[Raiderjoseph]

Day 1 part 1
I had a long fragging day...
I sat on the bed. I looked at my hands. These hands had worked like hell. I followed them up to my shoulders. I remembered when these arms were weak and scrawny. I had broader shoulders then I used to. I put my hand to his chest. It was developed well enough. I patted my legs. They werent big thighed but they had enough muscle mixed with those foci tattoos I got to become quite capable at propelling me high distances. I put his face in his hands. Remembering the events that fragged me up the ass...

I had been asked into the usual office. My sergeant had been let go... I was estatic. How that ass had ever become that high up I only suspected, and I suspected him being on the take. I walked down watching people move out and move in. A changing of the guard. But with lots of hostile tension. I entered the old office. I saw a fully uniformed man. Dressed in all but his helmet. He had bright white hair. Neatly combed and icy blue eyes. Pointy ears and fair face showed he was an elf. He exuded authority. I found that at least I was not being judged or looked down on. "Have a seat Vincent." He said with a calm tone. I sat down and looked at his office. Sparce. He had literally just moved in. "48 cases solved. And your not dead. Your particular division of detective usually gets killed in the line of duty. And you started formally assisting Jessica with cases at..." He stopped and looked at a piece of paper on his desk. "I still can't believe a 12 year old could do what you did. Except that I am awakened myself. Aspected summoner. Magic is... a great art." He said leaning back and addressing Vexboy casually. I was nervous but felt... at ease somehow. "Yes sir. I love my magic. To be honest I treasure it. I dont think its makes me any better then the average gunner though. Its a skill not a power in my opinion." The elf nodded. "I wholeheartedly agree." He took out a commlink and pulled up something in AR. "And from the looks of it you are quite the skilled adept. Self taught." I coughed. "Uh sir. I wasn't. My totem, The Dragonslayer, helped a great deal. A great great deal. I wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for his guidance." I felt the sensation and a voice. "Your welcome kid. Glad to be of assistance." Said the Dragonslayer. He sounded and felt loud and swarthy. Bold and heroic. A swashbuckler in the Astral Plane. "Im very rude. Let me introduce myself. Baker Alloway. I am here to tell you that we discovered something when reviewing you for a transfer to Knight Errant. Your parents had to agree to disown you before the corp you were born into and we found the paperwork for that. But then we checked out the story about them signing you up so Lone Star could adopt you and train you... and we found a hole." I gulped. Jessica had to blackmail my parents according to her story. That may not bode well. "You see they never signed anything. The signature was forged." Vexboy froze. "Wait what? The hell is he talking about? Say something kid!" The Dragonslayer said to Vexboy. "U...uh uh um... faked?" Vexboy asked. "Yes. Someone hacked the system. I believe she hired a decker... possibly more then one and had them enter the system through a backdoor she left open in the system and had them fake it." Baker said nonchanlantly still in his AR interface. Vexboy... didnt know how to respond. He loved Jessica like she was his family. His Nee-san. But this could have only occured when he was 10! He entered lone star a week after she took him to her apartment. After a week she risked her job for an utter stranger. Kid or otherwise. Even from that moment she loved him. Finding out all the horrible things that happened to her explained it a bit but still... he leaned back in his chair absorbing it. "I wish... I didn't have to say the following but Knight Errant is a highly professional organization. Jessica's sin against Lone Star can be... forgiven." Vexboy started to pay attention. "Uh oh." The Dragonslayer mused. "But the higher ups have decided that the amount of effort, given the circumstances, to LEGALLY have you join is too much effort. Jessica's sins can be swept under a rug since only 4 people know of the truth and all of them want her talents desperately, including me." Vexboy took pause. "No... no this isnt happening." He thought to himself. "But you... might be more complicated. You see since the corp adopted you it also disowned you. So the SIN registry has placed you at UCAS citizen since your parents' corp disowned you prior to your adoption. So in other words correcting this mistake on your Lone Star adoption files could have her arrested." He began to sweat. "Stay frosty kid." Dragonslayer suggested. "And you possibly by proxy... she is... basically, she is an apex. A master detective. With her by our side we could very well train the next generation of great detectives... you helped a lot of people. The files also show your freelance work for the SINless. I don't look down on the SINless myself even if my job is mostly towards SINners as they are called. And I respect your ethics but... Knight Errant cannot take you in. I am sorry." He said leaving the AR and placing his hands together on the desk in front of him. His face was sympathetic but his eyes were all business. Vexboy stared into them. Stunned silent. It felt like an eternity before he spoke again. "I... I understand. I will have to find employment elsewhere." Vexboy said. Baker took out a piece of paper. "Men like you have a habit of finding themselves in strange situtations. This is my contact info. If you ever come upon anything strange in the future maybe we could barter for information." He handed him the paper. Vexboy took it too stunned to make a reply. He only nodded and walked off.

Vexboy looked at his silver credstick. All his savings were in here. He had to give up all his gear he had liscenced under Lone Star... except his motorcycle(thank god). He stood up and looked out the window. Jessica and him shared this nice little apartment. He had lived here for 8 years. He loved it... outside was the 6th World. And it was only a matter of time before it found him in here... what was he gonna do? As he mused this he heard the Dragonslayer speak. "Standby kid. I will think of something. Don't make any pick jumps to join any organizations on a whim at a cafe like last time. I may have given the ok but I mean still. I will contact you when I got this sorted out. I need time to think..." The Dragonslayer always casted a presence over Vexboy. It had various inflections of feeling however and now it felt turned away. Deep in thought. Vexboy nodded at the voice of his mentor. Confident he would know what to do...






Vexboy wouldn't hear the voice of the Dragonslayer for an entire year to the day.

[Raiderjoseph]

Day 1 part 2.

Vexboy was on the couch on his metalink watching Rob Lucci get the shit beat out of him by Luffy... on full blast.

"GOMU GOMU NO... JET... GATTLING!"

Vincent>>>>>Drillbit (In Japanese)"It never gets old. This is some nice quaility stuff you know. How did you get this stuff after the crash again?" He said into a mic attachment he was borrowing from Jessica. A second later over the sound of his anime. Drillbit>>>>>Vincent(Also in Japanese) "Trade secret! I can't have one of my best customers learning how to do this on his own! I have to make a living idiot... So I am working on the final episode of Hellsing Ultimate for you. Gonna take slightly longer then I thought. I found a text transcript im modifying of Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy. Brit humor isnt my thing though. You might get a kick out of it." Vincent: "Thanks Drill. Uh... Money may be tight for a while... Im gonna have to cancel any orders on my queue that I haven't prepaid for." He paused the trid for a sec for the response. Drillbit: "Wait wait wait... did you get FIRED? I thought you would be dead before you would get fired... provided half the stuff you told me about your job is true." Vexboy shrugged. Vincent: "Knight Errant took over the Seattle Contract. For a number of reasons, 3 times as many as they will reveal publically that if they knew the greater infrastructure of the Seattle Beat like I do, Seattle bought a Knight Errant contract. I wasn't allowed to transfer over. Our Division fired all but the most important personel and now I am inable to join because... reasons. You know anything about them?" There was a pause. Drillbit: "Not really... but I do know that they get their tech and are owned by Ares. Would have gotten some high end guns for you if you had gotten in. Provided your the assassin cop detective you say I would think it would be easy for you to get a job. How come you didn't get transfered?" Vincent: "My sister... uh... remember my parents? They had me disowned from Power Corp and it turns out my sister didn't blackmail them for legal permission. What does it matter if I was a minor anyway? I was SINless!" Vexboy started to get agitated. Drillbit: "Probably to save face in case of a legal investigation into child labor. I wouldn't want a corp using kids, SIN or not, protecting my city. Im more surprised you got in period. If your not lying. Using kids as weapons is sick." Vincent:"No your cops just politely and quietly escort Goblinoids to the boarders." Vexboy smirked in spite of his mood. Drillbit: "Very witty. Continue with your story."   Vincent: "Well she had a team of deckers forge a eletronic signature so I could be adopted by Lone Star and since revealing this would get her arrested and they REALLY want her skill they have to keep me out." "Sorry to hear that. Never liked cops much. Always seedy. Like they have an ulteior motive."  "Except me right?" "Forget it Vincent. Your the seediest of all. A cop who lies about being a cop. Your should be ashamed of yourself!" She said mock scolding him. He wasn't mad or offended but it did remind him of how little he was though in thr world. He couldn't convince many people of his profession and most treated him like a kid. Even Drillbit. Drillbit. She was so fragging cool. She didn't take shit from anyone and was a mod at least a dozen forums and image boards. Her skill in getting stuff made and knowing the lore made her a highly sought after supplier of fiction. She carried herself, in internet ways, as a great warrior. Her word was law on the subject of Star Trek especially. Vexboy was smitten the day he met her and witnessed her disarm a bunch of rabblerousers in a debate over Star Trek lore. But she was probably both fat and ugly, as he constantly reminded himself. Matrix is misleading. "Yeah yeah. I suck and all that. Why take me as a client then? We met when I was 12."   "Your stories are interesting and amusing." Stories. His life was almost ended in some of the stories and it agitated him greatly that she didn't believe him. Outlandish or not. And it didnt help that he hadn't heard the voice of his mentor in hours as opposed to the usual "all the fragging time" as before. As the presence he cast was still quiet contemplation. From a follower of the Dragonslayer and the Dragonslayer it wasn't frowned upon to not be dramatic and bold in their actions but the Dragonslayer was very good at influencing them to action. Some revealed in anarchy. Some used their boldness to bolster their resolve in actions of any sort. Including methodical stealth or problem solving decisions(Vexboy was among these types.) Some even used such boldness in business matters. And some were just loud outspoken idealists of a cause saying what they mean devil may care with no filler or illusion. Courage was the defining factor. As long as you had it you were gold to the Dragonslayer(Not that you couldn't be scared or make a tactical retreat. Just not a cowardly motive to your actions.). And of course you had to have self respect and honor. Including keeping promises. (As Vexboy learned from Astral, a magician of the Dragonslayer, NEVER make a promise you can't keep. Just say you will "do your best to try.") And this behavior was... well... odd. "I gotta go Vincent. I'll give you the next episode of One Piece as a freebie but I expect when you get a job to call me again with an order. I like the social calls but... time is money you know?" He sighed. "Yeah. See you Drillbit." He ended the call. He heard the tumblers move in his house. Jessica stepped in with a duffel bag. "Uh... hey Vincent." She was dressed in her classic noir detective coat and slacks and her fedora. Her brown hair brushed down to her shoulders. They stared at each other uneasily for a second. Then Vexboy stood up. "Yeah. I love you too." He smiled. Her eyes widened and she had a confused look on her face. "I know about the faked signature." He said. She almost dropped the bag. "What!? I... I mean." Vexboy nodded with a bit of misty eyes and a smile. "I will find a job. Or the Dragonslayer has a plan. I know what in the bag. Your new uniform." She stammered for a sec then broke out in a grin. "Damn. You gotta make this sadder then it is. Damnit I shouldn't have taught you deductive reasoning." She wiped her own misty eyes. "Your not mad?" She asked slightly worried. "You have my full blessing. Go on and kick some pedo ass." In spite of the mush they had a hug.