Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 597: Black Skull. (Part Twenty Nine)

"... huh?"

"Clean your ears, damn it. I don’t like repeating myself."

Jason clicked his tongue, not bothering to look up at the petrified Rose. His tone, though harsh, was milder than usual, likely a result of the bills he was counting stealing all his attention.

"But... I thought... I thought having a regular was a good thing..." Rose said, her face gradually collapsing into an anxious mess.

"No one said it isn’t, stupid bitch." The gangster replied. "The problem is that some get a little too attached, and when they do, dealing with them becomes troublesome."

Pushing himself off the wall he was leaning on, Jason stuffed the bills into his pocket and faced her. The corners of his mouth rose into a mocking smirk made only more disturbing by the tattoo covering the left side of his face.

"I know he hasn’t touched you yet. At first, I thought he was some virgin who didn’t know where to put it, but..." he chuckled. "Turns out the man is seriously in love."

Rose didn’t think she could argue, and not because she feared the skull face. After the conversation they had the previous night, she became sure of it—that man, Sirius, had feelings for her. Putting aside how wrong it sounded for an adult man to feel that way toward a girl who isn’t even sixteen, it was still troubling for the two of them if he were to act on those feelings. She was a prisoner with no hope of escape. If he were to try to become more than a client of hers, he would only be causing trouble for the two of them.

As she was deep in thought, a hand reached up to her hair. Unlike the gentle touch she felt the previous night, a pang of pain followed as the fingers clutched a clump of her purple locks, pulling on them to force her gaze up.

"I’m warning you right now," Jason said, his expression blank. "Don’t get any ideas. If I as much as suspect that you’re trying anything, I will break every bone in your body and dump you in the river."

Rose knew exactly what he was warning her against. When she first arrived at this prison, she had wondered why none of the other girls tried to escape. That led to her hearing stories about what happened to those who managed to gather the courage and the terrible fate that awaited them. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Everyone in the dollhouse had their hearts grasped by fear, and she found herself believing everything she heard. After all, with how terrible the life they had in that place was, why would any of them give up on trying to escape?

"Use this week to milk him as much as you can." Letting go of her, Jason turned away to leave. "Get enough and I will consider lowering your quota to the basic rates."

~[ ]~

"Rose?"

The world came back into focus, and the face of a young girl became clear. She looked to be in her teens, with short orange hair and pale blue eyes.

"Monica..."Muttering the name, Rose slowly pushed herself up. "You... are up..."

"Yeah, I think I can start going out again today," Monica replied, sitting down on the bedside. "You, on the other hand..."

"I’m fine," Rose replied. "Just... a little tired..."

The room being empty hinted at the others having left to do their job. Monica likely wanted to say that they needed to get going as well, but just like everyone else, she didn’t want to hear it, and neither did she want to make anyone hear her say it. Rose was much the same, which is why she didn’t want to force the other girl into having to do it.

Just as she was about to stand, a hand fell on hers, signaling for her to stop. Monica turned to look at her, then she leaned in, creating a rather awkward situation for both of them. Rose felt that the two of them got along pretty well, but not this well. Just as she was about to stop her before things got too awkward, Monica spoke in a hushed voice.

"If you see the chance, use it to get out of here." She said. "We will die either way, so you might as well make the jump."

"... what are you..."

Though they skirted around the topic, everyone knew that Monica didn’t have much time left. Her fluctuating condition made it difficult for her to earn her keep, so it wouldn’t be long before she got thrown into the Red River. The others would likely face the same fate sooner rather than later. It was much cheaper to bring in new dolls than to maintain the old ones, so once keeping them around became too much of a bother, the Black Skulls would just dispose of them.

"Listen..." a quiver crept into Monica’s voice, but her eyes didn’t lose their determination. "No one is coming to save us, so you have to save yourself, got it? Getting out of here is all that matters, so stop worrying about everything else."

Though those words lit a small flame in Rose’s heart, that flame was quickly snuffed out soon after she went out for work. Seeing Sirius’s face was all it took. This man was far too gentle for his own good, and if she were to force her will onto him, he would burn himself trying to grant it. Her heart refused to let that happen, and yet...

"Rose, come with me."

When he whispered the words to her, the emotion she had tried to resist broke free, and she found herself losing the will to push him away.

"Let’s leave this city and start a new life somewhere else." He went about setting something in the corner of the room, taking one of the sheets from the bed, and hanging it on the wall. "We can even go overseas. You won’t have to worry about those hooligans anymore."

"Over... overseas?" Rose muttered.

"That’s right. We can go to the Star Federation, if you want." Rummaging through his bag, he took out something that looked like a professional camera. "Or... we can go to Lumeria." He turned to look at her. "You can choose, and I will take you there. Let’s escape this place, together."