Now.

June 2057.

Graverobber had thought that he was alone in the graveyard, so the sound of someone else's' footsteps startled him. His immediate thought was that one of Rotti's goons had finally tracked him down. Not in the mood to get arrested, his eyes fell upon an open, empty grave. He jumped down silently as the footsteps drew closer. From his position inside the grave, he watched the figure walk towards his hiding place. It stopped about a foot away from the edge of the grave and looked around. He took his chance, reaching up to grab it's ankle. And then he pulled. Hard.

He was surprised when the figure let out a distinctly female cry as it fell to the ground. So, he could rule out a Repo Man, but this was no GENtern or Henchgirl either, nor was it a Zydrate whore or scalpel slut out for her latest fix, which left him confused. That is, until the woman looked up at him furiously.

"Necro?" He breathed.

"Hell, Graverobber." She snarled as he helped her to her feet. "I know we need to be on our guard, but was that really necessary?"

"Sorry, but you should know better than to sneak up on me." He chided her.

Her expression softened instantly. "It's good to see you, Graverobber, really it is."

"I hadn't heard about you in a while." He tried to retain his usual air of indifference. "I thought maybe you'd been -"

"Have a little faith in me? I mean, I did learn from the best." She smiled.

He chuckled, looking at her properly. Obviously the first thing that stood out was the handful of Zydrate vials hanging from one of her belts. She wore a long, black trench coat - it had faded a lot since she'd first bought it, thanks to the polluted environment and the work they did. She wore black leather boots - an expensive thing in these times - that came to just below her knees over old, scruffy jeans. Around her neck there hung four necklaces: two crucifixes, a black leather choker and a pendant he'd never really paid that much attention to. Those, along with the boots, were the only things that hinted at the life she's had before this. On one hand she wore a glove like his, with the other tucked between the two belts around her waist. As she moved her coat to put a hand on her hip, he saw that attached to the second belt was a scalpel along with a few other surgical instruments. Her messy black hair fell to just above her shoulders with purple, red and blue dreads threaded through it. Her face was pale, like his, from both make-up and the nocturnal aspects of the job, and her brown eyes were heavily outlined in smudged black - although it was difficult to tell whether simply from make-up or if sheer lack of sleep had something to do with it - and her lips were painted a purplish-red. He noticed that she looked even more dishevelled than she usually did.

"Rough night?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Try rough month." She sighed. "GeneCo's on a complete rampage, but you knew that. And Bill 98-463 isn't helping."

"That's still going on?" His eyes widened slightly, and he was annoyed that he even had to ask. He should have know this already.

"Have you been living under a rock?" She exclaimed. "I mean, y'know, as opposed to the usual dumpster?"

"I know, I know. But I'm trying to keep out of that as much as I can at the moment - I'm not exactly Rotti Largo's favourite person in town, am I?" Graverobber pointed out, grabbing the first excuse he though of. Inside, he was screaming at himself. I'm always the first to know! Not knowing that could've gotten me in serious trouble. I'm such a fucking idiot.

"I must be coming in a close second." She muttered, not quite loud enough for him to hear. "Well we've lived with GeneCo since '030, surely we can put up with them until Rotti dies and the others kill each other in an attempt to gain control of the company."

That made him laugh. "Ever the optimist, aren't you?"

"Of course. That's why I'm such good company." She teased. "Now, I know it's our natural habitat and all. but if you're done collecting for the night maybe we could get the hell out of here?"

He looked over at the grave he had been about to open when she'd interrupted him, then looked back at her. "I'm done." He decided, with only the barest hint of reluctance in his voice.

She smiled at him, and started to walk towards the street.

He gathered up his equipment and followed her. "So where are you staying now?" He asked her as they zig-zagged through the graves.

"Here and there." Necro shrugged. "Wherever I can find."

"Safe places?"

"Wherever I can find." She repeated slowly, in a tone that told him 'no'.

"Well, that's no good." He shook his head. "Come back with me tonight."

"You really don't -"

"Shut up, Ne. It's not safe out here." He cut her off firmly, and she knew not to try and argue. "Besides, do you actually think I'm letting you out of my sight any time soon?"