A Cell Without Bars

Doc knocked softly on the door of his associates apartment, he had been talked into having a dinner meeting with Artemi when Doc contacted his DocWagon surgeon about getting more work done on his cyberware implants. Doc wasn't satisfied with the performance of several of his older implants and was mostly looking for an upgrade, however that made things even more difficult to find. Besides that Doc couldn't perform surgery on himself and didn't trust too many people outside of F.A.T.E. (Or all of the ones in F.A.T.E.)

The door slid open quickly and a small, older woman Doc didn't recognize stood on the other side of the door way. They blinked at each other in silence for a moment and Doc looked at the apartment number next to the door to check that he had the right place.

"You must be Kumiko, Artemi told me you were coming." She spoke in English, though it was very clearly not her first language. "Please come in."

Doc stepped into the large apartment and observed his surroundings, the apartment was lavish but quickly stood out as different than what Doc was used to. Where Doc typically saw modern, elegant, simple design and decor in the nicer parts of the city this was anything but. It was cluttered, it looked old fashioned, what was that smell?

"Kumiko!" Artemi entered what Doc assumed was the living room from what Doc figured was a bedroom or office of some kind down a short corridor, he already had a drink in each hand.

"Artemi, good to see you. You didn't mention your family would be here, I'm not intruding am I? I can come back..." Doc was inherently nervous around families, probably because his was not exactly a traditional definition of a family.

"Nonsense! I invited you here to have dinner with us." Artemi spoke with some excitement about Doc meeting his family, more than Doc felt for getting to do it. As he spoke Artemi waved one of the glasses in Doc's direction which Doc took to be an offer of the drink, though when Artemi pulled it back he soon realized both drinks were for the old man.

"If you insist." Doc was still a bit hesitant, but he wouldn't disrespect the man's request.

"I do." The older man responded as he turned to lead Doc in towards the kitchen, the source of the rather curious smell Doc discovered. "Igus! Kira! Mikhail! Lara! Dinner!"

Doc entered the rather large kitchen where Artemi's wife was setting the large table with an assortment of steaming hot food. Doc hadn't had a meal like this... ever. His mother wasn't exactly known for cooking family meals, especially home-made, and real food. Moments later Doc understood who Artemi had been calling for as he escorted him into the room, four children came scrambling into the room and found seats around the table quickly. Artemi's tone informed him that he hadn't exactly suppressed his surprise well.

"Let me introduce you to everyone. My wife, Helina. My children: Igus, my oldest son. The twins, Kira and Lara. And my youngest Mikhail. Everyone this is my friend Kumiko Nakamura." After introducing everyone Artemi took a seat and motioned for Doc to do the same, which Doc promptly did.

Doc scanned the children again as everyone began the hustle and bustle of serving themselves food, some dish Doc did not recognize but could identify was the source of the smell earlier. The children were closer to age to him than he was to their father. Igus, the oldest, looked to be about 16, the twins were 13 or 14 and he caught Lara eyeing him with a faint blush, Mikhail was notably younger, probably about 8. At some point Helina had served him a plate of food and informed him the dish was called 'Pelmeni', and was dough filled with meat. The smell was starting to grow on him and the taste was surprisingly pleasant, while Doc was attending his food Artemi had seen to it to fill Doc's glasses. A tall glass and a shot glass were set next to is plate, both filled with Vodka, he wasn't sure why there were two. Doc kicked back the shot and gulped it down, then sipped the taller glass to make sure they were the same. They were. And Artemi promptly refilled the shot glass any time Doc emptied it.

Doc didn't get a chance to talk to Artemi about anything he'd come here to speak with him for, instead he was swept up into the very busy conversation of four children and their parents discussing all manner of things. Daily lives, old stories, embarrassing tales (of kids and parents) were all told and by the end of it Doc had rather loosened up and was enjoying himself despite his earlier hesitance. (The vodka probably helped.)

Doc, typically a pretty stingy eater, had eaten his fill of pelmeni and dessert on top of that when things were begining to settle down and the kids began to clear the table of dishes.

"Kumiko, let's talk in my office." Artemi spoke with a bit more business in his voice than he had earlier in the night and had pretty clearly kept his wits about him while drinking a little better than Doc had.

---

Artemi led Doc into the room that Artemi had been in when Doc had first arrived, shutting the heavy wooden door behind them when they entered. Doc immediately noticed a change in the general feel of the location, Artemi's office was nothing like the rustic decor of the rest of his home. Artemi's office was on the cutting edge of technology, all four walls were capable of displaying in-depth images fed wirelessly from his comlink. A significant medical facility was set up at one end of the room, a smaller version of F.A.T.E.'s own set up, only a single operating bed in one corner surrounded by an array of equipment.

"Have a seat on the bed, I'll take a look at ya." Artemi said as he pulled a thin set of spectacles from his pocket and seeded them on his nose.

"Its not much trouble, just something in that iron lung ya gave me." Doc made a casual hand gesture towards his chest as he sat on the sterilized bed in a bit of a slouch.

"Ah..." Artemi switched a couple of switches on a small device and pivoted it around to aim it towards Doc, essentially a MAD scanner that was displaying Doc's cyberware on one of the walls of Artemi's office. Artemi was heavily scrutinizing the images while Doc explained. "And how about that prison-ware? Still working?"

Doc shrugged half-heartedly at the question and dug into one of his pockets to pull out a cigarette, lifting it to his lips and lighting it while inhaling deeply. As he slowly blew the smoke up towards the ceiling he muttered out a response, "Still working..."

"I can't believe someone as smart as yourself let those idiots perform god damn surgery on you in a prison..."

"Don't bring your god into this." Doc retorted with a sarcastic smirk.

Artemi didn't turn to look back at Doc, after looking over his iron lung he had moved on to making sure the rest of Doc's cyberware was working properly. He didn't trust most other doctor's work, let alone some shit Doc paid for in cigarettes and drugs smuggled into a prison.

"And with you're condition you shouldn't be smoking..." Artemi took on a bit of a demonstrative tone while looking back to Doc and shutting down the MAD scanner.

"Yea, yea. Spare me." Doc shook his head and took another long drag on the cigarette. "Tell ya what though, find me a better set of eyes and a better tank. We'll swap 'em out next I get paid."

"Oh? Where ya working again?" Artemi raised a brow in honest curiosity.

Doc gave a short chuckle as he slipped off the bed and stood up, "You really want to know?" Exchanging a long look with Artemi as he inhaled deeply, there was good reason they didn't normally discuss these things.

"Another time then." Artemi stood from his seat to show Doc out of the apartment, "Come by in two days, pay when you get the money."

"Thanks."

Doc and Artemi shook hands at the door, Artemi patting Doc lightly on the shoulder as they said their goodbyes.

"See you soon."