25 The Birth of the Brotherhood
I chose to forgo New Years at El Coyote Cojo in favor of a trip to Afterlife that had Jackie damn near bouncing off the interior of my truck in glee. Personally I find that there are a thousand better watering holes and drug dens in the city, not finding the intersection of Corpo cost cutting exposed HVAC, meets morgue, meets low energy bar that we descended into interesting.
Guess some would find the rotting trash people laying around the actual rotting trash left out charming. Hipsters probably. Me, if I saw people doing shit like this in the barrio I'd make them carry it to the nearest dumpster no matter how far away nor how involved they were in letting it sit there in the first place.
Maybe it's a physical manifestation of the down and dirty nature of the biz going down in Afterlife for the approach to be both down and dirty. Visual story telling at its finest but fucking disgusting in real life.
The doors were manned by a thick gonk in a heavy leather coat, his jaw and nose protected by implants. Likely necessary with the amount of sucker punches he's eaten over the years.
"Right on the nose with you, huh?" he grunted as he saw me.
"Big Juan." I nodded.
The doorman's eyes lit up as he called us in, "Got the biggest spic I've ever seen here… Mhum. Got'cha. Biz ran long. Enjoy yourselves while she wraps things up."
The doors opened, and the blue and green lit club was certainly more popping than I'd ever seen it in game, filled with people finishing out the year. Most of the people were likely the very goons employed by the many fixers hosted by Rogue Amendiares, the reigning Queen of the Fixers and of the Afterlife.
Jackie and I worked our way though the bumping and grinding crowd to the bar where he extolled the virtues of the asses that graced these seats before us. Likely true too as I doubt Rogue left much behind at the original Afterlife when she moved the club to Watson from the City Center.
Would have been a crime to leave the stools behind.
The familiar face of Claire Russell worked behind the counter, but much of her focus was taken up with a grease monkey with a scar through his eyebrow. She did eventually make her way over to us.
"Two Moscow Mules, but Jackie over here takes his special." I grinned and gave him his que.
"Nothing too crazy," he smiled, "Just a splash of love."
"That's a good one." Claire let out a genuine laugh, "What do I call that?"
"A Jackie Welles." he answered and her smile faded away.
Claire turned her head to me, "That make you Big Juan Welles?"
"I didn't think my reputation preceded me." I nodded to her.
"We hear all sorts here. It's how legends get made. Nothing but nonstop gossip." Claire told us, "A lot of people who know better say to never fuck with Big Juan Welles."
"Sounds like there are more wise people in this city than I'd imagined." I smiled softly as I relished that fear behind her eyes making her back tense and straight.
"Let me go get those drinks." Claire stepped away and Jackie slapped me on the arm.
"Finally getting the respect you deserve, hermano!" Jackie howled, "It may not be on every lip, but those who got their ear to the ground heard of you."
"About time." I slapped him back, gently obviously, "I'm a legend three times over, but somehow stumbled at that final threshold to infamy."
The Moskow Mules showed up in their little copper mugs sans mint leaves, but mint leaves are for pussies. Or make pussies. Mint kills testosterone. The more you know, chooms. I did appreciate the inclusion of a wedge of cloned lime. These sorts of things are finally trickling down to the rest of us, and should be pretty cheap in the next couple of years. Places with connections like Afterlife getting them a bit earlier than the rest of the city. Still need to stay away from vegetables though as most of it is soy chemed up to taste and feel like something else. Of all the crops to not get targeted for destruction by evil governments and corporations fucking soy had to be one of the few to survive.
Claire came back with our fizzy drinks, ice cold and with some authentic feeling ginger kick. The fake it food and drink industry really impresses me, always improving. Looking for that next big thing. Like Arasaka and Militech with killing people, but positive.
"Mr. Welles, Rogue is ready to see you." came the voice of Weyland came from behind me.
The tough bodyguard was tense as well, something I felt no need to ease now that I've finally earned it beyond my bulk.
"Alright Jackie, gotta go see the Queen." I told my brother, "Have fun but don't agree to any biz. Anyone pushing gigs tonight while the clientele are busy getting drunk and high has no good intentions."
"In agreement wit dat, man." Weyland nodded, "But biz is always looking for Rogue's attention."
I nodded and the pair of us went back to the Queen's court. Not a private section of the club, but a space with only one visible entrance and exit and a pair of neon steps to ascend. A low wraparound couch around a metal island thick enough to serve as solid cover to someone of Rogue's build. I'd just look hilarious trying to hide behind it, but that's true of most things. She kept a bevy of screens and holo projectors lit up with information pouring in so fast she'd need a Sandevistan to read it.
The 'door' man stepped aside and I slid down along the couch she kept open for biz across from her hangers on.
"Let's get to biz. I want to get to the party sometime before midnight." Rogue started, obviously a while since her last meal.
"Then it is good that my biz is fairly simple." I agreed, "I want to put out a full muster for edgerunners in the city. Get an offer out to all of them."
"I'm not helping you organize your next big massacre." Rogue shook her head and my Street Cred shot up a level.
I quickly assigned ten points to Driving to max it out, two to Speech, three to Sneak, and one point to Survival so that all my skills under the sacred number reached 69.
"So my reputation really does precede me." I mused then grinned, "But, no. I don't intend to orchestrate a great killing of the edgerunners. Lord knows I'd walk away with a sour taste in my mouth when the news media reports it as… I'd don't even know. Been an AI, Arasaka, now Militech. Who's left? Aliens? Seems like something they'd come up with at this point. Anyway, back to biz. There's a war on. Should kick off tomorrow. Free States versus the NUSA all for the glory of Militech and the better testing of their new product line. It is an opportunity."
"Of course it is." Rogue scoffed, "Lotta eddies to be made with your company, but that's not what a Chrome Junkie like you is really after on the battlefield. All that power under that fake skin. You want to use it. Chase that high that you just can't get anymore zeroing bangers and mercs."
"You should charge more for your services. The psychiatrist portion is missing from your reputation." I chuckled and I operated my hand slowly, "You greatly overestimate the neural load of my chrome. Custom set made by the greatest mind this city has ever seen. Works together seamlessly, no prodding at parts of the brain that shouldn't be. The part of me that loves the violence is all ganic. Born that way, senora, or made that way growing up in this city. Don't know for sure. Don't really care."
"Just get on with it." Rogue demanded as she leaned back with an arm crossed under her chest while the other held out a cigarette one of her groupies lit.
"If you hear people talk about edgerunners today, they'll all agree that the new blood just doesn't have what made your generation great. That there's something fundamentally missing, that you all knew something we don't. Bullshit." I said it with my chest, "I'm going to start a new age of edgerunning. Put out the word to everyone that wants to be someone hard enough to die for it. Chrome, Gear, Training, I've got it all. Everything a runner could ever want. If they have the heart to reach out and take it, they'll find it all in one place. My brotherhood of iron, diving into this crucible of a war to become steel."
"Fine." Rogue agreed after deliberating only a short time.
"Welles Arms factory in Santo Domingo. Ten days from now." I informed her.
Rogue took a drag then exhaled before speaking, "Go. I'll get the deets out to everyone. You'll be up to your eyeballs in dreamers and psychos.
I stood and made my way back out to find Jackie standing on the bartop singing 'Never Fade Away' karaoke. Like a good brother I grabbed another mic from Claire and joined him. Was the start of a damn fine night.
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Juan channels the power of his D. to usher in a new era, and we enter into the second arc of the story, The Brotherhood of Steel.
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