Chapter 9: Chapter 5 (Part 1)
Sue, with our modest help, quickly closed up her shop and led us to her home. Her apartment was just a few steps away from her trading spot. The entrance to the apartment building was, to put it mildly, not very inviting. Trash strewn about, odd and sometimes outright obscene drawings on the walls, and the occasional homeless person lying around. It wasn't a pleasant sight, but I hoped that inside Susan's apartment, it would be much better than the outside. We climbed up to the 6th floor on foot, as the elevator was out of order, and found ourselves in front of a closed metal door with an integrated scanner. Alex had seen a similar one in his old home, so he remembered it well.
"Everyone's here," the brunette waved her hand, and the door slowly slid aside, granting us access to the dwelling. "Come in, don't be shy," Mitchell beckoned again, shrugging off her backpack and entering.
"Alright, I'll wait for you outside," Marco was about to leave, approaching the staircase, but he was stopped by the girl's shout from the depths of the apartment.
"Don't you dare leave!" The teenager halted midway and froze. His head slowly turned back, anime-style, and he feigned a universal sorrow, casting his gaze to the floor and slowly trudging back. His face was so forlorn that I almost believed him, if not for the hidden smile that broke through his feigned composure.
"How could you think such a thing of me, sis?!" Marco feigned outrage, cautiously following me inside.
The girl's apartment was cozy enough for one person. A large studio room, a bathroom combined with a laundry room, and a storage room which Sue had turned into her workshop. Not knowing where to put myself, I stood near the entrance, trying not to touch anything, unlike Marco, who immediately headed for the workshop.
"Second shelf on the right. Take it and start cleaning. I'll check later," the young woman commanded sternly, threatening the Latino with her fist.
"Yeah, I remember," Ramirez grumbled and returned a few seconds later from the room, holding what appeared to be a box crammed with various keyboards.
"What did he do?" I asked the brunette, who was unpacking parts from her backpack, looking at the sullen teenager now burdened with a truly hellish task.
"He was fiddling with the volume roller of my old CD player and broke it. It's a rare item, and parts are hard to find," Mitchell smirked and waved me over, entering the workshop. "Come on in, don't just stand there."
Shrugging, I took one last glance at the sitting teenager's figure and, after a moment's hesitation, entered the sacred abode of the woman technician. The workshop was a bit larger than I initially thought. Apparently, the apartment was built in an expanded version compared to the standard. The previous Alex had been to similar apartments on the lower floors of the megatower where he lived. The child was sometimes left with an acquaintance who also worked for BioTech Corporation. From the boy's memory, I could conjure up images of a similar apartment, only a bit smaller, but if you don't look closely, they would seem identical.
"Alright, sit here and put your arm in this opening," the girl indicated towards a clearly non-standard netrunner chair. I had a similar one at home, but it lacked several additional modules, the purpose of which I could only guess.
Obediently settling into the chair, I waited for Sue's next move. She was adjusting something on her computer, periodically typing on her tablet. After a few minutes of waiting, the brunette finally finished her preparations, turning to face me. Susan set up the tablet on a special stand and connected it to the system. A notification about a new device being detected immediately appeared on the monitor screen, slightly calming my nerves. It was somewhat reassuring to see something familiar regarding the local computer technology.
"Good job, now let's probably get started. Are you afraid of injections?" the girl smiled, trying to tease me a bit.
"Terrified..." I feigned great fear, hearing her burst into laughter.
"Alright, scaredy-cat, I'll try to be gentle." The brunette winked at me, taking my hand and pulling out the port, which she immediately plugged into a free connector on the chair. "Done, now you can close your eyes and wait while sister Susan does her work." Her voice gradually faded away, and the only thing I managed to think at that moment was how she had managed to administer the anesthetic unnoticed...
***
I woke up slowly, trying to gather my thoughts. As soon as I opened my eyes, I had to shut them immediately. The bright light was too much for my sensitive vision, so I had to open my eyes gradually. Finally managing this task, I tried to look around but was hit with an unexpected wave of dizziness. Barely suppressing the urge to vomit, I made a third attempt to pull myself together.
"I see you're awake. How are you feeling?" Sue asked me, her voice sounding overly loud.
"Like I've been run over by a tank," I described my feelings honestly.
"You're joking, that's good," the technician smiled and, moving her chair closer to me, began to examine me closely. "I don't know whether to congratulate you or sympathize, but you're now completely flesh and blood. There's not a gram of cold metal left in your body."
"To the glory of flesh," I coughed, sitting up and first inspecting my hands. My skin had already healed where the connection port used to be. Feeling around for where the neck connectors had been, I found nothing and exhaled in relief. My body no longer itched, and most importantly, my malaise had finally passed. I felt so great I was almost ready to dance with joy, metaphorically speaking.
"You know, for an eight-year-old, you act too grown-up. Care to share your secret?" the dark-haired beauty unexpectedly asked, momentarily startling me.
"In my incredible charisma and unwavering confidence in tomorrow," I joked with the first phrase that came to mind, hoping to reduce the degree of suspicion in my interlocutor. At least that's what I hoped, seeing the girl's lips curl into a slight smile.
"Clear enough, Mr. Universe 2058. I've done my part, now we just need to talk about the price of your former implant. It's a really expensive item and worth a lot on the black market. I've completely cleaned it, and now the port can be sold to some fool for a couple thousand eddies," she said, seemingly expecting my reaction for some reason.
"What do you want from me? It's yours now, you can sell it to whoever you want, wherever you want," I shrugged, looking at the brunette's suspicious squint.
"Alright, but could you make a request that isn't too burdensome? After all, you're not in a position to refuse help right now," Mitchell hinted, referring to my overall situation.
"It depends on what you consider burdensome. Everyone's threshold is different. But actually, there is something..." I pretended to ponder over the technician-beauty's words before voicing my request, hoping for a positive response. "Could you teach me to understand technology like you do?" I blurted out the question, which took my interlocutor aback for a moment.
"That was really unexpected," Susan examined me with a strange look, then, thinking it over, sighed heavily. "In principle, I can, but are you sure you can handle it? I'm quite demanding, you know." The beauty raised an eyebrow questioningly, awaiting my "positive" response.
"If I were afraid of not being able to handle it, I wouldn't have asked you. I don't want to spend my life scavenging through trash and relying on the pity of others. Consider this my final answer, and I'm definitely not changing my mind." I crossed my arms over my chest, meeting the gaze of her narrowed green eyes.
"Alright, kid, I see you've made up your mind," Mitchell pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and, cracking her neck, turned back to me. "Come to my shop at 12 o'clock tomorrow. That's usually when the crowd thins out, and I can focus on you. Four hours a day should be more than enough for you."
"Thank you," I bowed my head gratefully, out of the habit ingrained in Alex's body. His mother was quite strict and instilled many subconscious reflexes in her son, which are not always easy to control. "Can I go now?" I tilted my head in a questioning gesture, awaiting the decision of my future mentor.
"Yep, Marco's already been waiting for you," Sue gestured towards the closed door, which she opened a second later.
"Um, how long was I out, by the way?" I remembered another important question.
"An hour. Your body regenerates very quickly, and the 'rebound' I injected helped you recover in minutes. Any more questions?" The girl raised her slender eyebrow, a light smile on her lips as she addressed me.
"No, I guess not. If there are, we'll have plenty of time to discuss them starting tomorrow," I mirrored her smile, hearing Susan's hearty laugh.
Not wanting to linger any longer, I encountered the bored teenager by the exit, who seemed to have just finished cleaning the remaining keyboard. Marco immediately looked at me and, seeing my lively and, more importantly, satisfied expression, smiled joyfully and quickly stood up, dropping the box on the floor.
"Don't break anything, you little rascal!" Susan's displeased voice came from the workshop, seemingly with overly keen hearing.
"Let's go quickly; we're not welcome here anymore," Marco whispered to me, leaning close to my ear.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone