Chapter Forty-Two - Trash Panda Feelings

"As we modernise, it's become increasingly obvious that the youngest generations are lacking crucial, real-world communication skills. Small talk is becoming harder. Connections are more difficult to establish.

More notably, the time and opportunity for people to improve on these skills, meet new people, and create bonds is shrinking. More work is remote. Open gathering spaces are less common. Our new society isn't designed to encourage community.

And this will have a powerful impact on any new society's abilities to rebel.

A counter-culture needs to start from the roots, from people who are tired and want to see change, and who are willing to work together to achieve it. This new world we're developing is stomping on the very foundations that rebellion needs to function."

--A Study of Sociology and Rebellion, 2028

***

Things finally calmed down around the same time as the Family arrived. And when they arrived, they really made a show of it. Seven heavy vans, escorted by a trio of light combat vehicles. Enough spotlights to turn the dreary tunnel street into a bright-as-day space.

The Family settled off to one side, and then the doors to their vans opened up and the teams within dispersed. It was all orderly and careful, soldiers with clear training moving in a predetermined, practised way.

I decided to stand aside. Eventually, one of them would come over to brown-nose, but for now, I could leave them to it.

Which meant that I had nothing better to do than annoy Rac and her friends.

The group was backing away, letting the cops and newly arrived Family take care of the Sunrise PMCs. So Rac and her friends were all standing next to one of the still-burning APCs, and it looked like Rac was being raked across the coals by Garter.

"Hey, Gom," I said. "I'll be back in a minute or two. Just gonna check on Rac."

"Sure," Gomorrah said. "I'll direct the Family. I don't want them stumbling into a trap."

I nodded my thanks, then started walking towards Rac and her... team? Did they have a team name? I couldn't remember them mentioning one, and I was afraid that if I asked about it, it might come off as corny.

My ears twitched as I got closer. Garter was clearly not happy about something. "If we'd known, it would have changed everything," he said.

Rac crossed her arms, but she wasn't meeting his eyes. I knew that look. She wanted to stand up to him, knew he was wrong, but was afraid of pushing back too hard. "It shouldn't change anything," she said.

"Of course it does," Garter said. He swiped a hand through his hair. "You know a samurai. Two of them! Maybe more? That's... huge? Do you know the kind of rep that comes with that? The kind of doors it opens up?"

"Garter, chill a little," Coco said. "It's cool that Rac has friends in high places, but they're her friends, not ours."

"Cat's not like that," Rac said. "She'd figure out that you're trying to scam her right away."

"Scam her? No, I just want to be her friend too. There is so much to gain from just knowing a samurai. After tonight, our rep is going to be damned solid. We can lean into that, grow the crew, get Millenium to give us a few more jobs that pay better. We can take more careful risks if we have a samurai to fall back on like tonight."

"Cat won't rescue us that often," Rac said. "She's on vacation right now. I think it's the only reason she came."

"Wait, this is vacation?" Coco asked with a gesture to the street and the carnage laid out across it. The motion was why she was glancing my way and saw me coming.

She wasn't the first. Jerusalem was staring already, but it looked like he'd elected not to let his team know.

"I am on vacation," I said. "At least until I don't feel like it anymore, or I run out of points to spend, which at this rate is gonna happen sooner than I'd like," I said as I came up behind the group.

Garter jumped and spun around. "Ah, Miss Stray Cat."

"Just Stray Cat," I said. "Or Cat, if you're a friend."

"Cat then," he said.

"You're not a friend," I pointed out.

Garter's jaw worked, but he wisely chose to keep his mouth shut as I turned my attention to Rac.

I nodded to the side. "Can we chat?"

Rac nodded, then practically scampered after me as I moved on. We left her friends behind and relocated closer to one of the walls alongside the road. There was an actual bike and pedestrian path, which was kind of weird to find in an underground street. Maybe it was for the few people working down here to get from one location to another without the overhead of having a car?

In any case, it was a space separated from the rest by a wall of hip-high plastic bars, and it served to separate us from the rest well enough.

"Hey," I said as I turned to her. "I overheard Garter a little."

Rac pouted. "Yeah," she said. Then she sighed, and it was at once wistful and... very disappointed. "You know, I kinda liked Garter?"

"Liked?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"Ah," I replied.

To be entirely honest, I'd kind of missed out on the whole 'crush' phase. I mean, I could vaguely recall a younger me thinking that some characters on shows that I liked were hot, and I might maybe have had a crush on a fast food mascot (she had big tits) but that was passing. My first real crush was Lucy, and Lucy caught on... pretty much instantly.

Then Lucy abused the shit out of that crush until one thing led to another and we were mostly all over each other.

Anyway, I didn't have much experience with failed romance. I wasn't going to lie to myself and say that I wasn't pleased to see that this thing between Rac and Garter wasn't working out. Mostly because Garter had been pinging my 'piece of shit-dar' for a while.

"So," I began.

"Yeah?" Rac asked. She stared at me, expecting something.

I resisted the urge to let out a sigh. "You did alright," I said. "Tracking the prosthetics, getting here on time. Shit went to shit, but that's hardly your fault, you know?"

"I know," Rac said. "I'm... I'm not the sort to blame myself for things going wrong. Things have been going wrong forever. Shit flows down, and I was always at the bottom, but I'm not the one making the shit."

"That's a roundabout way of saying you're not an asshole."

She pouted harder. "Maybe I should be."

"Aww, don't be that way," I said as I reached over to pat her head. She ducked away from it, but I think it's the thought that matters. Lucy was better at this kind of stuff than I was. "Look, I'm sorry things didn't go as you planned. Still happy you called. I'd rather have you annoyed at me or whatever, than find out you're dead after not showing up back home for a while."

Rac glanced up, then nodded. "Alright." she said. "So, you're not angry? With me? With Garter?"

"Eh, I'm ambivalent about Garter right now. He seems like a bit of a dick. Don't let him schmooze you just to get to me, alright? Coco seems cool, and Spider... well, he at least isn't pretending to not be a dick."

"Spider's pretty cool," Rac agreed. "And Coco's... nice. She doesn't treat me like she's my mom. More like a cool older sister."

There was a pointed look there. Did... did she think I was mothering her?

That couldn't be any further from the truth.

If anything, I was more of a dead-beat dad. I got her food and a place to stay, then left her with chores for days on end without checking in.

Was that bad parenting?

It was better than what my parents did for me, which was mostly just dying.

I did sigh this time, then placed a hand on her shoulder. Rac didn't seem to mind the contact. "I'm sorry," I said. "For not being around as much. I guess I kinda just... lumped you in with the kittens, then left you to do your own thing. You're kind of in a weird spot. One of mine, but without all of the background, you know?"

Rac squirmed a little, but nodded. I wasn't sure if we were on the same wavelength, actually, but it didn't feel like we were entirely on opposite ends of things.

"We can talk more later... actually, no, Lucy can talk more later. She's the good one to talk to about this kind of stuff," I said.

Rac nodded, and I wasn't sure how to feel about her instant agreement there.

"I'm gonna go check up on Gomorrah. Will you be able to make it back home alright, or do you need a ride?"

"In the mech?"

"There's barely room for two in there," I said. "And, uh, no offence, but we're not close enough for you to lay down on top of me while in a tight confined space. I was thinking more that I'd pay for your cab."

"Oh," Rac said. "No, I can manage that."

"Alright," I said. This time I did get to her head, and her pout was accompanied by a glare, one that was severely diminished by how ruffled her hair was.

***