After leaving the Afterlife Bar, David hopped onto his motorcycle and headed straight home. The moment he lay down on his bed, his phone buzzed.
Glancing at the caller ID, he raised an eyebrow—[Rebecca].
"Why is this little gremlin calling me so late?" he wondered.
David answered. "Rebecca?"
"Hey, David!" came Rebecca's lively, energetic voice. "Why weren't you at the Afterlife Bar today?"
"You at the bar now?"
"Yeah! Brother Maine and the crew are here discussing a new job, and I wanted you to mix drinks for us, but you weren't there!"
David chuckled. "Had some things to take care of. Headed home early."
"Oh..." Her voice noticeably dimmed before perking up again. "Then how about you come back? I'll buy you a drink!"
"You, treating me?" David laughed, shaking his head. "You don't have to do that. But it's late—I'm already in bed."
Rebecca let out an exaggerated sigh. "Oh... okay. Guess I'll just drink alone."
David smirked. "Have fun, and don't get into trouble."
He hung up, shaking his head. That little troublemaker...
Placing the phone down, he stretched, ready to sleep.
BEEP—BEEP—BEEP!
His phone buzzed again.
"Again? Who now?" he thought, grabbing it.
The caller ID flashed—[Sasha].
"What's up with these girls tonight?"
David answered. "Sasha?"
"Yes! It's me."
Unlike Rebecca's excitable tone, Sasha's voice was smooth, soft, and slightly nervous.
"Weren't you at the Afterlife Bar too?" David asked.
"Uh… yeah, but I just got here. Haven't run into Rebecca yet."
David smirked to himself—she was lying.
"So, what's up?"
"Well..." Sasha hesitated before continuing. "I wanted to see if you were at the bar. Figured we could grab a drink together."
David raised an eyebrow. Is she just looking for an excuse to call me?
"Sorry, Sasha, already turned in for the night."
"Oh... I see." She paused, then quickly added, "Actually, there's something else! It's about the job we picked up tonight."
"Go on."
"Our team accepted a gig related to Militech. I wanted to get your opinion on it."
David's expression darkened.
"A Militech job? Why would Maine and the crew get involved with them?"
"Details?" he asked.
Sasha explained.
Turns out, the mission involved gathering intel on the Tiger Claws' assassin—the same one who wiped out Jotaro and his goons. And the client behind the job? Faraday.
David's eyes narrowed. So, Faraday is really digging deep.
It made sense. Arasaka had put serious heat on Militech over Jotaro's death. Faraday was now scrambling, using multiple merc teams—including Maine's—to track down Blackflame—the killer.
David rubbed his temple.
Compared to the million-euro reward Rogue had put out for solid intel, Faraday's scraps were laughable—100,000 eddies for information, 200,000 for the killer's capture.
Clearly, he was casting a wide net.
"Militech must be obsessed with my black flame ability," David mused. "They see it as a weapon with insane potential."
"David?" Sasha's voice brought him back. "What do you think?"
"You guys already took the job?"
"Yeah, Maine accepted it. Figured easy eddies, right?"
David sighed. "Tell Maine if he wants to make that money, he can come see me tomorrow at noon."
Sasha gasped. "Wait—you know something?"
"Just let him know. And tell him not to show up early—I'm sleeping."
"...Understood!"
Sasha's voice carried excitement now. If she could land this bounty, it'd help her move up.
After a quick exchange of goodnights, David ended the call. This time, he put his phone on Do Not Disturb.
"Alright, now I can finally get some sleep."
Afterlife Bar – Private Room
Maine and his crew were gathered around, discussing the mission details.
"Hey, Rebecca," Maine called out. "Did you see Sasha? She went to the bathroom a while ago."
Rebecca flopped onto the couch, looking irritated. "She said she was going to the bathroom, but she's taking forever."
Maine shrugged. "We'll start without her."
"We're gonna analyze security footage near Sakura Street, track down the killer from the Tiger Claws hit," Maine continued. "One piece of info nets 100K eddies—easy payday!"
Pyro leaned back. "Sounds simple enough. Just some hacking and data mining."
"That's right," Maine nodded. "Sasha, Kiwi—it's all on you. Get into the local LAN, pull the security feeds, and find anything that helps identify the killer."
Kiwi exhaled a puff of smoke. "Easy to hack in. Finding something useful? That's another story. It's a lot of data."
"Yeah, but way safer than storming a Corpo stronghold," Maine smirked. "Just grind through the footage. You and Sasha get 60% of the cut—fair deal, right?"
Before anyone could respond—
"I object!"
All eyes turned to the doorway.
Sasha had just stepped in, her expression firm.
Maine frowned. "You got a problem with the payout?"
"It's not about the money."
Everyone looked confused. Sasha took a deep breath and said—
"We don't have to do all that. David already has the info."
Silence.
Maine raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"
"David said if you wanna earn this bounty, just meet him tomorrow at noon."
Everyone exchanged looks.
Rebecca, who had been slouching, immediately sat up.
"Wait—when did you even talk to David?!" she demanded.
Sasha hesitated, avoiding her gaze. "Uh… just a little while ago."
Rebecca's eye twitched.
"That sneaky little—she called him right after me!"
Maine burst out laughing. "Well, damn! Looks like we might just get paid without all the legwork!"
Pyro grinned. "Guess we know where we're heading tomorrow."
Rebecca crossed her arms. "Hmph. That bastard could've at least told me first."
Sasha smirked. "Maybe he thought I was cuter."
Rebecca growled, while the rest of the crew burst into laughter.
---
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