Corpo Age Chapter 4: Mercenaries

The day after my seamless infiltration, I returned to the sa gabuilding in the early morning. This ti, I could effortlessly get access to the building cara again and also a clear view of the inside of the unit thanks to the cara I had planted yesterday.

From the cara, I watched as my target woke up and brewed coffee in his open kitchen before he retreated to his room. Imdiately, I entered the unit the sa way I had done so previously. I found his freshly brewed coffee and poured so of the special laxatives I had received specifically for the job right into it.

The laxative would apparently have the man glued to the washroom for the next week and drain him of strength that would take another week to recover from. That ti period coincidentally coincided with his football ga. It’d be pretty impressive if he even had enough stamina to play ball, not to talk about performing well.

While I had felt a little bad as the man had done nothing wrong, at least from what I knew, but a job was a job.

With my objective complete, I smoothly retrieved the caras and exited his unit. How naturally it felt to move around silently felt slightly off-putting, but it showed that the points I had spent in stealth really paid off.

Once I left, I returned to my apartnt safely and called Fitel. After the second ring, the call connected.

“Mr. Halls, congratulations on a job well done. If you would send the account you would like to send the paynt to, I can have the paynt deposited imdiately.”

“...Did I tell you my last na? And don’t we need to wait and confirm the laxative worked first?”

“I apologize if I offended you, but in my line of business, it is often wise to know who we are working with. And as for your other question, your target has contacted their employer that they will be absent due to illness, and my other sources have also confird this, which ans the job is complete,” Fitel explained in his usual relaxed rhythm.

“...I see, here, I just sent you the account information,” I answered.

“Yes, I have received it. You should receive the paynt shortly.” I opened my account using my terminal in my apartnt and confird my balance had increased by 2,000 credits.

It was more than I had made for two weeks of work, all from two days of work. I could see why rcenaries were so common. It was an accessible job to anyone who would take the risks. Otherwise, you would have to settle for a dead-end job like mine.

“One more thing, Mr. Halls. I have found your performance satisfactory and have another job lined up for you. The job will require a lot of your ti, as you will be surveilling a target for a few days to up to a week. You will have to take so ti off or quit your current job. In return, you can expect 1000 credits per day with room for bonuses. Do you find this agreeable?”

“Yes, I’ll do it. I’ll have to start tomorrow though,” I answered without hesitation, goodbye crappy job. I won’t miss you.

“Very well, I will have the job details sent to you. Have a good day Mr.Halls,” Just like last ti, Fitel seamlessly ended the call once the business discussions were done.

The mont the call ended, a familiar-looking text appeared in my view.

10 EXP

What…? Had I ended up killing soone? The guy I poisoned?

No, it could also be for completing the job, or for incapacitating my target. This was sothing I should look into more when I had the chance. Right now it was faster and easier to kill despicable criminals.

I pulled up my status as I reflected on the events that went by in a blur for the past few days.

Status

Level:

1

EXP:

20/100

Musculoskeletal:

11

Neural Reflex:

15

Visuomotor Coordination:

12

Endurance:

8

Sensory Perception:

12

Upgrade Points:

Upgrades:

Stealth 3Hacking 3

Enhancents:

null

Just as I was ready to take a nap, I realized sothing…

I still have to call my boss and tell him I am quitting!

I spent a week doing the surveillance job. The only exciting part was at the start, where I set up the caras, and at the end when I retrieved them. I spent all the other ti looking for ways to kill ti.

Though it was boring, it paid well, so I didn’t have too many complaints except for the fact I had received no experience points for completing the job.

During that ti, I had ssaged Flo about the establishnts that other rcenaries usually hung out in. She had sent the information for the ones she knew and had invited to one she and Erza usually went to celebrate completed jobs. It was a bit far away, located in District 10, while my place was in District 8.

This was why we held it off until I had finished the week-long job before we t up at the bar, Haven.

When I stepped inside, neon lights shone brightly around the spacious bar. The open area around the bar counter had a lot of seats spread around. There were private rooms surrounding the bar in the middle. I could see through the glass walls where people sat and chatted, while so rooms had the glass walls blurred or completely opaque, which blocked it from view.

The place was packed, with many people sporting cybernetic limbs or so with weird-looking eyes that looked like tal snow goggles that lded into their skulls. Others had builds that were so unnaturally large I doubted much of their bodies were organic anymore.

Despite the vast array of flashy-looking individuals, it hadn’t taken long before I spotted Flo waving her maroon-colored cyberarm from a table off to the side. At her table, I spotted Erza sitting beside her along with two others, a man and a woman.

The man was of a dium build with dark brown hair, and sitting there beside Erza probably made him smaller than he actually was. There weren’t any distinguishing features about the man besides the fact that he sat there hugging a huge rifle in one arm while he had a beer in the other.

The woman looked particularly small compared to the others sitting at that table, but otherwise looked to be a normal woman with light blue hair, tied into a ponytail. She had an ample figure that shone through the long coat she wore. She sat down low on the lounge chair lazily, looking bored.

I waved as we made eye contact and made my way over to their table across the busy room. Though it was rowdy, it wasn’t loud enough that we couldn’t hold a conversation once I was at the sa table.

“Hey, Flo,” I said as I sat down on the empty seat closest to .

“Hey, how’s it going co? Finally done that job you were doing?”

“Yeah, I’ve been doing a lot better now that I actually have so savings. Are these people your crew?” I said as I looked over the two new faces.

“Right, introductions, sorry ‘bout that. The guy’s Max, our overwatch, and the bitch is Liz. Don’t mind her, she’s always like that unless she’s doing a gig.”

I nodded over at the two of them, “Nice to et you, I’m Rollo.”

Liz’s eyes dimd and glanced over before she returned glow lit up once more and she resud staring blankly at the ceiling. Max was more enthused and gave a return nod before staring daggers into Flo.

“Don’t forget ‘bout my wife’s introduction,” Max returned his gaze to . “Flo and Erza had talked about you. Glad to etcha. Anyway, on a more important note, this here is Lucy.” He held the rifle up for to see before pulling it towards him to give it a kiss.

“Buzz off, you’re making my drink taste bad,” Flo retorted.

“What was that?”

As Flo got into an argunt with Max, Erza leaned toward and whispered, “Sorry about that, don’t mind them. This happens all the ti. It’s just what happens when a bunch of weirdos like them gather.”

Flo abruptly paused mid-sentence and turned toward us, “But at least I’m your favorite weirdo.”

Erza leaned over and gave Flo a quick kiss and grinned. “That you are.”

As if proud of the fact that her point was proven, Flo flashed a gloating grin.

“Oh, so you guys were together. I should’ve known, considering how happy you guys looked together.”

“Yep, we’ve been full-ti for three years now. Anyway, as you can see, Haven here is where we normally hang out before or after jobs. There are a few other common rc spots as well, but Haven is the one geared more towards the rcs who’ve been doing well.”

At Flo’s words, I took another look at the venue, and then at the prices on the nu, which clearly reinforced what she had said. Even the cheapest drink would cost my entire day’s earnings from working at the convenience store.

“Don’t worry about it. I got you covered tonight. By the way, this may be a bit sudden, but how ’bout you join us on a little gig tonight?” Flo said as she gave a pat on the back that staggered a little.

“Oh, you have a job tonight? No need to worry about . I just wanted to have a look now that I’m in the business as well.”

“Ha, it’s just a small gig we usually wouldn’t even bother with, so don’t sweat it. I only took it outta habit, felt weird coming here if we weren’t prepping or celebrating a job. As a smaller gig, it won’t pay too much, though. Your cut would be about 7,000 creds. You in?”

“What’s the job?” With the pay the sa as my week-long job, it was hard to resist.

“Just a simple eliminating so targets. Don’t worry too much about it intern. As I said, I got you covered tonight.”

I sighed at the thought of how easily I caved. “Okay, I’m in.”

Once we had left Haven, we got into Flo’s car, which was basically an armored van with more than enough room for eight people, and we were only five.

I wasn’t even sure what the plan was yet, since Flo simply replied that it was a simple job that didn’t really need any prep and to just follow her lead.

“So where are we going and who are we eliminating again?” I spoke to the person sitting in front of , Liz, who was likely just as clueless as I was. anwhile, Max seed preoccupied with checking his rifle over.

“Oh, it’s just so poser gang that took over so old building that is slated for demolition. Suckers refused to get out, so we just needa flatline them all. Best part is since the building is scheduled to be destroyed, we won’t have to care about collateral damage.”

While a frontal assault wasn’t sothing I specialized in or wanted to be part of, with these guys who seed to be experienced here, it should probably be okay just for tonight…

“So is it just us, against an entire gang?” I couldn’t help but confirm.

“Yeah, we usually have one more in our crew, a computer geek, but he isn’t really needed here. And you know how them geeks are, still always yapping non-stop as if they were still corpos. We’re more than enough to snuff out 20 or 30 posers with just us.”

“Right…So what’s the plan?”

“Ha, as if we’d need one for this, even just Max boy here could take them out by himself.”

I turned over to the person ntioned, but he was already gone. An empty seat where he once was, and the backdoor completely open while the car continued to move. I could see the road behind us constantly receding and the backdrop of the city.

What the hell! Did he jump out of a moving car?

Before I could ask questions, the car violently jerked, accompanied by the sound of crashing into sothing. The seatbelt pressed into so tightly that I had trouble breathing until it loosened.

“What the hell happened?!” I looked back toward the front as I heard the car door open. Flo and Erza were already standing outside when they turned back to reply.

“We’ve arrived. Ti to do our job.”

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