Chapter Text
Osprey took another deep drag of her cig, the last one in the pack, as she went through the data shard one more time, looking at the various choke points and vantage points of the Maelstrom hideout. Client had been pretty vague on the deets, but from what she could tell, some fuckin Maelstrom gonk had taken the wrong implant off their hands, and wanted the thing back, and was willing to pay an extra thousand eds per Maelstrom head she dropped, needing proof of course. She’d hit up her runner friend to snatch the video footage after, no way in hell she was trying to get stuck lugging round some chromedome corpses. She stamped out the cig and grabbed another pack from her apartment’s stache, along with Her Majesty, Fenrir, and her trusty punkknife. No time like the present. She zoned out as her Caliburn raced through the always crowded streets of night city, only bringing full attention back as she entered Maelstrom territory.
She parked the car off a ways, she always preferred a walk before combat, and it was always a good idea to leave your car away from prying eyes in this city. That car was her baby, she’d nabbed it with all the eds she’d saved up till she hit 18, and cared for the thing religiously. She scanned the entrance with her kiroshis, and found it was a simple lock, she could jimmy the thing open with nothin more than her knife, which she did quickly before slipping inside, active camo fuzzing on and Her majesty in hand. Two of the gonks were chatting with their back to the entryway, clearly of the mind that nobody would dare attack them in their own home. Two silenced shots to each ones skull erased that thought, along with any others. She moved on, switching off her active camo as she got to the camera room, slipping out her throwing knife, which found its way into the robotic eye of the lone watcher in the room before he could so much as shout.
She slid over to the console, swiping through messages, searching to see if there was anything to help her find the objective, nothing on that front. Though, interestingly, there was multiple mentions of someone they referred to as “Pigeon”, they seemed to keep the poor soul for their amusement. Last message about this “Pigeon” was dated to four days ago, so seemed unlikely the thing was still around, knowing these freaks. Osprey shook her head. Bad luck for that one, only a few days away from freedom. She sighed and mapped out the remaining Maelstrom gangoons approximate locations before heading back out into the main entry way. She made her way through the tight, dark hallways that reeked of blood, some sort of chemical, and sex. It was almost enough to make even her gag. Almost.
Osprey slid up behind the next guard and broke his neck before unslinging Fenrir and unloading a clip into the next two as they noticed her, the silenced shots still loud enough to leave her ears ringing ever so slightly due to the enclosed area, and she sighed, reloading. So much for the element of surprise. She threw her knife into the throat of a guard that had come in to check before tapping her active camo again, vaulting over the couch and dashing into the hallway, taking out another 3 with Her majesty, then reloading again as her camo faded back out. She took a breath and took out Fenrir again, her earlier recon had showed a couple of damn near full borgs in the next room. She kicked the door down, using her reinforced ankles, and popped her sandy, dashing through the doorway before the door was even finished falling, the first chromedome managed to half react usin a kreznikov before taking 15 bullets to the face. The second tanked the other 15 before she whipped out her knife and rammed it into the man’s eye cavity another 5 times before her sandy deactivated, leaving the man collapsed and her panting.
She took inventory of her gear again. Should just be two more rooms, one of which was pitch black and seemingly empty, though she knew better than to ignore a room like that. Osprey grimaced and wiped her blade clean before dashing into the identified room, catching some bd junkie mid jerk off sesh, her pistol emptying itself into his chest before she could even think, and with that… One more. But where did he… A mantis blade slammed into her chest, missing her second heart by a few inches, and she gasped, coughing up blood, slamming her sandevistan a second time, whipping out Fenrir, dashing away a few times, crying out at the pain of ripping the toxic blade from her flesh, but she hit an airhypo and with a few bursts, had blown the arms of one of the biggest damn Maelstrom fuckers she’d ever seen clean off. Asshole coulda been an Animal, were it not for the insane levels of chrome. Osprey growled and emptied another clip of Her majesty into the asshole’s armored head before hitting her active camo one last time, sliding under the monster, and jumping onto the asshole’s shoulders with the help of her reinforced ankles, jamming her blade into his now exposed roof of what was left of his ganic mouth, the metal jaw now blown clean off. The Maelstromer spasmed heavily, and fell like a mountain, damn near breaking her leg.
She grunted and tugged herself out from under him, panting hard and holding her shoulder. Before she could call the client, something dashed out of the dark side room, a glowing red light blurring by, and latching itself to her waist, whimpering softly. Osprey realized with a start it was a kid. A kid with one of those severe ass Maelstrom eye chromes, took up half the poor girl’s face. Her heart pounded, and she looked down at the kid, when it clicked to her. “You… uh.. Pigeon?” The girl nodded silently, holding onto her waist tighter. “M-may I come with you miss?” Osprey sighed and patted the kid’s head. “It’s okay… you’re safe now, alright? I’m gonna getcha outta here. Just gotta grab a couple things.” The girl nodded again, and let go of her waist, instead taking hold of one of her blood soaked hands.
Osprey’s mind was a mess, between the intense pain, the poison from the mantis blade, and the presence of the poor little Pigeon, she was on autopilot as she nabbed the briefcase with the implant and jacked in so her runner choom could snatch the footage. She headed out, the girl still following her. She grunted in frustration as she realized her blood would get on her upholstry if she got in the car right now. “Well shit.” Pigeon looked up at Osprey and made a sound of curiosity. “Don’t worry about it kid…” Osprey bit her lip and took off her brown synthleather jacket, then tugged off her shirt, spreading it the best she could on her seat, then tugged back on the jacket with only a slight grunt of pain, the meds were helping, if not completely. “Cmon kid, get in.” She tried to ignore the weird feeling as the kid seemed to stare at her the entire time, but what was she supposed to do, ruin her car over modesty? Fuck that. She got in and waited till the kid speedily got in as well, before engaging auto drive and holding her wound. Between meds and her cyberware, she shouldn’t need professional medical care, just a few stitches to hold while the meds did their thing.
Soon, they pulled up to her megabuilding, and she did her best to ignore the prying leering eyes as she made her way up the stairs to the lift, Pigeon in tow, bloody shirt in one hand, briefcase in the other, her tits half out from the open jacket. She grunted as they boarded the lift. “A-are you uh.. okay miss?” Pigeon spoke up again, clearly a bit nervous. Osprey couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah kid, I’m fine… just, need a few minutes to patch myself up before I can get real talkative…” The girl nodded, still looking at her with that big red eye. She sighed in relief as they arrived at her floor and walked the couple feet to her door, tapping her key at the entrance before entering, collapsing into the chair and tossing the case onto her couch. “Fuck… Kid, can you do me a favor?” The door shut behind the girl, who jumped a bit as it did so, and then looked back at Osprey, nodding and biting her lip anxiously. “Grab me my first aid kit. On the wall next to my stash.” She gestured with her head, and the girl nodded, moving to do so, bringing it over. “Thanks… Alright, go wait in the bathroom, I don’t want you having to see this.” She nodded and went into the bathroom, seeming a little anxious at being separated from her rescuer.
Osprey tugged off her jacket and grimaced as she poured alcohol on the wound, then took the needle and thread into her hands, stitching herself up the best she could, using her reflection in the computer screen behind her to get the back, grateful for her flexibility not for the first time. That is, until… “Shit! Aghhh goddamnit…” Pigeon peeked out, blushing slightly at the sight of her rescuer bare chested, sweat beading her from pain and concentration. Osprey found herself blushing as well, oddly, and she cleared her throat. “Ah… hey uh… kid? I could use some help, if you are up for it… just need help with the last two stitches and the knot…” Pigeon nodded and walked over a bit slowly. “I-I need you to turn around miss…” Osprey nodded and turned her back to the girl, who was shockingly nimble with the stitches, and had them finished soon after. Osprey grabbed the bloody shirt, wiping off the last of the blood before grabbing a dirty pajama shirt, giving it a sniff before tugging it on, grunting in slight pain as she had to lift her arms. “Thank you Pigeon… My name is Osprey, by the way.” The younger girl nodded, smiling a little. “O-of course, it is… nice to be helpful to my rescuer…”
Osprey found her heart skipping a beat at the small smile on the girl’s lips, and she looked away, grabbing her knife, which had picked up a couple new dings on the mission. “So… uh… is uh, Pigeon your actual name?” She grabbed a whetstone and some oil, and set to the centering task of knife maintenance. The girl shrugged, another thing that made Osprey’s heart skip a beat, the gesture somehow adorable on such a dainty thing. “Well… don’t really got a real one, ma and pop sold me to Maelstrom when I was pretty young, an they always just called me girl… Mandrake was the one who gave me this name… so I guess... yeah its pretty much my real name.”
Osprey drew her lips into a thin line, thinking of the scent of the hideout and the enormous bastard that had got the jump on her. “Take it that the big gonk with too much chrome and a hole in his hard palate was Mandrake?” Osprey’s stomach churned at the thought of what those fuckin freaks must’ve kept such a young girl around for. Pigeon nodded slightly. “Yeah… he uhm… yeah.” Osprey couldn’t help but hug the poor girl, gentle as she could be, but it still made the girl stiffen for a moment before hesitantly leaning in. “I’m sorry kid.. you’ve had it far rougher than anyone deserves, much less a sweet little bird like you…” She sighed and let go. “So… Where do you wanna go from here Pigeon?” Pigeon shifted her weight nervously “D-do I uhm.. do I gotta go?” Osprey shook her head quickly. “Course not, but uh… not exactly the motherin type… not sure I’ll make the best caretaker…”
“I-I don’t care miss… I… I feel safe with you… I wanna stay.” Osprey hesitated a moment, thinking, then nodded. “Alright little bird… You can stay with me as long as you need, and I will keep you safe, you have my word. If you want, I can teach you what I know… S’not an easy life, but it’s made me more’n enough money to keep me comfortable, and I feel safer than the average gonk with the skills I have. Just an offer, no pressure.” Pigeon looked up at her with that big red eye again. “I... I wanna learn to be strong, like you, Miss Osprey!” Osprey blushed and chuckled, smiling. “Kay… c’mere then.” Osprey made room on the chair for the girl’s slight frame, but she plopped into her lap instead, sending Osprey’s heart racing. Christ, what the fuck was wrong with her, she didn’t get like this around the dozens of girls and joytoys she brought round each month, what the fuck was this feeling doing going towards this poor kid?
Osprey took a breath and stretched her arms around the girl, setting the knife and wetstone before them both. “Alright so… weapon maintenance is one of the biggest skills you will need in my line of work…” The two talked as they worked, and found their hearts a bit warmer… the city less cold and alone.