Static Crush {M/M} ✔

Chapter #24

Damo's hair is close cropped now, a curving design shaved into the side. His jaw looks a little sharper and his lips broader, but even with those changes he is unmistakable. The slanted eyes, dark skin, swagger in his step, and timbre of his voice are all exactly as they were when Hale first saw him.

"Who're you?" Rayner's voice cuts through the fog of warring emotion in Hale's head. "Do we know you?"

"I saw you on television," Hale says. He doesn't add, You're the reason Melissa wanted to get rid of me. It makes him feel small and inferior just to think it, even though it's true. "Your name's Damo."

"And you're a Hale, right?" Damo gives him a once over. "Little less boring, look-wise, than the standard skins, but the silver hair is a bit much. That come with one of your upgrades, or..."

Hale isn't sure how to answer except with a question of his own. "Where's your symbiont?"

"Sent me out for booze. And he likes the cocktails here. You gonna tell me where you got the upgrades?" He switches his attention to Rayner. "I'm assuming you've got something to do with it. You don't look like the usual muppets spending half their life's savings on androids. You know those upgrades aren't strictly...legal."

Hale's heartbeat skips. The way Damo shapes the word 'legal' around slightly bared teeth makes it sound like a threat. Somehow, he can bypass Hale's firewalls meant to disguise his illegal implants.

Rayner says, "We're aware," then gestures toward a corner away from the dance floor. Damo follows Rayner, still eyeing Hale with unnerving scrutiny. Hale finds the x-ray vision of another android even more unnerving than the scan of the waitress at Charity's Chow.

In a quieter corner, away from the crowds, Rayner stops by a tall table piled with empty glasses. He says, "How did you bypass Hale's firewalls?"

"Little loophole exploit. Nothing major, but I could maaaybe let you in on the loop."

Rayner glances at Hale. "In exchange for the upgrades you're interested in, I assume."

"Obviously. They seem handy."

Rayner lets Damo's statement hang suspended between them, neither agreeing to a trade nor volunteering any further information.

Damo rolls his eyes. "I'm not a bug. I learned how to bypass the whole honesty protocol ages ago. I won't turn every delinquent into the police or narc on my best friend or nothing. Besides." He leans back, his smile smug. "I don't get to use 'em if I tell anycunt about 'em, do I? And these coding limitations chafe."

Hale prickles. Damo's vulgar language bothers him. If what he says is true, and he's managed to somehow bypass his own honesty protocols, then they can't actually trust anything he says either. Hale only ever managed to lie once, and he still isn't sure how.

At that moment, Theo appears behind them, looking sweaty and flushed. Rayner seems bemused by her appearance. Hale notices the slight sheen of sweat and abundance of heat in her pelvic region and assumes that her and the bouncer's rendezvous went well.

"Hey, I was looking for you," she says to Rayner.

"Sure you were."

She looks up at Damo then, grinning toothily. "Oh, I've seen a Damo just like you on TV. Bit different hair, though."

Damo flashes his winning smile. "I am the Damo from TV," he says with not an ounce of humility. He gives Theo a long, lingering up and down. "Judging from your body mods, you're the one's been helping them out with the illegal kit."

"That's me," Theo says, unabashed and clearly far more used to dealing with nosy, arrogant androids. "What can I do ya for?"

"You can do me for nothing," Damo says, grinning. "I like you better. Not so uptight. Though this one's relaxing." He points to Rayner, whose muscle tension did indeed deflate the moment Theo arrived. "Not surprised the Hale hasn't. They do tend to act like they've got sticks up their asses."