Chapter Sixty-Four - New Hair Day

"Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action [...]"

--Ian Fleming, Goldfinger, 1959

***

"Can I come?"

I think Myalis might have been impressed by just how quickly I came to a conclusion on that question.

"Fuck no," I said.

Lucy pouted at me, which was downright lethal. She was in bed, wearing a blanket and nothing else. She tugged it up and around her neck a little, so that the only part of her I could see was her chubby-cheeked pout. "Why not?" she asked.

"Because it's dangerous?" I asked the obvious. I sensed that it was something of a trap, though. "And no, that doesn't mean that I can't go. Or that I could just give you stuff to keep you safe."

Lucy's pout deepened, and then she flopped backwards onto the bed with a bounce and kicked her legs from under the blankets. It almost looked like she was a brat throwing a tantrum. "Fine! But I want to help."

"Ah, well, that's different," I said. "You could, uh..."

I quickly wrote a message on my augs directed to Myalis, basically begging for help.

Perhaps you could suggest that Lucy uses the spare time that she has and that you lack to look into some of your current projects?

"Oh, I know!" I said with a snap of my organic fingers. "Can you check up on my shit for me?" I sent a thank you to Myalis, and an apology for stealing her ideas.

You can have some of my ideas. I'll consider it charity to the impoverished.

Lucy perked up at that, her tantrum ending. It was probably for the best, because she looked out of breath. "What shit do you need checking up on?" she asked.

"Well, there's the prosthetics clinic downstairs. I didn't look into it at all yesterday. We need to make sure they're up and running. Then the whole sewer thing. I don't think you should go check on them yourself, but the Family is doing some work and I need to keep an eye on them. Maybe pop over to their HQ and remind them that I'm paying attention. Oh, and look in on Rac. Heck, hire her to come with you all armed up. It'll keep her busy and her nose out of trouble."

Lucy hummed, then jumped out of bed. "Alright!" I said as she spread her arms and legs wide and stretched. "Yeah, that actually does sound kind of useful."

"As long as you're safe about it," I added.

She turned a look my way. "Really? Since when are you so focused on being safe?"

"Hey, I always want you to be safe and warm and have everything you ever wanted," I said. It had the advantage of being true. "It's just that I didn't think I could give you all of that until now. If you really want to come, I'm sure we can work something out?"

She shook her head. "No, you're right. Thanks, Cat." Lucy ambled over. "Hugs? Or are you not leaving right now?"

"Not just yet," I replied as I very easily accepted a hug. "I need to get ready."

"Alright. Use the washroom first, I don't have as far to go. Actually, I'm gonna check on the people downstairs first."

"Wear that jacket," I said. "And that necklace. And bring at least two of the cat drones with you."

"Really?"

"They're intimidating," I said.

"And I'm not."

"You're terrifying," I replied, which earned me a swat.

Lucy laughed. "Go get ready. You'll be late, and then Delilah's gonna complain to Franny who'll complain to me."

"Urgh, maybe having them as neighbours was a mistake," I groaned as I finally let go of Lucy and wandered over to the washroom. I paused within as I saw myself in the mirror again. It was still me, obviously, but I came closer and then reached a hand up to my right side.

My stump meshed well with the prosthetic arm there, going from flesh to machine almost seamlessly. What was strange was the scarring. I'd been burned pretty fucking horrifically before. I couldn't remember most of it. Actually, it might have been more of an explosion?

Fuck if I knew. But it took an eye, messed with my hearing for a long time, and lost me my arm. The whole of my right side was scarred. It wasn't as bad in some places. There was only some permanently-wrinkly skin on my cheek and neck. The scarring was worse around my arm and upper chest on the right.

Now it was... not entirely gone, but almost.

In just a day and a bit, the wrinkled red mess was reduced to a few faint patches of rough-looking skin. It looked more like I had a slight rash than old burns. The whole skin treatment at work, I supposed.

For some reason it hadn't crossed my mind that replacing all of my skin would take the scars with it.

Well, fuck it, not like I cared overly much.

I raked a hand through my hair, then grimaced as it came away with clumps of it. "Okay, the hair is annoying though," I said.

Do you want to fix that?

"Honestly? Yeah. Got like, a tech-wig or something like that?"

It didn't take too long, surprisingly, to find something suitable. It wasn't too much, either. Under a hundred points and ten minutes later, I stepped out of the washroom, the toilet flushing away a disgustingly large clump of hair while I tied my new hair up in a quick and sloppy ponytail.

It was some semi-fancy techhair. Rooted into my scalp and able to grow more or less naturally if I really wanted it to, but for now it would stay as long as it was. It was tougher than real hair, and the blue highlight on the front actually glowed faintly.

I noticed that Lucy was missing, but I could hear her rummaging around in the armoury. I'd save the surprise for later, I decided as I got dressed and ready to go.

"See you after work!" I called out.

"Bye! Love you!" Lucy called back. "I'm stealing one of your guns by the way. Ohh! And a grenade!"

"Uh... okay, don't kill yourself!" I called back.

"Hey!" Lucy shouted.

I paused, already halfway through the living room. A few of the kittens were out and they paused to stare. "What?" I asked.

"You didn't say it back," Lucy accused. She poked her head out of the armoury. She was at least wearing an oversized t-shirt now. I was pretty sure most armouries required a dress code that was more than 'just a shirt' but I didn't really care.

I sighed. "Love you too," I said with a wry smile. Then I pointedly ignored the snickers before I beat a hasty retreat.

I got in the garage and noted that the Fury was gone already, so Gomorrah was ahead of me, and probably waiting impatiently for me to arrive. I sighed and hoped she wouldn't be all judgemental about it as I hopped onto my bike and took off.

It felt like it took forever to reach the little walled-off minicity where the army was planted. It looked like there had been some action overnight too. Not at the army's camp in front of the old supermarket, but to the north of the city. Some smoke was rising out of fresh craters, and I suspected that there were a few homes burning out in the mini suburbia.

I came down and parked next to the Fury, which happened to be where Gomorrah was hanging out.

"You're finally here," she said. "We did agree on oh-eight-hundred, right?"

"I think so," I said. I didn't look at my internal clock. If I did I might start feeling guilty. "Sorry, I had to buy my hair."

"You could have done... buy your hair?" she asked, confused.

"Yup. So, what's the situation?" I asked before she could get her footing. It looked like the entire camp was doing its best kicked-hornets-nest impression, but I wasn't sure if that was because trouble was here or if it was just the army preparing to get a move on again.

Gomorrah sighed. "Everything was fine until about three hours ago. A group of antithesis pushed in from the north just as the sun was coming up. It's very likely a coincidence, but they arrived as the guard was rotating, and they got a lot closer than they should have."

"How sure are we that it's a coincidence?" I asked, immediately on guard.

"Ninety-nine plus percent, and a few decimals besides," she replied. "It's likely that they attacked as the sun came up because it offered them more visibility. We just happened to time our guard rotation around sun-up."

"Ah," I said. "Well, it's nice to see that things are already exciting! So, we're meeting new samurai today, right?" I couldn't wait.

***