Rewind

“What were you thinking?! No, you weren’t! As usual! How could you do this? Because I’m having a hard time understanding just how you thought last night was a good idea.”

“Oh, calm down!” Ginger sighed heavily.

The half cybernetic ork woman shoved a thick finger into the red-head’s face. “You LOOK at me when I’m talking to you! That little stunt of yours could have cost us months of prep work! There’s no rewinding and ‘oopsies’ if the councils or syndicates find us — hell, find you out, and harvest your insides for the Mitsuhama!”

“Mallo, Mallo,” Ginger coaxed, both hands raised in a pacifying gesture. “You’re missing what we’ve gained from last night’s venture.” She rose and continued before the ork could interject.

“No one saw me. None of the security or bio-scans registered me. The masking program? Our masking program? It worked –“

Mallo groaned and leaned over, looking suddenly ill. “You ran the first test inside the tower….”

“And it worked perfectly! Relaaax!” Ginger encouraged, her vowels drawled. “I even got you a present.”

A thumb drive sailed across the room, and Mallo snagged it out of the air. The ork’s face turned red, then ashen. “… You hacked the security feed.”

Ginger slipped around the couch and plucked up her motorcycle helmet. “No need to thank me.”

“Gin….” Mallo swayed unsteadily under the weight of realization of all the young human had risked. She slumped backed to sit on the edge of her desk. “You — idiot — WHERE do you think you are going?!”

“Work!” Ginger chimed, waving over her shoulder as she reached for the door handle.

“I am NOT DONE WITH YOU–“

“I’ll check in later, sweet cheeks!”

“YOUNG LADY, I STILL HAVE WORDS FO–“

“Lah-lah-lah….” Ginger’s voice grew muffled as she fit her helmet on over her head, letting the orc continue shouting after her from the other room.