18 – Not Going Anywhere

Addie watched as Tony drove the van through the gate in the chain-link fence, steering it into the small parking area in front of the old concrete and plasteel warehouse building. It had been two days since they’d extracted Victor Kwon from the clutches of Boxer and dropped him off in a parking lot on the district's east side. He’d gotten into an empty sedan with blacked-out windows and no identifying marks or signals, and then it had driven off.

Addie thought the whole thing was strange, and Tony thought Kwon was “off,” as he put it, but Torque had been pleased, paying off the balance of their contract. More than just the contract fee, they stood to make some good money from the “salvage,” which her dad was currently trying to fence.

She shook her head, chuckling silently as she recalled Beef’s response to Tony’s suggestion that her dad do the fencing. Beef, of course, “knew a guy” who could handle it and had been quite reluctant to let the duffle go. Tony was quick to point out that Beef probably didn’t want the Helldogs to find out about his moonlighting, and the big man had finally acquiesced, though not without warning Tony and Addie that he’d “break their knees” if they tried to “screw him over.”

“Whatcha smiling about?” Tony asked, pulling the van into a parking spot.

Addie looked at him, her smile broadening. “Thinking about Beef and his threats.”

Tony chuckled. “Guy’s crazy.” As he powered down the van, he added, “Pretty solid muscle, though.”

Addie didn’t respond, but inwardly, she rejoiced. It was the first time Tony had commented on Beef’s performance during the job, and she’d been hesitant to bring it up. She hadn’t exactly had a lot of opportunity; the day before, she’d slept in past noon, and then she, Tony, and her dad had spent the afternoon reviewing property listings. “Glitch was good too, right?”

“Yeah. Honestly, the only one who messed up during that job was me.” He leaned back in his seat, folding his arms. They were supposed to meet a real estate agent, or, more precisely, a synth representing a real estate agent, but they were a little early.

“No, you didn’t. Those were some tough situations, and I think Beef was a little overzealous, especially when you were talking to the door guards.”

“Eh, a little more preparation would have gone a long way. We need to get you another drone. A crawler with some offensive capabilities—maybe a needler with some botu-rounds. Those guard stations were a little risky to be trying to bluff our way past.”

Addie liked the sound of that. She would have loved to be more helpful in the facility. “I don’t have to stay back in the van on jobs like that, you know.”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, I know. Let’s keep up the training. You’re going to be a lot of help when you start developing those spark skills a little more.” While he spoke, a small, single-occupant vehicle noiselessly rolled into the lot and parked on Addie’s side of the van. The door was decorated with a bright green logo that looked like a capital E.

“Our agent is here,” she announced. The “E” stood for Empire Listings.

“Yep.” Tony opened his door and slid out of the van. Addie did the same. Outside, she watched as the tiny vehicle’s egg-like canopy lifted, revealing a surprisingly life-like woman with curly red hair and bright green eyes. Addie didn’t have to switch her visual spectrum to confirm she was a synth—the lifelike upgrades didn’t extend past her head. Her entire body was mint-green plasteel with chrome joints, including her neck.

“Good morning! You’d be Ember, right?”

Addie nodded. She and Tony planned to lease whatever property they settled on under their SOA identities. Her dad would pay them rent for his space. “That’s me.”

The synth smiled and turned to regard Tony as he walked around the van. “Mr. Shepherd?”

“Hello.” He flicked two fingers in a lazy salute-wave.

The synth smiled and stepped closer to Addie, extending a hand. “I’m Lassa, a certified agent for Flora Takumi, whom you corresponded with yesterday.”

Addie shook the synth’s hand, smiling warmly. “Pleased to meet you, Lassa.”

Lassa returned the smile and immediately turned to Tony. “Pleasure, sir.”

He took her hand, nodding. “Let’s have a tour.”

Lassa nodded, moving toward the front of the van and gesturing expansively to the big, graffiti-covered, square-shaped building. “Well, as Flora said, this is a perfect opportunity for a pair of industrious young entrepreneurs. The rates in this neighborhood have fallen over the last couple of years, but trends indicate that the district is experiencing a surge of interest from major corporations. They haven’t moved into this area yet, but there’s only so much space in the Blast, right? Flora is confident that the values will only go up, which means that locking in a long-term lease right now would be wise.”

Addie nodded, following her as she continued walking toward the big, rolling bay door on the front of the building. “We agree that this is a good neighborhood for what we’re planning. What about the building?”

“It’s a solid building—concrete footings with plasteel panels and girders. It’s plumbed in all four corners, which will accommodate dozens of possible layouts, depending on your interior design intentions. The original business office is intact. I’ll show you once we get inside.” She stopped before a metal door set into the plasteel paneling beside the bay door. “Hmm, give me a moment. I don’t see the security panel…”

Tony stepped around Addie and chuckled, pointing to the broken bits of plastic housing and empty screw holes. “Someone ripped it off.”

“Oh, dear.” Lassa held up one finger. “Pardon me while I contact Flora.”

Addie looked at Tony. “That’s not a great sign.”

He shrugged. “The building’s been vacant.” He pointed to the overhanging roof some ten meters overhead. “The camera mounts are empty, too. Someone probably came around and stripped the electronics left behind by the last tenant.”

“That’s exactly right, Mr. Shepherd,” Lassa said. “Let’s see here… Flora believes I should be able to interface with the door’s automated lock and deliver the access code.” Addie watched as Lassa pulled a cable out of her mint-green forearm and then reached into the opening the security panel must have once occupied. “Ah, I can feel the mechanism. Hmm, looking for a port… Aha!” The door clicked, and Lassa quickly grabbed the doorknob and twisted it. “We’re in!”

She retracted her cable while Tony took the door and pulled it wide. Addie peered through, smiling at the enormous open space. “It looks like they removed everything!” She’d been afraid they’d find all sorts of defunct merchandise, packaging, or equipment lying around. Instead, there was a wide-open, concrete-floored area dotted with plasteel support pillars. A lot of light came in from the windows, evenly spaced along the eaves on either side of the slightly sloped roof.

“Yes, please follow me.” Lassa stepped through the door, glancing up at Tony to smile. “Thank you, sir.”

He nodded. “My pleasure.” Then, he waved Addie through. “After you, miss.”

Addie couldn’t help giggling at his faux chivalry. “Thank you, good sir.”

Once inside, Lassa held up a hand, gesturing expansively. “Thirteen hundred square meters of space, with an existing business office built above—what amounts to a partial second floor—preserving the ground level for inventory or industry.” She pointed to a set of plasteel stairs leading up to a rectangular structure attached to the steel girders, about four meters off the concrete ground.

Tony looked at Addie, raising an eyebrow. “What do you think?”

Addie shrugged, looking around. “It’s huge.”

He nodded. “What’s in that office space?” he asked, pointing to the metal staircase leading up to the catwalk surrounding the second-floor structure.

“Sixty square meters of finished space, separated into a reception area, three offices, and a small kitchen. The cabinets remain, but all other furnishings have been removed. We can take a look! Follow me.”

Tony looked at Addie, and she nodded. “Let’s check it out.” They’d already had a long talk about the cost and whether they could afford the space. The leasing company wanted 5,000 Sol-bits a month, down from 8,500 the year before and nearly 13,000 three years prior. Her dad said it was because it wasn’t making anyone any money sitting vacant, but he and Tony both agreed that the price would go up again after Echelon Labs ramped up their presence around Royal Breeze. Their activities were going to bring a population surge to the Blast.

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If they could lock in a long-term lease at five thousand, they could always sell it off when prices went up, assuming they didn’t want to stay there. She climbed the metallic steps behind Tony and followed him and the synth inside. It was a very plain, business-like structure—brown industrial carpeting, scuffed-up paint on the walls, and a handful of identical rectangular rooms, only two of which had windows overlooking the production floor. The space at the back was the kitchen. It was the same as the other rooms, aside from a row of cabinets on the back wall, a sink, and a bathroom with a toilet and another sink.

“It’s nothing fancy, but it’s certainly utilitarian,” Lassa said after showing them around.

Tony nodded, stroking his chin. “Give us a few minutes to talk, would you, Lassa? We’ll meet you by the door.”

“Of course! I’ll wait just outside the structure.”

Tony watched her leave—from the kitchen, you could see down the hall, all the way to the reception exit. When she was gone, and Addie could hear the faint sounds of her plasteel feet clicking on the stairs, he looked at her and shrugged. “Seems fine.”

“I think so too, but it’s way more space than we need. Shouldn’t we just rent an office closer to the NGT building?”

“We’d pay the same price, and that’s without paying for a garage spot for the van. Here, we have room to work on things. We can upgrade the van, we can set up separate living spaces, your dad can store inventory, we can test out gear, we can—”

“Okay, okay.” Addie laughed, surprised by his enthusiasm. “If you think it’s right for us, I won’t argue. My dad and I will have to find a place anyway, and this seems

like we’re getting a heck of a bargain. I mean, assuming we don’t get broken into and killed on our first night.”

“Hah!” Tony chuckled. “I pity the burglar who breaks into this warehouse.”

“Okay, but, like, are we even allowed to live here? Isn’t this industrial property?”

Tony shrugged. “Half the buildings in this district are zoned for industrial purposes. Half of those have someone sleeping behind a curtain in the back—you know that. Besides, nobody’s gonna come around trying to enforce that stuff; Boxer doesn’t care, and they’re the de facto police in the Blast.”

“Yeah, my dad said the same thing over breakfast.” Addie grinned impishly, and Tony laughed.

“You’re a character, Addie Jones.” He bumped her shoulder with his elbow. “Ready to sign a contract?”

“I guess so. Do you think we’ll have to put the full fifteen up?” The corporate lease terms the agent had forwarded specified two months' worth of rent and another five thousand bits for a security deposit.

“I dunno. Let’s see what we can bargain.” He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets and started toward the door, but Addie wasn’t willing to just trail behind—she hurried up beside him, grabbed his elbow, and leaned into him while they walked. He chuckled and pulled his hand out of his pocket, looping it over her shoulders. “Feeling happy?” he asked.

“Feeling excited. This is a lot of space we get to decorate!”

“Oh, boy.” Tony clicked his tongue, shaking his head.

When they pressed Lassa on how firm the leasing corporation was on their terms, she admitted to some wiggle room. That being the case, Tony and Addie made an offer of 4700 bits per month and asked for a waived security deposit. The company came back within an hour, rejecting the offer and insisting they needed a full 5000 bits for the security deposit to cover the air treatment system.

They agreed, happy for the slightly reduced monthly payment, and signed a two-year lease. Her dad insisted on paying half, so all told, the move was exceedingly cheap for a couple of up-and-coming operators. Of course, it wasn’t like they were relocating into a luxury high-rise. The industrial neighborhood where they were setting up shop was riddled with crime, had as many vacant buildings as occupied, and the building itself would require some significant renovations.

Tony didn’t seem worried about the crime. He insisted they’d set up cams and, with one of them on the premises almost all the time, he didn’t think there was much risk of being burglarized. Addie didn’t argue; she was, as she’d told Tony, excited. The warehouse was huge, and it would be easy to build living quarters away from her dad, whom they’d all agreed would set up shop in the old business office. He’d keep his mail-order goods on the warehouse floor, in a designated area, but the office was perfect for him to use as an apartment.

On the other hand, Tony promised to help Addie frame up some walls for her own space and plumb her bathroom. They had a couple of weeks to make the space livable before Bert had to be out of his shop, so the day after they signed the contracts, Tony and Addie drove the van to a construction supply outlet to pick up materials to do just that. Their pockets were still flush—her dad had done an amazing job fencing the guns and equipment from the Boxer corpo-sec, but more importantly, he’d sold the Dust canisters for more than even Tony had estimated.

After giving Glitch and Beef their cut, along with their subcontractor fees, Tony and Addie made nearly 40,000 bits on the job—an eye-popping amount as far as Addie was concerned. Combined with their previous savings, they were sitting on a hefty pile of bits even after taking enough out to secure the building lease.

They filled the van with as many engineered plasti-fiber two-by-fours, Panelite prefab wall panels, and modular wall anchors as it could carry. Tony threw in a few rolls of Smartseal insulation mesh, a bucket of quick-cure bonding paste, and a pair of fold-flat privacy doors with embedded light strips. Addie picked up a few tools her dad had specified: a hammer-drill, a multi-adapter stud scanner, and a circular saw with extra blades. It wasn’t half what they’d need to frame up the rooms they were planning, but it was plenty to get started.

On their way to the warehouse, her dad messaged her, and she announced, “My dad’s on his way.”

“Cool, ’cause I don’t exactly know what I’m doing, especially with the plumbing.”

Addie’s eyes widened comically. “We didn’t get any plumbing stuff!”

“Nah, that girl your dad knows—”

“Esther!”

“Right—she’s gonna meet him there.”

“Makes sense; she owes him. My dad let her stay with us for a while, a few years back, after she got fired by Boxer.”

“Seriously? How does someone get fired by a corp like Boxer? Usually, they just send you for re-education.”

“She had a, um, thing with one of her managers, and when it got ugly, he must have thought firing her would be easier than getting her transferred. Maybe he was afraid she’d spill his secrets.”

“Yeah.” Tony tsked. “Now that sounds more like the corpo-culture I know.”

Thinking about Esther and her time at the pawn shop, Addie was suddenly hit with a wave of melancholy. “I’m gonna miss the neighborhood.”

Tony looked at her, lowering his absurd, cheap sunglasses to lock his one silvery iris with her eyes. “Yeah, I get that. A big change like this can hit kind of hard. Honestly, I’m surprised you’ve been so cool up to this point.”

“Cool?” Addie narrowed her eyes. “How did you expect me to be?”

“I mean, you’ve lived in that little apartment over that shop for most of your life, right?”

The question hit hard, and Addie felt the melancholy warp into despair as emotion made her throat tight, and her brain decided it was a perfect time to replay images of her life in that dinky little pawnshop. She saw herself getting bandages on her knees after falling out front on the sidewalk. She saw her friends coming by after Boxer Elementary classes to get snacks and listen to her dad’s stories. She saw her mom—alive and happy, helping her dad set up display cases.

Suddenly, she was squeezing her eyes shut and scrubbing tears off her cheeks. Tony must have finally realized what was happening because he groaned and spun his chair to face her, trusting the van to finish driving itself. “Ah, Addie, I’m sorry. I’m such an idiot.” He reached over and brushed some moisture off her cheek that she’d missed, then took her wrist, gently cupping her hand in his. “Hey, seriously. I wasn’t thinking when I said that.”

“It’s true, though!” she sobbed, his kindness only opening the floodgates further. “My whole life was in that store!”

“C’mon, I know. I know, shh. Isn’t it great that your dad’s gonna be with us, though? You said so yourself, the neighborhood isn’t the same…” He trailed off, probably recognizing the futility of his words. Meanwhile, the van piloted through the gate and into their narrow parking lot, waiting for someone to open the bay door of the warehouse. Tony unbuckled Addie’s seatbelt and tugged on her wrist, pulling her over to his seat.

She didn’t resist. She folded into him like she was made to fit there, wriggling onto his lap and turning to press herself into his chest and shoulder. She’d hugged him before. She’d been close to him before, sitting on couches or walking with his arm over her shoulders. This was different, though. This was intimate, and he knew it. He’d invited it. Her sorrowful thoughts about the store and the memories she’d built there faded as another kind of emotion built up, warming the back of her neck, making her breath come quickly, and her skin tingle where he held her close.

Addie nuzzled Tony’s neck, sniffling, and then she lifted her lips to the hard angle of his jaw and softly kissed him. She felt his body react, his muscles go rigid for a second, and then soften as he moved his hands to gently hold the sides of her face, pulling back to look her in the eyes again. “Shit, Ads,” he whispered, his voice husky with emotion. “I think we’re in trouble.” Then, he kissed her.

It was a gentle, chaste, kind of kiss. His lips were warm and soft, but Addie could feel the short, sandpapery stubble of his chin as it rubbed against hers. Her mind exploded with a million thoughts and emotions, and she succumbed to instinct, just trying to get more of his lips, more of his taste, pressing into him, parting her lips, but then he pulled back, shaking his head. “That’s not right.”

“What! It’s right, Tony!” Addie insisted, reaching for him, gently driving her fingers through his hair, grabbing the back of his head, and pulling.

“You’re all emotional right now, Ads. I’m taking advantage…”

“Shut up! I’m always emotional.” She pulled, and he came back to her, and they kissed again, and this time, she tasted the inside of his lips, and more fireworks exploded in her brain. She felt herself getting hot, but she could feel him getting tense, and she didn’t want to ruin things by trying to push too hard. She’d get her kiss, and she’d let things go. That was what she told herself, but that kiss went on for a while.

The whole time, Tony cupped the back of her neck, gently caressing, while his other hand, the mechanical one, held her hip, keeping her from sliding off his lap as they went at it. After a while, Tony pulled back again and looked at her, narrowing his eyes, the sharp, clear, silvery one laser-focused on hers. “I don’t want to ruin things.”

“Me neither,” Addie said, her urgent need feeling somewhat satisfied. “We can take things slowly. I know you have…things you’re worried about.”

“It’s just…” He swallowed, looking out the windshield, maybe trying to think of the right words. When he looked back at her, he said, “It’s just I care about you a lot. And—"

“Hush, Tony. I care about you, too!” She knew he was worried about his past. He was worried about his betrayal and how he was going to cope with it. She had a feeling that some part of him was convinced he’d have to leave the Blast—he’d have to leave her—and go seeking revenge. Maybe he thought she was too naïve to realize he probably had those kinds of dark voices in his mind, but she wasn’t. She was just a lot surer than he was that she’d convince him to stay.

“I don’t want to hurt—”

“Me. I know. Relax.” She slid off his lap, standing up. Then she leaned forward and kissed him gently again. “I don’t think you’re going to hurt me,” she said, straightening, “but we can take things as slowly as you want. I’m not going anywhere, Tony.” She took a step back and flopped into her seat. “I think my dad’s almost here. Should we get the warehouse opened up?”

Tony looked at her for a long couple of seconds, something like bewilderment in his eyes, then he nodded, swallowed, and unfastened his seatbelt. “Uh, yeah. Let’s do that.”