“Incoming phone call Vicky! Incoming phone call Vicky!”
Vicky DiStefano sleepily pawed at the augmented reality window trying desperately to shut off the painfully cheerful voice. Alicia had programmed the house node to inform them of calls with some rotten personality software she thought had been adorable. Vicky hadn’t paid much attention to the damn thing during the day but at two in the morning it was difficult to ignore.
“Incoming phone call Vicky! Incomin…” Vicky finally hit the “answer” AR button shutting the alarm off. Firehawk Boyle's face appeared in a pre-recorded message. Another capo was calling her at an ungodly hour. This couldn't be good.
“Hey kid, sorry to wake you up, but we got trouble." Vicky scowled. She hated being called "kid." Boyle went on, oblivious to her irritation. "Call me back as soon as you get this,” Firehawk’s gruff voice informed her. “Very very urgent if you know what I mean.” Vicky’s head fell back and hit her pillow just struggling to hold on to another few precious seconds of sleep.
Alicia stirred next to her. With a sigh, Vicky threw off her covers but perhaps with too much force. Alicia mumbled something incoherently as Vicky felt around for her slippers. “Vicky? Vicky is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s just me. I got a phone call.” Vicky stood up and stretched.
“Now? This hour? Again?”
“Now. This hour. Again.” Vicky brought up an AR window telling a drone to prepare her Synergist Line business suit. “It’s business sweetie. I can’t…”
Alicia sat up in bed this time turning to her. She impatiently brought up an AR window of her own to turn on the lights. “Business? At two in the morning? That’s some bullshit. What is it this time?” She crossed her arms and stared daggers at Vicky behind a mass of messy golden locks.
“Some shit going down in L.A.” The lie came out easily but by now, lying was just as natural as breathing to Vicky. “Anyway, bullshit or not I got to go.”
She got up and walked to the closet, her feet shuffling on the floor. Vicky liked Alicia’s bedhead too much to look back at her. It would make being The Bitch that much harder. She took the suit from the drone.
Despite having her back turned, Vicky could feel Alicia’s scowl behind her. “Tell them you took the weekend off. We were supposed to go to Dante’s tomorrow night!”
Dante’s. Damn it. “I’ll try to make it back. No guarantees though sweetie,” Vicky said as she put the skirt on.
Alicia gave a loud sigh and laid back down. She turned her back to Vicky with so much anger the bed practically groaned. “Turn off the lights when you leave,” she said.
Vicky hesitated as she buttoned up her blouse. A half dozen soothing speeches came to her mind before she remembered what Firehawk had said. Urgent. Very very urgent.
“Yeah, okay.” She took her suit jacket from the hanger then checked to see if the Viper Silvergun she kept in it was loaded and secure. It was.
“See you later.” Vicky turned off the lights.
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