Our late lunch concluded after everything died down and Anne approached me with Zyra to tell me about what they accomplished while we were away.
"Let's see... I kept some watch on the CNC Machine in case anything broke down or malfunctioned, and since you wrote down what I should make on it next, it is now milling a few iterations of the logo. And yeah, Zyra here came up on me while I was assigning people to make bodyweight equipment and she suggested making use of one part of the wall to make some sort of a bouldering wall."
"Oh! That's great, actually."
Kaley nudged me, "Bouldering?"
"Kinda like rock climbing but the distance is much shorter and you'd only need your shoes and a crash pad," then I turned to Anne and Zyra, "Going all in, huh? You know, a simple pull-up or dip machine can already work wonders given enough time."
"But we need more variety, no?"
"That is true but is there a place where you can get holds? Is a bouldering gym nearby?"
Zyra answered, "We can make them the same way we're making the body for Mr. Alvarez's car, even manually if it comes to it."
"Oh? You have some experience then?"
She added, "I used to work part-time in a store that sells training equipment and they had a portion of their store for bouldering. I can probably put up V3s or even V5s but we'll start with easier ones and with bigger holds because everyone here's a beginner. Also, when I was 50 pounds lighter, I feel like I could float compared to now—this thing really excites me!"
I nodded approvingly, "That's awesome but I'm gonna need a slot for your 3D printer as well. Some of the enclosures for the filters we brought back have some significant damage and patching them up with duct tape wouldn't work."
Anne waved me off, "You can use them now since we aren't using them at the moment."
"I see, thanks!" then I turned to Kaley and Tatiana, "What did you two do while we're away?"
Kaley shook her head, "Aside from taking care of the mess you made?"
Quinn interjected, "I'm a 'mess', now? How far I've fallen..."
"Don't start! I tried giving everyone here part of a medical exam but they always keep telling me to check on you first!"
"Haven't you seen what I've gone through?!"
"Well, it's not like you're the only one who got demoralized."
"Who else?"
Zyra raised her hand, "Me, but not to the extent you experienced."
Quinn turned to Kaley, "See? I'm the only one!"
*WHOOOOOOOSH*
Just as my fingers barely touched the ground, I felt a huge gust of wind pass over my head but once again, I instinctively rolled to the side to avoid the motherfucker's thick quads that almost decapitated and squashed me.
Looking at his face, his smile had already turned upside down but I caught him by surprise when the temperature went down several degrees.
He instinctively covered his face by crossing his arms but my foot still made its way to his chin before his whole body buckled. I thought he'd be on his ass after that but he threw a full-body hook with his right fist.
However, I let it slip by my face but just from the way his body was positioned, I definitely felt an elbow lurking somewhere so the head slip turned into a close-contact doumawashi where my left heel found its way to the back of his head.
It would've landed on his face if he didn't follow through with his blow but since he was so eager to give something that had his full weight on it, I opted to do the same.
Both of us landed on the ground but I was the only one that was able to stand up.
It was then that I noticed he had the Number 9 on the same spot my heel landed but Quinn was this close to stomping on that poor motherfucker. I managed to stop her at the last second but I heard a soft groan from the person that I just laid out.
"Fuck... How long was I out?"
'He's fucking tough, I'll give him that.'
"LEAVE! HOW MANY TIMES DO I FUCKING HAVE TO TELL YOU—"
"Wait a sec," I waved her off as I waited for him to get up, "What did Mauro tell you?"
"I'm Logan by the way~ How many times do I have to repeat myself? He told me that since Quinn has guests coming over, I'll be acting deputy for the time being. I—"
Kaley suddenly came up from behind, "If we call him now will he say the same thing?"
Logan rolled his eyes before he scoffed, "Go ahead, I don't care."
I was just about to give Mauro a call when Quinn stopped me, "Don't bother, he's fucking lying as always." then she turned to him, "I can't even contact Mauro at this moment, why the fuck would he give the reigns to you?! Besides, he'll give the reigns to Dave first before he thinks of your sorry ass."
"Quinn! C'mon! We were having such a great time before that jackass interrupted our little dance! I was just beginning to feel it, do you feel the same way? And by the way, Dave's dead. That's actually why I came here."
"WHAT?!"
"HAH! You believed that?! I was lying, of course! But yeah, he looked like a corpse when you all got back! He was so beaten up he wouldn't even drink with me! Almost shot me too when I tried to wake him up!"
'This guy's a little...'
"THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH! I'M GONNA COUNT TO FUCKING TEN AND IF YOU'RE NOT OUT HERE BY THAT, I'LL FUCKING DROP YOU AND TELL MAURO YOU CROSSED THE FUCKING LINE! WHO TOLD YOU YOU COULD COME HERE, HUH?!"
At this point, Quinn was already in her third boiling point while I was still confused as hell. I can't fucking believe they'd have an officer like that and a single-digit position to boot. If anything, I'd rank him among the three digits but there seemed to be more to their story as I thought.