First Reply We're Gonna Be Rich! Or Just Steal A Car

[Vex Nedu]

People were getting so worried about coming wars they failed to see there was one already being waged. Cyberwars. No, not the game, but an actual war waged on the deep holoweb to make money, stay on top, and not get killed in the process. There were no lines in the sand, but there were battlefronts everywhere, large or small. Right now, Vex cycled through her datapad to wage her own little war in the undercity of Denon. To most, it just looked like a typical clicker game.

That was the point. She furrowed her brow as she continued to click on the screen to get the higher combo. Which was, in reality, hacking into the nearby luxury speeder. She stuck out her tongue, more than focused now. The closer she got to the high score, the more her program had actually wormed it's way into the alarm system to click it off until- "Aha! Yes!"

New high score. Flawless.

She grinned wide, looking down at the now defenseless door from where she was sitting. It was a smug sort of grin at that as she stepped over to set a hand on the handle and clicked the door open. Time for a joy ride. If she didn't crash it this time, she could even sell it for parts!

 

[Felix Faraday]

The Passenger Seat - Undercity - Denon
Vex Nedu

On the opposite side of the car, a click of the door handle timed precisely with her own. Both doors swung at the same time. And a certain mercenary sat in the passenger seat at the same time the cybernetic woman sat in hers, if not a little faster.

He simply waved one hand openly. A pair of closed eyes and a large grin glowed on his face as he greeted the stranger.

"Hello!"

That was the polite thing to do. Greet a stranger in a vehicle neither of them owned. Just what would happen next?​

 

[Vex Nedu]

There was a moment where she probably should've freaked out or panicked or the like, all things considered. She'd made sure the owner was elsewhere and busy so she could steal it uninterrupted, and now some stranger had also entered the speeder just as she did. Panic would've been the normal reaction. Except Vex didn't. She just grinned and waved in turn before hitting the on button and immediately put her hands on the controls.

And floored it.

"Enjoy the ride, stranger! These usually aren't free!"

Felix Faraday

 

[Felix Faraday]

The Passenger Seat - Undercity - Denon
Vex Nedu

Oh, she waved back. This particular thief was polite. She even grinned at him. Here he was almost expecting to get shot at. Maybe that was more of an indication of his life and situations he fell into . . .

Well, Felix could always review his life choices later.

"Whoa!"

Inertia took hold of his body as his entire body sunk hard into the rich leather seats while his head hit the cushioned headrest. Adjusting in his seat and leaning forward to account for the sudden change in velocity and momentum, Felix first reached for his own seatbelt before clicking the safety harness in place.

With that out of the way, he nonchalantly settled and sunk further into the cushiony goodness of his seat of his own accord before putting both hands behind his head. Relaxing.

"Well, aren't you a generous chauffeur," Felix smirked before casting a glance over at the girl, "Also, pro getaway tip. Always wear your seatbelt. Remember, safety first!"

Freeing one hand away from his head, Felix pointed one cybernetic finger at the wheel. His gaze returned back towards the road and various other vehicles. That same smirk never quite leaving his face either as a smile or a sly grin as the pair rapidly raced forward along and past the traffic.

"Want me to hold the wheel while you get your safety harness?"

He then pointed at himself with his thumb. "I'm Felix Faraday by the way. Nice to meet you!"​

 

[Vex Nedu]

"These things have seat belts!?"

She laughed in pure surprise, but there was no part of her that looked like she even cared. Right now, she was flooring out the gas petal with wide, clearly cybernetic eyes full of joy. This was fantastic. Exhilarating. He might as well not have existed to her at this point, although he very much did in the back of her mind. Where a program was already trying to figure out who he was. Thankfully his name made it easy.

Mercenary. Guard, maybe?

"Vex! You here on a job or somethin', Felix? Hope you're not gonna be a problem for me!" Vex looked to him then, taking her eyes off the road. Not really, though. She'd already plugged herself in. She could technically sleep and still drive this easy. Even as she weaved in and out of traffic like a madwoman. "You seem to nice for that."

Felix Faraday

 

[Felix Faraday]

The Passenger Seat - Undercity - Denon
Vex Nedu

Vex. One might say that was quite a troublesome name. If the situation were anything to go by, it was. But it was a nice name too.

Stretching his legs a little and relaxing further into his seat, Felix's eyes widened as he raised both eyebrows, adjusting his hands away from the back of his head and clasping them together. Despite sitting comfortably, Felix found it in him to shake his head strongly, with a certain degree of surprise and urgency.

"Yes!" Felix barely kept down a bubbling chuckle, "There are seatbelts! Put it on before you go out a window!"

The chuckle escaped and grew into laughter that lasted for a few moments as Felix shook his head at the whole predicament. His rapidly rising shoulders and chest began to settle down as he took a few deep breathes. Right, Vex asked about him.

"You could say that," Felix shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm mostly freelance though. Gives me the freedom to travel wherever I like."

Best not to beat around the bush too much. After all, no one in their right mind would sit inside this vehicle along with an adrenaline-junkie thief. Or perhaps maybe no one normal would do this kind of thing.

The information Vex began collecting ran through more current dates. Few and far information on the man known as Felix Faraday, but it was a consistent enough name that held deeds to be cross-referenced with similarly described instances and individuals. And those time stamps ran quite far. Over a hundred years far.

And yet the few images she could collect that were not blurry or damaged, the man appeared to not have aged a bit. His occupation had remained the same though. Mercenary. Outlaw. Gunslinger. A space cowboy of sorts and running freelance for a long time. Someone whose agenda remained somewhat of a mystery.

In a way, perhaps Vex was sitting with a ghost with unfinished business. Wouldn't that be quite the story?

"I'd say there's a clear difference between nice and kindness," Felix pointed through the windshield towards a turn up ahead, "You'll want to take a left here to get away from the traffic. More open space means more speed."

And they would be all the faster getting away from the eyes of law enforcement. Assuming it would be enough to hide this lady's crazy driving.​

 

[Vex Nedu]

"You're old as fuck."

She did, at least, turn left to head towards the open air. It'd be bad if she scratched this speeder up. Well, bad for the owner anyway. She wanted to sell it so it'd be best to keep the damage to the minimum. And, well. Speed. Speed was good. Her cybernetic eyes flashed as she weaved through traffic with far too much ease for the normal mind. That's just the programs she had. "Freelance is good though. Thought you might be security for this and I'd have to eject you out or something. Why'd you hop in though?"

Felix Faraday

 

[Felix Faraday]

The Passenger Seat - Undercity - Denon
Vex Nedu

Did she just call him-? Why would she-? Well that hurt.

"Oi!" Felix cried indignantly as his head snapped to give Vex a miffed look, "Watch it, robo-girl! I'm not that old!"

A upset sigh escaped him as his shoulders rose and fell in a huff before settling into his seat. Crossing his arms, a small frown grew on his lips as he stared ahead at the road. His pout slowly melted away, however, as he kept listening to her talk. Besides the fact of what she would have done had he been, well, anyone else beside himself, the question of why he was here seemed quite pertinent.

Too bad he was still a little sore.

"Well, I thought a small child was breaking into a speeder that was not theirs," Felix's eyes cast a quick side-glance at Vex, "Although, when I heard your voice, I realized it was much worse than I thought. I was dealing with a child-sized adult."

A grin began breaking out across his face before snickering to himself.

"I'm surprised you can even reach the pedals to drive this thing."

The snickering became a light chuckle. Okay, maybe that was a little too mean, but it was his little revenge for the comment about his age. At least, that's how it was supposed to go, right? Be a little miffed. Crack wise here and there. Still . . .

Where did that come from?​

 

[Vex Nedu]

"Haa??"

This had her fully face him. Vex turned in her seat, not even bothering to control the speeder by hand as she pointed a finger right at his chest. In truth she was already able to pilot it with her cybernetics alone. The whole thing was now under her control and the chip in her head was already making it easy to keep it moving. So instead she focused on him, practically jabbing her finger in his chest.

"The fuck you say? I'm a average heighted human woman you old ass giant. The only one abnormal here is you and your freakishly unchanging age. I bet you're some kind of Vampire, huh? Here to try and drain me of my youth, huh? Huh!?"

To say she was aggravated would be an understatement.

Felix Faraday

 

[Felix Faraday]

The Passenger Seat - Undercity - Denon
Vex Nedu

Ow!

His first thought as Vex jabbed her finger at his torso. Were there cybernetics in her fingers too? His eyes narrowed as he leaned in, fully facing her in return, and nearly physically butting heads with her. His forehead only a few centimeters away from hers as he clenched his jaw and bared his teeth at her.

"I'm not a vampire! And even if I was," Felix began as he grinded his teeth for a moment, "You're too small to even be considered an appetizer! Not to mention you're probably so full of microplastics and micrometals to taste any good! Blegh!"

Faking a coughing and gagging noise deep within his throat, Felix mimed throwing up with one hand before rolling his eyes behind his glasses.

"Also who you calling vampire with a complexion like that?! Afraid of the sun much?"

A deep growling and grumbling through his gritted teeth echoed from deep within his chest as he refused to back down from the girl. Just where did she get off calling him old? And why was she calling him a vampire? And how was she driving the car without her hands?

Wait, that last one . . . ​

 

[Vex Nedu]

Practically all of her was cybernetic just from appearances. And by how heavy her poke in his chest was. Though, she poked again with a growl at her lips no less. "I love the sun, what are you talking about? It's great!" What a thing to argue about, considering all the other insults he seemed to weave in his challenging tone. She huffed shortly after, crossed her arms and legs as she sat back in her seat with a pout.

"And you'd think an oldie like you would at least know how to talk to a lady. Sheesh."

Felix Faraday

 

[Felix Faraday]

The Passenger Seat - Undercity - Denon
Vex Nedu

Ow! Again?

Her and the poking! It hurt! Her growl only earned his ire as he returned his own in kind. But as she backed away, his rigid demeanor began to soften a little as he fell back into his seat. His eyes briefly glanced to her pouting before sighing and looking away. His gaze traveled over the buildings and speeders

"And you'd think a lady would not steal what does not belong to her," Felix retorted. A half-hearted remark and one that was considerably softer-spoken than before. A groan escaped his lips. He should let her pout some more. Let her stew a bit.

But that was not him, was it? At least not today.

Silence hung inside the vehicle before Felix looked away from the window. His gaze kept straight ahead. It would do her no good to see the melancholy washing over his face. Not like she would much care anyway if he had to harbor a guess.

"You looked me up, didn't you?" They both knew the answer to that question. It was not hard to figure out between her operating the machinery without her hands and all of her various cybernetics. It was impressive how she managed to piece together a bit of who he was, if not more.

"I'm twenty-five. I've been twenty-five for a long time," Felix looked up at the sky. Anything to not let his gaze fall upon Vex for even a moment. "I don't know how long I'll live, but I can safely guess it won't end anytime soon. It has its ups and downs. I got to see planets and people I might not have otherwise."

A happier note to end on. One that felt hollow to him, but he could lie how he felt easily enough. When pretending to be human for so long, to be normal, it made it easy to lie about everything about yourself, if nothing else.

His head tilted slightly towards her, "I'm sorry for losing my cool. I've pretended to be normal for so long that . . . I even sometimes trick myself I am. It felt like the most human response in that moment to keep up that lie."

A mix between a groan and a sigh escaped his throat as his head struck against the headrest, a little more than necessary for his head to rest there. Frustration, perhaps, at his own bleeding heart. What pretty words. In a getaway speeder of all places. It wouldn't surprise him if the police caught up with them right then and there or Vex had been ignoring him the whole time or simply did not care. It would be his luck.​

 

[Vex Nedu]

"Course I did. You just hopped into the ship, what did you expect?" She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. Of course she immediately looked him up. He was crazy enough to just pop in the seat beside her. Though, listening to him talk had her just frowning further. This was a sour mood. It was better when they were slinging insults at each other. She was half tempted to just reach out and poke him in the chest again. She didn't though.

"You're not human, huh? What are you, anyway?"

Felix Faraday

 

[Felix Faraday]

The Passenger Seat - Undercity - Denon
Vex Nedu

Felix threw his head back for a second and rolled his eyes before chuckling. At least she didn't deny it but her logic was not wrong but funny to him nonetheless.

"You're the one who stole a speeder," Felix gave a long yet amused sidelong glance, "I think you're the one who needs a background check more than me."

Frowning did no one any good. Even more so, his little melancholic trip down memory lane would not be particularly conducive to this conversation. Everyone loved talked about themselves, right? Why not start with her. Especially with a challenging remark, she would definitely share something.

"You're good at what you do, but are you only talented enough to steal speeders?" Felix shrugged before leaning back and putting his hands behind his head.

"I mean, you might have made better money as a technician or programmer than this. Not to mention avoid the attention of good ol' Johnny Law. So why do it at all?"

What was her story?​

 

[Vex Nedu]

"Maybe you should've before you hopped in, mm?"

She had a very dangerous smile at that as the ship suddenly lurched down. They were getting close to her own destination. Or maybe she just passed over where she was originally going to turn and she was trying to make sure she didn't loose her path. Who knew, she wouldn't say.

"You're really not from Denon, huh? If that kind of cushy life if what you think people can get here, you're probably gonna get yourself shot." She giggled, just a little, though her eyes certainly weren't laughing.

"Unless you're Corpo, money isn't something you're gonna get behind a desk."

Felix Faraday

 

[Felix Faraday]

The Passenger Seat - Undercity - Denon
Vex Nedu

"No, this is more fun. Besides, I hate spoilers."

Felix grinned a grin that reached all the way up to his eyes and more as he remained resting himself against the seat, sinking in further. His eyes glancing at the sky before feeling the sudden lurch forward. The seatbelt helped a little but a quiet OOF! escaped from deep within his chest. Her driving might need a little work. Cybernetics or not, Felix was almost certain he could have delivered a smoother ride or at least a smoother turn.

Rubbing his chest a little, Felix raised an eyebrow before quickly settling to a more neutral expression, relaxing his shoulders and leaning back into his seat. No need to argue or correct the girl on whether he was new or not to Denon. If anything, her outlook on life humoring his own held for a much more interesting conversation. Besides, it is not like anyone on Denon quite knew all its secrets and truths.

And as much as Felix may have liked to learn more, Vex would hold secrets of her own he may never learn. And that was alright. It was half the fun.

"Why not leave? You're talented. Smart. Stubborn," Felix shrugged. No need to lie to her about her own attributes. His hand stretched out wide and reached forward towards the windshield mimicking a starjet taking off and soaring away. "You could steal a ship instead of a speeder and run away to the stars. Or is money all you're ever after?"

Not an accusation. No judgment in his tone. If anything, his brief glance at her to watch her reaction to his question held a simple curiosity. Whatever her answer, he would simply . . . hear her out. Everyone had their reasons.​

 

[Vex Nedu]

"You pry a lot. I'm not gonna tell you much you know."

Vex glanced towards him again as soon as she was finished double checking they were getting close to her destination. Just a chop shop so she could make some quick cash. But he really wanted to know things, huh? She wasn't too keen on just sharing such information with a stranger, especially one as weird as him. And, well, he seemed to think there had to be some crazy big reason behind everything she did.

"I'm good at what I do, we can leave it at that. You wanna get out now or at the shop? Dunno if they'll like seeing a stranger though."

Felix Faraday

 

[Felix Faraday]

The Passenger Seat - Undercity - Denon
Vex Nedu

"More so curious than anything."

Perhaps he had pried a little too hard, but it is not like the whole trip could have been spent on poking each other and car safety. Speaking of safety, was that concern for him or for herself? Why was she bothering to ask him whether to leave now or stay? She could have pulled a weapon on him or kick him out, maybe through her signature sass.

Felix shrugged before kicking his feet up on the dashboard and keeping his hands snug behind his head.

"I'll tag along and be your bodyguard," Felix laughed, "I mean, what are they going to do? Shoot me?"​

 

[Vex Nedu]

"Maybe. They don't care for outsiders y'know."

Or locals, for that matter, but she wasn't going to say that. Instead, she'd just take him down towards the shop in question. Having a bodyguard meant if they decided today was a shoot day she'd at least have an extra gun.

"Just don't talk so much when we get in there, yeah?"

Felix Faraday

 

[Felix Faraday]

The Chop Shop - Undercity - Denon
Vex Nedu

Felix smiled, sitting upright and stretching his arms. Rolling his shoulders, Felix's expression never changed.

His grin remained steadfast as he flashed two thumbs up, "Well, maybe they'll take a liking to me!"

"Right! I'll be silent as a mouse!" Felix zipped his mouth before stepping out of the car. Immediately he began shifting his head to the right and to the left, squinting long and hard at the entire garage for danger. Once he seemed satisfied, Felix began marching forward and around the car with an exaggerated swagger. Each step almost more haughty than the first.

Vex would probably have opened the car door herself, but, if able, he would have opened it for her. Instead, he stood at attention by her side with arms at his side and giving a soldier's salute towards her as she passed by him.

Before he began following her, marching with the same swagger as before. All the while, he kept completely silent and never uttering so much as a sound with his antics.​