Brash and bold as always, he really asked us this. Scoffing, I rolled my eyes. I just looked at him and said "Here. You can have 2 of the upgrades. Fabricate them in your clan building." He balked at that. "Fabricate!? You want us to just spit in the face of the transmission hub and cheapen this boon!? Are you insane!?" he exploded. I sighed deeply. "Yeah. How the hell do you think we got 13 AEP units in out clan. These 2 were fabricated as well. If you want to leave empty handed, that's fine." I said. I was tired of his bullshit. His eyes widened slightly. "Wait a moment. I never said that we weren't taking it. Obviously, they are wasted on you." he grumbled as he took them from me. He and his cronies then got in their truck. We watched as they left. Hunter approached to see what was going on. I gave him the gist. Having them around would be interesting. Especially if that was how they were going to be walking around from now on. It was time for me to get to work. Hunter stopped me. "Uh... I have something to report. Those guys just tried to hack us and set up a surveillance." he said.
Nodding my head, I responded "Makes sense. We are a strong independent faction. Both sides are going to want to test us by doing stupid shit like this. Keep an eye out for any other threats to our security." He sighed and said he would. "This is a fucking stressful job, you know. No one likes me. I can't even get a date with the humans here." he complained. Looking at him, I said "You know what!? You are right. It is very stressful. We should throw a party for the studio. We have 4 wins to celebrate. You can impress them all by giving them a ton of lemonade." He looked caught of guard and then really happy. I called Paul and Brett. They were also on board. We decided to have a catered party for everyone in the studio. That included all the support staff and writers. We had a full liquor bar set up and a rented DJ. Paul Brett and I had it scheduled so that everyone could attend. Just like I had suggested, Hunter had his own lemonade that he was hawking onto the PEP units. It was heavy on the sugar so they all got really drunk and happy right away. Hunter himself had gotten drunk on liquor.
Drunken Hunter was a bit more mellow. He was the sad drunk type. It was kind of interesting just how shamelessly he could trauma dump on everyone in his path as he continued to give out the lemonade he made. I went over to get some. The PEP units did not give a shit about what Hunter was talking about. His lemonade was hitting all the right nodes in their bodies. As long as the lemonade kept flowing, they were down to listen for a few minutes before he stumbled on to the next group of his thirsty clan mates. I was about to pour myself another glass of the dark pink lemonade to drink when I was approached by someone. It was an AEP unit not from my clan. His pink hair was parted in such a way that his bangs covered one eye entirely. The other was the trademark silver color. He had a goofy grin as he said "Hey pretty lady. Do you want to play with me? I'm a nice guy." I just looked at him blankly. He could be any AEP unit from the next phase. I honestly did not get how he had got in here. Then again, looking around me, even the security was drunk and having a great time partying.
It was totally ridiculous. He had got us here. Clearly he was up to something. "Not unless you help us finish all of this lemonade." I told him. He just frowned. Lemonade was not as potent to the AEP units, but it was still an intoxicant for them. He reached down and done and took the pitcher of watermelon lemonade. He was smaller than me. Probably it was due to the large backpack with the studded strap on his back. He had to be about 5 foot 7. He said "I will take this one off your hands then." He finished it off and set it down on the table next to us. Hunter was a bit miffed and went to grumble and sulk that he could no longer bribe the PEP units in the clan to listen to him. The PEP units were a bit sad that the lemonade was gone, but an AEP unit was always something to be happy about. I did not trust him, so getting him as close to wasted as possible would be better for me. I might be able to get him to reveal his true intentions. "Are we done now!? It's time to go." he said as he dragged me by the arm. He brought me out of the party and down the hallway with ease. That was new.
