Chương 10: Chapter Eight - Getting Paid

We arrived back in Fenway without much fuss, and just a few minutes before our shift was supposed to start. There was already a line out the front of the bar, people waiting to get in the moment the doors opened. The bouncer let us through, though he told Sharp to use the back entrance next time, since letting us pass pissed off some of those in the line. Paris raised an eyebrow on seeing us, but she didn't complain, maybe because Sharp sprinted by towards the back and practically flung me onto the bed.

"I need to get changed!" she said before grabbing her work clothes and then practically throwing off what she'd been wearing to get ready. She was out of the room a moment later. And that left me alone once more. Honestly, I was ready for a nap, though I had caught a few winks on the way over. This new body of mine was primed to fall asleep at a moment's notice, but I didn't want to do that just yet. First, I wanted to play with that burner phone.

Sharp had left it in her pants, which were now crumpled on the ground. A careful hop down--this time without crashing--and I got to wrestle with her pants for a few minutes to try and dislodge the burner from the pocket it was stuffed into. It was the kind of thing that would have been easy as a human, barely an inconvenience, but now the phone weighed a quarter as much as I did. I did manage to get it out. Ideally I would have brought it up onto the bed, but I didn't expect to be able to manage that.

Sighing, I moved the phone around as best I could on the floor. It had come out screen-side-down, so I had to flip the damned thing. That was a chore and a half. Once it was upright, I leaned over the screen and caught sight of my reflection in it. A... hmm, I didn't want to admit it, but that gremlin girl might have been a little right. I was definitely on the mangey side of things. Kittens, by their nature, were cute, but I was definitely on the ugly-cute side of that spectrum. In any case, I now have a phone.

I pressed a paw to the screen, then tapped it until it unlocked. There was no password, which was nice. A swipe revealed that we still had internet for another two or so hours. I wanted to log into my banking accounts, or check on things, but the gremlin had seemed tech-literate enough that I didn't dare use an unsecured device like this to log into anything. That didn't stop me from opening a news app and perusing things.

First local news once I figured out how to close the constant ads and demands that I join their subscriptions. There were millions of people living in Boston Two, so news was always booming. There wasn't anything, at a cursory glance, about Fenway except a few mentions of various sporting seasons about to start or nearing their end. Good enough for now. I checked the gang-related news for anything interesting.

There were plenty of small-scale wars going on, pushes for turf, disputes and fights, but it seemed like the city overall was in a low simmer. I did a roundabout search that eventually led me to the obituary of one Professor Daniels. The corp he was working for released a statement, saying that he unfortunately passed away of cardiac-related issues just two days ago. Nothing about a cleaning lady dying, but that was to be expected. Another roundabout search and I was able to confirm that my home was safe.

That was a weight off my shoulders. Now... did I want to head back there? At the moment it was wishful thinking. Sharp didn't have that kind of money, and walking the distance was out of the question. Did she know how to drive? If so we might be able to steal a car and make the trip.... How would my cats react to a new person in the house? For that matter, how would they react to a kitten? Well, whatever. My last job was meant to be a long-term one.

Housekeeping would keep my place clean for months, the vet service had at-home pickup set up with the Trauma Group Pets Premium setup I'd shelled out for, and the apartment that I was paying for was owned by a small company that I was a majority shareholder in. It wasn't like they would kick me out so easily. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Did I want Sharp up in my house? It wouldn't be all that bad. She was a nice-enough girl.

Would it be good for her? Now that was a bigger question. I didn't have any way to confirm it, but I had a sneaking suspicion that Sharp and I would improve a lot more if faced with challenges. A comfortable home was... not that. I wanted to do more with the phone, but two things stopped me. First, a ping from whatever system we had going on. Tech Has Levelled Up! Tech 0 > 1 That was a good jump there, from nothing to something. I blinked as I felt a slight...

tickle through my mind, but I wasn't sure if that was my imagination or not. In any case, that had been an easy level to earn. Was it past experience coming into play? The second thing was a wave of tiredness. I was more than due for a cat nap. Yawning, I went over to the bed and used the edge of a blanket hanging off the side to climb up and onto the mattress, then I navigated over to the pillow and flopped down onto it. It wasn't long before I was asleep. Today had been a pretty good day, so far.

I was awakened by Sharp's insistent shaking what felt like only minutes later.

"Hey, kitty, wake up, please."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Uh, they're back. And this time Jenny wants to talk to me. What do I do?" she asked. I blinked the crud out of my eyes, then stifled a yawn.

"Is she here to pay you?"

"Oh... I hadn't thought of that." I gave the girl the flattest stare I could manage, then stood up and stretched. It felt wonderful. There was something about being a cat that made the act of stretching really nice.

"I'll come with you. Honestly, she should have just passed you an envelope with the cash. Or else made an electronic transfer of some sort."

"I know, but she told me to meet her below, in the parking lot under the bar." That had my ears perking up. The parking lot? That... could be entirely innocent. But then, why not just pay Sharp here? The bar was neutral ground, and the kind of money owed to Sharp wasn't anywhere near large enough to sound alarm bells or catch anyone's attention.

"We're letting the bouncers know," I said.

"We are?"

"Well, you are. If this is a trap, we'll make sure it's one that'll cost them their neutrality. Is the grem--Jenny still around?"

"Yeah, she's waiting by the bar," Sharp said. She adjusted the hem of her baseball shirt, tugging it down as though it were a dress. It was almost big enough for that, actually. I nodded, then allowed her to grab me and hide me under the shirt. I clung onto the inside with my claws, which was... not as bad as it might have sounded. I weighed nothing and my claws were perfectly grippy. I imagined that the small lump in her shirt would be obvious, but people tended to default to not asking questions.

"Let's go," I said. Sharp giggled, then patted the area of the shirt I was hiding in before she took off. I could just about see through the material, especially when we entered the main floor of the bar and the brighter neon lights lit the shirt up from the outside. She moved over and talked to one of the bouncers, telling him that she'd be talking to someone in the parking lot and should be back soon. He asked if she wanted him to accompany her, and Sharp froze for a moment before saying yes.

I hadn't expected an escort, but I wasn't about to say no to a bit of help. He said it would have to be fast, since Paris wouldn't want them gone, and Sharp agreed. And then we were off. The parking garage was three floors down, accessible through one of the elevators in the concourse just outside the bar. The doors opened to a low-ceilinged space filled with cars and choking with hydrocarbons. Jenny and the mage were there, standing way out near the back next to a small minivan with an opened side.

I noticed a shift in the shadows nearby a moment before that mage turned and looked our way. It was time to see what this was all about. I had a feeling it wasn't as simple as us getting paid.