PROTOTIP. ☴☵☰☷

Oh, no.

Usually, Prototip was not a picky one when jobs came to matter. Money, just grab the money, whatever it is about. Yeah, sure, he had his own personal rules (nothing involving children as harmed part, basically) and his no-no’s (he would have never worked for Beznă, not even for 10 million dollars... and to be honest, if Beznă ever managed to find him, he had to fucking run for his life once again; also, Talon was a business he wanted to know nothing about. Not after what they had done to his Sofia) but even that, he was pretty much down for anything.

That job was, at first sight, one of his regular risky jobs. Breaking into a government research facility, stealing data and materials, bringing them back to the boss, profit. He had done the same at least several hundreds times before for a hundred other people. What made this job different, then?

His boss. Prototip would have recognized that face in a goddamn crowd. La naiba! the chills that face gave him were impossible to describe. Watch a man in his fourty-four’s literally trembling at the sight of probably the second scariest person he has ever met. Thankfully, he regained the control over his body quick enough to make that reaction unnoticeable.

“Greetings, ma’am” Prototip stretched his lips into what he presumed was a cordial grin. “Name’s Prototip. The agency got in touch with me for that job in Lithuania...” he felt like a fucking idiot. He probably even looked like a giant one.

PROTOTIP. ☴☵☰☷ 

Now, Prototip tried to stray away from any kind of trouble when he was not on duty. You know, enjoying some bits of quality life, riding his Honda Rune in the less congested streets of his Bucharest, maybe going off on a trip without having to worry about being caught behind enemy lines. Like, a normal kind of existence, for how normal a guy like him could afford to be.

Also he usually didn’t like getting involved in other people’s battles. Both when on service and off service; who the fuck ever get off their way to help him out during his life? Everyone had their fights to pick and one had to be smart enough to recognize when the reward was worth the fray. But, shit, that kid could have been his fucking child.

The scared look on her face was something Adrian PROTOTIP knew far too well. Someone is tracking her down. “Get inside. I will handle this.”

Okay, he maybe tried to pull it out a little bit too hero-like. Come on. He didn’t have many chances to be the good guy; let him have his fun.

The guys probably thought that gangly, red-haired, European man wasn’t a relevant threat. Maybe they didn’t know how tough Romanians actually are. Or their mamas hadn’t taught theme to respect their opponents. Prototip snapped their backs in less than three minutes. Mh. A clean job. But maybe the girl wouldn’t have liked to see that mess; it was not a very warm welcome from Prototip. Hello, I am tall as fuck, I have weird ass clear eyes and I can break a man’s neck with my sole palm. Nice to meet you, little one.

He hid the bodies first. Besides being an eyesore, Prototip couldn’t have been sure none would come for them. Yeah, it had been quite a risky interference, his latest trick. But whoever came to seek a child was a piece of shit. So Prototip didn’t feel too bad about it.

PROTOTIP. ☴☵☰☷

That was probably the most annoying job Prototip had ever got.

The East China Sea omnium was famous worldwide for the continuous aggression to human establishments, cities, factories. Prototip had dealt with that kind of mess various times before, he had worked with KA, with some rebellious groups operating in the coastline, with some criminal organizations profiting from the disasters happening in Korea. But that job? That was the weirdest he had ever got.

The girl’s name was Jae Hwa, he had been told. She was an... what was that word again? ...idol, some stupid new age title for a singer with a pretty body and some hip hop dance moves. Now, he was not blind: the chick did look good. But there was something about this whole situation he wasn’t particularly cool with: the fact that she kept acting like she didn’t need him.

He had seen the videos of the last attack at her concert. Now, Prototip was a piece of shit, but he was a fair piece of shit: the gal did give her best shot to protect herself and the crowd, but the bots were simply too many. Now, with that wound on her arm and that on her leg, she was vulnerable to other assaults, so her agency made sure to hire a bodyguard who could stand their ground. And Prototip was really fascinated by that fuckin’ huge sum Gumiho offered to babysit Miss Privighetoare [Miss Nightingale] for the time to come.