"Davey! Lucy!" Came the call of Becca from the other room, followed by rapid, stomping footsteps through the hallway. He blinked away the screen he was looking at, which was playing the footage of various martial arts that Kagekaze told him to look at. A lot of them were performed by some guy named Zaburo, who apparently used to work for Arasaka back in the day. David didn't know much about martial arts, but the dude seemed pretty preem at it. Smooth and flowing in between stances and strikes.

He still got hung up on the fact that he worked for Arasaka now. Well, technically he worked for someone who worked for Arasaka, but that was close enough for most people. Some other club goes still gave them shit when they went to Afterlife, but Rogue giving them approval meant they couldn't do anything but grumble at them. He hadn't directly spoken to her in a while, so reminded himself to thank her when he got back. His crew (Well, Smasher's crew now he supposed) didn't have many things to do together outside of jobs, so being able to go there was nice.

Lucy unburied her head from where it was in his chest, sleepily blinking but not untangling her arms from around his torso yet. Man, she was the cutest. David was reminded of the cat sometimes, with the way she acted when she wasn't getting worried over nothing. He was fine Lucy, the medics do good work, he wasn't going to lose himself over getting tenderized a bit.

Becca burst into the room in a comical fashion, feet skidding as she practically tumbled while clutching a tablet. The cat was hot on her heels, pawing at her feet as she dashed.

She got unbalanced as she turned the corner, and fell on her face.

David and Lucy stared for a moment, as Becca lifted the undamaged tablet triumphantly. She lifted herself off the floor and teetered over to them mischievously, ignoring her ungraceful entrance. All but giggling to herself, she raised the tablet for them to look at. He grabbed it and held it so that Lucy could also see.

It was some sort of forum site, with a video labeled "MMM Yearly Lineup 2076 - Tick Tock (Kerry Eurodyne)" The opening image was of a shirtless man with a Militech branded vest and helmet on.

"What's this, Becca?"

"Some fan vid about the most popular mercs in the last year, they do one every year, watch it to the end!"

Giving a half-shrug, he pressed play with his thumb. The vid started, with the recognizable voice of Eurodyne singing in a deeper tone than normal in the background. He didn't keep up with the guy's music, so he didn't recognize the song.

Tick, Tock

Timing like a wall clock

Body like a hard rock

Everyday like tick tock, tick tock

The first couple of clips were of a man in a white, sterilized-looking outfit. He looked sort of like a heavily armored trauma team member, but with an open jacket and a gas mask. His eyes were yellow and slitted behind stringy black hair. The first few scenes were of him flatlining a few gangers, or standing in the aftermath of such. Prominently on his lower stomach was a tattoo of Biotechnica's corporate logo.

Lots of gas grenades and chemical bombs it looked like, people melting or suddenly dropping as he walked through them, bullets bouncing off his chest, leaving scratches that healed up before the clips ended. A couple guns with silence rounds or a knife with a loaded canister that occasionally was replaced.

Tip, Top

Working on it nonstop

Scene like a chop shop

Everyday in tip top, tip top

The next few clips were of a man that David actually recognized. It was the dude that helped Smasher out in France, that guy from Kang Tao. There were a variety of scenes which had him in a coincidental pose or framed shot. Lots of camera footage from him in the aftermath of some skirmish, bodies around him.

There was even a scene of him leading a fighting retreat from another bot, he looked roughed up and the bot looked unharmed even as bodies around them piled up. It ended with clips of that fight in France, with him executing the panzerbot with a thermal round.

Drop, Drip

Grabbing hunnies by the hip

Dancing 'round you with a skip

Bullets fallin' drop drip, drop drip

He felt himself blanch at the next few scenes.

It was himself, and a number of camera recordings of himself. There was him fighting against some militech soldiers, from one of their head-cams point of view. There was him flatlining scavs, moving with the sandy and a few of them dying each time he disappeared. There was him fighting against Blackbeard, and getting his ass kicked.

…Did he really grin like that when he was fighting? Did he really do those poses? He didn't even notice! Why didn't anyone tell him?! He didn't want to watch the vid anymore, but Lucy grabbed his thumb before he could pause it. He looked at her, betrayed, she smiled and kept watching. Defeated, he kept watching the vid. He made a note to stop rolling his shoulders and flexing so much in a fight.

Hid, Hed

Tracking you with infrared

Turning rain into lead

Everyone they hid, hed, hid, hed

It was good to note that the next scene was not of him, but rather some guy from Militech. Short brown hair, brown eyes, a five-o'clock shadow, and a relaxed confident grin on his face. His posing seemed much more deliberate as the scenes showed him almost lazily approaching a building of gangers and taking them out one by one. Lots of dodges and seemingly nothing but headshots as his pace forwards never stopped.

He seemed to know where they would show up before they did, guns already aimed in the right direction as he fired at gangers that just showed up. He was in what looked to be a fairly standard army uniform, sans the jacket, revealing a frame that was probably enhanced, but could be natural. The final scene had him with an American flag tied around his upper left arm, even as he snapped a borg's neck off.

Real, Steel

Violence as an ideal

Engine of the grindin' wheel

Everything is real steel, real steel

The final scenes were of Smasher, and the editing went up along with the music. Lots of panning shots of him walking it seemed, walking and turning his head with his signature glare on full blast. Then transitioning to a scene of him turning waves of guys into bloody rain with the stupid-big guns he could use with one arm and him tearing people in half.

Every now and then it would show a scene of him as his old self, his old look that was. Scene of a more human-looking faceplate occasionally flashing back to an entirely inhuman visage, both stained in gore and red. The final scene being a far shot of him looking at the sunrise, surrounded by a field of scrapped cars and Wraiths.

Finally, the vid ended and he blinked. He looked up to see Becca's grinning face.

"Why is there a vid that involves me flexing so much?"

"Look at the comments Davey, you got fangirls."

He paused, and moved the tablet out of the reach of Lucy's cruel fingers.

"Lemme see!" Lucy demanded, and he refused. Holding the tablet even higher. He kept speaking to Becca as she grinned maliciously.

"You are a wicked creature, choom."

Lucy paused in her scampering up his body to get the tablet now raised high into the air. She turned and asked Becca a question.

"What's the site name?"

Becca suddenly lost her smile, and fidgeted.

"Uhh, it's just a random site I found, I dunno." He raised a brow and slowly lowered the tablet so that he and Lucy could check. Lucy raised a foot to stop Becca from approaching and snatching the tablet back.

"...Maxome Mercs Monthly?" He read off the name as Lucy grinned and Becca scampered out of the room. The cat blinked at her, and sauntered after her as she left. He shook his head and handed the tablet off to his input's grabby hands. She tucked herself back into him and he opened up the martial arts vids again.

David was good at going fast, but slow moments were nice too.

—

They were on their way to the security office, where Kagekaze met them in the mornings to discuss their schedules for the day. They had been doing this for a couple days now, so the routine was normal.

When they got there though, there were two guards outside of the office that they didn't recognize. They were standing on the other side of the hall from two of Kagekaze's own underlings, and they looked bored. The four of them slowed down as they approached the office, and stopped to stare at the four guards in the hall.

One of the bored, unfamiliar guards spoke up "Martinez and his crew? The security chief is in a meeting with the president, we're to lead you four to them when you arrive." He clearly wanted to be somewhere else right now.

David looked over at the ninjas in front of Kagekaze's door, one of who nodded tersely in front of the door. What was with all this business?

He nodded a bit reluctantly, and motioned for the others to follow behind him as he walked after the unfamiliar security staff.

They were led into the elevator, and he made sure to stay between them and the others at all times. The guards looked bored, but that didn't mean they were harmless. Those guns came in high calibers.

The elevator ride was tense, and took entirely too long. Soon enough they were in the top floors and being led to the head-honcho's office. There were more guards here. He might be able to flatline them all, but it would be hard. He kept his mental finger on the trigger of his sandy.

The door to the president's office was fairly plain and unassuming. The door opened and they were gestured to move in. David went first, but made sure none of his crew was left behind in the hall before leaving the door frame. He turned to see Kagekaze sitting on the other side of a desk talking to what was presumably the president of Arasaka NC.

David's first impression of the man that Adam wanted dead was 'someone's dad'." He looked like an unassuming, slightly balding Japanese guy. He was a bit stocky, he was wearing a suit and tie, he had a bored expression behind his thick-rimmed glasses. He had no visible chrome lines on his body, but one of his eyes had a chyron currently active.

He looked like a normal, completely average and plain dude. David was suspicious the moment he realized that fully.

This dude was rich enough to afford to look like anything he wanted to. He decided to look as average and uninteresting as possible. That meant he was pulling sneaky shit. Like a smarter Faraday. Fucking hell he hated Faraday, that dumb bastard. He was glad he flatlined that fucker, and regretful that he didn't do it slow enough.

The dude finished whatever he was talking to Kagekaze about, and turned to them. They stopped in the middle of the room and waited for a moment, waiting for him to say something. His mother and Lucy fidgeted behind him, but his stance was rock solid. Just like meeting a client, breathing smoothly and deeply, speaking from the diaphragm, look confident, look firm.

The president eventually spoke to them from his average-looking office chair.

"David Martinez, Lucyna Kushinada, Gloria Martinez, Rebecca Salcedo. We have not spoken yet. I hope your employment under Arasaka Security has been pleasant thus far, despite the unpleasant circumstances behind your employment."

He even spoke like a normal, boring dude. There was almost nothing that stood out about his tone or voice other than how average it was. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to respond here, so he trusted his instincts and stayed quiet. The president continued speaking, without a skip.

"Now, I wanted you here today in hopes of settling the issues found within your contracts. Namely, the fact that Arasaka has not been fulfilling his obligations to your four according to industry standards, which we are the best at. It is our hope here at Arasaka that we can address these issues and avoid potential legal difficulties and future unpleasantness."

David tilted his head in a slightly suspicious manner and narrowed his eyes a tad. He was the only one who signed a contract, and it was with Smasher specifically. That was so that the others could bail if ever they needed to. Alright pres, how are you going to spin this?

"What issues specifically?" He asked.

"The most obvious is the lack of specified benefits and services that we at Arasaka would provide, namely your contracts as it does not provide a health plan, insurance, or indeed any other form of legal support. It is dreadfully inadequate as it stands, and a potential employee of ill-nature may use the numerous loopholes in the document to abuse you four. As the representative of Arasaka NC, this is a grievance I wish to correct."

"One of the biggest issues is the fact that only you, David Martinez, are defined in the document, and your legal protections as few as they are only extend to you in such. Arasaka owes more to its high-performing employees than this, and as such we would like to expand your protections and services, and extend that to include your loved ones."

"Now, if you would like to take a seat, we can revie-"

He was cut off by the door opening suddenly, as he was about to glare at the person at the door, he stopped suddenly. David turned to look.

"Sorry to interrupt, Jugey, but I need to borrow them for a bit."

It was a woman with fluffy black hair with bangs that extended down just a bit past her shoulders. She was wearing a black bodysuit underneath an open suit jacket and suit pants. Her eyes had a hint of dark eyeshadow, and her left arm was an armored cybernetic.

She had a headset on with stylized cat ears.

Flanking her were two others with the same stylized cat ear headsets. They were in the same black bodysuits, probably some sort of lightweight armor, and had a variety of combat accessories. By accessories he meant guns and gear.

David glanced back. The president had a neutral expression on his face, but a hint of furrowed brow.

"Of course Lady Arasaka. May I ask what time they will be available again?"

The now-named 'lady Arasaka' put a finger to her lip and looked up for a few moments.

"No." She replied simply to him, before turning to them and smiling. "Come on, this office is stuffy, we can talk somewhere else."

David didn't really want to be in this office anymore, so he nodded and gestured for the others to follow. Lucy looked relieved to be leaving, Gloria was looking at the newcomer like a hawk, and Becca looked like she was meeting childhood heroes.

They followed the woman, and left the office behind. It was only in leaving that he noticed how much easier it became to breathe afterwards. He made a note to never go in there again if he could avoid it. He turned his attention back towards the woman leading them away.

'Lady Arasaka' huh? He only knew of two Arasakas that were women, and one of them was in Japan. So this was that 'Michiko' lady, Adam's old input or something. He scanned her up and down. So this is Smasher's ideal woman huh? Fluffy black hair and in a bodysuit.

He could see the appeal. Lucy elbowed him, and he turned to her, confused. She glared at him, and he wasn't sure what he did wrong. He made a note to kiss her randomly tonight, that always got her embarrassed.

"So, let's get out of this tower and get something to eat. I haven't gotten breakfast yet, and there's this diner that has the best omelets." The woman spoke. She sounded happy to meet them, but in general…

She sounded tired, tired and just a little bit sad.

David was fine with getting food, he was a bit hungry and he could certainly afford it nowadays. Smasher's jobs paid really fucking well.

They loaded up into a car, again driven by a woman in a bodysuit, but she had actual cat ears instead of them being a headset. The car had one of those backseats in which multiple people could look at eachother from the other side of a pop-out table, two sets of seating facing each other.

She sat on one side, and they piled in on the other side. She spoke once they were all in and the car was driving.

"Allow me to actually introduce myself, I'm Michiko, I'm here on old 'Kaze's request. He asked me to make sure the geezer didn't get his grubby fingers into your four. That and provide extra lessons."

Becca couldn't hold herself back anymore and finally burst. "You founded Danger Gal!" They all turned to her and she half shrank, half expanded in a combination in embarrassment and excitement. "What?! It's Danger Gal! "Bad Guys won't see us coming~." She trailed off as their smirks grew.

Michiko giggled a bit at that. "Always glad to meet a fan of my girls. You're Rebecca, right?"

Rebecca nodded in response, too embarrassed by her earlier outburst but too proud to retract her statement. Michiko turned to them one after another. "And you're Gloria, Lucy, and David, right? My girls have been keeping an eye on you four, and they like to gossip in the breakroom."

"Mooommm~" The driver playfully complained as Michiko gave a small smile at the lighthearted teasing. She spoke to Gloria in a stage whisper "They're not actually my daughters, but they certainly give me headaches like it." Gloria smiled conspiratorially and reached over to ruffle his head, he pulled away from it, grunting. He wasn't about to let his mom mess up his hairdo.

"I know my brat does, at least." Dignified, he grumbled in response.

…He was very glad she was alive.

They made more small talk on the way to the diner. David found himself like this exec much more than the other.