Page 97 of Neon Flux

I guess they knew him. I was a little surprised to hear Cy speak back fluently.

“Kazuki, always so nice to see you. Let me in, ya bastard.”

“You don’t have an appointment.”

“Sure I do.” He pulled what was probably enough Vector for an entire squad of Flux-capable agents out of his jacket and waved it in front of the camera. My heart sped up as the fluorescent green substance swayed in the feed, and my pinky twitched. My arm seized as I stopped myself reaching for it instinctively. “Fresh from the lab. You could cut this four times over and still have the strongest Vector on the street.”

Even through the digital mask, I could see the greed in the man’s eyes.

“Who’s the whore?”

“Just that.” Cy slapped my ass a little harder than necessary, but I didn’t flinch.

“She’s not coming inside,” said the Kitsune.

“Don’t be a cock-block. She gets off on this shit. Plus, Hinokawa-san will be pissed if you let me walk away with this haul.”

The Kitsune let out a harsh breath between his teeth, but then the door slid open, and we stepped into the Den.

Two bruisers, each probably over two-fifty, greeted us immediately. They wore masks mimicking the filter I’d seen on the entrance screen—white porcelain with shining chrome fangs, hiding the bottom half of their faces and projecting stylized Kitsune features over their Vysors. Though less distorted than the filter, the masks completely concealed their true features. In the dim entrance hall, the glowing masks made them look demonic.

One immediately started patting down Cy, the other came for me. He wasn’t gentle or professional. He groped both of my breasts, then slid his hands down over my ass, fingers diving far too deep between my thighs.

“You’ve got to pay for that,” I hissed.

The mask was programmed to mimic his true facial expressions, because the fang-filled grin on his face grew wider. “Oh, we’ve got a live one here.”

I felt a sharp pain at the back of my neck, and my hand shot up immediately to feel the hot chip now embedded over my old scar.

“Just in case you’ve got something hidden I can’t see, slut. I wouldn’t try tugging it out unless you want to end up brain-dead.” He slapped my ass and shoved me back toward Cy. “All yours, fucker. I can’t stand when they have an attitude.”

“Just say you don’t know how to handle a woman who’s conscious,” Cy shot back, his arms spread wide like he was lounging at a spa—not standing inside one of the most dangerous places in the city, antagonizing the guards.

My molester looked ready to slug him when the other one pulled two weapons from under Cy’s coat.

“You know the rules,” he said with a huff, clearly not for the first time.

“Kazuki, how much more suspicious would I be if you’d found nothing? Plus, I like when you get a little rough with me.” Cy winked, and I watched the guard’s face twist with rage.

We were dead—and we hadn’t even gotten inside yet. Both brutes looked ready to murder him, and honestly, a part of me couldn’t even blame them. What the hell was he doing?

Then, a door out of the small inspection area opened, spilling loud, thrumming music and red light into the space.

“Enough. The boss wants to see him. Now.” Another man motioned from the door. I was frozen in place, so Cy wrapped an arm around my waist and dragged me forward.

“Always nice seeing you bastards.” He didn’t look back as the door slid shut behind us.

We followed our guide down a long concrete hallway, sporadically lit by beams of Stellarium embedded in the walls.We were so close to the Magenta data center that they glowed a dark red instead of the soft pink of the surface.

Cy kept our pace slow enough to fall behind the guide. “What the hell was that?” I whispered in his ear.

“Relax, doll, they know who I work for. It’ll take a lot more than that to put us in real danger. Besides, I was hoping to distract them enough they wouldn’t chip ya.” He glanced at the back of my neck and frowned, then scratched the back of his, where he also had a Flux dampener. “Shit always itches to all hell,” he muttered.

Right on cue, I heard the soft chime in my ear. “Offline mode activated. E, I’m here and I’ve started the scanning protocol, but no signal yet.” DITA’s voice, through bone conduction, was only audible to me. I tapped my fingers against my thigh in a coded shorthand for situations when silence was critical.

Me: Still walking. 100 ft more.

DITA chirped her affirmation.