Birds Of A Feather, Chapter 1.17 (Patreon)

1.17

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The scent of spices hit my nose almost as soon as I opened the door, and it only grew stronger as I stepped inside and closed it behind me. Cumin, paprika, chili powder, oregano, garlic, and onion... All of them were familiar scents, and they did well in hiding the polluted air of Night City.

There was a woman who’d been leaning against the counter when I’d walked in. She stared at me now with a pale face, though she hadn’t moved away from the register that she was manning. Slightly on the older side, with a face worn by the sun. Behind her, and mounted on the wall, was an emblem I recognized from my netdiving on the first day. Steel Vaqueros, a Nomad Pack, consisting of a few hundred people. They rode as far north as San Francisco and as far south as Tijuana.

They had a habit of leaving behind members to ‘hold the fort’ of their interests here in Night City, and it was extremely likely that this woman was one of them.

It would explain the spices, the food, the cleanliness, and the building itself... Though this place was quite far inside of the City for a Nomad operation.

Oh well.

Much more important than all of that, proper food.

I moved in, shifting the positions of my shoulders so that my robes would hang a bit more closely to my body. The aisles were thin for me, and I was not the sort of person to leave messes for other people.

Alright.

Quite the array of stock she had here. Bodegas were basically independent convenience stores in Night City, so that’s not surprising. A Nomad connection means a supply of relatively exotic and rare things, too. The spices were one example, though...

Yeah. Meat. Actual cuts of actual, real animal meat. Frozen rather than fresh, admittedly, but that’s Continent Brands’ attempts to destroy the competition in action for you. A few different types, too.

There was a bunch of other stuff in the shop, of course. About a billion different types of energy drinks, more cigarette brands than I could shake a stick at, countless different types of useless little novelty items, and more, but the food was the most important part of it for me.

Carrying it all around would be annoying, though...

Oh. Hold on.

There’s a sign on the wall, and that sign claims that “Deliveries are available”.

I was facing away from the woman, so she didn’t see my smile, but it was definitely there.

Alas, there’s not much more information aside from that, so...

I turned around, facing towards the still-tense old woman. “Excuse me.” I said, politely, because she wasn’t a Corpo. She hadn’t earned my contempt. “Could you please clarify on this delivery service?”

I could see the cognitive dissonance slap her in the face. It was only slightly amusing, and only because of the way that the naked confusion played out. All of the assumptions she’d been making since the moment I’d walked in and I’d just met none of them.

“I- uh-” She paused, sucking in a deep breath and rallying. “What would you like to know?”

“A few things.” I answered, moving a bit closer so that I wasn’t talking to her halfway across the room. “Is it possible to have a delivery scheduled for later today?” I wouldn’t be available for a few hours. “At approximately six PM?”

She blinked. “Yeeees?” Her eyes narrowed. “Though I’m afraid we only have things set up for Santo Domingo...”

“That is all that is needed.” I gave a slight smile. On my bird-like features, that mostly appeared in the forms of creases around my eyes, but it was the shifting projection of my Essence that got the feeling across, even if Humans weren’t aware of it.

She relaxed, slightly. Her face stayed the same, but the way that she was standing changed, shoulders lowering just a bit as she leaned backwards. “Alright. What can we get for you?”

“I’m interested in variety.” I answered. “Novelty. For now, let us start with food. Tell me, when it comes to seasoning and condiments, what do you have available?”

“Un cocinero?” The woman muttered to herself, straightening up.

“Sí, Señora.” I answered, and again watched her startle as cognitive dissonance once more slapped her across the face. “Qué recomienda?”

It took a moment, but her eyes narrowed, and she fixed me with a narrow stare. It was cute, in roughly the same way that a kitten sizing up one’s hand for attack was. Well and truly outside of her size, weight, and power class, but charming nonetheless. “Do you actually speak Español?”

“Only enough for short conversations.” I admitted, allowing myself a brief chuckle as I did. “I know a few languages, as pointless of an achievement as that is in this day and age where every man, woman, and child on the streets could be carrying around half a dozen language chips, but I do prefer the authenticity of actually learning.” Of course, I hadn’t had the choice before. With my new brain, though, it’d probably be a lot easier actually learning. “But I do believe we’ve gotten off track.”

She nodded, her intensity fading. “And your budget?”

“Consider it not a limitation.” Was what I answered with.

The old woman smiled.

I walked out of the store a few thousand Eddies lighter. Still, it felt like an accomplishment, and I had no doubt that it would be worth it.

The surety was nice.

I made it back to my newly acquired property just in time for a large pair of trucks to show up, too. The big Night Corp logos on their sides gave away who they were, and the fact that they were so prompt in their arrival told me that that someone was trying to make a good impression on the unknown rich person.

Reputation and image.

The trucks parked next to the building, and eight workers got out of them. Their appearance made me wonder if Night Corp selected for the construction worker cliché, or if they’d gone ahead and biosculpted the look. They were just... stereotypical.

Pretty kitted out, though. All of them were in some heavy-duty Linear Frames, and most of them had Corporate Cyberware on top of that. One of them had full limb replacements, and I’d wager he had a Cyberspine on top of that judging by how straight he stood. He looked old, and unlike anybody else I’d ever met in this city, he didn’t immediately fear me on sight.

Predictably, that guy was the one who approached me, dressed in a slightly more fancy uniform than the rest of them. “You’re Drich, right?” He asked. “The owner of this building and the one who wants the enclosure?”

He’d been told to be polite, but he didn’t care about that. He was being genuine, and that, more than anything else, diffused my enmity.

He was just a worker. Regardless of who he was working for, the only thing he was doing was his job description. Too old and curmudgeonly for anything else.

“I am.” I agreed, utterly pointlessly. There was nobody in this city who could be mistaken for me.

“Great.” He said, nodding. “This won’t take too long, and we’re ready to get started. Is there any problem with that?”

“No.”

“Good.” He turned right around, starting to walk back towards the rest of his crew, who looked a little bit less than okay with how their boss was behaving. “Get to work, slackers!” He yelled.

They did. I watched idly on the sideline as they did.

I’d give them this, they were a well-oiled machine. Their trucks opened up, and one of them turned out to have a bucket lift attached. Inside the spare space was a big pile of folded blue tarps, as well as large scaffolding pieces, hooks, and other supports.

Their linear frames let them work fast. No forklifts needed here, they could heft those giant pieces with just a bit of effort. They started with a single section, the bases of the supports going down first. They were big, heavy, and had wide bases, two of them going down in a line before they were connected with another support strut.

Telescoping poles went on top of the both of them, and then another piece on top of that.

With this side done, they then went to the other side and did the same thing. With both of the poles in place, the bucket lift was used next, getting them above the center of the building.

The telescopic poles extended upwards. Once they were at... not quite their full height, but close enough, the other piece on top shifted its angle before also telescoping. Both sides met in the middle, and the workers connected them together, before adding a strut between both middle pieces.

They simply repeated that a couple extra times, adding another few supports until the entire building was enclosed in them. From there, they went to the front and back, setting up three smaller pieces that went straight up to the diagonal parts. One, straight to the center where they met, and the other two splitting the distance in half.

Then came the tarps. The first piece was pulled off, then the top layer was unfolded. The workers hooked them straight to the supports, before pressing a button. A motor activated, and the tarps were pulled up and over the entire section, covering it. The same thing happened to each section, and soon the building was covered save for the front and back.

Of course, that was what the final pieces were for. They had triangular pieces, which they attached across the entirety of the front and back, which were again pulled up with the press of a button. The final ones were simple square pieces, though I noted that one of them had a flap built into it so that it could be opened.

Those went up, and that was that. The entire building was now enclosed in a thick, heavy, obscuring tarp which nobody would be able to spy through without doing so in a rather obvious way. To my genuine surprise, nobody had even tried to sneak a camera on the inside, either. It was as legitimate as it could be, save for the speed that it had started with.

I hadn’t called that long ago, after all.

The foreman approached me again after they were all done. “We’re done here.” He said, unnecessarily. “Corporate wants me to ask a bunch of time wasting bullshit, but fuck ‘em. Want to comment?”

“I would hire you again.” I said.

He nodded, not even a hint of the amusement he felt showing through on his face. “Right.” He raised his hand, holding out a key fob. “That’s for the entrance.” He explained. “Don’t lose it, they’re overpriced as all hell. We’ll be back in a week.”

And with that, he turned around, yelling at his crew ‘get in the damned truck’ before they shortly pulled out.

My eyes turned back to the key fob.

The hidden microphone was not so well hidden. The man hadn’t known what he’d been giving me.

It was entirely sealed, but that wasn’t a problem.

I moved over to the tarp, pressing the button on the fob. The flap unlocked, an electromagnet unsealing. I brushed it aside, walking through, and it closed on its own.

It was dark on the inside, what little light making it through being a deep blue. This didn’t bother me. A mental command brought an Autgent forth from my robes, and I had it scan the fob.

The only wireless component was for the door. The microphone was connected to a memory chip.

I dumped it in the same pocket as one of my Nanofactories, and sent a series of commands to it. By the time that I arrived downstairs, the microphone no longer functioned, and the memory chip had been blanked.

Which left me completely free for the next few hours to do whatever I damned well pleased with this building. A brief interruption for the delivery I’d arranged, and then I’d have all week to do whatever I wanted.

“Well.” I said to myself, fetching the Nanofactories from my robes and holding them like cards between my fingers. “I would hate not to impress.”

With a single flourish, I tossed them into the air. They landed with small thuds among the pile of scrap.

Time to put some effort in.