Part the eleventh
Often during the more boring moments of jobs like this, Bonky finds himself wondering what Davenport might do in a similar situation. In many of the news clips Bonky has seen of the Kontrakt Killer, Davenport seems to either be getting friendly with one of the female members of his squad, or else firing off rounds into the air for no other reason than he likes the sound and he loves his job. Bonky considers this as he sloshes through the muck around him and decides that neither course of action is entirely appropriate to either his current location or the squad’s group dynamic as a whole. He has felt in the past few days that something is a little wrong within the squad, although he cannot quite fathom what it is. Bonky is almost certain that it is nothing that he has been responsible for doing, or not doing. Almost. Something troubles him about the way Steve has been lately, he has begun to seem even more on edge than normal and often has a look in his eyes that Bonky would rather not see whilst they were in, for instance, his local McBurgyMurterbar. It has a certain something about it that Bonky has only ever seen before in opponents who have been trapped and have then tried something stupid, most often hitting him. In Bonky’s experience, this has never equated to a successful outcome on the part of the opponent, all of whom to date have met with ends that were not so much sticky as squelchy.
Bonky taps the haft of his Chainaxe a couple of times in a slightly frustrated manner. The problem with being a vat grown biogenetic killing machine is that one’s insights into the minds of others are rarely taken notice of. Even Mel has a tendency to scratch his nose rather than answer many of his more serious questions. Somehow things seem to get mixed up on the way from the inside of Bonky’s head to when Bonky is saying something and the words are coming out. Sometimes this bothers Bonky, but usually this is whilst he is bored doing a job, and he can relax by doing his special breathing exercises, like the video says he should. He’s got two copies of that vid, as it features Davenport giving instructions on combat yoga. Bonky keeps one copy in its shrink wrapping and doesn’t watch it: he doesn’t want to wear it out, and this seems like a logical solution. Jen had tried to convince him that the slugs wouldn’t wear out, that that was the point of them, but Bonky had simply listened to her politely before going and buying two copies anyway when she wasn’t looking. And he had explained when Jen had offered that copying the first vid would have been a violation of Copyright and could result in a fine and/or SCL decreases, not to mention a reduction in rights earned by the artistes concerned, in this instance one Davenport, SCL 6, Kick Murder Operative turned Global PsykoColour Kontrakt Killer. Jen had scowled a bit and asked pointedly when he had swallowed a rule book, which had made Bonky stop for a moment and think. He honestly could not remember reading that information anywhere. It just seemed... instinctual. Funny how Jen could think it wasn’t.
In any case, Jen is not down here smelling of faeces, thinks Bonky, and returns his attention to monitoring the ‘com band. Sleet has their objective secured, and has tight-beamed back the all clear. Mel and Steve have disappeared up around the corner ahead, and Jacinta is right beside Bonky as they round the corner to their final approach. They can see up ahead the bright shine of Steve’s suit lights, silhouetting everyone neatly and, Bonky thinks, dangerously. Jacinta gives the order to cut to 20% illumination and everyone obeys immediately, the lack of backchat illustrating perhaps a certain shamefacedness at not having thought of this measure before.
“OK people, talk to me, don’t cluster like this, Sleet give me alternate egress points in case things get hairy: Mel track back and secure our tails, call if anything so much as drips out of place. Steve, what do we have here and how can we get rid of it?”
Mel brushes past Bonky and twitches her head in a way that is not a part of any of their code systems. He thinks this a little strange, but can see Ebb-light around the edges of her helmet again – perhaps she is merely still trying to stretch her Ebb ability to the full. Bonky knows this can sometimes make her a little crabby, like the time she accidentally floored the Frother who tried to touch her bottom once too often. Strangely, when Bonky had gone to help the man up, he had squirmed away and not wanted any help at all. Odd.
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