Broker Brook

"So, what's your bro do? He a regular working joe or a solo like you?"

"He's a solo, dunno why anyone would hire him but that's how it is... That's enough about me though! I wanna hear from our junk-man," she leans forwards, looking at Six, "No offence Ori, but hearing more about your past is a major downer."

He shrugs, "S'fine, not like I wanna remember it either."

Rebecca sends a dull look at him, "Ugh, even hearing you talk about not talking about it is making me feel bad..." she turns back towards Six, "So, lemme guess, your mom was a princess and your pops was a sentient janitor-bot?"

Six folds his arms and frowns at her, not responding.

"Hmph, no one likes quiet-emo guys like you." she huffs into her drink.

"Not everyone's as extroverted as you, 'Becca." Ori pauses, "Head's up, Q's comin'." he says, prompting everyone to look over the Mox leader strides over.

"Good to see you guys having fun, but playtime's over, time to start some real biz." she states as she slides a shard onto the table, which Rebecca immediately snatches up.

Her eyes glow as she plugs it into her port, afterwards turning to Susie, "Jeez, you aren't lying about 'real biz' huh?" she slides the shard to Six, "Weren't you the one saying you didn't want a gang war? Now you're sending up into the Tyger's den..."

"If you'd take the time to look through everything you'd see that I'm not sending you on a suicide mission."

"I looked at it." Rebecca snootily folds her arms.

"'Looked at' doesn't mean read, one of the many reasons we kicked your white ass out." Susie s shakes her head in exasperation, "Kuroda Yasushi, Data Broker who likes to play 'neutral', worked with us occasionally."

Ori inputs the shard and looks through the data provided. It showed the basic map of Kabuki, specifically the Eastern part near the shore where a small shanty town sat. It was separated from the other parts of Kabuki via colour shading. On the side the meaning of the colours were displayed, turquoise for Mox territory, and red for Tyger Claw.

Looked like the entire shanty town belonged to the Tygers, which surprised Ori given how close it was to Lizzie's Bar, the headquarters for the Mox. "I'm guessing you want us to capture this 'Kuroda', unless you're saying you want the shanty town burned...?"

"That don't sound like a rejection..." she mutters in consternation, "But no, that slum can stand for now. I do want that broker captured though, piece of shit sold us lies which got some of my girls killed."

"You sure it was intentionally malicious?" Ori questions.

She nods firmly, "Oh definitely. Girls got ambushed the moment they went anywhere, so either he is sketch, or his data is. Either way, I want him brought here in chains, maybe with his legs broken if he struggles too much."

"So, you want us to march into Tyger Claw turf, kidnap one of them, and drag him out without flatlining him, or getting zeroed in the process..." Rebecca drawls sceptically.

"Yeah, why? You not good enough?" she rubs her fingers together, "I'll pay the guy's weight in Eddies." she incentivises.

Rebecca just responds with a half-lidded glare, "You're asking a girl with full-body Mox tats..."

Susie blinks couple times, "Oh... Right..." she shrugs after a moment of pause, "Just wear some more clothes then, if you get caught it's your fault for just wearing a jacket over underwear."

"Tsk, you know that stuff rubs me the wrong way." she retorts.

"The job or the clothes...?"

"Both!"

Susie rubs her face and turns towards the Ori and Six, "You boys up for it? Since it seems Rebecca's getting cold feet."

"I never said I wouldn't take it!" the pale-chibi exclaims.

Ori glances at Six, specifically the lower-quality Cyberware he'd been forced to install, "We'll take it... If it's worth the pay."

Susie folds her arms and leans against the wall of the booth, "Hm, how's seven K each sound?"

Ori's eye twitches, "Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of us getting shot to death by an army of angry Tygers." he drawls.

"Funny. Seven and a half." Susie neutrally responds.

"Nine and we've got a deal, we get the broker back alive and hopefully not implicate the Mox as we do it." he states with finality.

...

Susie holds her arms up while showing her palms, "Fine, but if you bring back a corpse you get three K each. Two if the Tygers come knocking at the door."

"Sounds good to me." Ori says while glancing at the other two who nod in acknowledgement. "Right, guess we'll get on it then." he stands. There wasn't any point of headed back home to get extra gear. This was an infiltration in and out job, no need to bring the big guns, indeed, it'd probably just make the job harder.

"I'll see you then. Try to not die, or if you do, don't mention the Mox." she gives a brief wave and walks away.

"Hag." Rebecca quietly spits at her back.

"So, first thing's first, let's get you some actual pants." Ori states, looking at her.

...

"S'long as you're buying..."

----------------

"Did you have to pick these...?" Rebecca complains, pulling at the old, itchy jogging bottoms he'd bought for her.

"You said I'm paying, I paid, bare minimum." Ori sniggers as they walk towards the shanty town.

"You really don't know how to treat a girl... This was like the perfect opportunity to get your flirt on!"

"No, otherwise I'd be trying to get your pants off, instead of on..." he counters, eyes scanning her face for the usual redness.

"Hmph! If you think that's enough to get a rise outta me, you're dead wrong!"

*Slap!*

He palms her ass, causing her to skip forward with a big blush spreading across her face, "W-what the fuck was that!?" she pauses, staring at him.

"What?" Ori questions innocently.