Chapter 18: 18

 'There we go, another two pitchers.'

Ronson had been up to the bar in Hideki's and ordered another two full pitchers of Asahi for the table. The pitchers were soon empty as everyone topped up their pint glasses and started drinking again. The twins were present, along with Devin, Tony and Mikey but were missing Justin who was taking his family out for dinner, Zach who was out earlier but had gone to his regular "hunting grounds" looking for women and Krieger; had been taken out on a date by the lovely Erik and not with a bullet like a lot of people usually tried to do.

'We don't see you that often without your other arm.' Tony chuckled at Ronson. It was true, Krieger and Ronson were inseparable and it was rare to see them apart.

'Yeah well she's on a date huh. She's allowed to go on dates it's not like we're an item. I am horrifically gay remember?' Ronson replied with a grin. 'Besides, she's only gone out with her guns tonight, her sword is nice and safe at home, so she's also without me and her other other arm.

'Oh please.' Tony continued. 'You two are just like an old married couple.'

Ronson huffed a little then smirked ever so slightly. They were just stating facts and it was a bit funny but Krieger and Ronson had their reasons for being as close as they were. They were each others rocks and things just didn't get in between them; relationships, the occasional argument or disagreement they had. They were exactly like an old married couple.

'Hi there! I've got your food.'

'Oh hey Viv, thanks.'

Ronson scooted his chair out away from the table to let Vivian; one of the young women Hideki had recently hired to help out at the bar place down a huge tray filled with various foods Sho had just cooked up for them. She laid down dishes of yakitori, karaage, gyoza, yakisoba and tamagoyaki then set down enough small side plates for everyone, a condiment set and a container holding several pairs of chopsticks.

'Can I get you anything else?' Vivian asked the group. She was looking at Michael when she asked and continued looking at him, long enough for Ronson to notice.

'Yeah can we have another few pitchers please?' Ronson replied to Viv not looking away from her ogling Michael, who was now eyeing up all the various dishes and not paying attention to the obvious flirting coming from the petite, blonde and friendly waitress.

'Sure thing!' Vivian squeaked and bounced off round the bar to pour two more pitchers of beer. Ronson was going to keep an eye on this situation to see if it developed or not. At least he had some gossip to tell Krieger later on. He checked his holowatch; it had been a while since she had gone out and normally on dates she would call him via neural comms, to tell him how bad it was and how she was going to sneak away and leave the idiot who had taken her out with the bill. Normally that was something the twins Jess and Faye would pull and he remembered that they hadn't done that in a while. Justin and Tony were blissfully married and had kids, Devin sort of had a girlfriend but he rarely saw her as she was an onboard engineer with the local passenger shuttles that ran twice daily to Galleria. Ronson himself wasn't exactly a fan of actual relationships but he figured that it would be nice to have someone; someone that would support him and have his back when he needed it.

Ronson decided he should start drinking more before he started taking himself seriously on that idea. No, he was fairly sure that he could carry on with his one night stands and booting the unsuspecting fellow out of his apartment at some ridiculous time in the morning.

'Okay, two more pitchers. How is everything?' Vivian had scuttled back over with two more pitchers of beer.

'We're good thanks, just keep the beer coming doll.' Ronson answered. Vivian smiled, nodded then went over to help the other new girl Yui, with a big order heading over to a table filled with men on a bachelor party. Michael was still totally oblivious of Vivian's quick glances at him, he was more interested in the plate of gyoza he had sneakily tugged over. The food, cooked excellently by Sho was making Michael wish he was in a kitchen making this stuff himself. He savoured every single bite he took of each dish while making a mental note that he had to cook this for the crew at the next chance he got.

'Okay so who out-out tonight?' Ronson called out to the tale. He soon got yesses from the twins, Devin, Michael and even Tony who never usually stayed out longer than a few hours. The crew were making short work of the food and were about to set about the fresh pitchers of beer Vivian had brought them before, if they were out-out tonight then more drinks were definitely needed.

Ronson was just bringing his pint to his lips when his holowatch started beeping, telling him he was receiving a call. He looked at the small holo display projecting from the watch noticing that it had just gone half past ten and he didn't have the number that was ringing him in his contacts. It was a legit number and not some stupid one belonging to telemarketers or scam artists so he answered. He barely got the chance to say "hello" as he listened to the slightly panicked voice in his ear.

'Hi, err Chris. Cas has been knocked over.'

It was Erik sounding totally unsure of what he was saying.

'Wait what?'

'She's been knocked over! I've rang the emergency services they're on the way.'

'Who ran her over? Are they okay?' Ronson asked. There was a brief pause before he heard Erik take a deep breath before he spoke again.

'This car ran her over then straight in to a comms cabinet, I don't know if the driver is okay but the car isn't.'

Ronson started laughing.

'Dude, what's Cas looking like now?' Ronson asked. He was now counting up in his head how many times Krieger had been run over since they got to New Edo. It happened around once a year on average, most of the incidents were on purpose as people genuinely thought they could kill Krieger by running her over with some kind of vehicle. It never worked. He figured she was at least up to five times now.

'Uh, well. Um she's pretty badly hurt. I don't wanna move her in case I cause more damage.'

Ronson got another ping on his holowatch. Looking at the display, it had notified him that Erik had just sent him an eye-view image. Opening the file, Ronson found himself looking at his best friend; bent up and twisted like a pretzel on the dusty road, blood pouring out of her nose but with a strained gaze which was looking at Erik.

'Yeah dude, give her a minute. You'd better go see if the person driving the car is okay.'

'Are you sure I mean...'

'Yeah I'd go check 'cause once Cas gets up, they will absolutely not be okay.'

Ronson could hear the murmuring and muttering of people in the background meaning there was obviously an audience gathering.

'Wait, something's happening.' Erik announced. 'Cas is...'

Ronson knew exactly what was happening. He had seen it happen to Krieger and it had happened to himself on a few occasions too. The cybernetic augments and nanomachines worked stupidly well together. When they were fully operational, the nano machines would almost "repair" both mechanical and biological materials. Knackered mechanical parts would begin to function again, broken bones would magically repair and skin would knit back together. It wasn't the most pleasant of experiences at times and could hurt like hell if you didn't know what to expect; but the pair had gone through it several times before, so it was nothing new. He could picture it in his head. Krieger's separated skin would pull back together, her dislocated joints would snap back in to place. She would be reminiscent of a marionette puppet having it's strings pulled; manipulating it's joints and limbs in to the correct position.

Erik was stood beside Krieger's nearly lifeless looking body, the only thing giving away her living status were here eyes which were looking straight at him. She was hit with some force by what looked like an old AMC Pacer, which were heavy cars and this one was going at some speed when it hit her. The car had hit her full force on a slightly odd angle and sent her tumbling over the bonnet, then crashing in to the windscreen, then straight over the roof before landing in a heap on the dusty dirt road. The worst thing was the fact that it looked like the car was aiming for Krieger, this part of town was a no vehicle after eight pm zone and everybody knew that; mainly because the local police actually enforced it as the instant cash fines they issued to those driving in this zone at night went straight in to their own pockets.

The crowd surrounding Krieger and Erik was getting bigger and so was the crowd around the now crashed car, which was crumpled to hell and had smoke and steam billowing out from under the crooked bonnet. Erik could even hear a slight wailing sound coming from the car; meaning it must be a woman inside. Some of the people that had gathered were trying to get the car doors open, but it was that scrunched up; the doors were way too crumpled and bent to even give any way. Erik had been distracted by the crash and was wondering if he should go over and help, but he didn't want to leave his date on the ground in a bloody, damaged mess. If anyone was going to help the woman in the car they should've hand the sense to break the windows out but they were stupidly trying to pry the doors open.

The crowd around Krieger were chattering away for all of a moment before they ended up gasping, shrieking and making heaving noises. Erik turned around to find that Krieger had been stood behind him looking as if nothing had happened to her. All she had was a bit of blood beginning to dry around her nostrils and top lip.

'Erik? Erik what's happening?' Ronson sounded in Erik's head.

'She's up.' He simply replied, in slight shock as within a few minutes of Krieger being pulverised by a car, she was up on her feet again and not looking too happy. She slowly walked over to where the crashed car was, fishing around in her pocket for her smokes to which she took one out of the mushed packet and lit it. The hustle and bustle of the bars and clubs along the street were providing the only noise, as the crowds were silent as they watched Krieger walking over to the drivers side of the car, smoking as she went. People moved out of her way as she stood beside the car. Taking a long drag on her cigarette, Krieger exhaled the smoke then threw the remainder on the ground before nonchalantly sending her fist through the drivers side window of the car. She wasn't using her guns for this.

Krieger grabbed at the weeping woman by the hair on the top of her head and forcibly dragged her out of the hole she had created. The woman was soon slammed up against the car by her throat and Krieger wasn't being soft about it; the woman was desperately trying to peel Krieger's fingers away as she coughed and spluttered, she even tried to kick Krieger away with whatever strength she had. The crowd gathered round again in anticipation of what may happen as watching two women scrap was a long running past time on New Edo. Krieger was keeping the woman adequately restrained and took the opportunity to find her cigarettes with her free hand and light one.

'Why?' Krieger groaned, loosing her grip around the womans throat just a little in order to let her talk.

'Because.. because you always, ruin everything... for me!' The woman gasped out. Krieger took a long hard look at the woman; her long blonde curly hair was tied back in to a loose ponytail, she had a ring of smudged mascara round her eyes where she had tried removing her eye makeup but whatever she was using just wasn't cutting it and she was clad in a baby pink velour tracksuit and bright white Nike trainers. She also had a bit of a lump and bruise forming on her forehead and she even had some blood oozing out of a laceration on her left eyebrow; she must have hit the cars steering wheel with some force as it looked like the airbag hadn't properly deployed.

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'Who the fuck are you lady?' Krieger asked the woman who sighed in exasperation.

'My name... is AMY!' The woman screeched. 'We met not so long ago how could you forget?'

'Hey I deal with idiots and people trying to kill me on a regular basis all the faces just kind of blur together.'

Amy struggled even more to loosen herself from Krieger's grasp but she wasn't getting out any time soon. Krieger eyed the woman up even more to try and remember who she was but she was still drawing a blank.

'You've ruined...' Amy struggled to get her words out. 'Every single, fucking date I've had. In the past YEAR!'

Krieger rolled her eyes and instantly dropped the woman who fell to the ground like a ragdoll. She coughed and spluttered trying to get some air back in to her lungs.

'Are you for fucking real?' Krieger asked the girl. 'You mean to say you ran my arse over because I ruined a few dates of yours?'

'YES!' Amy screamed as loud as she could. 'You're always getting in my fucking way or just... blowing something up! I haven't had a real boyfriend in like, FOREVER! Like, Terry he ran out on me at the movies when you came flying in waving your sword around at that weirdo the police were after for snatching that kid. Dean took me to a really fancy restaurant that you were in too on a date or something, and you stabbed the guy in the hand with a steak knife then that made Dean throw up on my favourite shoes because he hates blood and I never got to eat my lobster. '

Amy was getting hysterical by now and had even started crying and sniffling, her protruding top lip was shiny from all the snot collecting on it which Amy casually wiped away with the back of her sleeve.

'And I even had a date with Frank Da Costa too, but he ditched me to go and wind you up because you were "more interesting. And you snatched his new guy too! And they all make fun of me and spread rumours about me too.'

Strangely enough Krieger remembered that night, along with that night in the posh restaurant and corrected Amy in her head as it's was a guy offering her a job who she had stabbed but he was being a complete pig about it. But the night regarding Frank; she and Ronson were quite happily enjoying getting the meat sweats from the Korean Barbecue place they went to once a month, just on their own. The pair were halfway through some dak bulgogi and samgyeopsal-gui when Frank dragged a chair out from under their table and parked himself down. Krieger had stopped chewing, rolled her eyes and clutched on to her stainless steel chopsticks ready for stabbing. She very nearly did stab him when he reached his hand over to grab her pint then thought against it. He started wittering on about how the woman he was on a date with was self-obsessed, vapid, shallow and air headed. Though none of his mates who had set him up on this date had decided to tell him any of this. They did after however, go on to tell him how this Amy character was literally just that; a character. Constantly changing her personality and appearance in an attempt to get a man to like her.

'Y'know, out of all the things people have attempted to kill me over...' Krieger took out another cigarette and lit it as she continued talking. 'That, has to be the dumbest.'

Amy who was sat on the ground just looked up at Krieger with a look of confusion and misery on her face. Her half removed mascara and eyeliner had now been cried halfway down her face and the previously free-flowing snot had dried on her top lip. She looked a mess. Krieger looked down at the woman and sighed heavily.

'I vaguely remember you now. Here, get up.'

Krieger held her hand out to Amy who stared at the offer to be helped up for a moment before taking it. Krieger pulled the woman up to her feet before she started talking again.

'Listen darlin', you don't need to try and impress any of the men on this planet. Take it from me you absolutely don't most of them are complete dicks.' Krieger snorted. 'I know it sounds totally cliche but you just gotta be yourself, that is pretty much the only way you'll sift your way through all the shit men and find yourself a diamond. You get where I'm coming from?'

Amy still looked confused as she tried dusting off the dirt that was clinging to her sweat pants. The crowds that had formed had now started to get bored and moved away from the car wreck and two women, after realising they probably weren't going to scrap.

'You think so? I think it sounds like bullshit.' Amy sniffled in reply.

'I do think so. Now, because I've been in a good mood I'm not gonna put you in the hospital because you run me over NOR because you've actually just ruined my date...' Krieger over emphasised that last part as she tipped her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of Erik, who was now chatting to a paramedic who had finally turned up. 'But if it makes you feel better, I'd say that calls us even, even though I did not ruin any of your dates on purpose; they were just coincidence.'

Amy looked at Krieger then realised she wasn't about to end up in traction, eating through a tube for eight weeks, so nodded in reply.

'And word to the wise, running me over doesn't work. Come on let's go get you checked out.'

Amy nodded again and walked over to where the ambulance was parked up with Krieger following her.

'You get run over again Krieger? What number you on now?' The ambulance paramedic called out with a grin on his face as she was walking over. She knew who he was, New Edo wasn't all that big so after a while; everybody ending up knowing everybody. His crew-mate Stevie, the short chunky, blonde crew cut, single lesbian mother was probably inside the ambulance sorting out.

'To be honest I've lost count Drew. I'm fine as per, but would you take a look at Amy here she's bashed her head.' Krieger had her hand on the woman's shoulders and nudged her in the direction of the paramedic Drew; a quite tall man of Latina descent, lean, athletic and with jet black hair and few days worth of tidied stubble on his face. He guided her over to the back of the vehicle just as Stevie swung the doors open, not forgetting to scan Amy's holowatch for her personal data profile.

'How many now Krieger?' She called over as she stepped down to the ground.

'Dunno, single digits still?'

'Six so far, I've been keeping count. Still two behind Ronson though, he's winning.' Stevie grinned. 'Come on love let's check you over and get you to the hospital.' She beckoned Amy in to the ambulance and got her settled on one of the stretchers.

'We'll sort her out.' Drew said to Krieger. 'We'll make sure she arranges for someone to get her car.'

'Sure thing. She has insurance or is she NEH?'

Drew pulled some details up on his holowatch pertaining to Amy.

'She's insured.'

'Okay, when that's all gone through send me her final bill.'

'Wow that's nice of you.' Said Erik who had been milling about for a bit but now stood beside Krieger. Even Drew looked a little confused as to why Krieger would pay the final treatment bill of a woman who had just run her over.

'Hey, I'm a dick but I'm not that much of a dick. She obviously thought I totally had it in for her but as a show of goodwill and niceness...'

Erik and Krieger watched as the ambulance drove off but as soon as it disappeared, Erik wandered off in to a near by shop and came out with a small bottle of water and a pack of tissues. He opened the tissues and dampened one with the water, handing it over to Krieger so she could clean the dried, crusty blood off her face.

'You wanna go get a drink?' Erik asked her. It was a dumb question but she was glad he asked.

'I'd love a drink.' She smiled as she finished up wiping the crimson from her top lip.

'Great, let's go to Hideki's.'

Erik gracefully put his long arm around Krieger's shoulders. The evening was finally back on track for the couple to hopefully finish their date without any further incidents.

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