Preparations

The gang met my followers. There was a huge fight and Billy was seriously injured. One of the gangers was caught. Billy was rushed into a hospital. He was in critical condition, but apparently he was going to live. I called Juggler and told him the gang had been incompetent. I had hired them to kill Billy and they just beat him senseless. Juggler promised to take care of it. I ordered a malpractice. Juggler told me it would be best for me to wait until the ganger had been let out from jail, so that he wouldn't face murder-charges. Well, it was all the same to me. I trust Juggler, so I agreed to wait and paid him to get the malpractice. If that doesn't work I’ll go and explode the shit out of the hospital.

The otaku had been preparing for the trip to Arcology for some time now. Apparently they live to go there, they exist so they can go to Arcology. I have no idea why they want to go there this time, but I have my own agenda. Me and Shrew, we want to check the door 1835 and cash in millions. It’s written on Dunkelzahn’s Will, that he promises to leave 5 million nuyen for the first team of runners who find out what it is behind that door and report to Draco Foundation. And after the incident in Arcology Draco Foundation raised the stakes and promises 8 million nuyens. That, or even a part of that, would prove useful in my mission. I could go and have my revenge.

Shrew talked Morgan into going with us. Nerdy was coming too, because he owed a favor to the otaku. The otaku also told us that they always help us and ask no questions, so we should help them in exchange. Well, it’s true. I could easily go there and help them and check the door with Shrew. Something tells me it’s not that easy, because that amount of money is not given away just because. It will be a dangerous mission. If I’ll survive, I’ll be stronger than ever.

I had an argument with Shrew. I had to talk with her about fireballs in alleys. I think everyone within a mile heard our argument. But after that we were okay again. But I know I will beat her up if we end up in a similar situation, before she has time to try to kill us all. And her ally spirit. Apparently the huge fireball it was helping to create was too much for it. It had disappeared, just like when it had been beaten up by a fairy.

I spoke with Juggler and asked about trainers. I wanted to offer Shrew a chance to train unarmed combat so that she had a choice. I got a very good trainer and gave the number to Shrew. Nerdy seemed to be interested to go as well. So the next morning all three of us went to the gym.

I tagged along to see if the trainer was good. She was. She went by the name Hellkit, and seemed a bit older than your average runner. Well, she wasn't’t a runner, apparently. I think she was in her mid-forties, but seemed to be very fit.

Hellkit wanted to know what kind of training Nerdy and Shrew wanted. I told her they needed basics for dummies. Then she started by telling them that they were going to start by learning how to hit, and they started by hitting her stomach. She said they didn’t know how to harden their stomach so they could hit each other. I mumbled something about that if I had been teaching I would've done it differently. She told me to shut up if I wasn't going to participate. I shut up and watched. Oh, and I had brought my sword with me so I started sharpening it while watching the show.

I started to have a bit of respect for Hellkit. She was strong and patient. I never would've had that kind of patience with Nerdy, or even Shrew. I’d just try for a minute and throw them in Death Zone believing they either learn quickly or die.

After hours of hard training I asked if Hellkit would have a fight with me. She agreed, set her price and asked if I wanted to have a real fight or friendly fight. I never do friendly fights, so we agreed on a real fight to the end, until one of us was knocked out. I knew she was quite good, but I thought I’d still kick her ass, I’d heal quickly anyway. She put on her brass knuckles. I put on my hardliner gloves, thinking I should get brass knuckles to look more intimidating in the streets.

We circled around a bit and then I went for it. I tried to hit her, but missed. Then she pushed me so that my stupid hair was in my face. I had trouble seeing, and she hit the air out from my lungs. I fell down, unconscious. I will cut my stupid hair.

When I woke up I had a quick thought. I thought about jumping up and surprising her, kicking her ass. Then I thought she just was better than me. I got up as she was taking off her brass knuckles. She didn’t seem all that surprised to see me up so quickly, maybe a bit puzzled, but she seemed to cover it very well. I needed to say “what, did we finish already?”, even though I knew I had lost. I tried to keep some of my tough attitude alive. I was a bit ashamed to have lost to a petty human female, but then I thought she taught this for a living. I didn’t fight for a living, I was a runner. My life depended on my skills to fight and shoot and sneak. I had a wide variety of skills to keep me alive. Mostly I trusted my shotgun and my sword. I knew how to kick ass of an average ganger or an idiot, but teachers like Hellkit weren't my specialty. I’d deal with them by shooting them or hacking them to pieces with my sword before it would come to hand-to-hand-combat.

I also had to get someone to look after my followers while I was gone. I had my snitches, but they were incompetent. So I asked Juggler to get me a hired leader for two months. We weren't planning on staying that long, but I prepared for the worst. And I could also die there. So I paid for one month and gave Juggler the money for the next month. If after that I wasn't back, I was probably dead, and I don't care what happens then. Well, of course I will be a bit restless about the fact that I never got my revenge, but maybe I'll come back as a vicious ghost. Who knows.