//------------------------------//
// Part 3 
// Story: Manhattan Ballad 
// by ObCom 
//------------------------------//

Vinyl shifted uncomfortably under the weight of her messenger bag. When she grabbed her hoodie, her eyes had wandered over to the nightstand. Bass Leader’s warnings were vague, but Vinyl’s mind was full of carnage and shootings everywhere. Without thinking, she crammed the gun into the messenger bag and left. She wasn’t new to firearms and had even won a nice chunk of cash shooting bottles in an alley once. Except that she had been drunk and spent the night in jail after the cops showed up. But people weren’t bottles, although they blew up and spilled liquid when shot. Alright, bad thoughts, think of something else, she thought. She gave Octavia a sidewise glance and was not surprised to see the girl was staring at everything. Vinyl couldn’t complain, at least the trip outside had calmed Octavia down. 
The city was different now that the sun was in the sky. No neon lights guided the way to clubs, no groups gathered on the sidewalk, and cars filled the streets. The air smelled like exhaust and spicy food, but Vinyl was used to it. Despite Octavia’s outbursts, the area she lived in was comfortably middle class. Or had Octavia been complaining about her apartment in particular? Vinyl couldn’t remember, and the silence between them was starting to be annoying. “So where’re you from?” Vinyl asked, partly to fill the air, but she was curious.  
“Upstate. Why do you ask?” Octavia’s tone was dreamlike. Vinyl idly wondered if she could ask a dirty question and get an honest answer, but she resisted. 
“I’m guessing you’ve had a good childhood. Y’know, learned manners and all that?” 
“Of course.” 
“Then why are you staring at everyone we pass? Even I know that’s impolite.” 
Octavia looked at the ground, shaking her head. “I didn’t even notice. I don’t get around much, and I just don’t see how all of these people are augmented. They all look… normal.” 
“Yeah, that’s how a lot of them work. Most of them are internal, like, that fat baker over there could throw a dumpster over the building, but you’d never think he could.” 
Octavia’s eyes grew in wonder. “Is that true? Augments can do that?!” 
Vinyl winced. “Whoa, there, watch the volume. We don’t need to go shouting it to the world. And yes, augments could do that. Except that the military gets all the weaponized stuff,” she ended with a grin. 
Cocking her head, Octavia asked, “Do you have those types of augments?” 
Her mind suddenly raced to think of some witty response to that. Although there were many things she could say, all of them only funny to her, Vinyl settled on laughing uncontrollably. Octavia’s question wasn’t even close to funny, but her reaction to Vinyl’s outburst added fuel to the fire. “Will you stop laughing? It isn’t funny!” Octavia yelled, her face scarlet from embarrassment. 
Vinyl tried to stop, but her body was wracked with laughter, and more than a few chuckles slipped out. She put her arm around Octavia’s shoulders and pulled the girl close. She noticed Octavia’s rigidity at her touch. “Holy Empress that was a good one. I take back all of the bad things I’ve thought or said about you.” Vinyl paused to laugh some more. “Hey, your hair smells good.”
“E-excuse me?” Octavia blustered. 
“Relax, will you? I’m just joking around. Want me to say you smell like crap?” Vinyl grinned. Octavia gave a nervous giggle. It would have to do. 
They walked like that for a while, and Vinyl’s smile grew when Octavia finally yielded the tiniest inch, but at least she was slightly more relaxed. 
“If most of the augments are internal, according to you, why do you need goggles? You’re the only one wearing them.” 
“That,” Vinyl said with a cough, “is because I’m cheap.” 
“Pardon?” 
“I never upgraded to the fancier tech because it costs an arm and a leg. Besides, why fix what ain’t broke, right?” 
“But if you upgraded, you wouldn’t have to wear the goggles anymore, correct?” 
Vinyl was silent for a moment, and she let her arm slide off of Octavia’s shoulders. She was aware Octavia was looking at her, expecting an answer, but she wasn’t sure what to say. True, she could ditch the goggles, but the thoughts of the procedure… She shook her head. The operation to have better ocular augments involved too much cutting for her tastes. She was suddenly pulled back to reality when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her back. A car passed over the spot where she had been a moment earlier. 
Octavia let go of Vinyl’s arm with a huff. “How are you still alive?” she asked, her face a mask of agitation. “If I have to rely on you, I might as well throw myself at my father’s phantoms.”
Vinyl’s mind sifted through a number of witty responses again. But if she poked too much fun at the girl, Vinyl felt like her life would truly become hellish, whether Bass Leader’s apocalypse came or not. Instead, she flashed a grin and said, “That’s quite a grip you’ve got there, Tavi. You sure you need any protecting?” 
Seeing Octavia’s face flush after the improvised nickname, Vinyl thought, I am using that again. Unfortunately, Octavia saw none of the humor. “Don’t call me that ever again,” she hissed. Vinyl’s grin grew until they crossed the street. Maybe Octavia was finally warming up to her. Part of her hoped Octavia wouldn’t immediately revert to the nervous wreck she had been so far. That act would get old fast. 
“And yes,” Vinyl said. 
Octavia raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?” 
“To your question before I almost got killed. About losing my goggles if I upgraded. Thing is, they’ve kind of grown on me, and they’re part of my image now.” 
“I see,” Octavia muttered. Her attention soon drifted back to the city, and Vinyl frowned. She would have to actually work to make Octavia calm down. And it’s so nice to see she’s being considerate about my feelings, Vinyl thought to herself in an overly dramatic tone.  

The shopping trip would have been faster if Vinyl had kept her mouth shut and her hands to herself. However, asking Vinyl to be quiet was met with the same reaction as having her pick up her apartment. It just wasn’t going to happen. Octavia finally bought some silence with a terse, “Will you shut up? You’re not even paying!” 
The shocked look on Vinyl’s face was priceless, even if her eyes were covered by those goggles. Nevertheless, Octavia had gotten the lull she desired and basked in it. Vinyl spoke the second Octavia picked up a head of lettuce. “What are you going to do with that?” 
“Oh for the love of,” Octavia said and shook her head. She looked at Vinyl with, what she hoped, was a menacing glare. “Now you just want to hear your own voice.” The grin she received was the only answer she needed. 

The clock read half past three when they got back. The trip had been good for the both of them. Octavia was slowly warming up to Vinyl, and vice versa. Now laden with bags, Vinyl realized that her messenger bag, and the gun, was inaccessible. Fortunately, the bomb hadn’t been dropped on humanity and no lunatic had attacked with a golf club covered with nails. Yet. A wet sound filled the apartment and she looked down. Octavia turned to see the crushed container of Chinese takeout and gave a sly grin that said, “I told you so.” Vinyl waved her off and dropped the food on the counter.
“Alright, you got a bunch of everything. I think we’ll be fine if everything goes to hell tomorrow.” Vinyl looked to see Octavia pulling out a few pots. “What are you doing?” 
“Just something to show my appreciation.” 
Vinyl raised an eyebrow. “So what? You’re going to beat me over the head?” 
Octavia looked frightened at the suggestion before understanding that Vinyl was trying to be funny. With a sigh, she asked, “What time do you go to work?” 
The question was one that Vinyl had never considered. She blew out some air and ran a hand through her blue hair, eyes darting around the apartment. “10-ish?” she finally said. “I don’t even know if I have to go in with you here. I mean, it was the boss who had you come here, and he did say I had to protect you, and I can’t really do that at the club, so… I dunno?” 
“Then why don’t you check and go back to…” Octavia cringed, “pony time, and I will make you an actual dinner.”
Vinyl’s smile could have been seen by the blind. “You don’t have to tell me twice!” she said and flopped onto the couch. Octavia couldn’t tell if Vinyl had been happy about the free food or, Empress forbid, the ponies, but it made her be quiet for longer than a minute. Turning back to the cabinets, Octavia found that she was smiling.

Dinner had been quiet, but not because of any awkward silences or glaring, which had been in abundance earlier in the day. No one was talking because Vinyl could not speak because of how much food she was trying to eat at once. Even if she could speak around the half-chewed mass, she would rather try to get more food in. Across the table, Octavia could have been staring in terror, or maybe she didn’t care and was proceeding as if nothing was wrong. Vinyl couldn’t tell, nor did she want to spend the time to find out. Throughout the onslaught, there were snippets of Octavia saying that she had only made spaghetti and salad, and there was probably something about Vinyl’s lack of manners, but she didn’t care. When the food was gone, Vinyl leaned back and let out a loud belch. 
After a moment, she opened her eyes and looked at Octavia. “That was great,” she said with a lazy smile. 
“Glad you liked it?” 
Vinyl picked up her glass full of milk and drained it in one pull. “So what was that earlier? About appreciation?” She filled up the glass again. “Man, this stuff is good, too.”
“Ah, that. I thought we got off on the wrong foot, with you being tired when I arrived. It was also inconsiderate of my father to put you through this without your consent, so I wanted to do something nice for you.” Octavia gave a small smile and Vinyl felt herself warming up. 
“Yeah, I should probably say I’m sorry too. I bet you wouldn’t be here if you had a say in it. Speaking of which, why did Bass Leader choose me over someone else at the club? Y’know, maybe a friend of his?” Vinyl swirled her glass as if it was full of the most precious wine.
Octavia looked down, at her half-empty plate. She picked up her fork and idly poked a meatball. “Truth be told, I don’t talk to my father much. If I had to guess, I’d say it had something to do with real estate. Back upstate, I was in a secluded house in the hills, but here I’m just another face in the crowd. Why my father chose you over a manager in the club, it might be because you’re the least obvious choice? I’m not sure, honestly. My father hardly spoke to anyone about me, so I don’t know why he thought I was in danger.” 
“Damn,” Vinyl sighed and took a drink. “This is whole business is going to be the death of me.” 
“Expecting trouble?” 
“I don’t know, maybe.”
“Are you referring to the gun you left in your bag?” 
Vinyl couldn’t hide her eyes behind her goggles this time, all because she thought it would be polite to leave them off. She gave a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, that. It’s not mine, by the way. I just found it on the nightstand last night.” 
“I see,” Octavia said and looked into the distance, thinking. Vinyl looked at the clock, a little bit after 6. Where did time go? “I just hope my father is a paranoid old man and nothing bad happens,” she groaned.
“Same here.” Vinyl raised her glass and kept it up until Octavia caught on. Except it probably won’t, she thought when their glasses clinked together. “Anyway, I haven’t gotten anything about not going to work. That could mean it’s a common sense thing, where I go in and get sent home, or they’re expecting me to go in and play through til the morning.” Vinyl gave a weak shrug. “But if you don’t mind, I’d like to take a nap.” I just asked her permission to take a nap, Vinyl realized. 
Octavia nodded. “Go ahead; I’ll take care of the dishes this time.” Vinyl smiled and went into her room. Once the door was closed, she let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. 
Holy Empress, Vinyl groaned before falling onto the bed.

Vinyl still had to go to work, much to her annoyance. Bass Leader wanted his girl protected, but he also wanted the protector to give a very wide window for someone to do something. The plan was full of holes and Vinyl didn’t like it. What was worse was that her thoughts were affecting her performance. She had always taken pride in her ability to work up a crowd, but now her heart wasn’t into it. The crowd could sense her lack of attention as well, and some had no problems with vocalizing their opinions. Vinyl wasn’t listening to them, she could only keep asking herself: What if someone attacked now? What kind of security protocols had Bass Leader put into her apartment? Those two questions bothered her the entire night, and a beer bottle was thrown at her. The bouncers pushed through the crowd and threw the offender out, but Vinyl couldn’t remember the last time she played that badly. She frowned and had to resist the urge to turn on the microphone and tell everyone to fuck off. At least they could go to the bar and drink and try to forget her terrible performance. After her work was done, her escort from the night before came up to get her. Vinyl half-expected him to tell her she had been fired. 
Once again she had been taken to the penthouse, but this time she was sitting across from Bass Leader. She had her goggles resting comfortably over her eyes, staring directly into the mirrored surface that covered his. Fancy man, she thought. “Tomorrow. The information will be released tomorrow.” 
“What? That soon?” Vinyl could hear her surprised tone in the echo, but she didn’t care. 
“Were you expecting this to stay under the radar for long? People talk, Vinyl Scratch. I am surprised there has not been a leak already,” he stated.
“Alright,” Vinyl said, leaning back into the chair. “So what happens then? I’m guessing you have a plan or something.”
“My plan has already been in motion. I have spared no expense in turning your apartment into a fortress. You only have to make sure she is safe.” 
“For how long?” And if that’s the case, why the fuck am I here and not at home? Vinyl wondered. “I’m guessing that you’ll send some people over to pick her up?” 
“Ideally,” Bass Leader said, his brow furrowed. “But it will take time. After the announcement, I am sure the Empress will try to acquire all of those who are not augmented. Once their search is over, I will try to send people over, and then they will take Octavia to another location, and you will go on as you please.” 
Vinyl’s mind was reeling. “If you have a better location, why didn’t you take her there?” 
“Because they would never have made it there before the search.” Bass Leader brought his fingers together. His tone made Vinyl think that he thought he was dealing with an idiot, and Vinyl found her irritation rising. 
“And why don’t you want her to go with the Empress?” 
Vinyl didn’t miss the way Bass Leader’s jaw tightened. “All you have to do,” he slowly said, “is keep your mouth shut. Now go home.” He swept his hand in front of him. She was, without a doubt, dismissed. But, unlike the night before, Vinyl was not terrified of Bass Leader. She wanted some sort of concrete answers, and got to her feet. Then she felt a rough hand clasp her shoulder. 
Any protests died in her throat then. Sighing, she let herself be escorted out of the club without a word. Before the door closed, she turned back to the man and asked, “So do you want me to keep showing up for work or is this a paid vacation?” She turned on her mega-watt grin, but the man just looked at her as if the answer was obvious.