The day after my seamless infiltration, I returned to the same megabuilding in the early morning. This time, I could effortlessly get access to the building camera again and also a clear view of the inside of the unit thanks to the camera I had planted yesterday.

From the camera, I watched as my target woke up and brewed coffee in his open kitchen before he retreated to his room. Immediately, I entered the unit the same way I had done so previously. I found his freshly brewed coffee and poured some of the special laxatives I had received specifically for the job right into it.

The laxative would apparently have the man glued to the washroom for the next week and drain him of strength that would take another week to recover from. That time period coincidentally coincided with his football game. It’d be pretty impressive if he even had enough stamina to play ball, not to talk about performing well.

While I had felt a little bad as the man had done nothing wrong, at least from what I knew, but a job was a job.

With my objective complete, I smoothly retrieved the cameras and exited his unit. How naturally it felt to move around silently felt slightly off-putting, but it showed that the points I had spent in stealth really paid off.

Once I left, I returned to my apartment safely and called Fitel. After the second ring, the call connected.

“Mr. Halls, congratulations on a job well done. If you would send me the account you would like me to send the payment to, I can have the payment deposited immediately.”

“...Did I tell you my last name? And don’t we need to wait and confirm the laxative worked first?”

“I apologize if I offended you, but in my line of business, it is often wise to know who we are working with. And as for your other question, your target has contacted their employer that they will be absent due to illness, and my other sources have also confirmed this, which means the job is complete,” Fitel explained in his usual relaxed rhythm.

“...I see, here, I just sent you the account information,” I answered.

“Yes, I have received it. You should receive the payment shortly.” I opened my account using my terminal in my apartment and confirmed my balance had increased by 2,000 credits.

It was more than I had made for two weeks of work, all from two days of work. I could see why mercenaries were so common. It was an accessible job to anyone who would take the risks. Otherwise, you would have to settle for a dead-end job like mine.

“One more thing, Mr. Halls. I have found your performance satisfactory and have another job lined up for you. The job will require a lot of your time, as you will be surveilling a target for a few days to up to a week. You will have to take some time off or quit your current job. In return, you can expect 1000 credits per day with room for bonuses. Do you find this agreeable?”

“Yes, I’ll do it. I’ll have to start tomorrow though,” I answered without hesitation, goodbye crappy job. I won’t miss you.

“Very well, I will have the job details sent to you. Have a good day Mr.Halls,” Just like last time, Fitel seamlessly ended the call once the business discussions were done.

The moment the call ended, a familiar-looking text appeared in my view.

+10 EXP

What…? Had I ended up killing someone? The guy I poisoned?

No, it could also be for completing the job, or for incapacitating my target. This was something I should look into more when I had the chance. Right now it was faster and easier to kill despicable criminals.

I pulled up my status as I reflected on the events that went by in a blur for the past few days.

 

Status
Level:	1
EXP:	20/100
Musculoskeletal:	11
Neural Reflex:	15
Visuomotor Coordination:	12
Endurance:	8
Sensory Perception:	12
Upgrade Points:	0
Upgrades:	Stealth +3 Hacking +3
Enhancements:	null

 

Just as I was ready to take a nap, I realized something…

I still have to call my boss and tell him I am quitting!

 

---

 

I spent a week doing the surveillance job. The only exciting part was at the start, where I set up the cameras, and at the end when I retrieved them. I spent all the other time looking for ways to kill time.

Though it was boring, it paid well, so I didn’t have too many complaints except for the fact I had received no experience points for completing the job.

During that time, I had messaged Flo about the establishments that other mercenaries usually hung out in. She had sent me the information for the ones she knew and had invited me to one she and Erza usually went to celebrate completed jobs. It was a bit far away, located in District 10, while my place was in District 8.

This was why we held it off until I had finished the week-long job before we met up at the bar, Haven.

When I stepped inside, neon lights shone brightly around the spacious bar. The open area around the bar counter had a lot of seats spread around. There were private rooms surrounding the bar in the middle. I could see through the glass walls where people sat and chatted, while some rooms had the glass walls blurred or completely opaque, which blocked it from view.

The place was packed, with many people sporting cybernetic limbs or some with weird-looking eyes that looked like metal snow goggles that melded into their skulls. Others had builds that were so unnaturally large I doubted much of their bodies were organic anymore.

Despite the vast array of flashy-looking individuals, it hadn’t taken long before I spotted Flo waving her maroon-colored cyberarm from a table off to the side. At her table, I spotted Erza sitting beside her along with two others, a man and a woman.

The man was of a medium build with dark brown hair, and sitting there beside Erza probably made him smaller than he actually was. There weren’t any distinguishing features about the man besides the fact that he sat there hugging a huge rifle in one arm while he had a beer in the other.

The woman looked particularly small compared to the others sitting at that table, but otherwise looked to be a normal woman with light blue hair, tied into a ponytail. She had an ample figure that shone through the long coat she wore. She sat down low on the lounge chair lazily, looking bored.

I waved as we made eye contact and made my way over to their table across the busy room. Though it was rowdy, it wasn’t loud enough that we couldn’t hold a conversation once I was at the same table.

“Hey, Flo,” I said as I sat down on the empty seat closest to me.

“Hey, how’s it going co? Finally done that job you were doing?”

“Yeah, I’ve been doing a lot better now that I actually have some savings. Are these people your crew?” I said as I looked over the two new faces.

“Right, introductions, sorry ‘bout that. The guy’s Max, our overwatch, and the bitch is Liz. Don’t mind her, she’s always like that unless she’s doing a gig.”

I nodded over at the two of them, “Nice to meet you, I’m Rollo.”

Liz’s eyes dimmed and glanced over before she returned glow lit up once more and she resumed staring blankly at the ceiling. Max was more enthused and gave me a return nod before staring daggers into Flo.

“Don’t forget ‘bout my wife’s introduction,” Max returned his gaze to me. “Flo and Erza had talked about you. Glad to meetcha. Anyway, on a more important note, this here is Lucy.” He held the rifle up for me to see before pulling it towards him to give it a kiss.

“Buzz off, you’re making my drink taste bad,” Flo retorted.

“What was that?”

As Flo got into an argument with Max, Erza leaned toward me and whispered, “Sorry about that, don’t mind them. This happens all the time. It’s just what happens when a bunch of weirdos like them gather.”

Flo abruptly paused mid-sentence and turned toward us, “But at least I’m your favorite weirdo.”

Erza leaned over and gave Flo a quick kiss and grinned. “That you are.”

As if proud of the fact that her point was proven, Flo flashed me a gloating grin.

“Oh, so you guys were together. I should’ve known, considering how happy you guys looked together.”

“Yep, we’ve been full-time for three years now. Anyway, as you can see, Haven here is where we normally hang out before or after jobs. There are a few other common merc spots as well, but Haven is the one geared more towards the mercs who’ve been doing well.”

At Flo’s words, I took another look at the venue, and then at the prices on the menu, which clearly reinforced what she had said. Even the cheapest drink would cost my entire day’s earnings from working at the convenience store.

“Don’t worry about it. I got you covered tonight. By the way, this may be a bit sudden, but how ’bout you join us on a little gig tonight?” Flo said as she gave me a pat on the back that staggered me a little.

“Oh, you have a job tonight? No need to worry about me. I just wanted to have a look now that I’m in the business as well.”

“Ha, it’s just a small gig we usually wouldn’t even bother with, so don’t sweat it. I only took it outta habit, felt weird coming here if we weren’t prepping or celebrating a job. As a smaller gig, it won’t pay too much, though. Your cut would be about 7,000 creds. You in?”

“What’s the job?” With the pay the same as my week-long job, it was hard to resist.

“Just a simple eliminating some targets. Don’t worry too much about it intern. As I said, I got you covered tonight.”

I sighed at the thought of how easily I caved. “Okay, I’m in.”

 

---

 

Once we had left Haven, we got into Flo’s car, which was basically an armored van with more than enough room for eight people, and we were only five.

I wasn’t even sure what the plan was yet, since Flo simply replied that it was a simple job that didn’t really need any prep and to just follow her lead.

“So where are we going and who are we eliminating again?” I spoke to the person sitting in front of me, Liz, who was likely just as clueless as I was. Meanwhile, Max seemed preoccupied with checking his rifle over.

“Oh, it’s just some poser gang that took over some old building that is slated for demolition. Suckers refused to get out, so we just needa flatline them all. Best part is since the building is scheduled to be destroyed, we won’t have to care about collateral damage.”

While a frontal assault wasn’t something I specialized in or wanted to be part of, with these guys who seemed to be experienced here, it should probably be okay just for tonight…

“So is it just us, against an entire gang?” I couldn’t help but confirm.

“Yeah, we usually have one more in our crew, a computer geek, but he isn’t really needed here. And you know how them geeks are, still always yapping non-stop as if they were still corpos. We’re more than enough to snuff out 20 or 30 posers with just us.”

“Right…So what’s the plan?”

“Ha, as if we’d need one for this, even just Max boy here could take them out by himself.”

I turned over to the person mentioned, but he was already gone. An empty seat where he once was, and the backdoor completely open while the car continued to move. I could see the road behind us constantly receding and the backdrop of the city.

What the hell! Did he jump out of a moving car?

Before I could ask questions, the car violently jerked, accompanied by the sound of crashing into something. The seatbelt pressed into me so tightly that I had trouble breathing until it loosened.

“What the hell happened?!” I looked back toward the front as I heard the car door open. Flo and Erza were already standing outside when they turned back to reply.

“We’ve arrived. Time to do our job.”