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"Holy-fucking-shit..."
Ciri watched an av fly over our car and even jerked up toward the window to look at it, but the girls held her back. Even though the tinted windows wouldn't allow anyone to see her, it wasn't worth the risk... what if there was some advanced system installed there?
Of course, it was highly unlikely, but even now, any old av could be a disguised experimental model that only looks like old junk because the corporation doesn't want to expose it to unnecessary risk. Of course, that's rare; usually, corpos just hire security or conduct tests in safer zones than Night City... but corporations do pull stunts like that sometimes...
"What was that?"
With every passing minute, Ciri was speaking Russian better and better. Even now, the pauses in her sentences had almost disappeared, and her accent was much less obvious. No, it hadn't vanished completely, but it no longer hindered understanding her.
"An av... a flying vehicle, like this car."
"Also runs on explosions?"
Doubt and disbelief in such an explanation were in Ciri's voice.
"No, the engines there are much more complex, and what it runs on... nuclear energy."
"The word 'energy' I understand... is it like the coal that you put in a furnace?"
"Yes."
"And 'nuclear'... what is that?"
I shook my head.
"You lack the fundamental knowledge to understand it."
"Did you call me stupid?"
A threat and a shadow of offense were in Ciri's voice.
"No..."
I shook my head again.
"It's just that trying to describe nuclear energy to someone who doesn't know the basics is the same as trying to describe your world-hopping to someone untrained."
"Uh..."
"What?"
I turned to Ciri.
"I don't know how I teleport..."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean it!"
A slight offense and annoyance were in Ciri's voice that she had to admit that.
Ugh, I sighed...
"Alright, I'll give you another example. It's the same as a mage describing how he teleports to someone untrained..."
"Hmph... alright..."
Ciri was unhappy, but she was pretty sharp. Fuuuck, she was wickedly smart, or at least she should have been. I was sure that because she didn't have the mutations in her body, she was taught much more seriously than Witchers were back in the day. And while she probably couldn't handle the same physical stresses, she had to have been taught theory, especially since she's a princess, so she was highly educated even before she started her Witcher training...
Well, she must have been educated...
"You will explain to me what everything is in this world, won't you?"
"Of course... I think the girls wouldn't mind helping you figure out this world. You'll probably master a crash course in a week. After all, you don't want to leave the clan's territory, and there's not much to do besides training..."
"You want to lock me up?"
But there was no offense in the girl's voice. It was more of a statement of fact and understanding.
"Well, considering the information about the metal eyes and the ability to quickly find information about any person..."
She thoughtfully bit her bottom lip.
"I'm so glad I ran into you... I'm still not sure everything will be fine, but at least I'm not unconscious and being taken to a vivisection table."
"Oh... she figured it out! Knock her out!"
Ciri looked at Becca, who had loudly whispered that phrase, in surprise. Then she laughed happily, and the other girls laughed with her, and Panam and I barely held back the smiles that were trying to surface on our lips.
Bantering like that, we reached the clan's territory. We let Ciri out, and she immediately froze in a small daze, caused by the fact that there were quite a few people around, whom she started to look over.
"Is something wrong?"
"Uh..."
Ciri was in culture shock.
"...does that girl have a metal arm? Uh... and what's wrong with that guy's eyes?"
Ciri shuddered, pointing her finger at a guy with Maelstrom-style optics.
"Come on, we'll tell you everything and explain it... David, are you going to see Saul?"
"Yeah, I have to give him a job..."
I sighed, answering Lucy, who had already grabbed Ciri's hand and was dragging her into the Behemoth. After watching that, I headed toward Saul's car, next to which a large tent had been set up.
"Hey, Saul."
"David..."
"I'll be brief... I need a lot of thermal grenades. If we can get electric ones too, that would be totally awesome."
"How many?"
"A lot. Very many."
"David, what's 'very many' to you? Twenty? Thirty?"
"More than two hundred. And I need them in a week."
"Cough?! What the hell did you get yourself into?!"
Saul was in shock... no, he was completely stunned.
"Did you see the girl? The one the girls and I brought to the camp?"
"Well..."
He took a very slow breath, and then he let it out.
"...and what about this girl?"
"Let's just say I have new thoughts about the fate of our clan."
"New thoughts?"
"Yeah... and it's tied to her... or rather, not just her. I'm not going to say anything for now. I'll just say that we can carve out a new niche for ourselves, a dangerous but very profitable one..."
"Hmm... what else do you need?"
"Nothing..."
I shook my head.
"...I'll get the rest through Regina, or through Rogue. Like the extra explosives."
"What, you're going to be like Silverhand and try to blow up Arasaka Tower?"
"Are you crazy?"
I stared at Saul in shock.
"Am I some kind of psycho terrorist? Willing to kill hundreds of innocent people?"
"No... sorry..."
Saul looked away guiltily.
"It's fine..."
I was a little annoyed, but I decided not to dwell on it. I didn't have time for that. So much work had piled up, it was insane.
"...forget it. Just give our techs the job of assembling a lot of thermal and electric grenades."
"Got it. I hope you'll clue me in on your plan later."
"If everything goes well and I don't flatline executing the first part of the plan, I definitely will."
"Ugh... the prospect of losing the clan leader on some vague job that he came up with himself isn't very appealing. Maybe I should send you some people?"
I shook my head.
"On the one hand, I could, of course, but on the other, our group has already worked together, and we'd have to break in new people..."
"Alright, go on. I'll gather everyone who knows tech and I'll order the necessary materials through Dakota, and maybe even cover some of your needs for grenades."
"Good."
I nodded and left Saul's tent. As I turned away from him, I noticed his eyes light up, which meant he was already executing my order and getting the techs to work, or maybe he decided to contact Dakota first.
I calmly walked to our Behemoth and the tarp and tents laid out in front of it and sat down on a lounge chair that was next to the table.
I closed my eyes and decided to call Regina.
"Listening, David... I thought you took a vacation..."
A slight interest was in the fixer's voice.
"Ugh... I did take a vacation, but problems find me themselves."
"Do you need something?"
"Yeah... I need super-powerful military-grade sniper rifles. Can you get them, or should I go to Rogue?"
"How many?"
"Four. But they have to come with all the mods and they can't be locked, because I don't have time to hack them."
"That's... going to be expensive... of course, four sniper rifles like that will be cheaper than one training shard... but the cost will still bite. And if you need them right now..."
"Right now is when I need them..."
"I'll send you the price in a message."
"Alright... what about grenades?"
"Are you going to war or something?"
"Well... partly, but don't worry, I'm not planning anything against the corporations or gangs in Night City."
"But you're planning something..."
"Yeah."
"Do you need my help?"
I shook my head.
"Just purchasing the gear."
"Alright, besides sniper rifles and grenades, what else do you need?"
"Well... I'm not mentioning ammo. That's a given..."
I bit my lip thoughtfully.
"Two Uzis, a minigun, and an assault rifle. All military grade, of course, with mods and ammo. And a LOT of ammo. And I also need gear... corpo-style armored suits would be ideal."
(Author's Note: If you've seen John Wick, you know what kind of armored suits I'm talking about. The main character constantly runs around in one, shrugging off bullets.)
"Are you absolutely sure you're not planning anything in the city?"
"I'm not doing anything IN THE CITY."
"Well... I have contacts in military warehouses. I can't promise the latest generation of weapons, but I can definitely get you weapons that are still in circulation."
"I'm not hoping for more than that. Tell me when and where to pick them up, and I'll send someone from the Aldecaldos to get everything."
"Alright... and... David..."
"Yeah?"
"Try not to die out there..."
"I'll try."
I grinned and hung up. Half an hour later, I got a message with the price, and I immediately sent her the payment.
"Well?"
Kiwi sat down on another lounge chair next to me.
"I ordered everything... I think the weapons will be delivered to us tomorrow or the day after."
"Good. The girls are educating Ciri... I think tomorrow she'll stop staring so much, and we can start training."
"You guys are the best..."
"Yeah, praise us more..."
Kiwi took off the mask she had put on when we got into the car after the little picnic and grinned.
"...we women are suckers for flattery..."
"Uh-huh..."
I nodded sarcastically.
"You're not suckers for flattery... you're suckers for everyone you find annoying. I'm sure you've all shot off a lot of balls that were rolling your way..."
"Well... maybe a little."
Kiwi nodded in agreement.
"So flattery doesn't work on you. It's all about my natural charisma..."
"Uh-huh... just don't spread your charisma around Ciri. We're not too keen on letting another chick into our already tight family circle."
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...we'll see what happens. I'm not doing anything on purpose. I'm just talking to her, just helping her..."
"Just conquering women's hearts..."
Judy walked up to us and, grinning, she sat on my lap.
"Well... that just happens naturally..."
"Heh, so she's probably another one?"
"Who knows?"
I shrugged at Judy's question, and closing my eyes, I thought about what else needed to be done.
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