Onyx City

Usually, I had a good nose for bullshit. I could always tell when someone was trying to screw me over, always haggling to get more for less creds. Most of the time it was fixers looking to up their take, other times it was clients in over their head.

Tonight, it was the latter.

The Gilded Fang club pulsed around me, drowning in hard bass and heavy metal. The place was packed tight with people gyrating to the music, taking in the latest virtual reality pornos in booths along the edges, drinking themselves stupid at the bar, or cutting lines in the bathrooms. Smoke choked the air and clawed at my throat. It was the kind of place where a dirty look or a slow hand on your gun could get you zeroed before the song changed. Haelstorm ran the Fang, and their gangoons loitered at the edges, watching everyone, waiting for excuses to kill. They were particularly noticeable with their many cybernetic augmentations, glowing red optics instead of eyes, some so chromed up there was barely any flesh left.

I kept track of them all, marking them on my HUD with my optics as I crossed the bar.

The VIP section was guarded by two Haelstorm bruisers, both augmented to hell, their cybernetic forearms flexing with subtle creaks. I watched as they took in my blonde hair through their red optics, comparing it to the dark outfit I had on. Caught their smirk at the pink holster Iron Majesty currently rested in against my side.

“Where you goin’, princess?” one asked, his metallic voice raking over me. It was more jarring than the shitty music being played.

I kept my face neutral, even though I was screaming in disgust on the inside. “Here to see Dimitri.”

It was a few moments before they let me through, needing to confirm Dimitri was indeed meeting with a merc. The private booth was bathed in violet light, making Dimitri Orloff’s scarred face look even more grotesque than it already was. A Haelstorm lieutenant, he’d replaced half his skull with metallic plating. The implant jutted at odd angles from his temple, making him look like his face had been smashed, broken, and poorly reassembled. Wires jutted out the back of his head and along his metal arms, glowing red in the low light. He sat in the middle of the booth with a half-smoked cigarette between two fingers.

“B,” his smile was slippery as he gestured to the seat across from him. “Prompt as ever.”

I remained standing, quickly scanning him with my HUD to line up some hacks in case this meet went sour. Could never be too careful when it came to Halestorm. “Gotta gig for me?”

“Always business with you.” His augmented eye whirred as it focused on me, the iris dilating with a mechanical click. “Here,” he held out a bottle of clear liquid towards me.

The crystalline glass was heavy in my hands as I read the label. “Molotov. Exquisite vodka.”

Dimitri grinned. “One of our new ventures. Try it.”

I carefully placed the bottle back on to the table. “No thanks. Don’t drink on the job.”

Dimitri sighed and took a long drag of his cigarette before fixing me with a look that was all business. “Fine. I need someone eliminated.”

I crossed my arms. “Thought Haelstorm took care of their own business.” Which was true. Most of Onyx City’s gangs preferred to keep biz in house unless the situation called for it.

Dimitri exhaled a plume of smoke. “Need a ’ganic for this one.”

I snorted. “Bound to be hundreds o’ ganic killers in this district alone who can zero people. Whatcha need me for?”

Dimitri’s human eye narrowed while his mechanical one remained fixed, creating an unsettling asymmetry. “Because this isn’t some piece of shit, low-level corpo cunt. It’s Linus Petrovski.”

A low whistle almost escaped me. Fuck me, Linus Petrovski? Fuckin’ CEO of the biggest experimental medical-tech firm in the country - Novacorp. This Dimitri was out of his goddamn mind.

“You’re out of your mind,” I said flatly.

“Five hundred thousand credits says I’m not,” he holds up a datachip. I take it, slotting the chip into my neural port and watched the info flick up onto my HUD, overlaying my vision. Briefing files scrolled down the right side of my lenses, Petrovski’s grainy security footage rendering on the left. I adjusted the contrast, enhancing the image, watching the CEO’s face resolve into focus.

I skimmed through the building layouts, the security rotations, the VIP list for the upcoming gala. NovaCorp was celebrating another bullshit medical breakthrough; some new high-grade cybernetic integration that was too expensive for anyone who actually needed it.

The information whooshed away with a blink. This fucker had no idea what he was askin’ for. I leaned my palms on the table, glaring up at him through my lashes, letting him see the glow of my purple optics as scanned him again, ensuring my failsafes were still primed to go.

“I want a million.”

Dimitri exhaled smoke, unimpressed. “No way.”

My brow arched. “You’re asking me to eliminate one of the most well-protected men in the city. Five hundo is a fuckin’ insult.”

Dimitri’s enforcers tensed slightly.

I leaned in further, slow, deliberate. “One million.”

Silence stretched between us.

One of his men shifted, just barely, his fingers twitching towards his gun. I drew Iron Majesty before he could blink, setting her on the table with a solid thunk. The enforcers went rigid. Dimitri didn’t move. Instead, he just let out a slow exhale, the smoke curling between us.

“Really necessary?” he asked.

“Depends,” I said lightly, tapping a pink nail against the grip of Iron Majesty. “You trying to slug me?”

“Fine. Adrianna already has your deposit.”

I kept my face neutral, but I checked my HUD. ✔ 250,000 credits transferred.

“Double it.”

“I’ve paid your standard deposit-”

I tutted. “Yeah, but this ain’t a standard job now, is it? Either double the deposit, or you can find some other sorry bastard.”

Dimitri swore under his breath before downing the last of his drink and fixing me with a glare. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t rookie looking to cut their teeth. Lazily, I pulled the safety off Iron Majesty, my grip tightening around the handle.

“Tick-tock Dimitri. I got places to be.”

The Haelstormer’s eyes glowed blue as he completed another transfer, face scrunched in an angry scowl.

✔ 250,000 credits transferred.

“That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” I tapped my earpiece. “A, you get that?”

Adrianna’s voice crackled through the line. “Transfer’s confirmed on my end. Guess they do have deep pockets after all. Meet me at mine when you’re all done.”

I smirked, holstering my gun.

Dimitri tapped his cigarette against the edge of his glass, watching me through the smoke. “Don’t fuckin’ disappoint me, princess.”

I stood, holding the data chip between two fingers before slipping it into the pocket of my leather jacket.

“Pleasure doing business with you.”