Redline's eyes flickered open, shifting to the barred window which let a smelly, cool breeze and steely grey overcast of morning light through. Eiko worked herself up into a sit, breathing hard as she was reminded that the day after a run always hurt worse. Her mother's bed sat empty across from her, blankets tucked cleanly around the mattress. She glanced at her comm link, running a hand over her face as she calculated her rest at over nine hours.
She wandered down the hall to the kitchen in a fog, favoring her healthy side as she made for the family's tea cabinet. Sasushi sat at the kitchen table, faraway gaze remaining unmoving as he peered into the otherworld of the matrix through his deck.
They didn't speak as she made a cup of tea, rubbing at her forehead, sipping, gazing out a window; finding herself. A few minutes passed, and she spoke softly, eyes cast downward.
"Aren't you supposed to be in school?"
A few seconds later, her brother leaned back, jacking out from his deck and leaning into the fold out chair he sat in. His eyes moved to her after a pause.
"Aren't you supposed to be on a run?"
That made her stop, looking at him with a sideways glance. She thought about dismissing the question, using the old excuses. But she knew he knew, and he deserved better than to be lied to by his older sister.
"No," she offered simply, looking away as she retrieved a cigarette from her pocket, lighting it. She looked out the window, searching for the right words and sipping at her steaming mug of kabusecha. "It's my day off," she elaborated.
He replied more quickly this time. "Seiji doesn't know, but I do. I know what you do."
Her brow leaned upwards, ruby eyes staring at him from behind the trail of her cigarette.
"What do I do, brother?"
"You steal things. You kidnap people. You kill people."
Her eyes shifted to the depths of the murky green tea, the mug again meeting her lips. She was silent for a time, but his eyes hung on her. Eventually, the fiery flicker of her gaze returning to his was enough. She didn't disagree.
"Why did you take us here? Seiji misses home. Mom, too."
"This is home," she injected flatly. The boy rebounded.
"Fuck that. This place is drek. This whole city is shit." His eyes remained on hers, unrelenting. "Why did you make us come here?" he repeated.
"Because home isn't safe anymore, Sasushi."
"Why?"
She paused, returning her view to the smudge-covered kitchen window as she let clouds of smoke fill her chest before releasing it with a relenting exhale.
"Because things go wrong sometimes." She paused, eyes shifting back to her brother. He stared at her hard, waiting, wanting, angry. It wasn't a stretch to assume that he blamed her for it all; that he hated her. Some of it was the squalor around them, the meals that were too small and the arguing from behind doors that was too loud.
Some of it, she knew, was justified.
"You hate us. You think you're better than all of us and brought us here because you can. Just because you were born a big freak you think you can boss us around."
Eiko stamped the cigarette out, finished her tea and leaned against the kitchen counter. She crossed her arms taking in a deep breath before speaking with a softness belying her brother's words.
"Lets go for a drive."
Silence reigned again, punctuated by the distant scream of a Knight Errant siren. Sasushi's eyes locked with hers until he rose from the table without speaking, collapsing his deck into a flat rectangle and sliding it into a backpack. He opened the front door and stepped out into the stairs.
Eiko pulled on a thermal patterned with the colors of Renraku and grabbed her holdout, slipping it beneath her belt before stepping out after him. They piled into the Gopher in silence, and with a pair of experimental revs she sent it skidding up the ramp and into the street, west, towards the water.
Yesterday's rain had given way to broken clouds, lances of sun spearing through cracks of blue to reflect off puddles and dripping buildings. They rode in silence, Sasushi's eyes looking at the the baseball-sized bullet hole in his door once before looking on without question.
A few minutes later the pickup came to a stop at the Sound's edge, chemical-choked water lapping against the rotting ferricrete of a disused dock. The pair stepped out, Redline instinctively reviewing their surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. It was Tuesday morning; Tacoma was dead save for truck trains and wage slaves late to the day's toil.
"Why take me here?" Sasushi inquired lowly. His nose wrinkled as the wind kicked up a waft of Tacoma aroma into them, but he didn't complain. Rainbows of petrol glimmered in the fleeting sunlight, the last of the day's fog burning away in a slow-dancing vapor.
"Because it's as close as you're ever getting to home again, Sasushi." Her red eyes bore into him, unapologetic, uncompromising. His head turned to her, waiting expectantly for an aside, or some reason that never speaking with his old friends again the flesh was acceptable. But as they looked into one another without words, the boy gradually realized there would be no comforting lie, no redeeming detail.
This was their life now.
Sasushi sat at the edge of the dock, legs hanging lifelessly over the soup as he stared westwards, as if with enough effort his eyes could track Japan through the mists and be there. But he was stuck in the plex from what might as well have been a force of nature. Any attempt at boarding a cruiser, bullet train, jetliner, sub-orbital - whatever the method - would trip wires. Wires Renraku would follow back to her, then to her family.
Redline explained this to her brother steadily, slowly, methodically. She talked about why they'd lived so well in the past, and why they never would again; why mom was acting like the time they lost dad all over again; why things wouldn't change soon.
Things don't get easier. If anything, they get harder; nobody lends you a hand without pulling you in for a favor; no offense ever forgotten. You woke up each day ready to fight for your life, to pull all the stops and push your capabilities to the limit. On a good day, you made it back with a story to tell. On a bad day, you had one more friend who has just a phone number that'd never pick up again. On the worst day, you were gone.
That was that: life in the shadows. No glamor, no heroes, just survival.
Sasushi didn't talk for the entirety of their visit to the Sound, but Redline knew he listened to every word. By the time she'd finished, the northwest gloom had reached its whitest, like a hap-hazarded declaration of noon. It was then that her commlink pinged her, an AR window flickering into view. She stepped away from her brother, turning back towards the industrial wall of Tacoma.
"Willy-san," she intoned with as much warmth as she could muster. "Hello."
"Hoi, Redline. Got a job for you - a Ms. Johnson looking for your kind of talent."
She paused, a hand distractedly running over her bruised, bloated side. If she told anyone she was even operating at 90% efficiency, she'd be accountable for self-slander.
"Had a run last night, Willy." She looked over her shoulder to Sasushi, his head turned back at her with pallid interest. "Still doing some housekeeping."
"I know how it goes, chummer. Your guy Gravesong told me you were a fresh off a job, but he said you'd still be available." He waited, adding offhandidly, "Said you'd need the money, too."
Redline brushed an errant lock of hair behind a horn, turning away from Sasushi once more. "He's right."
"Solid. Head to Club Penumbra, be there at 8. Tell them you're a friend of mine and you're expected in the private room. They'll let you in."
"Penumbra, 20:00," she echoed, tilting her head in a faint nod. "I'll be there."
"Good luck." The voice left her senses, and with a blink of her eyes a layout downtown Seattle radiated into view, complete with routes classified by time, distance, the security ratings of neighborhoods and more. The meet was in nine hours.
Redline walked back to her brother, finding him staring out over the water again. She pet his head lightly, sharing the view for a few seconds before offering simply, "We gotta go."
He peered up at her from the corner of his eye. "You're going on a run, aren't you?"
She looked down at him, hand resting on his head. She waited, thinking for a few moments before nodding wordlessly.
"Take me with you. I've been learning a lot with skillsofts - even with my scrappy deck I hacked into -"
She nudged his head to interrupt him, shaking her own. "Is you name Sasushi?" she intoned flatly.
"...Yeah."
"Are you my brother?"
"Eiko-"
She clicked her tongue with a tssk at him, giving a mock sigh. "Sorry, panku, that invalidates your place on the team."
He began protesting, citing myriads of reasons why he was ready for his first run, how she'd underestimated him and more. She hefted him up by the arm without effort and pulled him back to the Gopher, shutting the door behind him before sitting at the wheel.
His arguing died down as they made the drive back, the deep thrum of the truck the only sound for blocks.
"You missed our exit," he observed bitterly.
"I didn't miss drek, otōto. You're going to school."
"What? No, no way! There's only three hours left anyway."
"Yeah," she replied flatly, the edge of her lips curling in the shadow of a smirk.
They pulled up in front of the school, and Sasushi asked one more time to be taken home. His request was dismissed another time with just as much emotion.
"Are you gonna be home tonight?" he asked, brow raising with a faint hope.
Her fingers flicked at the cigarette between them, a common twitch for her to relieve tension. She looked from the dash to him and shook her head lightly. "Just to get my stuff."
His eyes hung on hers, and she could feel the pool of unspoken words rattling in his skull. He'd heard a lot today, none of it spoon fed; it'd take time to digest. But he was good for it.
She ruffled his hair and gave an earnest smile, tilting her chin towards the school "Bye, Sasushi."
With an exhale, he popped open the door and stepped into the street. He shut the door and watched her through the smudged glass, and after a time, nodded at her knowingly.
---
She drove straight home, skipping the Gopher's sad excuse for a sound system in favor of the earthy tones of a dwarven dowbeat station in her cyberears. The Gopher returned to its parking spot, she walked up to the apartment. Her mother sat at the kitchen table, clicking at a commlink and looking up at her as Redline entered.
"Sasushi went to school?"
"Hai," Redline answered, walking down the hall to their bedroom and then to the closet as her mother's expression reflected sincere surprise.
"You're not going out again?" she called after her daughter. Redline slipped off the thermal and eyed her limited wardrobe, tired brain working through potential outfits, weighing their respective degrees of formality, combat capability, subtlety and nondescriptness.
"Hai, okāsan," she called back. She pulled on an armored vest, tightening the straps to grip her form without any give before slipping over black synthleather top, form-fitting, unhindering. She finalized the outfit with a loose-fitting halter top and a short "laser symphony" skirt that refracted light in dazzling neon colors.
The skirt detracted from the subtle but present armor vest; the leather shirt and armored vest were practical pieces if the meet got messy. Blend in until someone calls your bluff, then survive long enough to get out.
With some soygel, she slimed her crimson hair into flung back spikes, aiming for a popular style from the 2050s, hoping to blend in with the club's vibe. Not her look, but it'd do.
She secured her holdout into the inside of her boot. If the club had decent security they might still scope it, but she hoped Willy's name would be enough to get her in. That, and she knew Penumbra had a reputation for a meet spot. She trusted that anyone who noticed the cheap piece would rightly dismiss it as the least amount of self-defense a woman would pack.
She left her longarms and automatic weapons in the safe before striding back down the hall, preparing to depart.
Her mother eyed her outfit, looking between it and Redline for a time before guessing, "Meeting a man somewhere, Eiko?"
Redline shook her head. "Maybe. But for work."
"Again? You were just gone yesterday."
"We need the money. Sasushi is old enough to help take care of Seiji now. You're fine without me."
The look her mother gave insisted that she didn't agree, but she didn't argue either. She rose and embraced Redline tightly, taking a deep breath.
"Be careful, musume."
The two released one another after a time, and Redline turned to leave. Her hand on the knob, she turned to look back at her mother.
"I'm taking Sasushi to a Mariners game this weekend. Maybe it'll make up for me forgetting his birthday."
Her mother shook her head, scoffing once humorlessly. "We don't have the nuyen, Eiko."
Redline nodded before looking back to the door, turning its handle. "After tonight, maybe." She looked back once more.
"Sayōnara, okāsan."
Her mother resigned, smiling faintly without discarding the worry from her features. "Sayōnara, musume. Call if...call us."
Redline nodded, shutting the door behind her. She lit a cigarette and was soon once back in the shit-seat of her gopher, aiming the truck northbound on I-5. First, she'd see Dr. Gravesong to get healed up. She didn't have the cash to burn to heal herself up after runs, opting for asprine, green tea and time to heal wounds.
Not tonight. She'd spend the extra nuyen to be at the top of her game, ready to go for whatever it was Willy had lined up for her. She trusted him, not to avoid selling her out or cheating her, but to put give her a chance. She had learned quickly no price could be put on an opportunity.
Afterwards, with a few hours to spare, she'd get takeout and clean her smaller, mobile pieces in the backseat of her truck. Anytime a meet went south, the first place she'd turn was to the Toyota grab a piece one size up, just enough to quiet things down.
A cup of green tea later and she'd look for a place to park the Gopher, close enough to the club to get to in a flash, hidden enough so that passers-by wouldn't peer through the windows for valuables, obvious enough so that if they did, they'd be seen.
Night fell over Seattle, and the city exploded in LEDs, hard-partying suits, drugs and neon. She cased the spot with a casual walk around the block, making an effort to look like a girl just a little lost before finding her way to the club's entrance.
19:47, she'd get in line and work her way to the front, limiting any responses to bouncers to 'hai,' or 'Īe,' unless bothered for more. In which case, she'd mention Willy and the private room.
The rest was up to fate, for good or ill. That was how the shadows were.