/~Contrario~/
After the mission, the debrief was short and simple. No one seed to be in the mood to drag it out. We'd secured the objective, cleared out the raid zone and extracted clean. It was a good neat job or at least I felt it was.
Jennifer tapped a few panels on her desk before looking up at us with her eyes shining like neatly polished steel.
"The raid funds have been cleared. The total reward is 700,000 Starlos."
From different directions, there were a few low whistles from the squad.
"That would be 100,000 each," she said.
My HUD blinked with the transfer notification.
> 100,000 Starlos credited to your account.
Renn elbowed lightly. "First payday, huh? Not bad for a fluke."
I gave a half-smile, but sothing in the room shifted. It was very subtle. Almost Like a glitch on the edge.
Then it ca.
One of the team mbers, whose na was Lark, the team's sniper, snorted and said just loud enough for everyone to hear, "Too bad the bot earned it, not him."
A sudden pause was in the room, tension made the air feel heavy.
I didn't say a word, it was more like I couldn't say anything. I didn't flinch. I swore I couldn't let them see the small knife he'd slowly just twisted into my chest.
I turned and walked out.
------
The cold night air bit at my skin as I made my way back to Noix Forge with my earbud playing a slow jam in one ear. The marketplace seed quieter now, and the pulse of trade went dim with the hour. The forge still burned though, with the brass-skinned rchant hamring away like to him ti didn't exist.
"Oh it's you again," he grunted.
"I need more gear."
He looked over. "From the look in your eyes, you need more than just gears, you need sothing else too." he said while he made a circle with his left hand and drove one of the other fingers through it, "But let's start with gear."
I just smiled and pulled up the interface, filtering for gears with high synergy with Stray's current build.
The "Kleaver-9" Modular Arm caught my attention. An offensive skill mod that allowed for kinetic channeling through lee strikes. Next to it is the NeuroSpine Relay. A back-mount upgrade that would greatly enhance and speed up Stray's reaction ti and I feel that would improve battlefield coordination with my commands.
I bought them both. The total cost hit hard, but I didn't hesitate.
> -82,000 Starlos
>> Stray Upgrade: Successful
>>> New Skill Unlocked: Kinetic Lunge
The mont Stray accepted the new parts, his fra adjusted, reshaping so parts of his build. He looked stronger now. The faint hum of new power buzzed at my fingertips.
But inside? Inside I still felt...empty.
---
I found myself wandering the city's lower levels.
The neon soon began to fade, getting replaced by several flickering bulbs and damp concrete. I followed the faint echoes of synth music and found myself heading into a cavern bar hidden beneath the city grid.
It was called The Booty Hole.
It was not on any official map. And it looked like the kind of place that found you when you needed to disappear.
I quietly sat in the corner with my hood up and a drink in hand. It was sothing purple that burned my throat and seed to dull the ache behind my ribs.
The bartender didn't ask questions and didn't talk at all after giving my drink. In fact, no one did. That's how you knew you were in the right kind of place if you needed a getaway.
The night seed to move on slowly and at so point, when everyone seed to have gone away, soone sat beside . I didn't even look at them.
"Only one avatar," I said aloud, not really sure why. Maybe I was already under the influence or maybe I just needed to bleed a little.
"One slot," I repeated, holding up a finger. "You know what that ans here? It ans broken. It ans everyone, including the system, has already decided what you're worth."
The drink in my hand trembled.
"Every ti they see coming, it's like they don't see . They see the cursed slot. The failure. None of them, they don't see how I fight to keep up, how Stray and I have continuously bled for this."
I laughed. It was bitter and raw.
"I have to work twice as hard for half their respect. And even when I manage to pull through, it's the bot they applaud. For crying out loud, it's my avatar!"
I finally turned to the stranger beside .
I couldn't make out their faces from under the hood, but their eyes were calm. It seed like they were listening to rant.
"Do you think soone like can win this ga?" I asked, my voice a whisper now. "Do you think I can really win?"
They didn't answer.
Instead, they stood up slowly and stretched out a hand.
"Co on, you've had enough." they said, their voice smooth and genderless. It was calm like the sea before a storm. "You'll never get your way ho if you keep swimming in that bottle."
I hesitated, but after what felt like an eternity, I took their hand.
The city lights shimred above us as we walked the streets of Irish Valley in silence. They didn't ask where I lived. They didn't need to, it was as if they already knew.
We reached a high-rise apartnt I barely rembered buying earlier that day after the post-raid buzz.
Before I could thank them, the stranger vanished down the street, very smooth and silent like fog curling into the night.
I stood alone at my door with Stray looking at from my HUD.
"Let's get stronger," I murmured.
Stray nodded or maybe it was my imagination.
Just as I was about to lay on my bed, a picture kept replaying in my mind. It was sothing I saw for a mont on the stranger that helped .
MXI-V
It didn't make sense. I felt like my mind was toying with and this was the aftermath from drinking too much and I just needed to get to sleep.
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