PART II - AWAKENING

Chapter 41 - The Contract

Persica poured herself another cup of coffee. "Here's to day twenty...something." She muttered to herself and downed the whole mug of lukewarm liquid. Persica poured herself another cup and sat down at her own computer and began typing away. She only stopped when she heard the irritated tapping of a cane against her lab door. She sighed in defeat and wheeled her chair across the room to the door.

An angry old man entered mid rant. "...good for nothing, worthless-" He just nodded as he noticed Persica rolling back towards her desk, "Ah, dearest Persica."

"Mm...Havier. Welcome...I think I have some coffee...somewhere."

"Thank you, but don't bother; I won't be here long."

"Ah...a pity." Persica said. "Shall I get the cats? Do you like cats?" Havier tapped his cane on the floor in a huff.

"Enough! A mutual 'friend'," he made dramatic air quotes, "wants to speak to me. I don't have all day. For once she should call us separately." Persica nodded and took a sip of her coffee.

"It's harder to secure two lines, so it was the best option. That...and RO can help secure the line even further." Havier huffed again. "Whatever. I'm here now. Let's get this over with." Persica nodded and pushed a button on the keyboard. The noise of suppressed gunfire interrupted the line briefly.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and she's dead for good this time." Havier said with a chuckle that turned into a cough.

"Good to hear you too, you old wort." A female's voice said. Havier chuckled again. Persica took another sip. "Listen, I need some help here." More gunfire. "My mission went sideways, and I've got a rather large, Sangvis shaped, problem."

"How big?" Persica asked. "I thought your team could handle them."

"Yeah, we can. But this place has more skeletons in its closet than KCCO. I'm looking at stolen SF armor, Ringleader Dummies, and fucking Jupiter mortars. It's like an entire army." Persica put the coffee aside and put a hand on her chin.

"That's not like SF…they wouldn't just leave 'sleepers' lying around. Especially not in such a populated area."

"I know." The voice sounded strained, as if she was running. "What can you do?"

"SF is Griffin's problem." Persica said. "So, this technically doesn't concern either of us. You could always call in another group of PMCs."

"True, but I don't trust anyone else and I'm out of money so 404 can't help." Persica took another sip. "And Griffin knows how to handle dolls better than anyone else outside of the old Soviet territories. C'mon...I know you two can call in a favor."

"What? Don't want to flex some StateSec muscle?" Havier said with an angry tap of his cane. Persica wondered how it hadn't broken yet. "It's. Not. My-"

"I have three packages here: completely unmarked except for a name. One 'Havier' at 'WAVE Technologies'. Strange, huh? Did you switch jobs or something? Should I leave those here too?" Havier paled and began stuttering. "Call in a favor: I'll pay my due." Persica nodded.

"Yup. Can do. Should I send someone special?" The other end was quiet for a minute. The gunfire picked up again, but was quickly silenced. "I need ex-military. Preferably special forces, but I'm not picky. Someone who knows dolls. And someone who won't look out of place with the one per-cent of the one per-cent."

"Tall order." Persica joked. "I mean, most of our commander's wouldn't know the difference between a soup spoon and a stew spoon if their life depended on it."

"Funny." The voice said with a bit of amusement.

"I think I know a few candidates. Where do you want to meet?"

"There's a big business get-together happening this weekend, eight pm. I'll send one of DEFY to meet them at the party. I can make it work. Who are you sending?"

"We have a few vets in Sector 9. I'll pass it off to Helian, she'll give me the name and face." Persica turned to Havier. "Time for you to cash in that favor, 'old wort'." She said with a weary smirk. "You wanted Griffin to get those packages anyway, right?" Havier growled and turned.

"Fine, fine. I'll get with Helian in the morning. Just try not to die again."

"Thanks, Havier. I really do owe you." The voice said in a whisper, barely audible over the gunfire.

"Yes. Yes you do." He said and stormed off, tapping his cane all the way. He mumbled under his breath and cursed just about everything in the lab on his way out.

"Take care, alright?"

"I'll do my best, Persica. Can't make any promises." The sound of soft footsteps caused some minor interference. "Some more pieces and pawns are in play now. Whatever Lyco did, it's started a game I don't want to be playing anymore."

"Right." Persica muttered and leaned back in her chair. Fatigue washed over her, finally overcoming the overdose of caffeine. "And now M16 mentioned something about Parapluie. The Sword of Damocles, always present and always about to fall." Persica closed her eyes. "I just wish Lyco could just...tell me."

"No use in wishing," the voice said, "Just go get some rest. I'll be in touch soon." Pesica nodded and ended the call with a sigh.

"I need more coffee." She sighed and stumbled over to the counter to make more.