Shortish chapter with a mild language warning, but I wanted you guys to know I haven't abandoned this story. I've just been distracted and my writing is struggling. Forgive the lapse.
Malik was the one who's idea it was to walk straight up to a harvester. David kept close behind her, and as he predicted the harvester's gaze flicked up and down the both of them, assessing for augs that might be useful. After all, normal people didn't just walk up to one of the most infamous gang members in all of Lower Hengsha, especially not normal augmented people.
With the increase in augmentation laws the harvesters had gotten more and more dangerous, because not only could they raid bodies but they also had fingers in the police's confiscation and enforcement divisions. If an officer could make a pretty piece or two off of a misfiled cloaking chip then all the better. The harvesters had always been powerful, but now they were almost royalty. The kind of royalty that would drag out the guillotine if you looked at them sideways.
"I need to speak with Tong, and I know he's not at the Hive," Malik said bluntly in fluid Chinese, crossing her arms. The harvester crossed his in return, his digigrade, high-gloss, highly illegally spiked leg prosthetics making a cool clicking noise as he stepped back a little, crossing his ankles and tilting his head. David resisted the urge to smack himself in the forehead with his metal hand. Malik's bluntness had gotten her the job with Sarif, but sometimes it worried David.
"Tong isn't someone you can just call like a lap dog," the Harvester sneered, leaning forward and brushing the underside of Malik's chin with a metal-tipped finger. Malik slapped his hand away and David clasped his hands together to keep from intervening. The Harvester's expression darkened, but Malik didn't back away.
"Tong knows who I am. I hacked his club. I work with Adam Jensen, someone who helped rescue and then smuggle Tong's son less than two years ago. And right now Adam is in the middle of a bunch of guys who want to take Tong's favorite dumping ground."
The Harvester's eyebrows went up and Malik dug into her pocket, pulling out her pocket secretary and flashing it at the Harvester. "Here's a few shots of the guys playing takeover right this second. They have my friend and soon they're going to paint Tong's territory in his blood." She tossed the secretary to the harvester, who caught it reflexively and scrolled through the pictures. David could tell he was convinced and he applauded Malik mentally, both for her bravery and the sheer willpower it took for her to talk about Adam's situation without wavering.
"How do you know they're taking over?" The Harvester pressed, his retinas flashing even as he asked. David knew he was scanning the images and sending them to Tong's email.
"More than thirty guys in a neutral area is a non-verbal intent to claim," Malik said, hands now on her hips. "I know how the gangs work, and even if they aren't trying to tag your spot they're attracting attention, using resources, and robbing Tong of a potentially very powerful ally. Tong knows what Adam has and what he can do. His augs might be nice on Tong's shelf, but who knows what will be left of them if we let those men have their way. And after Tong saw Adam's skillset he knows that Adam is far more valuable breathing and owing him a favor than he is as scrap metal."
"Excellent reasoning, Ms. Malik. Your skills are wasted as a piolet." Tong's voice came in over a mic the harvester had activated in his cerebral comm, effectively putting himself on speakerphone.
"I try," Malik said dryly. "Are you helping us?"
"I don't see why not. I wouldn't mind teaching these mercenaries a lesson and seeing what they have to offer me at the same time," Tong said, and David could hear the smug relaxation in his tone. He was all business, something that, for once, annoyed the piss out of David.
"Good, meet me at the gate on the West side, we have some negotiating that needs to be done. Face to face," she said evenly.
"The only negotiating we are going to do is exactly how much of Adam I will own after I save his life."
"He's a human being!" David exclaimed, pushing forward so he was standing next to Malik, who grabbed his augmented arm to stop him. "You can't own any of him! Under legal parameters his augments are just as much his property as his God-given cells. You don't and will never own one wire on him!"
Malik's lips pressed together and she shot David a warning look that was half pleading.
"Legal has nothing to do with it, Mr. Sarif," Tong shot back, and David grit his teeth. "If I save Adam's life, he will owe me a favor. It is up to me what that favor entails. Do not think for one moment that there is any real loss in waiting until those mercenaries finish what they came here to do. If Adam is dead, I can take his augments. If his augments are damaged, I can reverse-engineer them. If he is gone completely, well. I haven't lost anything really."
"IF HE DIES YOU'LL LOSE ANY CHANCE YOU EVER HAD OF BEING FREE FROM NEROPYZINE!" David exploded, and the only thing that kept him from surging forward and grabbing the harvester's shirt was Malik's desperate, shocked grip on him.
"David!" She scolded, her eyes wide with consternation. "You can't offer Adam up like that, don't you think you and Megan damaged him enough the first time around!?"
"I can and I did, so just shut it Faridah," David said, pushing Malik off of him.
"You don't own him either, David. He isn't a rat, or a miracle cure, or the insurance policy for your failing company. He's a human being who's dealt with enough shit from you and Megan and your business plan mentality! It's your fault he doesn't have half of his natural body anymore, your fault that he was suicidal for two months, your fault he has PTSD and is now one of thousands who is at risk of being beaten, or arrested, or torn to pieces because he needs metal to function!"
"He's alive because of me, because of my research!" David defended, one hand fisted against his chest. "My business plan is keeping him alive! Tong has no real reason to fight for us and spare him other than the miracle that's still locked in his DNA. Megan's research was never completed, and dead cells won't carry what we need so that means our only known cure for augmentation rejection lies in Adam. That will save Tong and his men billions. If that means Adam gets to be a test subject one more time then so be it," he finished, chest heaving.
He saw her fury flare right before she reared up and slapped him.
He turned away, holding his jaw and blinking away tears caused by the shockwave of pain the slap had made across his fractured nose. He looked back at her, but there was no apology in his eyes and behind them the harvester was watching with an intrigued, uncertain expression. Tong had been quiet for the entire exchange, and David swallowed thickly, wishing he could have dealt with this in private. He knew how Malik would react, and he had been prepared to handle it, to say whatever he had to just so he could get Adam home alive, but it had all fallen out of his hands.
"Well, this has been interesting," Tong finally said. "Ling, pass my frequency to Sarif. We need to talk alone."
The harvester nodded once and tapped his temple, ending the call. A moment later David felt a click as Tong locked into his frequency.
"I admire your enthusiasm, Mr. Sarif, but am appalled by your methods," he began, and David folded his arms, turning his back on the look of righteous fury he was receiving from his pilot.
"Do we have a deal or not, Tong?" David demanded. "I don't have all day and Adam sure as hell doesn't."
"I already sent a few of my men to investigate. If what you're saying and what you sent me is an accurate assessment of the situation, then the other gangs who share the area will already know and already be there to back them up. The others know better than to take a large augmentation harvest from me and my men, so when the mercenaries are clear and Adam recovered they will leave him to me."
"You getting to him does not equal a promise that he'll walk away from this alive and in charge of his own body," David ground back.
"Yes, and despite your position of zero negotiating power I will say that Adam will walk free. And not because of your bargain, either. I admire your willingness to do anything to achieve your end, but am insulted that you don't think I have more honor than to let a man be subjected to unwilling experimentation for the sake of paying a debt that is not his. I play fair, Mr. Sarif, and Adam is not the one begging me for his life right now, you are. Therefore it is you that will owe me, not Jensen."
David swallowed thickly. "What do you want from me?"
"I want your word that if Jensen willingly cooperates with the extended experimentation and your company comes up with a neuropozine alternate that I and my harvesters will have a free, unlimited supply. Whatever it takes to get us away from relying on the drug. In the event that no such cure is found, you are free of our obligation."
David blinked, heart pounding with adrenaline as he tried to understand Tong's angle. A man like him wouldn't give help away out of the goodness of his heart.
"Why? What's the catch?"
"The catch is my honor, Mr. Sarif," Tong said dryly. "Getting Adam out alive will benefit me in the long run if you can discover his secret and manufacture it, true, but we have a steady supply of neuropozine as it is and no real pressing reason to go to inhuman lengths to discover a cure from it. The simple truth is that Adam hacked my club, rescued my son, and assisted him to safety. He is one of the few who deserves to carry the augments he has until he dies naturally or challenges me and I can take them and put them to use. And even if it wasn't Adam being held there, I don't take kindly to people invading my turf. Good evening, Mr. Sarif. Adam will be waiting for you with a harvester guard in his prison cell. I will clear out the guards, but it is up to you that he survives. If he doesn't, you owe me his augments."
The link ended abruptly and David turned back to Malik with a grim expression. The harvester had gone long before, and they stood alone in an alleyway lit by nightclub neon and glittering with broken glass. Malik was staring at him as though she was looking at a stranger she'd suddenly come to loathe.
"I cannot believe you were going to sell Adam to Tong. I thought he, I thought your relationship with him meant more to you than that," she said coldly, her arms folded tight as though restraining herself. "Did Tong take your offer?"
"He's helping Adam, and Adam won't owe him. That's all that matters. We need to get back to the site, be ready to help him when they clear the place out," David said wearily.
Malik didn't budge. "He trusted you," she hissed. "He forgave you even after he found out that you are the reason he doesn't have any of his natural limbs left. He stayed with your company, at your side in the middle of everything coming down around us and you were going to lay him out and start pulling samples again just to get what you wanted." She shook her head, angry tears standing in her eyes. "He loves you, David. I hope you realize that. Heaven help him he loves you like a father."
David's throat closed, his eyes burning as he turned away. "I know that, Faridah. And if he hates me, so be it." He took a steadying breath, forcing himself to meet her eyes. "I wasn't going to continue the research. I was going to lie through my teeth to get Tong to help us if I had to, but I wasn't even going to tell Adam, let alone do anything to compromise his trust again." David swallowed and his gained conviction as he continued, gesturing harshly at the ground with a pointed finger. "If he thought I was going to experiment on him again and left because of it, then that's his decision but I'd rather have him despise me and be alive than face burying the only man I've ever thought of as a son." His voice broke on the last word and he covered his eyes with his metal hand, turning away again as his emotional mask shattered. His negotiating powers were gone, and without them he felt drained, exhausted, and far too vulnerable. Malik didn't move for a long time, but presently her hand came to rest softly on his shoulder and she turned him around, wrapping him up in a tight hug, her face buried in his shoulder. Slowly, he bowed to return the embrace.