Rubi Rascke: Runner for Hire #2

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Note: 'Rubi Rascke: Runner for Hire' is not going to be placed on a schedule yet. Seeing as I'm not sure what the interest for her will be. But for those of you that have/are reading 'The Curious Death of Mr. Grove', I'm sure you will notice a couple of tie-ins that I have placed in this story. One other thing. For those of you that can read the other languages (Russian, Italian, and Chinese; in this Issue), pardon the poor translations! I only have Google Translate (eck!) to work with!

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     The woman looked down at her. Rubi approached like a small child who knew that they were in trouble.

     “What did I tell you about firearm discharge in my bar?” she scolded.

     “I’m sorry Madame Loxi.” apologized Rubi.

     “You know the rules!” continued the woman.

     “Yeah but he started it! He was asking for it! He was choking me!” whined Rubi.

     “I saw. Come child” ordered Madame Loxi. She walked towards a bulkhead labeled ‘Authorized Personel Only’. The door was locked with a keypad and a retina scanner. Rubi followed.

     “If I didn’t shoot him, I could be dead!” ranted Rubi. Madame Loxi typed in a key code and placed her eye to the scanner. The bulkhead screeched open. Rubi followed Madame Loxi inside. 

The far wall was one giant computer screen. There was a desk with a touch screen keyboard build into the desktop. Three chairs sat in front of the desk. In one of the chairs Rubi made out an Auburn head. The person turned to see who entered. Rubi recognized this person to. This time it not a joy toy to have fun with. It was her rival, Wynnefred McLeod. Rubi shot daggers at the girl.

     “Breaking the rules again Rascke?” asked the girl in a mocking tone.

     “None of your biz McLeod.” hissed Rubi. Madame Loxi moved around the desk.

     “Sit.” she commanded Rubi. Rubi sat in the chair furthest from Wynnefred. She shot dirty looks towards her. “I’ve had it with the petty feud you two have.” began Madame Loxi, “So I’ve decided to team you up for this next job.”

     “What the fuck! Vy dolzhen byt' chertovski Shutki! There is no kozel sosaniye way that I am working with this deshevo shlyukha!” spouted Rubi.

     “Who are you calling a whore!? You sciolto puttana!” cried Wynnefred.

     “Bì zuǐ!” shouted Madame Loxi. The two girls fell silent. “You two are going to work together, and that is the last of it! Dǒng ma?”

     “Yes ma’am.” they said in unison.

     “I expect you to act like professionals! Not like a yī duì zhēngchǎo xiào nǚshēng!” scolded Madame Loxi. “Am I to be understood?”

     “Perfectly.” said Wynnefred. Rubi only nodded. She was fuming. What is Madame Loxi thinking? Assigning me a job with this durak! She has to have a glitch. A logic error maybe. This is going to end in a Y2K. Madame Loxi’s sharp voice dragged Rubi out of neural-space and back into meat-space. 

“The job is simple. You are tasked to break onto the Direct Deposit, A yacht owned by Anthony Grove.” relayed Madame Loxi. She typed in some commands on the keyboard and a wire-frame image of the yacht appeared behind her. “Once aboard the yacht you are to hack into the computer withdraw all information encrypted after January.”

     “What is so important about this information?” questioned Wynnefred. 

     “Ms. Miller didn’t say. And I didn’t ask.” said Madame Loxi without hesitating. 

     “What is the security system like on the boat?” asked Rubi. Madame Loxi typed in another command on the keyboard.

     “The yacht has a state of the art security system. It is a Securititech Vault Software v.10.5.2. It is incredibly tough to crack and I advise extreme caution.”

     “Nothing I can’t crack.” interjected Rubi.

     “I wouldn’t be so confident. I have lost a more runners to this software than trigger-man’s bullets!” emphasized Madame Loxi. Rubi was shocked.

     “I’ll talk to Cal. She has been working on some new ice-breakers.” suggested Rubi.

     “Really? that bambina ignorante?” laughed Wynnefred, “If she spent more time coding than being an open port, she might be a half way decent coder! ” Wynnefred’s words cut into Rubi. She tried to contain her fury.

     “YOU TAKE THAT BACK!” Rubi stood with such force the chair she was seated in fell backwards. She drew her pistol and pointed at Wynnefred’s head.

     “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I insult your joy-toy?” sneered Wynnefred. 

     “SHUT UP!” shouted Rubi. Her hands shaking with rage.

     “RUBI! Stand down!” commanded Madame Loxi. Rubi’s eyes were green lasers boring into Wynnefred’s yellow eyes. She relented, picked up the chair, and flopped down into it.

     “You two need to work together!” said Madame Loxi exasperated.

     “With all due respect”, said Wynnefred, crossing her legs. “I don’t think that we can work together.” Madame Loxi hung her head.

     “I am coming to realize that.” conceded Madame Loxi, “Rubi, why don’t you take this job.” It was Wynnefred’s turn to become angry.

     “WHAT!? Why her over me!? She’s sloppy and unpredictable!” argued Wynnefred shooting from her chair and slamming her fists on the desk.

     “And that will be what is required for this task.” Madame Loxi calmly stated. Wynnefred’s mouth hung agape. 
     "You can't do this!" she cried.
     "Yes I can. I do not need to explain my reasoning to you!" hissed Madame Loxi. Wynnefred let out a snort of frustration and stormed out of the office. Rubi grinned. Serves you right bitch, she thought. 

     “I see that smile Rubi.” declared Madame Loxi, “Don’t get too confident. You are one of my best runners. I would hate to see you get de-rezzed.” 

     “I’ll be safe Madame.” reassured Rubi. 

     “Good.” responded Madame Loxi.

     “So whats the loot?” inquired Rubi.

     “Twenty-hundred thousand” said Madame Loxi. Rubi whistled. “You will get fifty thousand to split with Cal, should you include her in this run.” explained Madame Loxi.

     “Sounds fair to me. It’s a deal.” said Rubi. Madame Loxi ejected a disk and slid it across the desk. 

     “Here is all the information you need.” said Madme Loxi. Rubi stood, took the disk and left the room.