System Overclocked 2 -ch8- (Patreon)

Wrench didn’t have to stand at the barrier long before things happened.

Not only everyone panic as soon as they realized they’d lost time, but then quite literally perform a head-count check. Every group going through and doing a physical count of their people.

Seventh and Wrench manned the barrier and kept an eye on everyone on the Skybridge. The Admini that would’ve been helping them distribute goods was gone as was Bird.

They’d have to go get a new Admini or wait for someone to come this way.

“Since they’re doing a headcount, we can just wait,” Wrench said, staring out over the Skybridge. There were people milling about it, but no one that looked to be an issue.

If anything, Wrench felt like these people were attempting to stay close to the wall as if it offered safety for them.

“Yeah… I know. You said that already,” Seventh got out gruffly. She leaned down, put her elbows to top of the barrier, and leaned against it. It inadvertently once again gave him a great view of her. She was clearly not used to wearing a dress. “I guess I’m just anxious.”

“You? Anxious? You’re ruining my image of you,” Wrench accused with a chuckle. I always felt like you were cool, calm, and collected.”

“Maybe during a fight. Or when things are happening. But not before,” whispered the Brawler. “I get really nervous and wound up just waiting for things to happen. If I’m planning, or doing, or just… just… just anything other than sitting here waiting. I’m no good at waiting.”

“Ah. That makes more sense. Especially when you were getting all bent out of shape and I kept saying wait,” Wrench remarked in sudden understanding. “I thought you were just as horny as most Brawlers were. I swear you all have a ramped sex drive.”

“I-that-ah… uh… I guess. I was also really kinda mixed up. Stripe was telling me one thing, you were saying something else and I just… yeah. Yeah,” Seventh mumbled after a pause. “As to the drive, I mean-I guess I do. Or we do, Brawlers that is.

“Never really thought of it. I just always ended up taking care of it myself or channeling it to training.

“But a lot of the male Brawlers especially my dad, were always after a partner. Always. Mom said more than a few times she hated being pregnant but it was also one of the few times she was left alone. I guess I get it now.”

“I mean, did your Hab have a large population?” Wrench asked, looking over at Seventh.

“Yes but no? It was all family. Family or who you were paired with. There weren’t that many unpaired people in the Hab,” Seventh answered, her eyes picking back and forth across the people on the Skybridge. “Everyone had a Null ring forcibly put on them. Those that managed to take it off more than once were… they left and never came back.”

Wrench could guess at those Hume.

Traded away, euthanized, or sold.

No need for Hume that won’t follow your rules in a breeding Hab.

Or at least, that’s what I’d heard.

“Someone’s coming,” declared Seventh and then stood up.

Doing the same, Wrench looked out to the Skybridge.

At the foot of it was a group of two men and a woman. They were heading up the Skybridge toward the barrier.

“I wonder if it’s the Barracks or just someone who wants to give us more demands,” Wrench mused. Reaching down he picked up the bow he’d set at his feet, then adjusted the quiver of arrows to make sure it was within reach.

He held the bow just below the line of the wall and made himself ready to act.

Them attacking, or demanding that he surrender, was the two options he’d expect from them. It wasn’t as if they could use tactics or strategies to get the barrier pulled down.

“Want to talk to them?” Wrench asked.

He’d had a lot of experience with Brawlers in his past, but in the same breath, he still wasn’t a Brawler. He could plan to kill them, out maneuver them, and how to deal with them, but he still wasn’t one.

“No. I don’t… uh… no,” Seventh offered.

“I think you’re incredibly intelligent, Seventh,” complimented Wrench. “I’m not any smarter than you are. I just have a lot of weird experience to draw on.”

“Get out of my head you bastard,” growled Seventh.

Wrench laughed at that, they had about thirty seconds before the trio arrived.

“But it’s so fun in there. Right now you’re head is full of fluttery questions and agitated girly expressions of glee at being complimented,” guessed Wrench.

“I will-you-that-no. None of that,” hissed Seventh, making Wrench feel like he really hit the mark there.

“Did you squeal internally?” he asked. “Maybe a quick thought of, will he kiss me before they get here?”

Seventh wheezed out a breath and shuddered violently.

She jerked the sword out of the sheath at her waist and stood there trembling.

“If you weren’t right, and that I don’t think I’d win, I’d try to kick you in the balls. To death,” threatened Seventh.

“If I wasn’t right? Damn. Maybe I should’ve kissed you after all,” Wrench said and then sighed. At the same time the trio stopped on the Skybridge. “You look amazing in that dress, Seventh.”

Seventh’s trembling stopped entirely

Everyone who’d been on it had scurried away and was now at the foot of it in the Lower Parts. Leaving the trio alone on the Skybridge.

Wrench pre-emptively skyrocketed his systems. Bringing them up to a point where he was akin to a machine made flesh. The only thing he didn’t up, was his awareness of time.

That he left at a simple one-hundred percent. Though he didn’t dismiss the system window this time. He had it up and to the left as he stared at the trio.

“Hey, where the fuck is—”

Wrench pulled the bow up, nocked and arrow, and drew it in one smooth motion. He had it sighted at the man’s heart. All he had to do was release the arrow.

Wrench said nothing, he just held the arrow in place.

Apparently that got the desired result.

The man who’d been talking stopped mid-sentence and stared at Wrench. The moment he did anything Wrench didn’t like, he’d loose and end the man. His life meant nothing to him.

If someone was going to approach with aggression, he would respond with aggression. These three had definitely come with aggression in mind.

The woman of the group slowly held up her hands.

“We were wondering where Pumpkin and Rock went,” offered the female Brawler. She was nowhere near as attractive as Seventh but she wasn’t unfortunate looking.

“Dunno who the fuck that is,” Seventh answered for him. He was busy holding the man’s life in the balance, after all.

“Fixers,” the woman added helpfully.

“Gone. We kicked them out of the Ducts when it was revealed they were taking bribes to let people get raped, raided, and enslaved,” Seventh answered. Apparently she’d be the one to talk after all. “Then they got scooped up by the Tongsta. You’re looking at the last two Fixers in the Hab.”

The three people standing there looked confused, concerned, and now worried.

“And… the Admini asked you to put up this barrier?” asked the other man. The one that Wrench had an arrow drawn on still hadn’t responded or moved.

“No, we did it. Because someone decided they wanted to grab a few people, rape them, beat the crap out of them, and rob them,” responded Seventh. “Not so neighborly so… what the hell ever, right? Put up a nice wall to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

“Seems like a perfectly reasonable plan to keep everything peaceful. Doesn’t it? No more rape, no more robbery, no more problems.”

The three Brawlers clearly didn’t understand the situation.

“What the fuck are you talking about you stupid cun—”

Wrench’s forearms slid to the side and he released the arrow. Loosing it at the man who’d raised his voice at Seventh. Unsurprisingly it hadn’t been the man Wrench had been aiming at.

The arrow slammed into the man’s knee and came out the back of it. The man collapsed to one knee, the hurt one of course, then fell to his side screaming.

Wrench nocked another arrow and had it drawn up, pointing at the man again.

“Reasonable plan, isn’t it?” Wrench prompted in an ugly hiss. The words dripped with disdain and contempt. “If you have a better plan about how we can make sure your people don’t come up here to be… well, bandits, we’re listening. Otherwise, we like this plan just fine.

“Oh, and who the fuck is the Barracks? Someone told us they wanted to talk. No frickin’ clue who that is. More curious than anything since, you know, they have no power over us.”

The man and the woman were tending to the man who no longer would have a life as a Brawler unless they managed to get him to Peaches.

Given that she was in the Upper Parts, separated away, with no way for them to reach her other than this barricade, that was unlikely. Nor did it seem to hurt that Peaches definitely had what Wrench suspected was a dislike for them.

Neither the man or woman responded. Instead they started leading their injured comrade away. One under each arm as he hopped and hobbled along.

“Nice shot,” Seventh murmured as the confrontation ended. “Was a bit surprising for you to go that far.”

“I didn’t like his tone,” allowed Wrench. “Or what he was saying. I went just far enough that they won’t be talking to you like that in the future.”

Seventh snorted at that and sheathed her sword with a clack.

“Wrench, I’m not Stripe,” said the Brawler.

“No, you’re not. Doesn’t mean I like them talking to you like that. All they had to do was be polite about it,” countered Wrench. “Whatever. This just plays into my earlier concerns and thoughts. They obviously got their way through bullying and harassment. They don’t have any actual power with this barricade in the way.

“The only way they have power is through their fists. Now that the separation between the two groups is whole, that power is greatly diminished.

“Speaking of, I feel like I should increase the height of this thing and build ig with self-sealing bolts. Think another twenty feet in height would make it near impossible for them to bother us?

“Hell of a walk for us to get to the top but a easy damn shot at the tops of their heads from there.”

“Twenty feet taller? Yeah, that’d make me not want to even try. Though, that does kinda leave the only option just rushing it down. How do we stop that? If they really pushed and went all out, they could probably force the door open.”

“I already thought of that. Fabs working on it right now. Its something that it doesn’t let you do normally,” Wrench answered and put the bow back down. The trio finally stepped off the Skybridge.

“What’s that?”

“Explosives,” he answered and looked at Seventh with a wide smile. “Explosives and a cord that makes things explode. I’m going to wire the whole god damn bridge tonight with explosives. If these asshats want to try something stupid, I’ll just blow it up.

“This is the part where you say something like… I’m awful. Or a villain. That I’m terrible.”

Seventh shrugged her shoulders.

“Hume are the most dangerous to Hume. I’m sure we’ve killed more of our own kinda than the Tongsta ever have,” alleged Seventh. “I’ve killed quite a few myself. I think. There’s more than a few that I know I’ve killed.

“Those are the ones I know I did. It’s probably higher. A lot of people were carried off or went back to where they came from.

“None of that was even in tournaments. This was all people who were part of my Hab. Or visiting Hab members or just stuff like that that couldn’t keep their tongues still or hands to themselves.”

Wrench grimaced, took a breath, then held it. He’d been preparing to argue her statement. Then realized she was right.

He’d nearly said the same thing himself in fact.

The Hume were the greatest threat to other Hume. Tongsta could certainly be issues, they definitely were responsible for many dire ends for Hume, but not all of them.

Many problems with Hume were caused by Hume.

“Now what?” Seventh asked, then reached up and shifted her boobs around in her dress. Only to push at the underside of one. “I love the dress but this one doesn’t fit me right. Stripe said she’d fix it for me tonight. Something about my chest.”

I mean… Stripe would know. I’m fairly certain she’s doing her best to not make her chest seem overwhelming. Pretty sure she’s a lot more chesty than she’s letting on.

Though… I’m curious why.

Why do that.

“Now we just… wait for the Admini. Eventually they’ll show up,” Wrench muttered. “Maybe another group of Brawlers will come over. Could do some target practice. How are you with a bow?”

“Absolute shit. I couldn’t hit you in the chest if you were standing ten feet away. That and I always end up hitting myself right in the titty,” answered Seventh.

Laughing, Wrench looked over at the Brawler. More and more he found her crude humor and quick responses to his liking.

“That’s what you get for being half overly pretty Solo and half extreme Brawler,” Wrench quipped, smirking at her. “Like, really. Who had it in their head to breed super pretty people with extreme Brawlers?”

“Uh… well if you think about it, it makes sense? They wanted the ‘perfect Hume’. So you… kinda… I mean… right?” Seventh asked, her words trailing off.

Grinning, Wrench just looked back to the Skybridge.

“Whatever. I’m just happy that First through Sixth came before you. You’re a real treat to have around,” he offered instead of answering her directly.

“Uh huh. Just remember you need to make Eighth with me. That doesn’t always happen on the first try you know. My mom has… she has a lot of kids,” Seventh grumbled, then shook her head. “Whatever. I can do it. She’s not even a Brawler. I can do it.”

“Hello?” called a voice from below and behind them.

It thankfully interrupted the conversation. While he couldn’t deny he was actually considering the idea of giving Seventh what she wanted, he also didn’t.

He’d never had children in his past life but he’d tried. Tried and failed endlessly. The heartbreak of so many lost pregnancies had ended up crippling his marriage with Beckie.

The idea of it happening all over again left him with a dry mouth and a cold-sweat dripping down his spine.

An Admini was standing at the base of the barricade.

“Hello. You here for a head count?” Wrench asked.

“Yes. Yes I am… ah… where’s… where’s Bird?” asked the young man. He had an oddly hopeful face and a nervous cast to his eye. With black hair that bordered on a dark brown and wide brown eyes.

“Gone,” Wrench answered simply. “Gone and taken by the Tongsta. Along with a few other Admini, all the Fixers, and a lot of Solo’s and School. Whole heck of a lot, in fact.

“I’m sure you’ll find the numbers decreased by a significant amount. Though that’s a good thing, I think. It didn’t seem like they were being taken away to-to euthanize them. It seemed like an adoption.”

“I see,” the man responded in a soft voice. One that felt a lot like a rubber gasket hanging on by a thread. One good push and it’d rip entirely. “I see. Well. Better an adoption than the other possibility. That’s-that’s at least a promise for a life.”

“Adoptions happen often? Euthanizations occur frequently?” Wrench prompted. He wanted to know more now that it’d happened. If it was likely to happen again he needed to get working on those implant modifications. The last thing he wanted was for him or his Hume to be adopted out to someone.

“No. Not either, really. Most Hume who end up here remain here for a long while,” admitted the man. “Not too many euthanizations either. It happens, sure, but not often. Maybe once a generation. Though it was kind of obvious when it was coming.

“Over crowded, no adoptions, not enough supplies. There’s a point at which it’s obvious that the Tongsta culls our numbers.”

Letting out a breath, Wrench could see how that’d be the case. Though the two adoptions that just happened were odd with that information now known.

It meant that something had shifted recently with the Shelter, or the Tongsta. Given that the owner of the Hab had actually recognized him, he figured maybe his tournament win was more widely publicized then he thought.

That or it’s something else all together.

Hm.

Either way, time to head back to the ducts and start cracking on my implant.

“Alright. Tell Shinista to send the Brawlers he hired to man the barricade,” Wrench said and threw a thumb back the way of the Skyrbridge. “The enemy already came by once. I sent them away with a parting gift. They won’t be coming back.”

“Or… at least… if they do come back, it won’t be to talk,” Seventh interjected. “Be sure to tell your people that. Don’t open the door to groups. Force everyone to come to the window one at a time. Paint a line on the ground and tell people not to cross it if it isn’t their turn.

“Have a Brawler with a bow shoot anyone that crosses. Treat your security here as if your lives depend on it. Because now that we’ve drawn the line in the sand, it’s just inviting them to try and cross it.

“If they do manage to cross it, the results won’t be pretty. It’ll be ugly. Very ugly.”

“I understand, I’ll relay all of this onward,” promised the man. “Is there anything else?”

“No. We’ll be in the Ducts,” Wrench said and stepped off the edge of the barricade. He hit the ground with a thump and then deactivated all the wound up systems of his body. Letting them all relax.

Seventh hit the ground next to him and the two began walking back.

“Eventful and yet uneventful,” Seventh summarized, looking over her shoulder at him.

“I’ll take uneventful any day of the week. I’d rather be home doing nothing, you know,” Wrench grumbled.

“If we were home, I could give you something to do that’d be better than nothing,” offered Seventh. “By the way, I love all the flirting we’ve been doing. It’s like-like fighting, but not. I think mother once called it verbal sparring.”