Kod's life began to take a turn, from combat to jogging between offices and floors. Despite the reassurances of Mr. Rosser, there was still a load of paperwork to do. The Capital Section Lead had blamed the documents backing up on the fact that a few days had gone by between Kod's predecessor's injury and his own nomination.
Eventually, it proved true. After a week of wandering corridors in the governmental building and its surrounding areas, he finally found the time to pay the UM a visit.
His own team was doing pretty well. Nolla Lephon had taken a de facto leader position in the meantime. She mainly hung out with Reez Lokk and Yowa Kaidach, and the three of them did jobs together and shared the spoils. The other other team members - Drekan Riverst and Fil Mateo - were barely worth talking about: even when Kod was around, they'd almost always do loner jobs. It was odd that he even remembered their names clearly.
He had gradually started a relationship with Yowa as well. That led to the creation of a strangely dissimilar couple within the United Mercenaries: an unusually tall Iist next to an unusually short and petite Sofian. Kod was taller than Yowa by at least a foot and a half. Caricaturized versions of the story ran around the organization for a while, comically exaggerating the fact and leading to statements that would be best left unspoken, for the sake of Yowa's dignity.
All jokes aside, she was actually a pleasant woman, both by mind and body. She showed a perpetually cheery disposition, and had the loveliest shade of purple eyes and hair - a mutant heritage slowly becoming the norm among the people of the world. Her eyes had the delicacy and simpleness characteristic of the Sofian people, without the creases and folds common to the other cultures. Her face was gently rounded, balanced and healthy. Matching her hair color, she sported a white and purple uniform, and if she wasn't wearing that, at least half of her wardrobe was themed on purple anyway.
Thinking about it, he kept wondering why Reez (alias "The Kid") and Nolla didn't have anything going on. They seemed a perfect match for each other. Both were similar in ways of thinking, and both loved life and had a complicity going on... but still, no spark. Just two good friends. And he had noticed Nolla's promotion hadn't helped things at all.
From realization to realization, he realized(!) the new work left him with a lot more time to think and realize things. Gone was the simple-minded devotion to a job well done. The idle time spent in his new office as he waited for this or that paper to check up on was a good way to think about completely useless stuff, further helped by the browsing of countless completely useless articles on the net.
Just now, he had to make a trip to the Department to deliver a copy of the maintenance papers and bills for the SUV. Because of the nature of the truck, it had to be worked on at a military maintenance site rather than the usual dealership. Mr. Karl handled those papers and informed him of the development of the project. So far, it had a pretty good outlook. The designers had kept the vehicle well balanced despite all the add-ons, and the army would get a version with a much cheaper engine, giving the Department a good margin of profit - as if the money they made wasn't enough already.
The meeting was like a ritual, rehearsed times over:
"Hey Kod, my friend! Have a seat!"
"Here're the papers."
"Good! Anything to report on the truck?"
"Nope."
"Still drives well?"
"Drives pretty damn well."
"Did the UM get the bill?"
"That's my next stop."
"Awesome! I'm a bit swamped here, so I'll take a look at the maintenance papers later on. And on top of the pile ya go, little fellas!"
But this time, they'd get interrupted right in the middle of it.
The door behind Karl's desk opened. Someone peeked halfway out.
"Hey sir! I want to - oh, I'm sorry!"
The door closed in a hurry, but Kod had more than enough time to see the creature: an impossibly strange girl, with cat ears, furred forearms and claws in lieu of nails. She was completely naked.
"What the hell?!"
Karl looked back at the now closed door and let out a grunt. "Crap, there she goes again. Sorry man, she's one of the assistants in the analysis room - a little cuckoo 'round the edges. Damn girl's a nympho and she spends half of her time tryin' to get a quickie out of anything that moves. That's what ya get for participating in the social reinsertion programs." He leaned forward on his desk. "That's a secret though! She may be crazy like shit, but she's red hot - oh mama! If I had a wife, I'd be divorcin' her this minute! Wouldn't wanna lose that girl for all the cash in the world!"
Kod gave him a nervous laugh. "Sounds good!"
The two said goodbye, and Kod left, bound for the UM building to deliver the rest of the papers.
Karl locked his door, and then rushed into the back room.
Kod's little unexpected sight had a significance: no mutant like this had ever been seen before. Mutants were known for being crippled. Mutations were chaotic, hardly useful, or at best invisible. Only after several generations did mutations stabilize and became a "normal" variant of the human species. The oldest one involved hair color. The most common at the time were things involving strange skin colors, quick metabolisms and impossibly high libidos. Kod was pretty sure that girl belonged to category three.
But something else was unusual: she was too perfect. It worked too well. And most blatant of all: cat and human together made for cute characters of fantasy, but a real one to happen naturally was simply impossible.
He figured it was someone who had gotten an experimental treatment and the whole thing had given off some side-effects. It wouldn't be the first time someone would get unexpected results while trying to cure something. After all, it was open knowledge that part of the Department's help came from people willing to volunteer to try out a new remedy to some yet incurable disease.
He thought too much, yet again... He had had nothing to do these past few days. He was on top of everything administrative and had spent his time wandering the UM headquarters and catching up on news here and there. His bank account had a steady income now, so he didn't feel as hard-pressed to engage into a job as he used to be.
The rest of his team was busy on other jobs. There had been a new surge of Reli invasions lately, so a good portion of the UM had gone off to the front to score a few quick bucks. The people he knew dealt with simple and easy bodyguard requests.
He peered at the listing. Some good member of Carlest Taylor's party wanted to have a little bit of protection for a party he was throwing. There would be three hundred guests and enough open doors to justify an armed presence. That meant a good lump of money in reward, plus free access to the booze and crustless sandwiches.
At the man's request, he called and scheduled for a meeting prior to the party.
The given address led him to a mini-castle in the northeastern part of the city. It turned out that the man in question was a major contributor to the party; a businessman with assets in buildings, land and armament factories. His wallet had a constant and stable supply of money, part of which he gave to Taylor's party to help its promotion during elections and to throw parties from time to time. He was well appreciated.
The home was luxuriously decorated. Soft leather chairs and authentic paintings were the norm in every room. Utensils were nothing but silverware. Almost the entire house had velvety carpet floors. The man didn't even answer the doorbell himself - he had hired someone else to take care of that job in his place.
Kod was led up the stairs and into a beautifully furnished room, with dim lighting and a windowed ceiling. The man in question - a rather bloated and jolly individual - raised his head from a glass of wine and smiled.
"Good evening! You're the one who called earlier, isn't it?"
Kod showed him his UM badge, as per the custom. "Kod Regoär Naïnsev, licensed member of the United Mercenaries of Arimast."
"Nice to meet your acquaintance, Mr. Naïnsev. I'm Horis Calista - Apanian father and Sius mother, if you must know. Nationalized here in Arimast though. Can't get more cosmopolitan than this!"
A door at the back of the room opened.
"Here's the other bottle, sir!"
The cheery voice came from a genuine catgirl - ears, tail and all. She wore a dangerously risqué piece of red lingerie, the shade matching with her brown hair, ears and tail.
It was the same catgirl from a few days ago.
She noticed him as she put the bottle of wine on a table next to Mr. Calista. She smiled and bowed, giving him an ample view of her cleavage. "Hi again, mister!" she said in an innocent voice too cute for words. "May I get you something you desire?"
Kod just shook his head. She went back through the door.
Mr. Calista was grinning.
"She's a number, ain't she? Does the job pretty damn well now that my wife's gone. Waddya think?"
"She's beautiful." Kod replied without much conviction.
"Oh, she's beautiful all right. And experienced! Got her at some escort agency - the poor girl had been dancing for cash all her life, so I went to the boss and I told him: I write ya a check and the cutie's mine. Haha! You can't believe how good a shot I made with that! Now I have the assistance of someone who knows how to cook and tend to my every need... And some of those needs, boy, does she fulfill them well!"
Kod gulped. "About the job..."
"Ah, yes, yes! I just wanted to see you to get an idea of what kinda guy you are. I've had some guys before come in here and they looked like frickin' toothpicks, you know what I mean? But you! You look pretty strong... That's the kind of presence I like, you're definitely hired for the job. I have two other guys hired too, told 'em whoever had the highest rank or seniority would be the boss. Sounds good for you?"
"That's how the UM operates."
"Then it's decided. Here, let me escort you to the door. You look like a fellow I can trust."
Kod gave him a friendly smile. "I didn't get my rank for nothing."
"Oh! What rank are you?"
"Section lead of New Colombus."
"Oh wow!... That's high, isn't it?"
"Two ranks below the top."
Mr. Calista whistled, impressed.
They had arrived at the front door.
"Tell ya what, Kod - can I call you Kod? Since you obviously looked like you had an interest in the girl, maybe I could recommend you to the agency I got her from? They've got tons of people who are all just waiting for an opportunity to start a real life."
Kod pondered the idea... That might get him somewhere.
"Why not?"
Mr. Calista gave him a roaring laugh. "Ah, I like people who like the finer things in life! I'll tell you more at the party when you have a moment. Have a good evening, now!"