright, Shepard. Only the stupid ones go in to the gangs by choice, and you don't strike me as stupid," he told her. "I guess you'll relax eventually. They're ready to love you, you know."
Beth didn't answer. She grabbed a rag and started polishing. Lukas sighed. "Come here. I'll show you some common back doors into computer systems."
A/N: Thanks for reading. If you leave a review, thanks especially.
Always,
LMS