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Memory Gap (Alpha and Sigr)

"Maybe they were friends..." Inanna protested, looking at Nick. "Well, acquaintances perhaps, friends seems too big of a word" she added, as the grumpy scavenger was being a bit of a pain to her. "At least I'm not the only one surprised..." she sighed. The newcomers closed the distance pretty soon, and up close the sight was... discouraging. Their horses looked mostly fine, but they were tired and a bit famished, as they didn't feed them properly. But their riders were the ones to watch out for, clad in their rust colored tunics, a bizarre and seemingly random assortment of religious symbols hanging from their waists and necks, heads mostly covered by the hoods. With a couple hours until the break dawn, their faces could barely be seen, but the voice of their would be leader sounded bright.

"Good night, inhabitants of the badlands, I'm the Archbishop and we are the Cult of Rust" he introduced himself. "I can see that you are living corrupted by the taint of technology" he continued. "Your vehicle, your gun... hrmmm" he noticed Milton peeking from the inside. "And that mockery of life you have for a pet" he added. "Surrender and destroy them, be free of what has brought our world to disaster" he admonished. The cultists had swords and crossbows hanging from their waists and horses, but none of them had made a movement towards the primitive weaponry, maybe they were just regular crazies and not violent ones. Maybe.
 
Nick yawned again. It was just way too damned early to be dealing with the crazies of the badlands. These guys, Brotherhood of Rust or whatever the hell they wanted to all themselves seemed harmless enough, just another cult of weirdos who for whatever reason decided that tech was evil but they where getting by so he was perfectly happy to let bygone be bygones. Right up until they decided to call Milton an abomination and demand that Nick kill him.

The junker's fists tightened, his nails biting into the flesh of his palms.

His eyes narrowed.

"Look, Archbishop, you guys can go around believing anything you want, that's your God given right and I ain't here to judge you for it. But lemme give you some friendly advice, maybe you guys wanna look into getting some robot horses for yourselves. Then you can get away with no feeding 'em. I mean clearly you ain't feeding those ones you're on."
 
"Blasphemy!" the Archbishop shouted, clearly being about putting out a show than feeling real outrage. "It's not late to repent from your sinful ways, to find absolution from the devil of technology" he said, leaning a bit forward, something that he thought was menacing, but didn't quite have the effect on his current public. "Or you can always chose the other way. Feel the penance or make a donation to the temple, we know that abandoning that hellish temptation can be too hard to do at once..." he threatened with a voice that was all unctuous benevolence, suggesting that they could keep their technology if they paid off, or violence would be coming, clearly not knowing who were they facing.

While the Archbishop tangled himself on a conversation that was hurriedly going south with Nick, Inanna didn't know how to feel. Really those guys didn't see the ridiculous of their point of view? Were they so hateful that the logic went pass by them? But there was something else, if they felt that abject rejection of technology, how would they feel if they knew what she was?

It was oh so tempting to bare herself in front of them, show them what she was made of, and yet, Inanna stood quiet. A part of her didn't want to scare them, but hurt them. Make them really feel terror about what the technology could do to their feeble meat bodies, with their crunchy bones and juicy organs. Inanna shook her head, seeing that the situation could soon devolve into violence, she would have Nick's back, but didn't want to start anything in that world she yet didn't understand.
 
Nick had never considered himself to be a violent man by nature. Sure he had killed people more than once, but that was always in self defense. Hell, even with the Deadlocks he had been more than happy to try and talk his way out of it even after Smiley had planted a boot in his gut he had hoped to talk his way out of the situation. Of course Inanna had found her own way to deal with the situation that had been satisfactory.

But these guys where starting to really get under his skin. Really, who demanded the death of cat? He could understand why someone would want to kill a person, people sucked, they where rude and selfish and murderous and all that other horrid shit that people did to each other. But a cat, really, what could Milton do to someone besides from maybe ripping up a good pair of jeans?

"So, lemme get this straight. You to blow up my van and kill my cat because, oh no technology is scary and bad. Or you want me to pay you so the exact opposite happens. But you guys are failing to take something into account. I...." he patted the weathered wood grip of the gun nestled in his holster, "have a gun. You have crossbows. Now really, what do you thing is gonna travel faster, a 5.56mm round or a crossbow bolt?" Now fuck off Archbishop before we do some hard science and find out which is faster."
 
"So you'd use the devil's tool, I see..." the Archbishop muttered, seeing that he couldn't just strong-arm someone like Nick. "Your judgment is postponed then, but it will come" it was difficult to know if he was just trying to keep an arrogant facade in front of his minions or it was just that deranged. Slowly but surely, the cultists started to turn their horses and go back where they came from, losing themselves to the horizon.

"Creeps... at least they don't know what I am" Inanna said, not knowing for sure how they or even she would have reacted to it. "I'm sorry for stopping to check on that bunch of wackos, I didn't know who they were" she added, stepping close to Nick. He may be brusque and sometimes prone to mockery, or so she thought in the short time she had been with him, but that was the first time she saw him angry, or that was her vision of him.

"I can keep driving if you want..." Inanna offered. She wasn't tired, maybe she couldn't even get tired, and they had still a way until reached Trader's Town. She needed time to think what she was going to do, even if she followed Nick's advice and tried to leave her blank past behind, that would mean choosing a path for her without reference. Could she work with him? He seemed to be doing mostly fine, and a job unearthing past relics could yield answers given time. Of course, that would need Nick wanting to work with her, something that remained to be seen since his attitude was sometimes hard to read. He didn't seem the kind to take a novice under his wing, but then again maybe there was an opportunity for surprise.
 
Nick watched as the men turned and rode away, his hand still resting on the grip of his gun and didn't remove it until the men where well out of range. His shoulder's sagged and he ran a hand through his hair.

Milton sensing the threat to his well being had departed hopped down from the van before quickly scaling Nick to perch on his shoulder, "I get that tech has caused some series problems. I mean shit, I been inside the walls, I seen the kinda shit they do in there. It's un-fuckin-real. But to put that kind of shit on par with a fucking cat?!"

He reached up to scratch the orange furball behind the ears, "Seriously, he's a fucking cat. Maybe youl shoulda come on out, show 'em whats under all that"

Milton let out a mew of agreement headbutted the side of his owner's head and he let out a sigh, "I tell ya what. I'll ride shotgun, you can take us the rest of the way town."
 
Once the cultists were gone, Nick blew off some steam, talking once more about that dangerous place beyond the walls. It was clear that he was no violent man, or at least he didn't like violence, since avoiding a fight, even if it was one they couldn't lose, relaxed him. Maybe it was just the difference between being ready and being eager, so Inanna wondered why she was like that. Was she made to be ready, or was she made to be eager?

No, her body didn't matter, she wasn't "made", she was born. Still couldn't justify her line of thought, but she didn't need to. "Showing myself... I'd lie if I said that I didn't consider it, but as tempting as it sounded to scare them off, I don't want..." Inanna took pause. What was it? What was the problem there? "That would only serve them to chase us more, in case there is more of them, I mean" she shrugged, "and didn't seem practical" she added as an excuse.

"That's fine" Inanna nodded, getting on the driving seat while Nick rode shotgun, Milton resting on him. "I kind of want to see Trader's Town, see how it works, see the people..." she sighed, driving in silence for a while. "What are we going to do? I mean, what I'm going to do?" she asked out of nowhere. "Lets think that I want to start anew like you said, I don't know where to begin unless it's helping you" she confessed. "And judging for our encounters... maybe you could use the help?" Inanna asked, her eyes on the road. Even if her body was seemingly made for combat, she could avoid becoming a weapon standing with a man that didn't like imposing himself with force. And even if she did fight, it would be to defend Nick and Milton, so that was... reasonable.
 
Trader's Town was a cluster of low buildings, cheap wooden shanties and metal shipping containers ad-hoked into simple structures of all kinds. Wooden walkways lined the dusty streets. Nick dangled an arm lazily out the open passenger side window as the radio blaired behind static. Several other vehicles rumbled past them, one a large military style troop transport with several armored soliders riding on the flat roof with rifles resting on their shoulders wile others in the same uniform patrolled the walkways.

Milton flattened his ears against his head and watched them pass, letting out a low hiss. Nick reached back and gently scratched him behind the ear, "Easy, buddy," he said trying to calm the small animal. He gestured towards a side street, "Pull off up here, there's a guy near by we can get you something......less surgical to wear."
 
Trader's Town seemed almost like a fleeting thought, an impossible place that wouldn't last, at least in Inanna's eyes, and yet there it was enduring anything the world threw at it for who knew how long. Some makeshift buildings looked like they had been there for a long time, and yet, it seemed that any day could be their last. It seemed that life away from the dreaded walled city Nick barely talked about wasn't easy, giving the inhabitants of Trader's Town an edge. Its nature of trading outpost made it a gathering point for quite different folk, that would probably include either those nut job cultists or the gangsters that had a beef with Nick, and that was only part of it.

"Who the hell are those?" Inanna asked, looking at the truckload of nicely equipped soldiers. They seemed rough and combat ready, their equipment far from pristine, but that only indicated usage. The morning sun was lazily peeking through an horizon of steel mist, lightning the place in a silver hue, the town already active but yet calm, the inhabitants holding to the last wisps of sleeps and dreams. "It would be nice, yes" Inanna nodded to the proposal of getting her a different attire, "that way I will look inconspicuous" she added, more of a wish than a fact. "Should I change my skin or hair to help with that? I think I've got the trick of it" she said, still pale skinned with auburn hair and dark eyes.
 
Nick jerked his head towards another group soldiers, "They're corporate security grunts. Probably the same ones we heard about on the radio last night." One of the guards looked up at the van as it passed, allowing Nick to catch site of a hologram of his own face that the trooper had been showing a passer-by. He tugged his cap down trying to hide his face and looked away from the street, "I dunno, maybe a new face could do you some good.....just don't make yourself look like me again. That was really fuckin weird...."

He kept one hand, up, blocking his face from view as he tried watch the passing street, he caught a glimpse of another hologram showing Inanna's current face, "Yeah....changing would be a good idea. Maybe getting you a gun or two, or nine would be a good idea. You can wield nine guns at once right?"
 
"Yeah, I won't..." Inanna nodded. It wasn't as she could mimic his face, but even if she understood being freaked out by that, Nick seemed specially jumpy. "Give me a moment" Inanna grabbed him by one shoulder, looking for support. Her hair shortened into a bob cut, from auburn to black, while her skin acquired an olive tone far from the pale before. Closing her eyes, she managed to shorten her height a couple inches, "this is weird..." she muttered, clenching her jaw as her body lost a bit of the curves, getting leaner, athletic looking. Seemingly done, Inanna gasped, opening her eyes, now green and bright. "I knew I could do it, but it still felt odd" she admitted, "how do I look?" Inanna asked, as the white clothing was more striking over her now darker skin. The outfit still covered her despite the change, as it was quite elastic it seemed, but it was still quite garish. It took a couple of seconds to notice that she was still speaking with the same voice tone, as she didn't bother changing it.

"Well, obviously no" Inanna answered his question honestly. Nick seemed jumpy about something, covering it with a joke, but she didn't know what was it. "But I think I can use any kind of weapon so..." Nick kept looking around, as they moved through Trader's Town. "What's wrong?" Inanna questioned.
 
The whole notion of having someone around who could change their appearance at will was really damned useful. Nick was also starting to learn that it was possibly the creepiest experience of his life. In the time it took him to look out the window then back again she went from being a pale curvy red head, to a tanned athletic brunette. He couldn't decide what was weirder, watching her make the change, or having her do it behind his back.

"Those corporate guys are making me dodging. Nothing good ever comes from them being around. Turn here." he directed her, knowing the place he was looking for wasn't far away.
 
"Fine I- whoops. This is a bit odd" Inanna said, briefly stumbling but soon recovering her footing. "I have to accustom to shorter legs, my body knows but it's like my mind is settled on a certain length..." she pondered, following Nick. "If they split maybe we could take them on, but I'm guessing for the look on your face that it could be a horrible idea" Inanna started to propose an alternate plan, but as soon as she noticed Nick's reaction she knew she was being just silly. Was it her body pushing her to conflict? To fulfill what she seemed to be designed for?

Maybe it was just that she liked to fight, to kill. What kind of person had she been in the past? Inanna sighed, following Nick around Trader's Town as he guided her through the alleyways and corners of that place. It was supposed to be an oasis for the likes of them, or that was the feeling she had, and yet there they were, hiding under pressure.
 
Nick continued down the alleyways,Milton at his heels, navigating the tight spaces between the metal containers by memory. This wasn't the first time he had to stay out of sight of corporate security, though they had never sent this many guys to look for him before. What the devil where they hunting him for anyways? Did they know about Inanna? did they want her for....whatever she was? Had smiley and the Deadlocks been planning to sell the map to them and now the corporation wanted it back? It seemed that Nick had somehow tripped headlong into something he desperately did not want to be involved in. The problem was he didn't have enough information to know exactly what it was. He swung down another tighter, darker alleyway and shoved open a door on one side, stepping into what looked like a shop soaked in neon light. Shelves lined the walls, boots, hats, folded shirts and pants. On the far side was a chain link fence separating a wall of guns from the rest of the shop and a man snoozing at the counter.

"Grab what you need for clothes, then we'll worry about arming you."
 
Inanna looked at Nick, wondering if this was fine, as the owner seemed to be asleep, but he said clearly that she should grab what she needed so she didn't think it twice. There wasn't any underwear on sight, but it wasn't as it bothered her, after all getting anything beyond what she was wearing at the moment would be an improvement. Removing and dropping the plastic white garments she wore, Inanna donned some generous black cargo pants, a bit on the long side to account if she shifted height once more, deeming the pockets useful and picking some sturdy boots to match. Of all the stuff there, Inanna next decided on a loose fitting khaki shirt, something that once more could accommodate a curvier version of herself, and topped it with a black bomber jacket that was a tad too big on her, but there was no room for nitpick.

"I think I'm ready..." Inanna considered, looking around. "Oh, wait-" she added as an afterthought, reaching for a black baseball cap in a corner, stashing it in a jacket pocket for the time being. "Much better, right?" she asked Nick, opening her arms and turning around quickly to show off. "We can get the guns now, are you sure this is fine?" she wondered, glancing at the snoozing man.
 
Nick couldn't help but shrug at her choice of clothes, given that it wasn't all that different from his own but it was hard to fault her for going with the most practical approach to fashion that could be found. He sauntered slowly over to the snoozing man behind the counter and leaned over him "Wake up Dennis..." He whispered, before slammed a fist down on the metal counter, producing a loud bang that josteled the old man awake.

"Huh...what?". He blinked up at Nick "What you do this time boy?" He slurred.

Nick rolled his eyes, "Nothing, well atleast not that I know of. Can you just open the cage for my friend here. She needs some hardware."

The old man turned his attention towards Inanna and blinked again, "Eh, ooooooh. Found yourself a real catch there Nicky boy. But let's see what she knows about her big bad things that kill."

A buzzer sounded and the weapons cage slid open, allowing access to the wracks of guns beyond.
 
"Hi Dennis, sorry we woke you up..." Inanna tried to be nice in the awkward situation they were in, at least for her. "I'm Inanna, needed some clothes as well" she added, circling around to show what she got, then offering a hand to shake. "We seem to be bouncing from trouble to trouble, can I?" she asked, before getting into the weapons cage.

"Hmmm..." she mused, examining a few pieces until she found a semi automatic carbine. "This one..." Inanna dismantled it, inspected the pieces for rust or material fatigue, then assembled it back again in a matter of moments. "Reliable, sturdy, this is good for any engage medium to large. It's stable" she voiced in appreciation, taking it alongside and looking at handguns. Once again her eyes rested on a particular piece that received the same treatment, ending back where it came from once inspected. "Too old, the trigger is sketchy and too sensitive" she picked up another one, smiling after an inspection.

Taking it on her hands, aiming and mimicking a reload, she nodded. "This one is well balanced. Compact. The grip is fantastic and packs a punch for the size" she added, taking it with her. Inanna put both weapons on the counter, in front of Dennis. "They both use .40S&W, so that's useful as well" she added. "We can skip getting anything hand to hand, right?" she asked to Nick since she didn't really need a melee weapon, as Smiley could tell anyone once he stopped crying about his mangled arm.
 
The old man stared for several seconds as this odd young woman expertly stripped down and reassembled the guns with the kind of speed and precision he'd only ever seen from corporate commandos then laughed.

"Oh. You're a clever one girlie. I like you.". He turned away, looking at the wrack of guns wile talking over his shoulder to her, "You've made a good choice with the .40S&W rounds, I've got those in both hollow point and Felchette rounds, plenty good for soft targets but if you find yourself staring down something bigger, say a fully armored corporate commando you'll need something with more kick."

He pulled down an an SMG from the wrack and presented to her, "60 round standard mag chambered for 5.7mm high ex rounds, perfect for cracking power armor." He said with a knowing grin on his face, "Even your slow witted pal makes sure to keep atleast some AP rounds for that fancy wheel gun of his."
 
"Oh!" Inanna nodded in appreciation, looking at the SMG the old man presented. "The recoil absorption seems nice, though the kickback isn't a problem for me" she voiced, checking the gun and trying it. "I'm... stronger than I look" she added, seeing Dennis make a funny face. "With 60 rounds per magazine this is quite the tool, specially if they can shatter armor. Good to know so I can be in the right side of the barrel" Inanna added, leaving it back on the counter. "Since this takes care of armored targets, lets make most of the .40 ammo hollow point then. I'll need some flechette as well, in case someone armored wants things close and personal" she noticed something, turning to face Nick.

"Can you afford all of this? I don't mind using it if needed, I'm made for that. Trained. Trained for that" Inanna blurted, looking at his once savior and now... partner? Comrade? Employer? The relationship was a bit iffy, but there were more pressing matters to tend to like avoid having to use all that arsenal. Inanna thought that Trader's Town was going to be a spot to rest a bit, and yet they were now in hiding and she didn't even know why.
 
At the mention of payment Nick exchanged at glance with the old man who frowned, "Fine fine I'll let you take it on credit this time kid. Given the goon squad prowling around town looking for ya I'm going to assume you gone and got yerself into some kind of trouble."

Nick raised his hand defensively, "Hey, it's not like I actually know why they're looking for me. This isn't like that thing in Tillson last winter."

"Uh huh." The old merchant replied as he began to stack boxes of ammo and empty magazines for both weapons on the countertop, "that one you kinda deserved, trying to sell the company back its own tech."

"Not on purpose!"

"Uh huh. You two need anything else?"
 
"I'm starting to feel like a small army" Inanna said, picking up the hardware. "So I guess that it's not needed" she added. "Unless we want grenades, do you have grenades?" she looked to Nick, then back to the old man, judging the look on their faces. "Okay, no grenades then, it was just an idea" she shrugged. So it seemed that Nick's trouble with corporate soldiers before, he should know what to do in those cases, and now he had her help in case things got specially dire.

"So what now? Laying low?" Inanna asked straight away. "What I mean is... I'm geared up to seek out a fight or it's just in case things go south?" added. "I guess that starting to take down goons would only serve to get more attention so we'll need somewhere to hole in" she thought, knowing nothing of that place. "I'm fine with anything, that you know..." she reminded him without a full fledged explanation, considering that he had basically found her in a coffin. "I'd prefer avoiding that, to be honest" she finished.
 
They needed to find a way out of town quick, before things did degrade into a massive firefight. But the question was where the hell did they go to hide? Any time he'd needed to lay low Nick had found Trader's Town to be the best place to do that. Biggest settlement in the badlands and all that jazz. That and almost every trader in the city owed him a favor but in this situation all the good will in the world wouldn't help.

Nick pushed back his cap and ground his palm against his forehead as he tried to think, "Closest place to hide would be Mechanicsburg."

"Didnt that thing happen with Kessler and she swore she'd kill you?"

"Well...yeah, but that was like three years ago. She's probably forgotten by now."

Dennis, having procured all he could for the weapons Inanna had wanted sweapt everything into a heavy duty canvis bag, "You two should get going 'fore the goons find that van of yours."
 
"Mechanisburg? Sounds weird" she voiced, surprised, but the news didn't end there. "What did you do to that woman?" Inanna wondered out loud. "I mean, on one hand it sounds like it's not my business but on the other if we are going to hide there..." she crossed her arms. "I guess that if I can live without knowing why these goons are on us, I can live without knowing why that... Kessler wanted to murder your ass" Inanna let her arms fall to the sides. "But if I end up having to fight her to keep you safe, I'll ask questions" she just added, knowing that time was of the essence.

"You have been a darling" Inanna said, leaning in to kiss Dennis on the cheek. "I'll make sure to pay for all of this when we get back" added, waving goodbye. "Milton, hop on me, we gotta run" she recommended, offering an arm for the cat to climb on. He would be safer on one of the pockets of her new clothes than just walking around, specially if they had to run for the van or get into a gunfight.
 
The cat let out a simple mew and scampered up to perch on Inanna's shoulder and nuzzeled her cheek then looked towards Nick, letting out another mew, "Yeah yeah I get the picture we're going we're going as, with some effort, he headed the heavy duffle bag up onto his shoulder and muttered something to himself about how the fragile human had to do the heavy lifting wile the certified murder bot got to carry to cat.

Back out into the tight alleyways they went weaving through the confines back to where the van had been parked. As he came around the corner Nick stopped and quickly back peddeled, using the wall as cover he peered around the corner. Two men in tan fatigues bearing the logo of Generic Biotech stood infont of the van cradeling SMG's not too different from the one Dennis had given them.

"Shit...." He muttered under his breath.
 
"If we can get out of town quick enough, I think I can take care of them without much noise" Inanna whispered. "They don't know me, so even if I just pass by and stop me to check my face, there is no way they recognize me" she said. "I'd have to go visibly unarmed though, perhaps some cleavage wouldn't hurt..." she mumbled, feeling a bit odd by analyzing the situation in a way too practical light. "There is always the chance of starting a shootout, but the noise will bring trouble and a stray bullet could mess up our ride since they are right by it" Inanna pointed.

The vehicle seemed to have Nick's whole life on it, and Inanna doubted that he had a roof to call home, so she wanted to keep it intact for him and not just for practical reasons. "So... what do you think, do you trust me with this?" she asked, picking Milton from her shoulder and leaving him on Nick's.
 
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