The patron just came over and smiled. "That makes sense then. When I first saw you come back, I thought 'There is no way he's doing his routine all over again.'" he said. 03 looked at him then at me for a moment. He then looked at the patron. "Wait. My... twin did the same routine when he was here?" The young man just nodded his head. He was certainly friendly. "Yeah. Same amount of reps and weight as you. I guess that twins really do have that type of connection." he said while rubbing his chin sagely. "That guy has nothing on me. I'll show you what I can do!" 03 snapped. I put my hands on his shoulder. "Nope. I'm very tired. No way are we doing all of this here and now. You can't be flying off the handle because of what he did in his free time. You don't even live here." I said. He glared at me, but I was not going to be backing down here. Not to a NPC. The young man looked shocked. He said "They don't even live here!? Damn. That gym of theirs must be wild." 03 puffed his chest out with lots pride. "Of course it is. Normal gyms can't compare to the one in Jazni Town." he boasted.
Another patron came over with a sneer. "That sissy gym with all the volleyball twinks with girly hair colors!? Hell no!" they said. He was another young man. 03 just glared at him with a murderous look. I got in between them. If I did not, there would be a slaughter in this gym. "I think all gyms are valid if the people there get what they need out of it. Besides theirs actually has several volleyball courts. It is a bit special to be fair to my friend here." I said diplomatically. That did not settle the now growing crowd down. 03 did not help. He roughly pushed past me and got in their faces. I was still too exhausted to hold him down. "All of you wouldn't last a second in my gym. Any of the members of my clan could kill you all with a single hand while lifting 400 pounds with the other." 03 said. I knew he was not lying about it, but that was not going to do anything aside from make them angry. Now, there was a group of six angry gym bros angrily shouting at 03 and me. I was catching strays and that annoyed me. "You know what!? Fine. Put up or shut up. I'm going to join you and take on his gym. Let's go!"
Now that the challenge was up in the air, everyone went quiet. The gauntlet was thrown down, so they had no choice but to put up or shut up like I said. Half of them backed out. "Shit! I have work." one of them said. "My wife would kill me if I took a trip out of town without her." said another. I rolled my eyes. There were still four willing to go invade the Volition Clan gym. 03 was furious at them. "Fine. I will give you the address then. See you there, you damn human scum. Prepare to be killed." 03 then gave them the real address of their gym. I was pretty surprised that he was going to actually deal with them. I looked at him. "Are you sure? What will your leader say?" I asked. "He'll thank me for sharing the fun of putting them in their place." Knowing what I did about their leader, that was probably true. "Either way, you need to prepare for the competition. The five of us are going to meet you soon. You know that you can't just bully them with me on their side so you better tell all the others to get ready." I told him. 03 looked surprised. "You are seriously going against Volition!? Why Brianne!?"
I just looked at him. "It looks like I have to periodically remind you guys that even though we are allies, you can't expect us to let you walk all over us. I do not care about your Conqueror mindset. Coming for my friend was a big mistake." 03 looked betrayed and ran out of the gym. I just rolled my eyes. The gym bros then surrounded me. I looked at them and said. "Listen. Just because they look very weird doesn't mean they are weak. They have mods out the ass!" Some of them nodded. "No shit! Do you really think any of us believed a shrimp like that can deadlift 500 pounds naturally!" I winced at hearing that. Because I keep to my clan, I sometimes forget that this is a cyberpunk setting in general. Apparently, it was a double edged sword. Amazing feats like that would garner attention to you, but it could all be waved away saying it was mods. However, you needed to still be careful as they were not human. PEP units, for example, had to keep away from salt water and showing their bodies. PEAs all had the same green hair and yellow eyes. AEPs had the chest port. That was the way of things.
