Tabitha's message popped up inside her head just as Silk was struck again. She squealed and fought against the restraints around her wrists and ankles.
Great, finally a real job interview! I thought this city was supposed to be some kind of 'runners paradise, with so many different powers piled together in a small area and all of 'em trying to get an edge over each other. Jobs were supposed to just fall into your lap here. But great, I can finally start building a new career here! Her mood started to lighten up.
One more lash from the whip. The man circled around to face her, grinning sadistically while drool poured out of his mouth, soaking his leather mask. He asked her if she wanted more and called her names, but before she could answer lashed out again. It stung like hell, that one was going to leave a mark; she hated that.
She bit back the pain, knowing that answering wouldn't help. She just moaned as if it hurt more than it did; maybe he'd go a bit easier on her... But he didn't.
Longfeather's message, on the other hand, killed her mood entirely.
Trail of blood, Karakuchi Massacre... The first job interview he gets me in a city filled with spies is with some kind of butchers?! What...
She started composing a mental message in reply but her masked assailant apparently noticed her absent-mindedness, hit her hard and tore off her trodes. "******, you pay attention to me and ****** me alone!"
That does it.
"Ghostwalker", she said in a calm voice.
"Screw you!", the man replied, reaching for his whip again.
"Look you dick, it's a safeword for a reason. I'm done with this. Untie me."
"I ain't finished yet, b*****! I paid for the full two hours! We got an agreement."
"And we agreed to stop when I said the safeword, Ghostwalker. I used it. Now uncuff my wrists and let me go."
She fought harder against her restraints, but the metal only bruised her wrists.
"Beg, *****", she man shouted, readying his whip to strike.
Screw this asshole.
"I said, uncuff my wrists."
The bastard dropped his whip and uncuffed her wrists, the look on in his eyes showing a strange mix between puzzled and angry.
The moment her wrist were free, she reached underneath the small chair, grabbed the taser she'd gecko'd there and slammed it into his chest, sending somewhere around a million volts coursing through his body. Silk unchained herself further and gathered her clothes and belongings. She looked at the drooling man on the ground and fired her taser again. "Disgusting pig.", she said. On her way out, she didn't bother walking around his body, instead walking right over it and applying the full pressure of her heels on his chest and groin. At least she'd found a way to vent some of her anger.
>> @Mark Longfeather "Thank you for both job opportunity and warning. I'll check it out and will find a way to repay you for your efforts. Should you come across something or someone with a little more... subtlety, though, I'd be grateful for contacting me."
A fraggin' trail of bodies? Are you sure you don't want to just keep this job instead?
>> @Tabitha "Thank you for your faith, Tabitha. I'm certainly interested and confident we'll all be able to work together."
A week later, Silk stepped out of her car at the entrance of the park and ordered it to find a nearby parking space. She'd been through a couple of these new team meetings before and had to admit to herself she liked the excitement of meeting a new bunch of Shadowrunners. None of 'em were ever quite the same and you never knew quite what to expect. Of course, she usually figured them out in a minute or ten, but they were an exciting ten minutes.
Casually approaching the Ork on the bench the was supposed to go to, she asked him "Excuse me, do you know how to pronounce this?" as a holoprojection showing the word "ME3XTS" appeared, hovering the palm of her extended hand.