CHAPTER 19
Despite the fire that had been lit under her ass after seeing Trina hovering on the brink of death, Milo had perhaps the better sense that they wouldn’t be able to head out immediately anyway, and everyone still needed food and rest to make sure they were at their most clear-headed. To that effect he’d chased her off to the showers where she got the first hot water she’d had since leaving Xed’s house. In this case the water was extra therapeutic seeing as how it was also the first shower she’d had since being doused in the chemical rain. True, when they were at the clinic Milo had basically scrubbed every inch of her body down with almost embarrassing thoroughness, but it wasn’t the same as actually washing some of the hundreds of less than pleasant odors out of her hair. The warm water burned on her already raw body, and Milo had cautioned her to take a cool dip, if nothing else, but she didn’t really give a fuck.
In their absence Neptune had given Radar access to the facilities as well, and she had helped him rid his clothes of some of the same horrendous road dirt and flats sludge that had attacked them both over the last few days. Radar seemed to think they were all too fussy, but like Milo had said, you let the filth sink in too long and before you knew it you had a bigger problem than you could handle. Like a bacteria that turned your skin into a black slurry. Necrotizing fasciitis would seriously ruin your month.
Neptune had also scrounged together some relatively decent food, which was impressive considering there were various essential foodstuffs that she had intended to bring back from Yuma, but of course that hadn’t gone down the way she’d intended. Using what had been the alley’s snack stand, she put together some burgers and hotdogs made of synthmeat, and even managed to slap a few real vegetables on the patties. She made a mental note to check into their growing agriculture program to see if there was any way they could increase their crop yield.
They all sat around a big table in front of the old shoe rental stand that was now festooned with weapons. Strategy meetings could leave you lost in thought, and it was never a bad idea to caucus within easy reach of some destructive weaponry. Radar had finally taken off his gloves and trench coat, something she’d only seen happen so far when they’d been busy screwing. He probably would have left his gloves on then too, but Xero had forced him to take them off since the smelly rough leather dragging across her brutalized skin wasn’t exactly a turn on. Xero was finally back in her usual garb—black fishnet shirt covered by a hot pink leather vest that matched Neptune’s shirt, and a ripped pair of black jeans. Her Mohawk was finally gelled right and the neon green strands fanned out in a semicircle around her head. It gave her several extra inches of height, and she always felt more powerful when the Mohawk was at full mast.
The long pipe had still come along with Rader after Xero spent an eternity assuring the guards that it was okay for him to bring it in. Neptune had them trained well, even if she was somewhat annoyed by her enforcer’s not obeying her orders. That was the way they had agreed to train them though—border security was to follow Neptune’s instructions first and foremost, and if there was a good enough reason they could even override Xero’s commands in favor of Neptune’s. Being able to trust the other Grease Weasels was one of the reasons they’d been so successful up to that point.
“Hey there chief, I know we just met and Xero gave you the okay, but you’re on my turf, and policy says no outsiders get weapons around the negotiation table,” Neptune said, trying to use her most diplomatic tone, and motioned towards the pipe with her chin. “If you could just surrender it for the moment, that would be great.”
Radar looked her dead in the eye and said calmly, “No.”
Neptune cleared her throat and looked at Xero who just cocked her head, gauging the situation. From what she’d seen of either of them, she wasn’t actually certain who would come out on top in a fight. She had to squash morbid curiosity for the sake of time and peacekeeping—if circumstances had been different, she wouldn’t have minded watching the two duke it out.
“I trust him—he could have killed me days ago if that’s what he wanted. It’s just a pipe,” Xero said.
Neptune stood up, her face turning red. She had fixed herself up as well, and was wearing a clean hot pink tank top and black cargo pants. Her pixie haircut was spiked up high and a large smear of purple eye shadow ringed her eyes, making them look even bigger than they already were.
Xero put a hand up to Neptune and turned to Radar. “Look dude, I don’t like being unarmed either, but do you think you could do me a solid and just give Neptune the fucking stick?” she said.
He met her eyes, his gaze soft and composed. “No,” he said. “Sorry.”
Neptune took a few steps around the table. “Look buddy, I don’t know who you think you are, but we don’t let a lot of bitches in here and show them this kind of hospitality in the first place, but we especially don’t deal well with rudeness and bullshit. I’m going to give you to the count of three to hand over that fucking pipe peacefully,” she said.
Xero put a hand to her forehead. Neptune wasn’t wrong, and she was being smarter about the situation than Xero had been, but Xero was known for relying on her impressions of people. Her work as a psychiatrist had made her a savvy judge of character, and she was rarely wrong in her assumptions. However, in this time of heightened danger, extra caution was never a bad idea. Still, Neptune was such a fucking hardass, and Xero knew that no intervention would make her cool off. Some things just had to play out.
Neptune counted to three and made a grab for Radar’s pipe that was leaning precariously against the side of his chair. He didn’t try to take it out of her reach. Instead, he just reached back and put his hand around it.
“Neptune, don’t,” Xero said and tried to keep her friend from grabbing the metal pipe, but Neptune was far too fast.
There was a scream as Neptune’s hand made contact with the metal and she fell flat on the floor. Radar stood and backed up a few feet.
“Neptune!” Milo yelled and came around the table to inspect his fallen friend. Neptune was already sitting back up again. She shook her head a few times and blinked her eyes. Xero thought she might be imagining it, but it looked like her already spiky hair was reaching even further towards the ceiling.
“Fuck, I should have warned you about that,” Xero said, fiddling with a spiked dog collar she wore around her neck, wishing she’d remembered Radar’s Taser abilities before Neptune had made such a grab for him.
Milo had pulled a stethoscope out of somewhere and was trying to listen to Neptune’s heart, but she was brushing him off. “I’m alright,” she said and tried unsuccessfully to get up on her own. Milo helped her back into one of the white plastic bucket chairs.
Radar leaned onto the pipe, shifting all his weight onto his right leg. “Sorry about that—didn’t mean to give you quite so much juice. Hard to control when I’m being attacked,” he said to Xero. She rolled her eyes.
Xero stood and folded her arms over her chest. “Can’t you kids fucking play nice?” she said. Radar shrugged in response.
Neptune was still out of, but was slowly coming around. “What in the fuck just happened,” she said.
Xero shook her head at her. “Play with fire, and you get burned,” she said. “I told you Radar would be a worthwhile addition to the team.”
Neptune showed her teeth and sat up so fast that the chair went backwards and smacked into Milo’s knees. “How did he do that,” she said and pointed a finger at Radar’s chest.
Xero looked at Radar, inviting him to explain for himself. “I’ve got a few aftermarket parts,” he said.
Xero watched as the statement percolated through Neptune’s brain, her slowly blinking purple-smeared eyes looking like a poisonous Amazon butterfly flapping in the sun. “No. No, you fucking didn’t,” Neptune said and whirled to Xero.
Xero slammed her palm on the smooth white plastic table hard enough that she heard a crack and thought it may have broken. Plates and beverages
bounced in the air. “That’s enough, Neptune. We’re a team, and I fully trust you with your job as security chief, but I am the fucking leader of this crew, and you need to calm the fuck down,” she said.
Neptune’s face remained fixed in a snarl, but with an angry grunt she sat her ass back in her chair. Neptune wasn’t anyone to mess with, but no one in the room wanted to piss Xero off enough to deserve a physical response. Friend or not, Xero was known for not holding back, and an attack from her was something most people didn’t survive. Milo took his seat as well, knowing better than to interject until things had settled down.
She motioned to Radar who hesitated, but cautiously dragged his chair away from Neptune and sat back down.
Neptune looked like she was literally biting her tongue, and before Xero could get in another word, she slammed her palms down against table, causing another earthquake to rattle through their dinner. “You brought a fucking Cyborg into our territory? Are you out of your mind?!” she said.
Xero stomped her feet lightly against the floor, frustrated with Neptune’s annoying but not unexpected rage. “Look, I totally understand where you’re coming from, but think about it. The government has been falling apart anyway—when’s the last time you saw someone get caught for a cybernetics violation? Hell, come to think of it we’re still violating weapons laws by keeping hold of this laser I brought back from the failed dome run. There’s just been a major terrorist attack—they’ve got bigger fish to fry,” she said.
“Don’t you think that will make them even more likely to be scanning the pits for possible perpetrators?” Neptune said.
Xero shook her head. “In a perfect world, sure, but let’s get serious—they can’t even cover security on their major dome sites. There’s no way they’re going to have the resources to do a major pit sweep,” she said and gave her a rundown on the military staffing issues that caused so many of her adventures on the last run.
“Alright, I’m willing to concede that the game may have changed,” Neptune said. “And if that’s the case, we may want to change our laser policy. Once other groups start figuring out that they’re not scanning for unauthorized weapons anymore, it won’t take long before we’ve got a potential problem on our hands.”
They were used to dealing with isolated groups coming at them with lasers, and they were all trained and prepared for such an event, but if they were on the brink of civil war, they could be dealing with a whole rebel army decked out with lasers and possibly worse. “Agreed,” Xero said. “So, I think that makes a good case for looking at Radar’s…hardware in a different light. Besides, he’s been doing this awhile, and he hasn’t gotten caught yet.”
Radar gave one quick nod. “I learned the hard way what will get you iced, and what will keep you safe. I’ve got everything set up to where it’s very difficult to detect anything. You’d basically need to chop me up and start pulling things out before you’d suspect anything,” he said and then averted his gaze. “And most of the people that get a taste of that electricity don’t get to see the light of day again.”
Xero stored that fact in her memory—the Taser thing was no cheap parlor trick after all.
Milo was staring at Radar in fascination. “I’ve always wanted to examine a cyborg,” he said.
Radar shifted uncomfortably and swallowed audibly. “I’m not really a cyborg—I just have a few extra pieces is all,” he said.
Milo seemed to suddenly realize what an awkward statement he’d just made and blushed. “I don’t mean any offense or anything, I mean just as our doctor, I need to have an understanding of any conditions or unique physiology that would come into play should you become injured and require attention,” he said.
Xero cleared her throat. “Okay, so you guys can go over that stuff later or something, first thing’s first—are we cool here?” she asked.
“No,” Neptune said coldly, but with less anger. “I know you always trust your instincts on these things, but I’m not kosher with some human cattle prod that won’t respect my rules just trampling all over the place like he owns the joint. Meanwhile, we don’t even know who the fuck he is or what he wants.”
“You can trust what Xero means when she says that if we had wanted to kill each other, there would have been plenty of opportunity already. There’s nothing I could gain but death by coming in here and starting a fight,” he said.
Neptune rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah, so that’s why you come in here and try to piss me off? You have a death wish?” she said, leaning forward and narrowing her eyes they were just slits.
“No. I just have my own codes that I live by, for the same reasons you do. I apologize for our conflicting policies having caused us friction within the group, but I hope we can come to an understanding. I think we could be mutually beneficial to each other,” he said.
Milo crossed his legs and put his hands palm up on the table. “There’s one simple solution to this mess. Well, not really simple, but it’s standard if you’re actually talking about letting him into the Grease Weasels for real,” he said.
Xero grimaced. “The A+? Ugh, do you really want to deal with that mess right now, with all that other shit going on,” she said.
He ruffled his hair. “Not really, but if it will pacify Neptune and keep the peace, it might be worth it. To be honest, it will make me feel more relaxed in the end too,” he said.
Radar looked back and forth between everyone at the table. “What are we talking about here?” he asked.
Xero sucked air through her teeth. “So you know that we manufacture Alphamine as one of our primary products. In the process of synthesizing it we came across a lot of other compounds, some more useful than others. As I’m sure you’re aware, Alphamine does a lot of things—including inducing euphoria, mild hallucinations, and increased lung function. One of the compounds we produced on accident was something of a super-powered truth serum based on the same Alphamine molecules. Only problem is it has some unwanted side effects, like making you trip balls for the rest of the evening. And instead of euphoria, some people, okay most people, become hypersensitive to pain. To top it off, the increased lung function effect carried across too, but without modulation that can actually lead to respiratory distress and a whole bunch of other nasty side effects. In short, it’s really effective as a truth serum, but it can be damned uncomfortable,” she said.
Neptune glared at Radar. “Milo’s never let anyone kick the bucket or anything like that, and it is damned nasty shit, but it’s always been a requirement for anyone wanting to join our inner circle. Hasn’t failed us yet,” she said and raised an eyebrow. “So, are you in?”
It really wasn’t a great time to be putting one of their important enforcers down for at least the night, but they did have a point about safety. But, if Radar survived a trip on the A+ they would have a pretty good idea that he really could be trusted as a true ally. The process was so horrific they almost never subjected anyone to it unless they wanted to give them access to really sensitive materials.
Radar ignored Neptune and looked directly at Milo. “Pain I can deal with, but if you kill me, I’d be pretty displeased. You sure you can keep that from happening?” he said.
Milo gave one confident nod. “Absolutely. No one has ever passed away during an A+ screening. I’m good at what I do. Really good,” he said.
Radar slapped his thigh a few times. “Against my better judgment, I’ll agree to this, just for the sake of group unity. A team that doesn’t trust each other is a disaster waiting to happen—it’s one of the reasons why I prefer to work alone,” he said and shot another look at Milo. “Looks like you’re going to get your wish after all.”
Milo smiled in excitement and tried to wipe the eagerness off his face, but only partially succeeded. “I assure you I’ll be nothing but professional,” he said.
Neptune was grinning and tapping her fingers together. “Excellent. Milo can administer the drug and monitor his vitals, and I’ll take care of the interrogation
part,” she said.
Xero gave an exasperated sigh. “Reign it in Neptune, you’re looking like more of a sadist than me, and that’s a fucking scary thing,” she said.
Radar scanned around the table and groaned. “What have I gotten myself into?” he said.
CHAPTER 20
Someone had to stay behind and watch headquarters while Neptune and Milo were down at the medical center again, and though she hated to admit it, she kind of wanted privacy for talking with Xed initially again. Everyone was more on edge than usual, particularly Neptune who had a penchant for speaking before thinking, and the last thing they needed to do was piss off Xed. Neptune was a genius at what she did, but Xero also liked keeping her around because Neptune made her look calm and level headed. Xero had once made a joke that Neptune was actually more Mercurial than Neptunic. Neptune hadn’t cared for it, and the rest of the day was lost to a machete fight.
After verifying that the perimeter guards were up to date and sufficiently on watch, she descended to the back room of the main bowling alley. At one point it had been the office for the establishment, but they had transformed it into their main communications room. It looked like a souped up version of what was in the back store room of the restaurant in Gila Bend. Every inch of the sound-proofed room was covered with blinking equipment in various states of functioning. Neptune was constantly finding bits and pieces of new and old tech scraps on their journeys, and she brought them back to the command room for use as new broadcasting or receiving devices. After the satellite harvests, communication became a serious problem that they were constantly dealing with.
It took a few tries, and after accidentally snapping off a few antennas she was sure Neptune would have a fit about later, Xero made contact with Xed.
“Glad to hear you made it back safely,” he said.
“Glad to hear that you haven’t died in a giant explosion,” she said.
He was silent, then said, “Yes, I think we’re all on edge after Yuma. There hasn’t been any further reports about the motives for the attack. I assume you have no news about Calavera?” he said.
Under Dark Sky Law Page 17