Stray Cat Strut

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Hush-Hush

"'Most cyberware is non-functional.' This line is oft-repeated, but is actually a misrepresentation of the truth.

A lot of cosmetic self-modifications are classified as cyberware, even if they have no cybernetic components.

Breast enlargement, nekomimi-ism, and height enhancement surgeries should not be considered cyberware."

--Rumbler thread, 2042

***

"You sure?" I asked.

Lucy nodded, and I didn't fail to notice the dangerous glint in her eye. "I'm sure," she said. "Don't worry about it, I've been handling catgirls for years, I think I can manage one evening with a random stray."

I was having second thoughts, and third, and fourth ones too.

The plan, if I dared to call it that, was simple. Shy and I were going to retreat and go check on Crackshot, and I suppose Emoscythe too. Nya was going to stay at our place.

The conversation with her was... a bit awkward. She'd come to New Montreal on a whim, and hadn't booked a hotel room, and didn't know anyone in the area. She was also jet-lagged as hell. So we were giving her one of the spare rooms to sleep in. She was, at the moment, conked out on the couch, snoring peacefully as if there wasn't anything wrong in the world with nothing but one of Lucy's fuzzy blankets covering her up.

I was worried that she'd wake up eventually, but that'd be a problem for Lucy, who, as the best girlfriend ever, was staying behind to keep Nya company and make sure that she didn't give the kittens any bad ideas.

I might have considered sticking around too, but I did need to pop over and check on Crackshot, and Shy... I think Shy wanted to spend as little time around Nya as possible.

Even now, Shy was standing stock still next to the entrance, waiting for me to come over without making so much as a sound.

I gave Lucy a last hug, then a quick kiss before I darked out towards the elevators. "Ready to go?" I asked Shy.

Shy just nodded, then reached down and plucked a stray hair from her outfit. She wasn't in her samurai gear, not quite. Shy was instead in an oversized sweater-jacket, the sort with a zipper down the front. She had a t-shirt on underneath, without any logos or anything, tucked into a part of baggy cargo pants. It was the kind of look that someone who didn't want to stand out wore, and it mostly seemed to work. Unfortunately, all-black tended to attract cat hairs... even from weird catgirls.

"So, I never asked," I said as we were in the elevator and riding down. "But what are you doing here?"

"Um," Shy said. "You... said I could come?"

"Did I?" I asked. I regretted asking when Shy flinched back a bit. "Uh, I guess I did. It's fine. I'm glad to see you, just... text before showing up next time? My place, this whole building really, gets its share of visitors, and they're not all calm and rational sorts. Actually, they're never that."

"A lot of samurai come here?" Shy asked.

I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, then nodded. "Yeah, lots." My first instinct was to ask her a question in return, keep the ball rolling, because... well, I wasn't as good at small talk and social shit as Lucy was, I wasn't bad about it. I could keep a conversation going and ask about the weather just as well as the next girl, but I could tell that this wasn't the time for that, not exactly.

Shy was well-named. I think Emoscythe mentioned knowing her, and I had to wonder if the goth had been the one to give Shy her samurai name. It was very on-point.

Anyway, since Shy wasn't going to talk, and since it looked like she was going to follow me around for a moment, I figured I'd make the sacrifice and hold up three-quarters of the conversation. "This is actually the building that I became a samurai in," I said. "Weird story, but Lucy and the kittens and me were here on this little field-trip thing. Anyway, incursion happened, aliens showed up, and I got impaled by a display pole thing. The usual origin story."

Shy blinked at me. "Okay," she said.

"Anyway, a few days later, this place wasn't quite up for sale, but it was on the market, and for cheap since it had gotten messed up by the aliens. So I bought the topmost floors. Gomorrah bought the two under this parking garage." I gestured ahead as the door into said parking garage opened.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Who... owns the rest?"

"Dunno," I said.

Shy seemed a little taken aback by that. "Isn't that unsafe?"

"I mean, maybe. But most people who have enough money to buy big chunks of a building also probably have the common sense not to fuck with the place where two samurai live. At least, I hope so. There's like, a dozen or two floors left below. I don't actually know how deep this building goes into the undercity. If you're looking for another basement to dwell in, let me know. I bet I can help you get a good price, and we'd be.. .technical neighbours."

"Okay," Shy said. It was that non-committal sort of okay which was really just a polite no without the bravery to actually say no.

"So, how'd you get here anyway?" I asked.

Shy paused, then pointed out across the parking garage. Way out in an unobtrusive corner was a car. I squinted, and my cybernetic eye automatically zoomed in a little and compensated for the relative darkness in the corner.

Shy's ride was a little beige four-door sedan-looking thing. It wasn't even Protector tech, as far as I could tell, just a car that I wouldn't have been surprised to see discounted at a used car lot. It wasn't something that would turn any heads or get any bitches. Parking that in front of even a shitty club would have it towed off. "Uh... nice ride?" I tried.

"The fuel economy is... good," she said.

"Right, yeah, of course. We're taking my ride over." I gestured to the Bastion which wasn't sexy in the curvy way a super car was, but it was definitely a whole league ahead of Shy's beater.

I thought that I wasn't someone that cared so much about looks, but I supposed that I might be wrong. I did care, at least a little.

Shy entered the Bastion behind me, and I noticed her looking around as we entered. I let her snoop as much as she wanted. I didn't have anything really important in here. She did pause on seeing the MEOW mech parked in the large rear bay of the ship.

"This is a very nice ship," she said. "Was it expensive?"

"A little. And by a little, I mean yeah, it cost a fortune. A big chunk of the points I earned recently went into this thing. Come on, cockpit's this way. There's some seating there. This thing gets a little hard to stand in while moving."

Shy followed me into the cockpit and sat down quietly in the rear. I let her stare as I flew through the pre-flight checks and got the ship moving.

I punched in the address Crackshot had given me, then rose up and past the regular flow of traffic. It was impressive how few fucks New Montreal drivers gave as I cut them off. I mean, sure, I wasn't giving traffic laws even a passing thought at the moment, but still, couldn't they see what was cutting them off before they slammed on their horns?

"Fucking traffic," I muttered.

"Mhm," Shy agreed.

"Got a lot of traffic on the way over?" I asked.

"Some," she said.

"Yeah. Traffic sucks. And the constant rain too. Wonder if we can do something about that. Like, is it pollution or is it all on purpose?" I wondered.

"Mhm," Shy replied.

Emoscythe's place was just off the centre of New Montreal, one of the bigger shopping districts surrounded by several mega buildings. Traffic was, if anything, worse around there, but as I flew in, I noticed a few sirens and flashing lights showing up around me. The police? But they weren't trying to stop me so much as they were blocking off traffic to make way.

"I didn't know they could do that," Shy said.

"It's a perk," I replied. Not one I'd ever experienced before, but maybe the police around here were on Emoscythe's payroll? Actually, who was I kidding, they absolutely would be. "You've met Emoscythe, right?"

"Yes."

"And Crackshot? Her current boytoy?"

"Ah, no," Shy replied. "Is he really..."

"Eh, not really. But it's funny to think of it that way. If you know Emoscythe, then you know who's wearing the pants in that relationship."

"Ah... like you and Lucy."

I blinked. "What's that mean?"

"Never mind."

"No, really, what's that mean?"

She never did answer me before I had to pay attention to get us landed properly.

***