Chapter 3: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
They had finally made it to the boss man's office. In truth, the building that they were in was utterly underwhelming. The whole place seemed to model a military structure, rather than the decadence and excess most corporations would have.
"What's the name of the Chief?" Helen asks to end the silence.
"Alexander Volkov… He's also known as Aegis." Ethan state's
"What did he do to earn the nickname Aegis?" Helen asks
"That is a story for another time," Ethan says with a smile.
Then again you didn't need guards when every person walking the halls of the building was an arguable weapon of mass destruction. Sure there were cameras and turrets all throughout the place, however. From what she has seen it couldn't stop the average members of this company.
"We are here," Ethan says touching the data pad next to a door.
The door itself was utterly bland and indifferent from all of the others, almost seeming like it was meant to convey that everyone here was equal.
The door slid open and Helen stepped in.
The office of the Night City Max Tac division chief was utterly full of holographic displays. Projecting the views of cameras all over the city and radio's listening into the NCPD and Fire rescue Channels.
That was until the displays is turned off and the radios were silenced. Then a behemoth stood up from his chair.
The man stood around six foot two, with naturally dark hair with streaks of silver running through it. While in truth it was his weary eyes which showed his age and experience.
"I wish to compliment you on how you handled John. It was rather amusing." The man says
"I couldn't just kill the kid though I wish he was the type to learn from mistakes," Helen states
The man stood up and leaned on the desk laughing heartily. The low light glinting off of his Gorilla arms.
"So Helen Wick… Our corporate overlords at the home office sent me the biggest file transfer I have ever received once I was told that you would be joining the force here."
"Let me guess you read none of it?" Helen asks with a smirk.
"Ha! You got that right. I just wanted to meet you in person and get an impression for myself before I read all of the ai generated crap they got about you." Alexander says
Helen nods before pausing slightly.
"You alright?" Alexander asks
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." Helen says rubbing her shoulder where she was shot earlier.
"That's good, so we function similarly to a fire department. When you are on call you will have a bunk here. When you are not, the company has found an apartment for you in mega building H4." Alexander admits
"My car's… My Husband's car? What about my things?" Helen asks
"It's all been delivered though you have an entire floor of the garage to yourself." Alexander.
"Right, so do I have any training or do I just show up for work?" Helen asks
"Do you really need any training?" Alexander asks adjusting his massive trench coat.
"No, however, more training never hurts," Helen admits.
"Maybe after you see our ripper doc," Alexander says
"Hard no there. I already have one of my own and I do not trust corpo rippers." Helen says fiercely.
"Fair point, who's your doc?" Alexander asks
"I am going to say this just once. If you fuck with my doc. You fuck with me, people who fuck with me dont live long." Helen growls.
"Message received, it wont be noted anywhere I am just curious." Alexander says
"Viktor Vektor in Watson," Helen says
"Alright warning received, just come and talk to me if you feel like you ever need to cut loose we could let you into dog town shit goes down in the old combat zone." Alexander says sitting back down.
"Thank you, Alexander." Helen says
"Call me Alex or Aegis. I'll send a message with your hours sometime next week maybe. Ya should know how government work is by this point." Alexander says with a smirk as his eyes light up.
*Data transfer downloading*
Apartment address and access key: received
"That is some scary self ICE you're packing," Alexander says
"Thanks still got some ideas on how to improve it." Helen says
"Netrunner too Huh, well anyways go out and get used to the city I expect you here next week," Alexander says
"It will be a pleasure," Helen says with a standard customer service smile
==============
Ethan jolts as the door slams open and Helen marched out.
The human-looking borg looked angry and slightly psychotic
"Bathroom NOW," Helen whispers rather loudly.
"Right away please follow me," Ethan says though rather relieved that Helen wasn't about to go psycho and kill everyone. Sure Max Tac regularly hired cyberpsycos however none of them have relapsed yet and gone on a killing spree since they had gotten help.
Ethan started off in the direction of the bathroom the corridor which seems to have held the offices almost seems longer this time though that might have been the feeling of the world collapsing around her.
The lights on panels flashed strangely and the occasional beep and boop from the different systems caused her to twitch because of the clear unfamiliarity.
==================
Helen was staring at the mirror hands on the sink at the edge of a panic attack.
Once she had caught her breath she pulled back the collar of her shirt looking at where the bullet had hit her. She was bleeding from the skin breaking slightly however the subdermal plating had stopped it from doing anything besides cosmetic damage…
There was Just One Problem.
She felt the pain. The slight pinch from the skin being broken and the usual rawness when she poked at it.
"Fuck!" Helen shouts only for everything to go dark.